One thing I never knew about blogging when I first started was how time-consuming and how much hard work needed to be put into it.
When you first start blogging, you pretty much start off with nothing. It’s just you, your computer, and WordPress. You don’t know what to write about, you don’t even seem to have anyone listening. Not right away, at least.
You don’t need anything to start blogging. All you need is a few ideas and your will to get started and continue.
Still, the more you blog, the more you connect with other bloggers, and the more you research, you learn a lot. You realize there’s a lot out there to aid in your blogging.
Is it needed? No. Does it help? Yes.
A computer of some sort
I’ve always used Dell products. I’ve only had one laptop in my lifetime, but my whole family has gone through a few Dell laptops. I also share a desktop with my sister in addition to my laptop. The desktop has big programs on it such as Photoshop… also, my laptop is about 7-years-old and is slowly dying.
While I don’t mind Mac, I’m just used to the Windows operating system. I do have an iPad Air 2 though and I use that quite a lot. I have the WordPress app plus all my social media on there and tend to use that a lot. I also have a keyboard that can connect to my iPad through Bluetooth which makes my work a lot easier.
A camera
Blog graphics are really important to add to blog posts. Certainly not needed, but it helps. Every blog post I write I put my own custom graphics. I take my own photographs and edit them catering them to my blog posts.
I have a Nikon D3300 camera to take pictures with. Sure, my iPhone works great when taking photos, but I wanted a more professional look (and I also wanted to teach myself photography). Then I head to Adobe Photoshop Elements 2018 and work some magic (and a lot of Googling).
Writing Posts
When it comes to keeping track of my posts, I use the At A Glance monthly planner. I have used other planners before and this one seems to work the best for me. I don’t know why since I could always just make my own planner, but that’s how it goes.
I like the monthly spread rather than having that along with a weekly or daily spread. I only fill in the month’s boxes and then the other pages get wasted. So this particular one just has the months and that’s it. It’s a little pricey for it being such little paper, but it works.
When it comes to actually writing my posts, I use Grammarly. It’s a handy little tool you can download from your browser and it will catch grammatical errors for you as you write. If you’ve been following my blog for a while, I’m sure you’ve noticed I’m not the best at grammar. Grammarly has a free version, which I use, or you can pay monthly for more.
Sharing Posts
For my email list, I use MailChimp. I still don’t really know what I’m fully doing on there, but it’s easy to use and easy to figure out. I think it’s great.
Buffer is the best when it comes to scheduling your posts on social media. I had used Hootsuite for a while, but the free version barely had anything to offer and it was kind of a pain to use. Buffer allows more and I even decided to pay a little for it. It’s easier to use and while it can still be time-consuming, it’s less time-consuming. You can create a schedule and plug in what you want rather than manually writing posts and scheduling them each and every time like Hootsuite.
As stated earlier, no. No, you don’t. You don’t need anything to start a blog, but these certain resources will help you as you grow.
Do you need to use the exact tools I use? No, not at all. But this is what I personally use and I love it.
What are some blogging tools you personally use and love? Let me know in the comments below! If you liked this post, please share it around.
Patreon | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | GoodReads | Double Jump
