Recommendations
This page is a collection of the tools and products I use both to run this site. Some of these links are affiliate links, meaning that I will receive a small commission at no charge to you if you purchase through my link. That being said, I only recommend products I personally know and love. All of the following tools are ones that I use myself.
Business Tools
Siteground- Siteground is the hosting company I use to host this blog. It integrates seamlessly with WordPress to give you an all-in-one website building and hosting package for only $3.95 per month. It is the easiest and most cost effective way I've found so far to set up a blog quickly. You can read my How to Start A Blog in 15 Minutes or Less tutorial here.
Thrive Web Builder- Thrive is the company I use to build my website. They offer beautiful themes, a super simple drag-and-drop builder for WordPress, email forms, countdown widgets, quiz builders, and more. If you aren't very tech savvy (that's me!), Thrive is the easiest way to design a sleek and very functional website with all of the integrations you will need. If you're just starting out or are trying to hack together all the moving parts of the website you need, I highly recommend checking out the Thrive membership. It's only $19/month and you get access to every theme and product they have to offer. You can check out Thrive's themes and web building widgets here.
Tailwind- It's no secret that the vast majority of my traffic comes from Pinterest. Hands down, Pinterest is the best way for bloggers to get traffic to their website quickly. To do that, I use the a Pinterest scheduler that schedules and sends out all of my pins at optimal times to reach the most people. Tailwind is the leading Pinterest scheduler out there. You get access to their insights which show you where your traffic is coming from and which pins are performing best. You also get access to Tailwind Tribes, which are group boards where contributors share each others pins. Tribes has helped me grow my traffic, and my business, quickly. You can sign up for a Tailwind account here.
Picmonkey- The easiest online photo editor I've ever used. Picmonkey offers thousands of templates, filters, fonts, and editing features. I use it everyday to create my Pinterest pins, Twitter photos, and other graphics. Plus, it's free! You can sign up for a free Picmonkey account here.
Convertkit- Convertkit is the biggest and baddest email marketing provider out there. Made just for bloggers, it allows you to automatically send a series of emails to your sign ups, segment them into different categories, tag them with special tags you create, and more. I use Convertkit and really like the functionality. My only complaint is that their forms are super ugly, which is why I use the forms from my Thrive web builder and link them to my Convertkit account. Convertkit runs $29/mo for your first 1,000 subscribers.
Aweber- Aweber is another email marketing provider I have used in the past and really liked. Compared to Convertkit, Aweber doesn't have quite as many features but it does have much more attractive forms. Aweber would be very well suited for all but the most advanced bloggers. Aweber is only $19 per month and you can get a 30 day free trial by signing up here.
Mailerlite- Mailerlite is an excellent option for bloggers who are just getting started. While not quite as functional as Convertkit or Aweber, Mailerlite offers lots of features and is completely free for the first 1,000 subscribers. After that, Mailerlite is only $10 per month for up to 2,000 subscribers. You can sign up for Mailerlite here.
Teachable- Teachable is designed to host online courses, and is the platform I use to host my Sassy Styled Stock photo package. They handle all of the backend work of creating and selling courses and membership like creating logins, collecting money, handling affiliate links, and more. I love using Teachable for my online products because it's just so darn easy. If you're planning to offer an online course or membership to your readers, Teachable is an easy all-in-one that you can set up in minutes. They offer a "free" account for newbies that takes $1 plus 10% of each sale, or standard plans starting at $39/mo. You can sign up for a Teachable account here.
Blogging Courses I've Taken
Six Figure Blogger- Educating and investing in myself has been a game changer for my business. I took Alex and Lauren's Six Figure Blogger course just a few months ago and found it to be an incredible resource on creating your own digital products.
This course really covers the "big picture" of building a business through your blog, and teaches more advanced strategies for how to get there. I highly recommend it for anyone who has a blog but hasn't had much success making a real living from it. You can check out Six Figure Blogger here.
Pinterest Traffic Avalanche- Pinterest Traffic Avalanche is another course created by Alex and Lauren of CreateandGo.com. They've really mastered the art of using Pinterest to drive traffic, and I was super excited to learn from them.
This course goes in depth to show you step-by-step how they finagle their Pinterest accounts into traffic driving machines. Since taking PTA just a couple of weeks ago, my traffic has already doubled and I expect it to grow much more as time goes on. You can check out the Pinterest Traffic Avalanche course here.
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing- Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing is a course created by Michelle Shroeder-Gardner of Making Sense of Cents. She currently makes $50,000+ per MONTH through affiliate marketing, so I couldn't help but take her course. If you're ready to monetize your blog but don't want the hassle of creating your own products, affiliate marketing is a great option. You can check out Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing here.
My Secret Weapon for Creating Incredible Blog Posts
Get my clickable blog post checklist instantly in your email when you sign up for my Bloggers Hotlist series below. This is the EXACT checklist I've used to create amazing content that grows my blog on autopilot. It's time to get organized!
