If you’re looking to take your blog to the next level, then at some point you’re going to have to invest into your brand with your own money. It’s like the saying says, “You can’t make money unless you spend money.” Thankfully you don’t have to go through the trial and error stage like me because in today’s post, I’m sharing the 8 blogging tools that I invested in to grow and manage my blog.

Blogging Platform + Web Hosting

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of WordPress.org. It’s an easy-to-use platform that allows you to create anything that you can imagine. I obviously use it to create my blog, and I didn’t have to do any coding whatsoever. Okay maybe a little bit because I wanted to be extra and added custom font, but otherwise nada! The WordPress software is free to download, but if you want to start making money blogging, then you’ll have to go self-hosted. I talk more about how to start a blog and how to use WordPress that you can read to get more depth information.   

A self-hosted website means that you own your entire website from the internet “rental” space to your content that you put out. It does cost some money, but it’s well worth it in the end. I use BlueHost, and I love my experience that I’ve had with them thus far. My website’s loading time is awesome, and anytime I have problems, their customer service team fixes it right away.

Website Design + Theme

Blogs are definitely a visual piece of work so having a good-looking website is a must if you plan on making an income from your blog. Basically, this means that you either have to invest in a website designer (which can cost thousands) or you can buy a website theme, which is more of the DIY way of designing your website.

The first blogging tool that invested in was a functional and chic theme for my website. The theme that I use is by Solo Pine and was actually designed for food bloggers. Alas I liked it so much that I adapted the theme to fit my needs and wants. But there are thousands of themes online that you can choose from that can fit your budget needs.  

Email Service

One of my favorite ways to communicate with my readers is through my email list. It’s a direct link to their inbox and I can engage with them on a more personal level. The email service provider that I use is Convertkit. What I love about Convertkit is that I can tailor my readers experienced based on their return engagement. This way I can send them only the content that they are interested in and skip over the topics that they don’t like.

Typically, I like to share updated, free resources, and to let them know that about new blog posts or IGTV videos. This year, I’ve been terrible at maintaining my email schedule, but hopefully I can get back into the swing of things and do better.

Convertkit is definitely an investment into your blog, but I have found it to be well-worth it for what you get with their service. They charge $30/month for 1,000 email subscribers, which does increase as you gain more subscribers. With the different features that Convertkit offers, it really is a no-brainer!

Pinterest Scheduler

Pinterest is a really great blogging tool /social media platform to grow your audience and to increase your pageviews. Tailwind is the one blogging tool that saves me a ton of time! It’s a Pinterest scheduler that allows you to schedule out your pins for the entire month. This way you don’t have to sit at home or on your phone manually pinning every day. If you’re looking to increase your traffic to your blog, then you need to sign up for Tailwind. It’s a total game-changer!

Tailwind costs $14.99 a month, which is super affordable and well worth the price tag. Still don’t know if you need it? You can test it out 30 days for free to see how you like it risk free!

Hiring tasks out

I’ll be the first one to admit that when it comes to running a blog you cannot master everything when it comes to running a successful blog nor do you have the time to learn. Between school, applying for jobs, and keeping up with my content schedule, I don’t have the time to sit down and master everything. I just can’t, which is why I hired some tasks out that are beyond my skill level. At the end of the day, it saves me a ton of time and plenty of frustration.  

Things that I sometimes or constantly hire out: SEO management, graphic design for pins or things related to my branding, and tech work for my blog. Trust me, it’s well worth it to outsource some tasks that are beyond your expertise. Hiring a member to your team is a big step, but it’s one that is 100% worth wild.

Asana (this one is free!)  

I legitimately have no idea how anyone can create and maintain a social media strategy without the use of a planner. Asana is a website and app that allows you to create a social media calendar that is easy-to-use. An online calendar allows you to see the big picture of your brand and quickly make adjustments to your content schedule. I hopped on the band wagon of Asana at the beginning of this year, and I’ve already noticed a difference to my content marketing strategy.

This one is actually free, but it was a new blogging tool that I have found that really worked for me!

Photography

No blog is complete without beautiful images, which is why I pay a photographer to take most of my photos for my blog. I could utilize my fiancé, or friends, or do them myself, but I don’t have the time to learn how to take good-looking photos right now. By paying a photographer, they do all of the work of taking the photos and editing them. The only thing that I have to do is get ready for the photoshoot the morning of.

Paying a photographer can quickly become an investment, but for my situation, it’s definitely worth it! If you don’t have the funds to pay a photographer, you can definitely utilize your iPhone or a DSLR camera that you may have at home to start out with. 

Education

One of the best investments that I’ve ever made for my blog is investing my money into blogging courses and online trainings. I’ve taken courses on SEO, Pinterest, marketing, pitching, and so many more! Most of them I’ve found to be incredibly helpful and have given me the tools necessary to make my blog a successful side hustle.

Some of my favorite courses are:

• Pinterest with Ell – This is a great course to take if you’re looking for a course that will actually give you results and grow your account. I went through Eli’s course in a few days and it dramatically changed the way that I utilize Pinterest. I went from 100k monthly pageviews to 1.5 million this month!
• The Influencer League Textbook – I follow the Influencer League on Twitter, who regularly puts out influencer information that is very helpful and insightful. Any influencer looking to take their brand to the next level needs to follow the Influencer League. They recently relaunched their textbook, and I very quickly snagged it. I’ve been slowly incorporating their tips on Instagram and it’s been quite helpful. I highly recommend!
• Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing – If you’re looking to master affiliate marketing and figure out how to make passive income, then I highly recommend taking this course. It is on the pricier side, but Michelle goes in-depth about everything you could possibly need to know about affiliate marketing. It’s a great course for beginners and mid-level bloggers.
• The Content Calendar System – I accidently found this course on Pinterest, and I’m so glad that I did because it really has changed my marketing strategy all together. Before I took the course, I was barely promoting my content because I thought I was spamming everyone if I posted about my content more than once. Now I’m talking about my content all the time, which has increased my pageviews and overall improved my brand.

What is your favorite blogging tool to use for your blog (or business) and why?

The post 8 Tools that I Invested In To Grow and Manage My Blog appeared first on Uniquely Mickie.

Read and watch their content

This one is definitely a given and must if you aren’t already doing this. Creating quality content on a regular basis takes a lot of time and effort, and it really does mean a lot when you take time out of your day to read a post or two. If your favorite influencer has a Youtube channel or email list, go ahead and subscribe to those platforms as well. Every little bit really does help your favs!

Like, comment, save

If you like someone’s content, take it a step further by liking, commenting, and saving their social media or blog posts. You don’t have to write back an entire paragraph, but if the influencer asks a question, respond back to it. It’s an awesome way to support their content and get a conversation going. Plus, nowadays Instagram and other social media platforms will prioritize your feed based on the accounts that you interact with the most.

Shout out on Instagram stories

One way to really support an influencer is to shout out their content or page on your social media platforms. Share why you follow them, what their content means to you, and anything else that you can think of. On the flip side as a content creator, it’s a great way to get your followers to go follow an account that you’re loving and strike up a conversation with your audience.

Tell your friends

This one is an easy one. If you have a friend or two who you think would really enjoy the influencer’s content, introduce them and share why you enjoy following their content. Want to do more than just talk about the influencer, send your friend a few posts so that they can get acquainted. Bloggers create their content to help people so if they can help one more person, they’ll definitely appreciate you for sending them their way.

If you want to buy something, use their links

One way that influencers and content creators make money is by providing links to their audience of items and products that they are loving.  Sales through those links provide a little bit of money to the influencer that doesn’t impact your experience or price whatsoever. So if you find an item that you love through your favorite content creator, purchase it through their link and help them out!

Suggest potential content ideas

In the world of social media, there is a lot of pressure to stay consistent in producing high-quality content for your audience. Obviously, most of the ideas come from the person themselves, but it really doesn’t hurt at all for you to send them a DM or email asking them to cover a certain topic or to answer a question that you have. The whole purpose of a blogger or influencer is to produce content that you find helpful and valuable. By you sending in a potential content idea, it really helps lifts the load off the content creator and gives them something to work off from.

Enter in their giveaways

If you see your favorite content creator hosting a giveaway, take a few minutes to enter in the giveaway if it’s a prize that interests you. Giveaways can kind of hard to put together, and it’ll mean so much to them to see people excited about winning a prize. This idea is especially important if the giveaway is sponsored by a brand! Even if you don’t want to win the prize, share the giveaway on your social media or to your friend group that may want to win.

Purchase their courses and physical products

Some bloggers will start to branch out into creating online courses or physical products for their audience.  If you see them doing this, support them if the product resonates with you! Courses and product take a lot of time to develop and create, which is why its so important to support their endeavors. Sometimes these products can be expensive, but most of the time the money goes straight to the creator.

I currently have an online course for any student interested in going to pharmacy school, if you want to support my little business. The course is called From Student to PharmD, and I walk you through the entire process of how to get accepted into your dream program.

Even though you definitely do not have to do any of the following if you don’t want to. That’s the whole thing about offering your support. It’s something for you to offer if you feel compelled to do so. Hopefully you enjoy the content of your favorite influencer or content creator that you want to show them your support in any way that you can.

How do you support your favorite content creators?

The post How to Support Your Favorite Influencers and Content Creators appeared first on Uniquely Mickie.

Tip #1: Create target freebies for your audience

A freebie is a piece of information, like an e-book, checklist, or worksheet, that you give to your subscribers in exchange for their email address. Nowadays, people are tough cookies about giving up their email address so your opt-in (or freebie) has to serve a purpose and solve a problem for your targeted audience.

When you’re first starting out, look on your Google Analytics and create freebie for your top 5-6 blog posts and tailor it the audience that you want to reach. Freebies have been my bread and butter when it comes to growing my email list.

Don’t know what you could use as a freebie? Here are some examples of opt-ins that you could create for your website:

• Worksheets
• Email course or challenges
• E-book
• Pintables
• Webinar or audio recording
• Resource library (a library filled with tons of freebies) 
• Presets

Overall, there are two types of incentives that can provide your audience free and valuable information. One type is attached to a blog post and was created with that blog post in mind. For an example, I have a blog post dedicating to teaching people how to make money on Poshmark, so my freebie was a checklist of how-to set-up your Poshmark account for success. For the second type, these aren’t attached to a particular piece of content and are typically larger. An example may be an email course or e-book that you can promote anywhere on your blog. I created a free 7 day email course to help my fellow college students improve their studying, which is perfect for my audience.

Here are a few of my blog posts and landing pages that contain different types of opt-ins (or freebies):

• How to Ace Your Medical or Pharmacy School Interview
• The Ultimate Guide to Dorm Room Essentials that Most People Forget
• 50 Blog Post Ideas for College Bloggers
• The Hidden Secrets About Selling on Poshmark
• 5 Steps to Get Into Pharmacy School (a free e-book) 

My advice for you, especially if you’re just getting started, create both types of content upgrades to see what works best for your audience. Write a few that are blog post specific and one that is general enough to be used on any page of your website. The point of creating these freebies is once you start attracting people to your website, you want to give them a reason to subscribe to your blog and stick around for a while.

Tip #2: Create consistent content (with incentives)

I’m sure if you’ve heard this plenty of times all over the internet about how important consistency is for any website or social media platform. People want to be able to come to your blog on a regular basis and find new information that either helps them solve a problem or get to know you better as the writer. As you’re creating new content each month, you should be adding new content upgrades on a regular basis whenever one naturally fits in.

I recommend creating one content upgrade per month that it can fit in with multiple different types of blog posts or just a general one that you can promote on social media. This way you always have fresh freebies to incise your readers, but you won’t get burned out by consistently thinking of new ways to reinvent the wheel if you get what I’m saying.

Tip #3: Promote your freebies

Now that you’ve created your first freebie and got it uploaded to your website, the next step is to promote your freebie like a crazy person, especially if you’re just getting started in the blogging world. The easiest way to promote your freebie is by increasing your overall website traffic. People can’t sign up to your email list if they don’t know who you are.

I get a lot of my traffic from Pinterest and Google through a little something called SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. To give you a quick overall view, both of these platforms utilize SEO to rank each piece of content based on most helpful to least helpful. So say you type into Google or Pinterest “ways to study more effectively”, both platforms are going to give you a ton of search results based on your search question.

Magic, right? Nope! It’s just SEO at its best. The goal is to have better SEO filled with searchable keywords that will allow your website to pop-up first in the search bar. To be honest, SEO is a beast in itself and it can take a little work/research to get it right. I’m by no means a master at SEO (even though I wish I were), but here are a few general tips to help you improve your blog post SEO:

• Use searchable keywords that your readers may be using to find your article
• Insert those keywords throughout your blog post, the title, your blog post url, and in your image file name and description
• Link to your other blog posts if they are relevant to the topic

Tip #4: Send a welcome email sequence

You’ve snagged the email address, but now you have to send quality content to your subscribers if you want your subscribers to stick around. This also means that you need to baby your list, nurture them, and build trust with your new email subbies. A really good way for you to start building that trust and nurturing your list is to introduce yourself to your subscribers with a welcome email sequence.

A welcome email sequence is a set of emails that you set up in your email list host to automatically send out every time a new person signs up for your email list. In this series, you can tell your subscribers about a personal story, share expectations, ask questions to your subscribers, or tease them with another freebie that solves a problem in their lives.

When you’re growing your email list, you have to remember that the people on your email list are real people and that you want to strike up a conversation with them on a regular basis. It’s okay to be vulnerable and to share personal stories with them. Don’t forget that these people are your biggest fans and are interested in what you have to say.

Tip #5: Send exclusive perks to your email list

Lastly, treat your subscribers like MVPs or insiders of your business! They should be the first to know about anything new happening with your blog (or business), get exclusive content that nobody else has access to, and even receive special discounts on products for being signed up. Your subscribers should feel and be treated as if they were your best friends in real life (which they are but you know what I mean).

Whenever you have a personal, vulnerable story that might help your readers, share it with them. Hosting a free workshop that solves a problem that your subscribers definitely have too, tell your subscribers. Be open, be vulnerable, and let loose when it comes to talking with your subscribers. It’s definitely hard at first because it’ll feel like you’re talking to thin air or a black void on the internet. But once you get your first response to your email, you’ll feel so much relief that someone actually reads your emails that you send out! 

Woe! I know that was a lot of information all at once, but there was a lot of tea to spill on how to actually grow your email list without you pulling your hair out. It can be difficult at first because you’re still learning, but once you get started, I promise you it gets easier. Learn what your readers enjoy and keep producing content that keeps bringing them back for more and more! Haven’t started your blog yet? No worries! I wrote an entire blog post about how to start a profitable blog from day one that takes you step by step on how to get started in less than 30 minutes. 

Interested in learning more about how to grow your email list on auto-pilot? Download the free 30-Day List Building Challenge guide to learn today about how to set yourself up for success! You can easily gain 100 email subscribers in less than 30 days if you participate in the challenge. So are you ready to get started?

You might also like: 6 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Blogging, 8 Blogging Tools that I Can’t Live Without, and Why I Invested in Converkit vs Mailchimp When I was Earning $0 From My Blog 

The post 5 Tips to Grow Your Email List on Autopilot appeared first on Uniquely Mickie.