Blogging
After starting my blogging journey in 2020, there have been SO MANY THINGS I have learned and picked up.
Through participating in blogging groups, taking courses, joining programs and SO MANY other things.. I just felt that it was time to package all these things up for you!
It is incredible how many people think that starting a website is no big deal or easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Starting and maintaining a website is HARD WORK and there is A LOT to pay attention to.
For this reason, pay close attention to these blogging tips and resources that I find to be best for beginning bloggers (maybe even intermediate)!
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Top Blogging Resources
Best Hosting for Beginners
I’ve heard a lot of people talk about hosting and I love Bluehost!
At this point, I have contacted Bluehost at least 10-15 times since I started my blog. They have helped me with SO MANY things on my site.. creating a staging site, email problems, caching, images, etc.
As of time I’m writing this, I contacted them yesterday because something with my images was finicky and they helped me find where the issue happened. Definitely a great choice for beginners since you can ask their support team questions.
Best Theme for Your Site
At the very beginning of my blogging journey, I bought a paid theme from Etsy because it was SUPER CUTE and I LOVED the design. I didn’t know ANYTHING about post formats or design ideas I wanted to do later on.
After taking a web development class, I switched to the Kadence theme because I wanted more customization options. It ended up replacing the page builder I was using before!
Starting the “Business” Side of Blogging
One of the MOST important things I EVER did was establishing my blog as a business. You know the saying “knowledge is power”? It definitely applies here!
I had a 1-on-1 call and invested into business courses from Ellie Talks Money, aka Ellie Diop. She has courses around grants, business credit and more. I wish more bloggers talked about the business side of blogging because it is INCREDIBLY NECESSARY to know. I just applied her courses to blogging.
Invest in Learning from a CPA
Another thing I don’t regret doing when I knew my blog wasn’t just a hobby anymore, was invest into learning from a CPA. Depending on how much you already know about the financial side of business, look into taking courses with Michel Valbrun, CPA. Not only does he have content about taxes, but also generational wealth!
Take Courses from a Lawyer
Whether I was trying to learn more about LLC’s or trademarking, Cierra Esq, aka Thee Millennial Lawyer was a great resource I started out with. To this day, I still apply what I learned. If I have a question still, I just look back at the content.
Blogging Legal Templates
Speaking about the legal side of owning a blogging business, one of the first things I invested in after publishing my site was Amira’s legal templates from A Self Guru. She is both a blogger and lawyer so you can ask her questions in the facebook group about both things.
I’m a very TYPE A person when it comes to avoiding problems in the future and getting Amira’s legal templates keeps my mind worry-free! It was really simple to setup.
I like that she also updates templates to stay with the times.
Best Block Plugin to Make Blog Posts Look Aesthetically Pleasing
After I bought the Kadence theme and realized how much I loved it, it was a natural step to get the Kadence block plugin. I use it everytime I make a post and it pairs well with Gutenberg.