Best Blogging resources and tools for beginners
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I’m so excited to share all of my favorite blogging resources and tools for beginners with you.
Not only do I love blogging, I love all the amazing tools and resources there are to support bloggers.
Everything you need to know about blogging cannot be contained in a single post!
As bloggers we are continually learning, but this series will get you started in the blogging world.
Let’s dive into part two of our How to Start a New Blog series!
How to Start a New Blog in 2023 [Part 2]
In part one of our blogging series we covered our important blog set up prep work like knowing what you want to write about, discovering your niche, finding your unique perspective, identifying your pillar content and figuring out your name and URL.
We also talked about the mechanics of your blog, how to choose a web host, platform and theme, the importance of claiming ALL your social media handles, making sure your blog is legal and understanding copyright laws.
In part two of our series we are going to cover the best blogging resources and tools for beginners. From free stock photography sites, design tools and how to get organized I’m sharing all my blogging favorites.
Best Blogging Resources for beginners
There are thousands of resources and tools out there for bloggers. The blogging tools and resources that we’ll look at in this post will get you started in your blogging journey.
My objective is to get you started with free photography and design resources, Pinterest, Google tools and organizational tools.
Remember that blogging is a journey and you’ll keep learning along the way.
Free Stock Photography Sites
There are tons of free stock photography sites out there!
While I love creating my own content I’m super thankful for these sites for the days when I can’t shoot the subject matter I need for a photo.
Be sure to read the licenses of these photo sites. You should always know the terms of use before you use a photo. Yes, they are free stock photos, but certain restrictions may apply.
While you don’t have to give attribution to the photographer, a lot of these sites encourage you to give them credit as a courtesy and thank you for using their photo. When you can give credit it really is the nice thing to do!
My Favorite Free Photography & Video sites:
In my opinion these are best free stock photo, illustration and video sites out there.
With so many great free stock photos (and videos) available your only problem is going to be having TOO many photos to choose from!
When it comes to website traffic Pinterest is my number one traffic source! Pinterest is a blogger’s best friend.
While you may not think of Pinterest as a resource you should! It’s a powerful, visual, search engine that people go to searching for all things DIY, recipe, fashion, travel and so much more!
I’m sure you’ve heard of Pinterest, if you aren’t already an avid pinner!
Let’s talk about a few key Pinterest basics for bloggers.
p.s. Don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest for blogging, design and productivity tips!
Pinterest Basics
When it comes to utilizing Pinterest as a blogger you need to think of the platform as the powerful search engine that it is.
People go to Pinterest to search for all sorts of things!
And since you’ll be utilizing Pinterest to drive traffic to your blog you are going to want to optimize your Pinterest account.
Optimizing your Pinterest Account
Whether you already have an account or are starting a new one you need to optimize your account.
From your profile, bio, boards, board descriptions and pins you want to have a cohesive keyword strategy.
This lets Pinterest (specifically it’s algorithm) know what you’re about and provides it with the information it needs to pull your pins up in people’s search results.
Keyword Strategy
Employ an overall keyword strategy. Your bio, board titles, and board descriptions all need to use keywords related to your niche.
Similarly you’ll want to use keywords in all of your pin titles and descriptions as well.
Keywords tell Pinterest what your account, boards and pins are about.
Remember Pinterest is a search engine. In order to deliver your pins in searches keywords are essential.
Need a head start on creating gorgeous pins? Grab my 30 modern pins for Pinterest designed to stand out and catch the eye.
A strong profile and bio
Be clear about who you serve and what your niche is. Your bio communicates what type of content people can expect if they follow you.
It will not only help people decide if they should follow you, it will also help Pinterest decide to deliver your content to people when searching for information you post about.
This is what my Pinterest bio used to say: ✨ Inspiring women to pursue joyful lives. Follow for Blogging Resources, Canva Templates + Goal Setting tips! Connect on Instagram: @naomikirons ✨
Cute right?
But not strategic.
Here’s my updated bio: Blogging, design and productivity tips to help newbie bloggers reach your dreams. Follow for Blogging Resources, Canva Tutorials + Goal Setting tips! Connect on Instagram: @naomikirons
Our goal is to inform Pinterest and our followers of the content that we deliver. The more clear we can be on this the more likely people will follow us and Pinterest will deliver our pins in people’s searches.
Boards, descriptions and pins
Every board title, board description, pin title, and pin description should contain keywords.
Here’s the anatomy of a solid keyword structure.
Let’s use this post as an example: How to Start a New Blog in 2023
Board Title: Blogging for Beginners
Board Description: Blogging tips for Beginners. Helpful advice for new bloggers. The best tips to start your new blog.
Pin Title: How to Start a Blog for Beginners [in 2023]
Pin Description: Want to know how to start a blog in 2023. Get all the best blogging for beginners tips and advice to start your new blog. This step by step guide will teach you everything you need to know about starting a blog.
Everything in your titles and descriptions informs Pinterest what your content is about. Since our goal is for Pinterest to show people our pins to get traffic to our blog we need to intentionally write strategy driven copy.
Create a Business Account
You have two options. You can turn your personal account into a business account or you can start a new business account.
I turned my personal account into a business account. Depending on how long you have had an account it may be easier to start a new business account.
Starting a new account means you can optimize it from the start without having to go through and edit your existing account.
You definitely want a business account so you can claim your website and get all the analytics and insights about your account!
You can read all about getting a business account and how to set it up on Pinterest’s website.
Claiming your domain
Once you have set up your business account, claim your website domain.
Claiming your site is key since it will provide analytics on pins from that url!
Any pins created with your domain, whether you pin them or someone else pins them will have your bio photo and a follow button for your Pinterest account!
Pinterest will walk your through each set of claiming your domain, but it can get a bit technical as you have to verify your domain.
If you get stuck Pinterest has a help page for claiming your website.
You’ll have two options, to verify by uploading an HTML file to your website or adding a DNS record to your domain host.
When you are new to blogging those can both sound intimidating.
Thankfully there are WordPress plugins for uploading an HTML file to your site. I recommend this option. I use a plugin called WPCode to insert HTML code into the header of my website without having to mess with the technical side of doing through my host and cpanel.
If you any questions at all please ask in the comments!
Set up Rich Pins
Setting up rich pins can also be a little bit technical, but it’s worth having rich pins as they add the headline, description and author from your website.
You have to have a business account first so don’t skip that step.
Pinterest walks you through the process and their guide is the best one I’ve found to get my rich pins connected!
Read this article by Pinterest to get step by step instructions on setting up your rich pins.
If you’re still struggling to set up your rich pins, check out this in depth article by Rank Math!
Pinterest has helpful articles for everything on their help.pinterest.com site. Anything technical that you are trying to figure out on Pinterest this is the place to go.
Have a Pinterest Strategy
Having a strong Pinterest strategy is very important as a blogger. There are entire courses devoted to pinning strategies! I personally purchased Pinterest with Ell and learned so much from it. If you are looking to invest in a course to conquer Pinterest I can’t say enough about Ell’s course!
Like most platforms Pinterest has evolved over the years and continues to evolve. Unfortunately there’s no cookie cutter strategy for Pinterest. The point is to have a strategy and employ it.
Here’s a quick look into my current Pinterest strategy once I publish a blog post.
- Step one: Immediately share and Pin to Pinterest – for every post I write I include at least three pinable images in the post.
- Step two: Schedule a Pin in Pinterest to post the next day
- Step three: Schedule a Pin in Pinterest to post in 7 days
Here’s where creating 3-4 pinable images and using them in your post comes in very handy. Not only do I have images to create visual appeal in my post, I’ve created them as highly pinable images that are formatted for Pinterest. This makes them super easy to share for me and for my readers!
For even more insight into creating a powerful pinning strategy I highly recommend checking out Pinterest with Ell.
Vibrant Modern Pinterest Pins Template
The Vibrant Modern Pinterest Pins Template includes 30 pin templates to create custom Pinterest pins to fit your brand and website or social media. Perfect for bloggers, influencers, course creators, digital marketers and entrepreneurs.
Best Blogging tools for beginners
Canva: Free design tool
I am Canva obsessed! And that is not an exaggeration. It’s the most amazing FREE design tool out there.
There’s just so much you can do in Canva. Not only do they have incredible templates. They have tons of amazing resources to use in your designs.
There are thousands of illustrations, photos, photo filters, fonts, icons, and shapes available to use in your graphics.
For even more features you can upgrade to Canva Pro. I’ve had Canva Pro for several years now, but you can get Canva for free and try Canva Pro our with a free 30 day trial.
Canva is filled with templates, elements, photos, videos, fonts and more to help you easily create amazing graphics for your blog and social media.
→ GRAB your Canva PRO 30-day free trial to unlock all the awesome pro Features
While the free version offers tons of options, Canva Pro offers features that make the investment well worth it. With Pro you unlock thousands more elements, fonts, photos and videos.
If you’re new to Canva I wrote an in depth introduction to my favorite design tool that will introduce you to my all time favorite blogging tool.
What are you waiting for?! Get Canva Pro for FREE for 30 days!
Learn more about designing with Canva
- Is it time to upgrade to Canva Pro?
- 7 Canva Image Editing Tools to try out
- How to Use the Secret Canva Brand Codes
- How To Create A Free Canva Website
Blog Organizing Tools
Asana
Asana is a project management tool that I use to plan and track my blog posts in.
Get insanely organized with Asana.
Asana is an amazing work management system that tracks project progress with boards, calendars, goals and due dates. Especially helpful in managing team projects by assigning team members specific tasks.
You can create an editorial calendar with projects, tasks and subtasks. Set timelines and due dates to keep yourself on track.
I use Asana to track a blog post from start to finish. Creating tasks such as research, photoshoots, pin image creation, and promotion.
For example I have a project titled upcoming blog posts. Then I have action sections, like writing a post, photographing, and completed posts. I fill my action section with blog posts and then add tasks to it.
For each blog post I also put my points outline and then simply follow that as I write my blog post.
Evernote
Having a system for keeping track of ideas will save you tons of time!
Evernote is so much more than a note taking platform. In addition to your text you can add images, PDFs, scans, attach documents and even audio to your notes.
You can sync your account across all your devices, which means you always have access to your notes and ideas.
It features super cool tools:
- Web Clipper
- Integrations
- Notes Sync
- PDF & Doc Search
- Search Handwriting
- Document Scanning
- Notebooks & Tags
- Templates
The web clipper has to be my favorite tool. No bookmarking or copy and pasting involved. Just a neat and clean screen capture that grabs everything, including the link, and adds it to Evernote for you to refer to whenever you want!
Google Blogging Tools
There are tons of key Google Blogging Tools that will help you in your journey of blogging.
Google Analytics
Get signed up with Google Analytics from the start.
When it comes to knowing what’s happening on your blog, Google Analytics is key. Google has tons of free tools for bloggers, but I recommend starting with this Google website tool first.
Google Analytics collects tons of insightful data from your site. From traffic sources, views and audience demographics to customized reports, these analytics will help you make better informed decisions about your site.
You’ll get data on where your traffic is coming from; how long your visitors are staying on your site and individual pages; audience demographics such as location, age, and gender; and so much more.
You can generate and customize reports depending on the specific information you are looking for. When I want to dig deep into my website analytics Google Analytics is the perfect tool to use.
To start using Google Analytics you’ll need to go to, analytics.google.com, sign up, and claim your website. Read this article from SemRush for a helpful step-by-step guide to getting Google Analytics set up!
Google Search Console
Google Search Console helps you understand and monitor how Google views your site.
Google Search Console provides insightful information on your site’s health, SEO and how you can improve your site’s performance in Google Search’s eyes.
When you first launch your site you’ll want to submit your site map to Google Search Console.
Each time you publish a new blog post you’ll want to go to Google Search Console ask Google to index it.
Google will automatically index your site and individual blog posts, but it can take time. I always ask Google to index a new post so that it can show up in search results faster and be seen sooner!
Here are the benefits Google outlines:
- Improve your performance on Google Search
- Optimize your content with Search Analytics
- Make sure that Google has the freshest view of your site
- Get alerted on issues and fix your site
- Understand how Google Search sees your pages
Google Keyword Planner
Google Adsense offers a keyword planner to help you choose the right keywords for ads. Even though it’s intended for ads planning it’s a very helpful, free, way to do keyword research.
It works as a powerful keyword tool for SEO.
How to use google keyword planner for your blog
- Set up a Google Ads account (free)
- Once logged in navigate to Tools and Settings > Planning > Keyword Planner
- Select Discover New Keywords
- Type in as many keywords or long-tail keywords (phrases) as you would like to research. Then hit the blue “Get Results” button.
You’ll get data back on your search as well as keyword ideas from Google.
Look for low competition keywords with a high monthly average search.
Don’t worry if the concept of keywords is a little confusing in the beginning. We’ll cover SEO and Keyword research in the next post in this series!
Google Trends
Are you ever curious what people are searching for on a larger scale? Google Trends will tell you. You can search a trend or topic, check out latest stories and insights, see the latest trending searches, and view a past year in search.
If you are writing on a specific topic you can search that topic in Google Trends to find out interest in the topic over time, interest by region, related topics and related queries.
Try searching your niche to see what trending and spark new post ideas.
For example you might have heard this term “is blogging dead” or even asked if “people are still blogging.” You can search in Google trends and even compare the two searches to see if people are searching for these topic related subjects.
Powerful SEO and Keyword Tool
Want to go in-depth with your SEO, keyword, and backlinking research? Then you definitely should check out Semrush!
Semrush takes SEO research and implementation to the highest level. You can analyze your website to improve your SEO for your site as a whole and for individual posts.
With their keyword research tools you can see how your keywords are performing, get comparison data on other websites and research keywords for upcoming posts.
Since using Semrush I’ve been able to significantly increase my site’s SEO and my keyword rankings.
They also analyze your posts for backlinks giving you site recommendations to pursue to get backlinks to your site.
Check out their 14-day free trial! But I’m warning you now, once you check them out, you’ll want to keep using Semrush.
Now that you know about the best blogging resources and tools for beginners you are ready to rock your blog!
xoxo Naomi
Ready to put your beautiful blog together read this post: How to Customize Your New Blog
How to start a blog next step: seo for new bloggers
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