Welcome to my resource page, a curated list of tools, products, websites, and bloggers that I highly recommend for building your blog!
Every resource on this list is something I’ve used personally, or a blogger I’ve followed intently. I use most of these resources on a daily basis and couldn’t imagine starting or running my blog without them!
Note: This post contains affiliate links. You can read my disclosure by clicking here.
Tools + Programs
SiteGround – This is the host I trust my blog with, and I honestly don’t have anything bad to say about them. Their customer service, downtime rate, and overall ease of use is above and beyond any other host I’ve tried, so I would recommend them to any blogger of any size! I wrote a post here on starting your own WP blog with SiteGround to get you started!
Namecheap – It’s good practice to keep your domain registrar and host separate, and I use Namecheap for all of my domains. They have fantastic customer service, and made it extremely easy to switch my domain over to them!
Genesis Framework – I built this blog on the Genesis Framework, a WordPress framework that has tons of great themes and plugins I use every day. If you want to learn more about it, head to their page or check out this post on why I love using the Genesis Framework!
MailChimp – MailChimp is my favorite email marketing tool for bloggers just starting out their email list. Their tools are free for up to 2,000 subscribers, which is plenty of room to get your list going and figure out your email strategy!
BoardBooster – One of the best investments I’ve made for my blog is BoardBooster. It’s a Pinterest scheduling tool that allows you to schedule pins directly from Pinterest, loop through your boards, and create custom campaigns to get your pins out at the best times to your favorite boards.
Adobe Creative Cloud – I use my Creative Cloud account to access Adobe Illustrator, the program I use to create all of my blog graphics. This program helps me keep my brand consistent and clean, and there aren’t any limits to what I can design!
Amazon Associates – Thanks to the vast number of items available on Amazon, this has become my favorite affiliate program. I love being able to send my audience to a trusted retailer when recommending a product, especially because I use Amazon on a weekly basis myself!
WordPress Plugins
Naked Social Share – My social share buttons are powered by Naked Social Share, a plugin that provides you with a very basic set of sharing buttons that you can customize however you want.
Disqus – I chose to go with the Disqus commenting system because it allows my readers to comment on my blog through a platform they most likely already use and love.
jQuery Pin It Button For Images – This plugin adds a pinning feature to all of my post images, so when a reader hovers over the image they can pin it directly.
Photography + Design
Wacom Intuos tablet – I use this tablet to create any hand drawn graphic elements, like in the graphics of these posts (example 1, example 2).
Canon T3i – This camera has proven to be a great DSLR for any of my blogging needs! It allows me to get great shots in my own bedroom, and is also fun to have around for vacations!
VSCO – Anytime I’m taking a picture with my iPhone, I’ll use VSCO to edit it. Their filters are gorgeous, and it’s extremely easy to transfer my images from VSCO to my Mac for use on this blog. You can see some examples of my VSCO edited images in this post of my summer road trip!
Helpful Bloggers
All of these bloggers have their own specialties, and I recommend looking into all of them if you’re a new blogger! They’ve shaped the way I blog and I couldn’t have gotten to where I am without their advice.
The Nectar Collective
It’s Pink Pot
The Blog Market
Spruce Rd
NoseGraze
Learning To Code
Codecademy – The HTML and CSS courses on Codecademy are great resources if you’re wanting to understand your blog’s code better! I’ve also used Codecademy to learn JavaScript, jQuery, and Ruby.
w3schools – If you’re ever having trouble understanding something about HTML or CSS, or found something in your blog’s template that you don’t quite understand, this website is a great resource to look it up in. It’s also helpful for getting comfortable with CSS properties and learning what you can do with your blog design.