Blogging Resources and Tools: Helpful Pages For New Bloggers

What do you want to learn more about and need the most help with? Click one of the options below to jump down the section for you.

To learn how to create a new blog in the next 20 minutes, head over to our step-by-step guide here.

Getting Started The Basics

The basics of starting your own blog

The Blogging Resources

Resources you may find useful in blogging

WordPress Blogging Related

Resources related to blogging in WordPress

Promotion, Traffic and Monetization

Monetization methods and strategies

Over time, I’ve put together some useful guides and articles about blogs and blogging. If you’re not sure about blogging, take a quick peek below.

Getting Started – The Basics

1. How to Start a Blog – The first of our blogging resources is our tep by step tutorial that covers all the basic things you need to know in order to set up a blog. Make sure you read it from the start since there are some tips and suggestions that might be useful or helpful to you in the long run. (Updated 2017)
2. HostGator WordPress Hosting – This is my go-to hosting whenever I launch a blog. Reliable, cheap & secure.
3. What is a blog – In case you don’t know exactly what a blog is – this is a post for YOU. I interviewed 9 professional bloggers and asked them to share their opinions. Worth checking it out.
4. 10 Reasons to get started with blogging – This was one of the first blog posts that I published on Start Blogging Online. This is more or less a motivation blog post for beginners to get started sooner. (Updated 2017)
5. Paid & free blog sites comparison chart – While I’m suggesting you start a self-hosted WordPress blog, there are always alternatives to WordPress. I made this comparison chart for people who would like to know other options as well. However, the winner of this comparison chart is definitely WordPress 🙂
6. What’s the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org – Cons and pros of both ones. (Updated 2016)
7. Free WordPress blog creation – Here’s a quick primer to get you going on a free blogging platform. (Updated 2015)
8. Classroom blogging – Thinking of starting a blog for your students? Have a look at this guide.

Blogging Related

1. Blog post ideas – 134 ideas that will keep you loaded with things to blog about for a whole year. (Updated 2019)
2. Finding FREE images for your blog – Without using Google images (which is illegal)
3. Create a perfect “About Me” page – You and your blog need that.
4. Best time to post a blog – I don’t know the right answer either, but I’ve pointed out some patterns that I’ve seen while posting at different times.
5. 8 common mistakes that bloggers make – Better to know those sooner than later!
6. Improving your blog’s productivity – Having a blog is easy but improving it is a more difficult task. (Updated 2019)
7. Keeping your blog up-to-date – Ways to keep your blog updated even if you don’t have enough time.
8. What kind of blog comments should you approve – Not every blog comment is worth approving. Why? Well, people use tons of different ways to leave spam comments on your blog. I’ll show you how to avoid them. (Updated 2019)

WordPress Related Blogging Resources

1. How to set up a WordPress website – This is a “go-to” resource once you’ve successfully installed a self-hosted WordPress blog on your own custom domain name.
2. Adding a contact form for WordPress blog – Want your blog visitors to get in touch with you? Set up a contact form using this guide.
3. Moving your blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org – This tutorial shows you how to move your blog from WordPress.com blogging platform to a self-hosted version on your own domain.
4. Moving your blog from Blogspot to WordPress – A complete guide
5. Best WordPress plugins – On this post, I’ve pointed out some really awesome plugins that you can use on your own blog. (Updated 2015)
6. 45+ ways to use WordPress – Don’t want to start a blog? List of creative and smart ways to use WordPress.
7. How to Speed up WordPress – My case study (from 4.2s to 1.3s)
8. WordPress security [Infographic] – Cool infographic that reminds you to back up your WP blog.
9. WordPress keyboard shortcuts – If you wish to speed up your blogging journey with WordPress.
10. WordPress cheat sheet – A chart about the technical aspects of WordPress for designers and developers. (Updated 2015)
11. Advanced WordPress cheat sheet – An advanced chart about the technical aspects of WordPress for designers and developers.
12. Adding an email/signup box for your blog subscribers – Using Mailchimp (Updated 2019)
13. Setting up Google Analytics for WordPress – Essential for tracking your blog visitors.

Traffic and Monetization Methods and Strategies

1. How to earn money from blogging – Here I’ve put together 7 different ways to generate money through blogging. But I’d suggest you get traffic before you consider monetizing your blog. (Updated 2017)
2. Promoting your blog/getting more visitors – If you want to know how to get indexed in Google and drive more visitors/traffic to your blog then make sure you check this out. (Updated 2015)
3. How to get your blog listed on Google – A quick and easy way to make sure that Google indexes your new blog. (Updated 2015)
4. Disclosure: – A simple earnings disclaimer for my visitors.