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The tools I use to make my blog a successful business
When I started out blogging, I didn’t know much about the things you need to thrive as a blogger. Things like hosting, schedulers, even an email service were something I knew NOTHING about. But after 2 years, I’ve learned some things about the best blogging resources to use to grow a business.
For any job you do, you need the right equipment to do the job to the best of your abilities.
If youre a photographer, you need a great camera, tripod, and lighting.
If you are a chef, you need good knives, ingredients, and tools to cook with.
When you are a blogger, you NEED to have the right blogging resources so that you can succeed, and make an income.
Here are the top 5 tools I use every day to keep my business running smoothly, as well as 2 bonus resources at the end of the post!
(This page probably contains affiliate links, if you want to read more about that check out our disclaimer page)
This seems like a given, but yes, I utilize Pinterest every day for my business.
Pinterest is a great way to grow your traffic, get noticed, and scale your blog or business. It is ever changing, so know that you will have to adapt constantly to stay relevant.
(I think the algorithm has changed over six times since I started a Natural Endeavor in 2018)
BUT this will be a lot easier than trying to make it big on Google.
For me, this is also kind of the most fun part, aside from writing.
Creating Pin images, curating my boards, and seeing the numbers grow has definitely been an adventure. I have learned so much about marketing and advertising that I never would have expected to learn going into this business.
Tailwind Tribes
This is one of my blogging resources that took me a while to commit to, but I am SO glad I finally did.
Tailwind Tribes is like group boards on Pinterest, only a THOUSAND TIMES better and more efficient.
Tailwind is the number one tool to use if you want to succeed on Pinterest.
That is because THEY keep up with the algorithm changes and best practices.
They have put into place so many great tools for you to use to keep your Pinterest account from getting blocked for spam. (Which by the way, happens to the best of us)
They also keep you on a good schedule.
Tailwind Tribes also works to help your Pins get re-pinned by people in your Niche. This will hopefully lead to more a more accurate representation of your pins than people randomly pinning on Pinterest.
I didn’t think I needed this for the longest time, but I am really thankful to have them.
For instance, when we were in the hospital for two weeks after our son was born, my blog did fine all on its own, thanks to Tailwind.
If your’e interested in trying it out, use this link to get one month FREE of Tailwind, and see for yourself!
Hosting: WPengine
WPengine is my site host, and I love the heck out of them!
I discovered WPengine in August 2018 after being with another Hosting company, and I am SO, so glad I made the switch.
This is my most expensive purchase, but as far as blogging resources go, it is my BEST decision.
WPengine is a managed hosting site, which means they do the back-end work for you. That means NO coding, no necessary optimization on your part, just blogging.
They make sure your site never crashes, contact you as soon as they see anything that needs an update, and manage your site to make it run beautifully.
No other host I can think of does this!
They are amazing, and worth every-single-penny you pay them.
For me, this is an investment in my blog.
It’s exactly the same as paying someone to do your taxes, or your bookkeeping, or hiring a virtual assistant.
They take care of the stuff that needs to be done, but that I don’t have time for, so I can produce my content in a fast and efficient way.
Click here to get started with WPengine today! You wont regret it, especially if you have used a different host before.
Related Content: Why I switched from BlueHost to WPengine
Convertkit
My email subscription service is Convertkit!
I use an email subscription service to keep in touch with people who want to know more about my business, follow my story, and stay up to date with things I post on my blog and social media.
If you are a business owner, and are serious about growing your business, this is important to have.
Most sales that you will get on your products are going to come from your list. This is because they have known you the longest, and trust your opinion more than people who are seeing your posts for the first time.
Canva
I create all my pins and graphics on Canva.
I know some people have said they use Photoshop which is fine, but Canva is EASY. To me, that makes it a lot more fun to use.
The best part about this is that Canva is FREE.
There is a paid version that has quite a few more options, but the free version has great preset templates, as well as the flexibility to create just about any kind of graphic yourself.
The art student in me LOVES this tool, and I have so much fun designing beautiful pins and graphics with this tool
BONUS: My most profitable blogging resources
Mediavine
I know this isn’t an option for everyone starting out, but I thought I should mention Mediavine since I get a substantial income from it.
As a blogger, you need to make an income from your blog. Otherwise, you have a very expensive hobby.
If you want to know how I got approved to Mediavine, and the course that got me to over 10k views within one month, follow this link!
Pinterest Traffic Avalanche Course
The chart above is a picture of my actual traffic from the last year and a half.
In the first 10 months of my blogging business, I made practically no traffic. You can see that up until March 2019, I was struggling hard.
In March 2019 (The month I bought Pinterest Traffic Avalanche.) I had 10,066 visitors and 11,858 views to my posts. In April 2018 I had 16,047 visitors and 18,821 views.
That is an amount of traffic I never dreamed would be possible.
This number has increased even more, my best month so far being January 2020 where I had nearly 28,000 views.
That being said, Pinterest traffic avalanche is definitely one of my TOP most profitable resources because it gave me the ability to truly scale my business from the ground up.