Are you struggling with which tools you need as a beginner blogger?
Here’s my list of essential blogging tools for beginners
When you’re first starting your blog, it can be so overwhelming! There are tools for everything and it can be hard to figure out what you need to get started!
When working with clients, I can see how confused they get and how easy it is to through your hands up and walk away.
That’s the last thing I want you to do. Blogging has had such a huge impact on my life and if I didn’t spend the time to figure out is needed, I would have never realised.
In other blog posts that are helping beginners get started, they often suggest the cheapest tools out there. I know that when you’re starting, you might want to keep costs to an absolute minimum but if you’re going into this to make money, I suggest you start with better quality tools from the start. I can tell you from experience that it takes so much time to figure everything out all over again when you have to move over because you’ve outgrown a tool.
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So, here are are the essential blogging tools for beginners that I suggest you start with:
WordPress.org
If you want to start a blog, you’re going to need a website. That’s obvious and I highly recommend that you start a WordPress site. Just make sure you start with a WordPress.org site, not a WordPress.com site. I’m currently working with a client that’s on WordPress.com hosted site and it’s not as easy to navigate and so much more expensive than a hosting company!
To get started, you’ll need hosting and it’s easiest if you start the process by getting that first.
Hosting – Siteground
I run multiple blogs through my Siteground account. Back when I first started my very first blog, I used another well know company and had so many issues!
Since being with Siteground I’ve been so happy and they’re easy to work with!
Click here to start your trial for $0.99 for 3 months.
It’s also worth noting that if you don’t already have your domain, you can get it through Siteground and it’s free when you also sign up for hosting.
WordPress theme – Divi
There are plenty of free WordPress themes out there but the Divi theme (it’s a paid product) is hands down the easiest to work with, especially if you’re just starting out. The page builder for getting your site up is super easy and intuitive. You’re able to customise your site with easy and it doesn’t take too much to get a great looking site up and running.
Click here to purchase the theme. You’ll be given a file that you then load up into the theme section and you’ve got Divi up and running!
Email Marketing – Flodesk
Updated 30th April 2020 – I am currently moving all of my email marketing efforts over to Flodesk.
So far, this is my experience. The interface is so simple and easy to navigate but seems to have all the features that I’ve loved with ActiveCampaign. It creates beautiful opt-in forms. This has been one of my biggest with ActiveCampaign. I find their opt-in forms ugly and clunky.
The best bit is that my monthly bill has gone from $95 to just $19. When you use this link, you’ll also get 50% off for the life of your account – making it only $19/month for unlimited contacts (this is completely unheard of in the email marketing arena!) and the first month is free!
I now recommend that all beginner bloggers start with Flodesk over the free version of Mailchimp. It’s just so affordable and you won’t need to move over at a later date (trust me, once you have multiple funnels set up, moving is a big job!).
Of course, Pinterest is a free platform and it’s an absolute essential for blogging tool for beginners. It’s where the majority of my traffic comes from and it keeps surprising me just how much it’s helped my blogs grow.
I get asked a lot about how to start and set up a Pinterest account the right so I created a guide ‘Pinterest Made Easy’. It takes you through the basics of setting up your Pinterest account and shows you how to optimise it the right for SEO. It also shows you how to set up your boards and walks you through getting on group boards (they’re gold and will really help you grow quicker!). For more information and to purchase, click here.
Tailwind
I’m putting Tailwind in here because I do think it’s an essential tool for beginner bloggers, it will help you grow your business and free up time so you can work on creating more content or paid offers. Having said that, if money is super tight then you can make do without it but you’ll be spending heaps more time doing the same thing yourself.
To sign up for the free trial, click here.
Canva
Canva is a free (there’s also a paid version that you don’t need to begin with) graphic creation platform. It creates those cute graphics that people use on their blogs and on social media.
You can create so many things on it! I’ve seen bloggers create their own logos, PDFs and even e-books. Canva is an essential tool for beginner bloggers!
Grammarly
I’m a self-confessed terrible speller and ‘typo’ extraordinaire. It’s one of my challenges but Grammarly helps me to stay on top of them and points them out to me. It’s a free platform that you install on your browser and it checks everything you create within the browser.
It’s amazing and one of my most loved tools! Click here to get it installed on your browser.
Beginner blogger course
Of course, I couldn’t go past adding a beginner blogging course! I’m a course addict!
I have to say that if you are just starting this course, Launch Your Blog Biz course from Create and Go is where I’d recommend you send your money. Their courses are amazing value and are so generous with their knowledge. To learn more about the course and to purchase, click here.
I hope these blogging tools for beginners help you get started on the right path and have you growing your blog in no time!