Because I couldn’t run my blog without a LOT of resources to help me, here in my Resource Library are the tools, guides, and courses that I swear by. Disclaimer: some I also affiliate for because I love them so much. So if you purchase any of the resources marked with a (*), I’ll receive a small percentage of the sale. But others I recommend simply because I think they’re great.
Contents
Blogging resources
Starting with the Resource Library basics of hosting, themes, keywords (to help with blog post writing), blogging help, pitching to brands, and affiliate sales.
Hosting
I went self-hosted on WordPress from the beginning and after a couple of bad experiences, switched to Lyrical Host*. Who are THE best hosting company ever with support that’s second to none (I swear they never sleep). They have an active Facebook group, offer a range of free guides and downloads, and even blogging courses for clients. Here’s what other bloggers have to say about them and why they love them too. When you’ve finished reading, here’s a sign up link for you – and you can use my code LISASNOTEBOOK10 for 10% off your first year’s hosting.
Postscript: I recently transferred my freelance writing services website and email over to Lyrical Host as well – the most seamless and stress-free transfer ever, 10/10 recommend them.
Blog theme
WordPress is your CMS (content management system) but you need to dress the skeleton with a theme. There are literally hundreds of themes out there but it all comes down to personal choice. My current theme is from Creative Market but I’ve had it for a while now so I’ll be looking for a refresh soon. I’ve got my eye on some gorgeous blogger themes over on Etsy* at the moment.
Keywords
Presumably, you’d like other people to read what you write, particularly if you’re hoping to be paid for what you publish. So, you need to use the right keywords to help you rank on Google. There’s no point writing posts with keywords that (a) no-one is looking for or (b) have a LOT of competition. Here’s where Keysearch* is invaluable. It’s not a free tool but it’s made ALL the difference to me. For example, this blog post is now ranking on Google page one and bringing me literally hundreds of views every day.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways of monetising your blog. Want to make money from your blog even while you sleep? Affiliate sales can work for every niche, it all comes down to understanding your audience, crafting blog posts that will sell, using social media correctly, and standing out in an oversaturated market.
The Amazon Associates Programme is probably one of the easiest affiliate marketing platforms for bloggers to get started with, selling almost 400 million products and accounting for 43% of all US online retail sales. So used and disclosed correctly, it offers significant earnings potential for bloggers and content creators. Since I’ve been using Super Affiliate Mom’s Guide* I’ve seen my affiliate income start to rise. So I can recommend her How to Effectively Make Sales with Amazon Affiliate “Super Affiliate Guide*.
AWIN* is another of my favourite affiliate marketing platforms. It’s basically a hub for over 15,000 brands, including leading names such as Etsy, Booking.com, Waterstones, White Company, and more. So something for every blogging niche, no matter how diverse. Join AWIN here and, after you’ve been accepted, search for brands in your niche(s) and request to join their affiliate programmes. Once they accept you, you’re free to introduce the brands you love and their products and services to your audience 🙂
Image libraries and design resources
A picture tells a thousand words so, if you don’t have a suitable picture for your blog post already, then you’re bound to find one in an online image resource library.
Styled Stock Society* are my go-to for over 4,000+ fabulous stock photos to choose from (new collections added every week). They also offer over 800+ Canva* customisable templates (think workbooks, Insta Story graphics, blog headers), monthly Instagram caption prompts, content planning resources, and more. Want to get a feel their style before you sign up? They offer a set of 20 images for FREE – and I think once you’ve seen their quality, you’ll find it hard to resist joining the club 🙂 Click here here to explore all the membership options – and don’t forget to download your freebies.
If memberships isn’t for you, how about these 350 photos from my amazing blog host, Lyrical Host? They’re an absolute bargain too at only £12.99 – I mean that’s less than 3p per photo – what’s not to love? If you’d like to take a look (or better yet, buy The Everything Pack *) here’s a shop link for you. 
Canva* is a graphic design platform where you can create social media graphics, presentations, posters, documents and other visual content for free. You can use and edit their templates and photos, or upload your own via a simple drag and drop interface. Once you start creating pins for Pinterest (bear with me) you’ll find it invaluable. I’d recommend going for a Canva Pro plan* (and access to 400,000 free photos, illustrations, and templates) as you have more choice and greater flexibility.
If you don’t want to pay for images, Unsplash, Pexels and Pixabay are royalty free stock photo libraries The only drawback from using too many free photos is that so does everyone else, so that’s why I buy mine now.
The biggest lightbulb moment I had with Pinterest is that it’s not a social media platform. It’s a visual search engine (like Google Images). So keywords are equally as important as unique images. And the Pinterest with Ell Course and The Ultimate Pinterest Marketing Guide are the two most helpful Pinterest additions to my Resource Library. You’ll learn how to set up your Pinterest account, boards, keywords, best pinning times, group boards, manual pinning, Tailwind scheduling, plus a few free pin templates to get you started.
Pinterest scheduler
You can schedule your pins directly in Pinterest and most successful bloggers recommend this as manual pinning is favoured by Pinterest. However, it’s super time consuming, so if you want a shortcut, check out Tailwind which will allow you to upload and schedule as many pins as you can create. Tailwind is a Pinterest approved partner. And, fun fact, you can connect your Instagram account and pin your Instagram pics to Pinterest from here too 🙂
So these are my favourite guides, eBooks, courses, and top tools that I swear by and couldn’t run my blog without. Do you use any of them? Are there any blogging resources that you love and that I need to add to my Resource Library? What do you use to help you run your blog?
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