Click on the photo above to check out my hacks on How to Set up & Monetize Your Blog Tools, Tips, & Tutorials. It was featured in an Inspire Monday Linky party at Mostly Blogging.

Best Blogger Resources

I am still kicking myself that I did not get these resources earlier in my blogging journey. I could have saved myself a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. Remember to be patient. In general, blogging is not a “get rich quick scheme.”

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These posts contain affiliate links (pictures &/ words) you can use to purchase some of these products that I think are wonderful. If you buy products using these links, I will receive a small commission from the sale at no additional charge to you. All my posts are my honest opinions. Affiliate links have an * next to them. Thank you for your support! Please see my Disclosure page for more information.

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*Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing by Michelle Shroeder-Gardner (Affiliate Opportunity)

*Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing is an amazing course! Plenty of beneficial content focuses on monetizing your blog using affiliate marketing. Resources are well organized and straightforward. I think of it as the quintessential course/manual of how to start, operate, and monetize your blog using affiliate marketing while following the rules and laws that govern the internet. Yes, there are rules and laws to deal with when monetizing your blog. There are six modules in this course and an extensive Bonus section. Welcome – Introduction to the Course, workbook pages, and access to a private Facebook group.

Michelle guides you through: who is involved in the affiliate marketing process, what affiliate marketing is, (which affiliate to choose) and where to go to gain more blog traffic, when to start your affiliate journey, why affiliate marketing can be profitable and a good fit for your blog. There are many helpful resources including 80+ affiliate ideas for different niches, tips for holiday marketing, an all-inclusive guide for affiliate marketing strategies…

Worksheets that can help you map out goals, strategize, and brainstorm a plan on how to monetize your site through affiliation. Michelle gives you the guidance and the simple steps to ensure that you can follow along. *Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing is a thorough course/handbook that can lead you on the path to affiliate marketing success!

The modules include:

1. What is Affiliate Marketing (3 segments on the ins and outs of affiliate marketing),
2. How to Find and Apply to Affiliate Programs (6 sections dedicated to determining what your readers want, finding and evaluating different affiliate programs, and 80 + affiliate ideas for different niches),
3. Follow the Rules (laws and guidelines for bloggers that monetize),
4. How to Get Your Readers to Convert (10 sections including building trust and marketing strategies),
5. Strategies and Ways to Promote Affiliate Links (12 segments including utilizing social media),
6. Rinse & Repeat (7 parts including The Importance of Strong Relationships, Tips to Improve Affiliate Marketing around the Holidays, and so much more),

Bonuses (7 sections counting How to Increase Your Page Views)

*The She Approach to Making Pinterest Possible (Affiliate Opportunity)

*The She Approach to Making Pinterest Possible tripled my Pinterest Traffic! Click on the title to learn more. It is for anyone who wants to increase Pinterest traffic significantly. This eBook is NOT just for beginners.

At 170+ pages, this eBook is jammed packed full of valuable information and actionable steps for both beginner and more experienced bloggers. This resource was recently updated to follow up with Pinterest’s ever-changing suggestions. (I was sent the new version with the updates for free.) It is the most thorough eBook about Pinterest I have ever read!

*How to Explode your Blog Traffic + Make Thousands as a Newbie by Ell Duclos- (Affiliate opportunity)

Are you a new blogger or have you been blogging for a few months but need to boost your blog traffic? This is a wonderful “mini” course! It boosted my Pinterest traffic from 2,000- 15, 000 with some simple applicable tools. It summarizes key actionable steps bloggers can use to increase their blog traffic.

To optimize the suggestions that Ell gives about Facebook, you will want to be secure with knowledge on how to use Facebook. She suggests that you take a more active Admin/leadership role.

After following Ell’s advice, I went from 2,000 views on Pinterest to 15,000 views on Pinterest. Her strategy really works!

Blog Basics

Facebook Game

Perfecting Pinterest

Other Blog Traffic Tips

Affiliate Marketing-Make Your First Sale

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*Grammarly  (Massive Time Saver) (Affiliate Opportunity) 

Check your grammar and spelling. Readers around the world will access your blog. I use and recommend *Grammarly which goes beyond spell check, and it quickly gives you feedback. You want to prove to potential affiliates, sponsors, clients, customers, and your general reading population that you are knowledgeable about the topic in your post and that you can communicate this effectively.

Misspellings, poor sentence structure, word context, punctuation, incorrect word usage (ex. there, their, or they’re), and grammar are very distracting and tiring to read (translation readers will stop reading). It signals that you do not care, and this will most likely turn your readers off and any potential business opportunities away.

*Grammarly can be plugged into MS Office® and your browser. In my browser, it not only checks my blog posts, but it also checks the emails I write through my Gmail account, blog comments I write on other blogs, and all my social media (this has saved me from many embarrassing misspellings).

This program will check your spelling, grammar, sentence structure, pinpoint potential plagiarism (loose translation-stealing someone else’s words, copyright material, work and claiming it as your own), and will let you know and allow you to correct your work immediately. I love the weekly updates that I get in my email that show me: Productivity, Accuracy, Vocabulary, and my top three mistakes. I can see this as a helpful tool for teachers and students to have.

Subscribe and get the full How to Write Posts Your Audience Will Want to Read for free!

Choosing a Domain Name is one of the most important things you will do when setting up your blog.

Here are some things to consider when selecting a domain name:

• It will permanently be a part of your URL as a blogger, and it is part of your identity/brand. Your domain name is the way your audience will find and relate to you/ your brand.
• Choose a domain name that is easy to remember and spell.
• You will want a domain name that identifies who you are/ what you are representing (ex. Bestbookreviews.com.) However, do not be too specific because your site will most likely expand over time. I chose teacher-librarian-forlife.com because it leaves the door open for me to go beyond book reviews to have a lifestyle section and a teaching section that creates themes for teachers and parents using books and activities.
• Keep your domain name short. (I made this mistake because I was very focused on explaining what my blog is all about, so you see that it is longer.) In my defense, teachreadlife.com was taken. Therefore, think of about 5-8 deviations for your domain name BEFORE you register. I use Bluehost, and I was thrilled that it came up with my domain name when I typed in teacherlibrarianforlife.com. I appreciated Bluehost generating several suggestions with my keywords in mind.
• If you provide virtual assistance or mentoring services, you might want to include your modified first and last name as part of the URL because your business is personalized, you are providing a service. (Be mindful of the information you share in your domain name because you do not want someone knocking on your door out of the blue.) Because the whole world can see your blog, you might consider using some deviation of your first/ last name/ perhaps using a middle name as a replacement for your first name (while still maintain your identity and building trust with your audience).
• If you are selling something and have a brand name, you will want to include your brand name in your domain name in some way.
• .com Search engines like Google associate .com with businesses. If you would like to monetize your blog and work with various vendors, you will want a professional looking website that does not have WordPress as part of the domain or .org unless you are an organization.
• Try to see if you can get the same social media handles for all your social media accounts with your domain name if you can.

*Bluehost Hosting Site (Affiliate Opportunity)

I *BlueHost

• • Free Domain,
  • 24/7 support,
  • Numerous helpful Tutorials/ “How To” learning tools to use for Self-Help- go to SUPPORT- Click & scroll down- to Self-Help, Then- type in what you need- Click search-Select and click the category that best describes the help you need-and read directions/ watch the “How To” video(s), such as “How To” install and utilize plugins (How To resources available).
  • Free Site Builders.

 I have provided a video tutorial for you on how to register to use * BlueHost as your hosting site. Affiliate opportunities after purchase. 

Plugins

*PicMonkey– I love this tool for modifying photos, creating pins, and make appealing freebies. It offers a library of graphics to enhance your work, and it offers an affiliate program 

Google Analytics- This is free. It is a must-have if you monetize your blog. It provides valuable analytics for your site such as how many people visit your site, how long they stay, etc.

Yoast SEO– This plugin costs money, but it is well worth it. It measures how searchable your blog is on search engines such as Google and how readable your blog is. It shows you with green-great, yellow-needs improvement and what specifically what part of your post needs improvement, and red- multiple problems (again, it makes specific suggestions). I am less concerned with readability because I write as I talk.

MailChimp– There is a free and a paid version. It is free for up to 2,000 email sign up subscribers.

Replyable– This is an affordable way to allow people to leave comments on your blog. You will want some way for your visitors to leave comments on your blog. (There are other plugins that you will need to add for this to work. Replyable will direct you.) You can see immediately how many comments are waiting for you, and it sends notifications to your email.

Social Warfare-Social Media Plugin (free & paid upgrade) large, visible social share buttons

Feed Them Social – Social Media buttons that allow readers to connect my blog posts to their social media.

Registration Honeypot, Stop Spammers blocker, & AnitSpam by Clean Talk– These are free. These help block spam. You will want a plugin that blocks spam to your site. Without them, I got spammed on a regular basis.

Bluehost– This plugin is free and integrates your WordPress site with the Bluehost control panel.

Redirection– Manage all your 301 redirects and monitor 404 errors.

Widget Importer & Exporter-(free) Imports and Exports Widgets

Want more tips and resources for bloggers? Check out these articles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feature Image: Pixabay