MY FAVORITE BLOGGING RESOURCES
I mentioned many of my favorite blogging resources throughout my post on how to start a blog, but those were but a drop in the bucket of tools I use every single day to make this dream a reality. I told you, IT TAKES A VILLAGE!
Below are my favorite blogging resources and the ones I would recommend to anyone. I use only the most user-friendly options (let’s be real, that’s out of necessity), and typically go where I can find the best deal. Happy blogging!
SiteGround
Computers are hard and SiteGround is my blogging guardian angel. They do everything for me (or at least show me how to do it myself) and their support is the best customer service of ANY COMPANY I’ve ever dealt with. MWL would be nothing without these geniuses. You couldn’t ask for a better web host.
Bloggers, Brands, & Tourism Boards
This course by Amanda Williams covers everything you need for making friends in high places. It includes pitching, media kit creation, working on social media campaigns, scoring sponsored travel, and everything in between.
Ditch the Daily Grind
Fellow travel blogger Jessica Festa’s course is a perfect first stop on the road to turning your blog into a profitable business. Even as someone who’s been blogging over 4 years, I still learn something new every time I turn to it!
Travel Blog Prosperity
Jessica also offers this other course, the next step in dominating the blogging world and making a livable income. Think of this course as your 24/7 complete travel blogging coach. Click here to see everything it offers!
PicMonkey
PicMonkey is my go-to for quick, easy photo editing. I use it to resize photos, do some light editing, and create pins and featured images. The free version is awesome but I can’t recommend upgrading enough!
Adobe Lightroom
After years of using free online programs, I finally upgraded to Adobe Lightroom for serious photo editing. It’s simpler to use than Photoshop but lacks none of the possibility. (See an example edited photo in this post). You can preset filters to make editing your photos a snap.
Photography for Beginners Ebook
This e-book on how to use your DSLR (the real way) is perfect for beginners. It breaks down every aspect of your camera in simple terms, offers quality examples, interesting facts, and only costs $9.99.
Filmora by Wondershare
I used to use iMovie for all my video needs… until I discovered something much more fun and user-friendly. Filmora has been infinitely useful for creating simple, shareable videos for social media + blog posts.
Tailwind
Pinterest has single-handedly helped grow my web traffic but managing it is a pain and a real time-suck. Tailwind is an easy to use program that does it all for me, offers great analytics, and saves me about a million hours a month. Use this link to get a free month of Tailwind to see if you like it!
MailChimp Email Marketing
Mailchimp is the email marketing program I use to send out my monthly newsletters and new post alerts. It’s sooo easy to use (and pretty fun actually) even a monkey could do it. Seriously, I’m proof. Also, it’s free if you have less than 2,000 subscribers – so give it a try!
FOR THE WANDERLUSTY GUIDE TO HOW TO START A BLOG, CLICK HERE
All the steps you need to get your own blog up and running!
MY GO-TO BLOGGING GEAR
The actual, physical things I need to get the job done.
Not pictured: loads upon loads of coffee
Extra SD Cards
Your camera is nothing without an SD card (I’ve tried). I prefer the bigger SD cards that hold, no joke, 9,999+ pictures (according to my camera screen) but always, always, always have a backup (or two or three) on me. Ain’t nobody got time to run to Walgreens or its foreign equivalent.
MacBook Pro
My second MacBook Pro (read this post to find out what happened to the first one) and the only laptop I’ll ever use. It’s reliable, capable, portable, packable, and a blogger’s best friend. It’s fast and smoothly operates allllll of the programs I require it to. (So many.)
External Hard Drive
The 2nd most important blogging tool is a backup system. Don’t make the same mistakes I’ve made–backup your hard drive constantly. I can’t stress this enough. I use two: this Toshiba slim for photos, and this 2TB external hard drive for EVERYTHING else.
Moo Business Cards
I use Moo.com for my printed business cards because of their high quality and unique design. Moo.com offers some of the best business cards I’ve ever seen. Their stock paper is super thick and I love my square cards!
