As a new blogger, it’s so challenging to figure it all out. There’s tons of information just floating on the internet, but how do we quickly distinguish real content from ads?
Here are the apps that’ve helped me design and promote my blog. I’ve personally used them extensively. They’re free (or have a significant free trial), and you don’t need a PhD to master them quickly.
Design
Canva.com is my go to for social media imagery.
There’s also this really convenient feature where if you design an image for a brochure but then realize you want the same messaging for a web page or a feature image for your blog you can convert the specs of the image with the click of a button. There are paid upgrades for Canva, but the free functionality of this site is enough to get you going without having to invest in a stock imagery site. There are limitations, and there’ll always be pictures that are suggested in your keyword search for an extra dollar here and there, but you can get free pictures that are very similar to the paid ones.
Site Construction
WordPress.com is the 4th free website building program that I’ve experimented with. I’ve owned nichellebrooke.com for almost a decade and this is the first time that I’ve been able to take advantage of advanced customization features successfully.
I’ve never taken a formal course on website development or WordPress. My knowledge has been exclusively through trial and error, support forums, and YouTube.com.
**Note: I’ve upgraded my subscription to remove the ads from my site because that’s important to me to provide my readers with an ad-free experience. If you want your site to be free then you’ll have to deal with the advertisements that WordPress serves on your page. If you’re cool with that, then I reallllllly recommend it. If not, and you have the extra couple bucks a month to spare to remove the ads, then you’ll need to upgrade.
Promotion & Optimization
Hootsuite.com is a great social media management platform. They try hard to keep their audience engaged and informed. I see them everywhere, and all of my friends who are social media experts swear by this program. There’s a free trial period that I encourage you to try out before you commit.
ConstantContacts.com is an email management tool that has reasonable pricing for varying tiers of list sizes. There’s also a pretty great trial period for this site that I recommend checking out. You can make some beautiful emails that are professional for a minimal cost if you decide to continue on beyond your free trial. This program is just so much simpler than some of the other tools out there for budding bloggers & marketers. (If you make it hard for me to figure out, then I’m on to the next thing.)
Leadpages.com is great for landing pages and lead collection. There are tiers of service that increase price with functionality, but that’s standard. I’ve designed landing pages in minutes with this site and the forms are super easy to customize. (You also get a Google AdWords credit with your subscription which is pretty cool!)
SurveyMonkey.com is my go-to-tool for polling my audience for insights that I just can’t get anywhere else. When you want to talk directly to your subscribers/followers you can create quick surveys where they can let you know what they think and how they feel. If you include a field to collect their name & email, along with a checkbox for subscribing to your newsletter or blog, this can also be an easy way to grow your fanbase!
Organization
I rely heavily on my calendar to stay organized. If it’s not in my calendar… then it’s probably not happening. Another program that I’ve found useful is Asana.com; this is a free project management site where you can design your campaigns by task and ensure that you never miss a step of your roll-outs again.
In my corporate life, I’ve used Wrike and BaseCamp as well, but they were paid subscriptions since we had large teams of people collaborating and delegating tasks. They were both pretty slick, but I just can’t personally attest to how much they would cost for individual accounts, or if there’s a free trial/option.
Professional Development
While there are a handful of people who I follow for insight into professional development for creative communications, there are a few online education sources that I want you to know about.
Udemy.com – Website development, design, coding, SEO; you name it! There’s a lot on this site for free, and then there are also more in-depth classes/workshops that are paid. If you ever go this route, you can also design your own course to help educate your audience about your valuable services/products.
Createlive.com – Photo, video, art, music, audio, crafting, finances, and life. This is a great “close to free” option for online courses. There are always classes going on mega-sale for like $4-6, but then there are intensive courses that are up around $100. Craft your own learning path on your budget. **If you want to make money selling training on your area of expertise, then you can also write and promote your courses on this platform too.
YouTube.com – Everyone knows about YouTube for hilarious, or inspirational videos, but it’s also great for growing your knowledge professionally. Alternatively, it’s a strong platform for you to post video resources for your audience for free too!
I hope that this helps!
nichelle brooke 