Growing a blog takes months, even years! It takes a lot of patience but good news: there are tools you can use to help you grow faster and achieve your desired results faster!
Whether it’s growing your community, making money from blogging, or both, this is what these resources will do for you. They’ll save you time and will make your life a whole lot easier. That’s what they did for me and I am more than happy to share them!
So here are my favorite blogging tools & resources that have made a WORLD OF A DIFFERENCE in my blogging career. From strengthening my brand to driving traffic to my blog, to growing my following, and making money.
*rubs hands* Let’s get started!
*I may collect a share of sales from links on this page. I’m very picky about the products & resources I promote. And I would only recommend the ones that are highly-rated or ones that I have had the best experience with. Read my Affiliate Disclaimer here.
Watch my video below or scroll down to read the transcript ▼
#1 Bluehost (for self-hosted WordPress blogs)
You’ve probably heard from me multiple times why it’s so important to have a self-hosted WordPress blog that you own. You can find more about it in this post here. But long story short, you’ll get more traffic because Google favors self-hosted blogs over free blogs, and you’ll be able to claim your website with Pinterest which is another tool to grow your traffic. You can also make money from your blog because many ad & affiliate partners require that you have your own website before you can make money through them. And overall, it strengthens your brand and makes you stand out so much more because you’re not using the same free templates other bloggers are using.
And if you think it’s too hard to create a website because you’re not tech-savvy. That’s a myth. It’s actually really easy to create a professional website with your own domain in under 15 minutes. And if you want to know more about that, I have a tutorial on that too.
And as far as costs go, starting a blog is low as $3.95/month. And EVERY CENT is worth the money. Plus when you have your own WordPress blog, you’ll get access to these free plugins that I’m about to mention.
Start your self-hosted WordPress blog for $3.95/month here.
#2 YOAST SEO (for writing SEO-friendly blog posts that people can easily find on Google)
So this is the #1 tool I use to drive traffic to my blog to make sure people from Google and other search engines, find my blog. And if you’ve been trying to get people to read your blog, you’ve probably heard of SEO or Search Engine Optimization. And if that sounds intimidating to you, then you’ll love this plugin. What it does is it breaks down your blog post and lets you know if your blog post is SEO-friendly or not as you write it.
And it’ll give you tips like “You should include a keyword in this paragraph” or “you should include links to your other blog posts so people can stay on your website longer” (Okay, it doesn’t really say that word for word but it’s really helpful in that sense!) That way you know you have enough keywords, your blog post isn’t too short or too long and will give a good reader experience.
At the end of the day, you’re writing for them so you want to make sure they have a good experience on your blog. So I highly recommend this plugin. Just get the free one, no need to get the premium upgrade.
#3 Add Widget After Content (to grow your following & gain trust with readers)
So I love this WordPress plugin because I can add any sort of content to the end of every blog post automatically. And if you’re wondering why that would be useful, it’s because you can passively grow your following with it & get people to know more about you without having to write it each time in every blog post. Because not everyone is going to read your About page so you’ll want to include a little blurb about your story & who you are.
So what I do is include a call-to-action to get readers of my blog post to sign up for my newsletter like “Sign up to get access to my free resource library!”
Then I add a little author bio because most of the people visiting my blog are new readers and it’s an opportunity for them to get to know me and trust me a little more. And at the end of the blurb, I include a link to my About page if they want to know even more. Scroll to the end of this blog post to see it!
Download Add Widget After Content here.
#4 Updraft Plus Backup/Restore (to backup & restore your entire website)
And it’s another free WordPress plugin to backup your website as often as you need it to. You really shouldn’t depend on Bluehost to backup & restore your blog so this plugin one way to easily do it yourself. I like to back it up once a week because I post once a week. But if you want to back it up every 2 hours, you can do that too!
What Updraft Plus does is makes a copy of your entire website & all its files into a folder and saves that folder into file hosting service like your Dropbox or Google Drive. And then sends you an email notification saying, “hey just letting you know, your back up was scheduled today and it was a success.” So in case something happens, God forbid ?, you can easily restore your blog as if nothing happened.
#5 Trello (to manage multiple blog posts at the same time)
So when it comes to writing blog posts, I tend to write a few at a time. And when I film videos for them too, managing all of them at once can get a little tricky if I don’t have a system to follow. So that’s where Trello comes in. I use it to create lists of each content creation phase: writing, filming, editing, publishing & promoting.
And I create a card for each blog post. And move it between each list so I know which creation phase it’s at so I can visually track the progress of multiple pieces of content. Some people prefer managing their content over Google Sheets, Excel, or their planner so it will depend on your preference for what works best for you. You just want to make sure that you have a system to help you manage your blog posts. And Trello is what works for me and it might work for you too!
Create an account with Trello here.
#6 Smash Balloon Instagram Feed (to promote your Instagram profile)
So I like this plugin because I get to show other kinds of content that I don’t normally share on my blog, like the behind the scenes, daily life and everything else. So what I do is use this plugin (also free btw) to feature my latest posts from Instagram at the bottom of blog. I honestly don’t know how effective this plugin is when growing my Instagram account because I have no way of tracking that. But I feel like it just pulls everything together in terms of branding your online presence. And also gives new readers to follow my content on other platforms too.
Download Smash Balloon Instagram Feed here.
#7 Pinterest (to drive traffic to your blog)
So one of the tools that have made the HUGEST difference in driving traffic to my blog is Pinterest. What I do is create a pinnable graphic which is a vertical image of the title of my blog post and upload it to Pinterest. Pinterest is a visual search engine that tons of people use as a resource. So make sure to get your butt over there and start pinning content according to your niche.
And if you need an example of how to set up your Pinterest account according to your blog, here’s a link to my Pinterest account. And maybe follow me while you’re at it too (teehees).
Oh and if you think Instagram grows your blog. It’s really not much unless you have a big following. So prioritize your energy towards Pinterest and I promise you, you will get much more in return. Free yourself from those Instagram pods, they really don’t grow your blog + you don’t get authentic engagement from it anyway.
Create a Pinterest account & follow me there!
#8 Canva (my favorite tool for quick & easy graphic design needs)
So when you have a blog, there’s a huge part of content creation that requires design. And I like to think I have an eye for design but it’s just hard to come up with graphics like that *snaps*. That’s why I love Canva, which is a graphic design platform with plenty of templates you can use for your Instagram feed, stories, Facebook page covers, Pinterest graphics, Youtube thumbnails, and even logos, business cards, worksheets. Pretty much anything that requires design! I use Canva about 3x a week so I can say it makes a pretty big impact as a blogger.
#9 Facebook Groups (for support & motivation)
So I’m a blogger and I don’t come across a lot of people who are content creators like me unless I go online. This is where Facebook groups come in. I get to ask questions and ask them ideas like which of these names sound better? Or which is a better idea as an email opt-in? And I’ll get an answer in a few hours. It’s really great. I also get to listen to what bloggers are doing so I’m always updated on the technology and current trends.
This is a shameless plugin but you can join mine and it’s called the Bold Blogger Mastermind. We are growing 330 people strong. We have bloggers of all levels there so you can definitely get support & encouragement from there. And there are so many Facebook groups for bloggers out there. You can type “bloggers” in the Facebook group search bar and a ton of groups will show up.
Join my Facebook group for bloggers here.
#10 “Crushing It!” by Gary Vaynerchuck (a great resource for motivation & inspiration to build your personal brand)
Sometimes I feel like resting on a couch but I also want to be productive. So I’ll read different books so I’m still enriching myself while resting. And one of the books I enjoyed reading is “Crushing It!” by Gary Vaynerchuk. If you don’t know him, you should check him out because he is all about building your personal brand as a force to build your blog or your business. You’ll learn the different essentials you need to create a strong personal brand. You’ll also learn the best practices for different social media platforms like Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, and even podcasts.
So those are my top blogging tools & resources that have helped grow my blog & make money from it. And I hope they help grow your blog so you can make money from it too.
I hoped you learned a thing or two from today’s video and if you have any tools & resources that have helped you a lot, please share them with me in the comments below!