Hey friends! I get a lot of questions about how best to start a blog, so I thought I’d make this handy dandy page to break it down for you. I’ve tried a lot of things over the last couple years, so here are the tools that are currently working for me–including courses, equipment and behind the scenes plug-ins!
Hopefully this saves you some time and helps you launch your blog all the quicker!
Disclosure: I am an affiliate for some of the tools + courses listed below. That means if you buy something through my link, I make a small commission, at no cost to you! I only share products that I love and align with.
If you’re looking for an in-depth tutorial, I recommend checking out Making Sense of Cents’ ‘How To Start A WordPress Blog with Bluehost‘ as she breaks down every step in a way that my non tech-savvy butt never could.
Best of luck on your blog journey!
xx
How To Start A Blog: Getting Started
My Hosting Service: Bluehost
I had initially started off with GoDaddy because I initially liked the sound of their ‘starter blogs’ which basically gives you limited access (so you can’t muck it up and have your blog come crashing down). But the longer I blogged the more I realized I needed more from my hosting service, so I switched to Bluehost–and they’re bomb! The customer service is great, it’s easy to understand, and now I have a lot more control on the back end so I can get the most of out my blog. If you’re just getting started, I recommend kicking off with Bluehost and save yourself the headache later (although I did purchase my domain name through GoDaddy as Bluehost doesn’t offer a “.ca” for all you Canadian bloggers). Start your blog for just $3.93/month.
My Theme: Cook’d Pro by Feast Design Co
I really wish I could remember what my old theme was. It was not cute. A couple of years ago I started looking for a theme specifically for food bloggers, and I came across Feast Design Co. They developed what is probably the most popular blogging theme, Foodie Pro. I decided to go with Cook’d Pro, because I loved how minimalist it was. Their themes come with installation tutorials and recommended plug-ins. I couldn’t be happier! You can check out Feast Design Co here.
My Favourite Courses:
Composition Essentials by TwoLovesStudio
This was my favourite course of 2019. Honestly, I think everyone I know has heard me rave about it–now you will too! If you struggle to take beautiful food photos and feel that everything you place down is super awkward, this will be such a game changer. Seriously, this course was what allowed me to go from the photo on the left (shot in 2016) to the one on the right (shot in 2019):
Isn’t that crazy? These skills not only helped to improve my performance as a professional food stylist (I was working at agency full-time), but it gave me the confidence to start doing freelance photography. Such a game changer. You can check out the course here. Next on my list is her Styling + Editing Bundle.
Pinterest Traffic Avalanche by Create + Go
I took this course in September after wanting to learn how to increase my traffic. As far as courses went, it was relatively cheap ($197) compared to some of the other courses I’ve taken. Using the material in this course, I have seen my Pinterest start to grow (I was getting about 900 impressions on pinterest a day and now it’s up to 5,000). I’m still waiting to see how that impacts my blog traffic–it does look like it’s increased especially in the last two months, but it’s still early days. According to Google Analytics my Pinterest referral traffic is about 400%-1300% higher compared to this time last year. You can check out the course here.
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing by Making Sense of Cents
I think I took this course last year, but I’m actually in the middle of going through it again, after finishing Root + Revel’s course below. This gives a lot of useful information on how to use affiliate marketing–which is great, if like me, you had a very minimal understanding of it. Now that I’m going through it the second time, I realize there are still so many gems and that affiliate marketing is such a clever monetization strategy. I’ve really liked the course, and I’m excited to see where it takes me after I’ve fully implemented what I’ve learned. You can check out the course here.
Six-Figure Blog Academy by Root + Revel
Okay, I’m starting with biggest investment, because for me, this course has made all the difference. 6FBA is blogging course created by Kate Kordsmeier of Root + Revel, a really well-known wellness blog. I had first heard of Kate on the Food Blogger Pro podcast talking about how she launched her blog, and I was instantly obsessed with her, her blog, and her business. She just seemed like she had figured it out really early on.
So when I saw she launched a course, I knew I had to invest. It is pricey (but they do offer monthly payment plans that are super affordable)–but I knew it would be worth it, so I took the plunge. And I’m so happy I did. 6FBA does such a great job breaking down exactly what you need to do to launch and monetize your blog.
Each module is super actionable, and the course is loaded with checklists (in fact she’s got a free 99-Step Roadmap to a Profitable Blog download that I refer back to all the time), excel spreadsheets and tons resources to get you going (and to stop spinning your wheels). While you don’t have to be in the wellness niche to benefit from the course, it was actually a huge selling point to me that that was her niche–because a lot of her examples directly relate to my blog, so there have been a lot of aha! moments.
If you want to just dip your toes in the water and see if it’s a good fit, check out her free masterclass on 3 Secrets to Profitable Blogging in 2020! Or you can go directly to the Six-Figure Blog Academy enrolment page here.
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