Resources & recommendations for bloggers, side hustlers, money savers, & money makers.

Resources & Recommendations
 

I thought it might be helpful to create a recommendations page as a resource for those who are interested in services, products, & companies that can help you grow your blog & income. Now you can quickly & easily find resources on one page that will help you grow your blog, save money, & make money! This list will grow & evolve as I discover resources that I use &/or know will be valuable to you.

Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links & I will earn a commission if you make a purchase through those links. All of the products & companies listed below are ones that I personally use &/or recommend because I have found them to be helpful, useful, & trustworthy. I won’t put anything on this page that I haven’t verified &/or personally used. Feel free to email me if you have any questions!

 

Blog Resources & Recommendations

 
WordPress.org Wordpress.org recommendation

If you plan to use your blog as a side hustle, have big blogging dreams, or would like to eventually turn your hobby blog into a full-time income job I highly recommend WordPress.org for your blog. A few of the reasons I chose WordPress.org is because I wanted more theme (background) options, I wanted plugins, & I wanted to have the opportunity to make an income on my blog through ads. You can read more about WordPress.org in this post on How to Start a Blog.

SiteGround SiteGround recommendation

If you are looking for a hosting provider that is inexpensive, has incredible customer service, & includes a free domain for life then you are going to love SiteGround! SiteGround is officially recommended by WordPress.org & you can set up your blog in just 3 easy steps! Domestically Blissful is on SiteGround’s Cloud Hosting Plan, but new bloggers can get hosting for as low as $3.95 a month. What a deal!! Start now by reading How to Start a Blog on SiteGround. 

 

StudioPress RecommendationStudioPress & Genesis Framework

Looking to design or redesign the face of your blog? StudioPress’s Genesis Framework is highly recommended by many bloggers because of it’s function, security, flexibility, customization, appeal, & so much more. The Genesis Framework is used on my blog & I personally recommend it. And more specifically I am currently using Anchored, a Restored 316 theme, on my website.

VaultPress RecommendationVaultPress 

VaultPress is a great way to backup your website so you never have to worry about losing your hours & hours of hard work!

 

Resources & Recommendations for bloggers, sider hustlers, money savers, & money makers.

Being penalized by Google is not fun & neither is the fear of accidentally forgetting to properly tag a NoFollow link. The Blog Fixer is a great tool that has a variety of services, depending on your blog’s needs. I have personally used their NoFollow Service, their Penalty Reversal Service, & their Live Fix Feature. Instead of spending countless hours finding & fixing your links, the NoFollow Service will do it for you & in a fraction of the time. Within one week of purchasing the NoFollow Service & the Penalty Reversal Service, my blog was cleaned up & The Blog Fixer added NoFollow to over 805 links & about 152 post updates. They also applied the bonus link target fix, which optimized 740 links for SEO (external links open in new tabs, internal in the same tab). And on top of all of this, they submitted a reconsideration request to Google, which was quickly accepted & the manual penalty was removed! I highly recommend their services!

The Blog Fixer also provides other services such as Import from Blogspot, Image Attribute Optimization, Typewriter Service, & much more!

Canon recommendationCanon 

The first camera that I used to take photos for Domestically Blissful was a Canon EOS Rebel T3 that I used through spring of 2018. I used this camera on a very regular basis (almost daily) for almost 5 years & it has held up very well with my rough & clumsy behavior. And I love Canon so much that when I upgraded to a new camera I chose the Canon EOS 6D & a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II lens. And I love them!! A few tools that I use with my new camera include this Titanium Tripod (that’s great for travel too) & this Wireless Timer Remote. I use the tripod & remote for a variety of purposes such as taking photos of our family (without having to higher a photographer) & for taking lifestyle photos of myself when no one else is around & I need a shot of me cooking or decorating.

Adobe LightroomAdobe Lightroom

All of my photos are edited in Adobe Lightroom. I love how simple it is to use this Adobe program & the very noticeable difference in the appearance of my photos after using this photo editing program. By editing my photos in Lightroom my recipes & projects are more often accepted by submission sites, shared on Pinterest, & picked up by other blogs & websites.

Tailwind RecommendationTailwind

Tailwind is not only a huge time saver, but you can really see the difference when using Tailwind‘s Pinterest scheduler. I use to spend hours a day (spread out throughout the day) pinning on Pinterest, now I can schedule everything & Tailwind will pin for me. Since using Tailwind & the introduction of their Tribe feature & Loop feature I have been seeing even more growth. Tailwind helped me go from just a few thousand followers to 28,000 Pinterest followers. As you can imagine I’m a huge believer in Tailwind! I use Tailwind‘s yearly Plus Plan & my only regret is that I wish I had started using Tailwind sooner. If you are interested in growing your Pinterest following here is a $15 credit so you can try Tailwind for yourself.

Canna RecommendationsCanva

To create my Pinterest graphics with the word overlay I use Canva. It’s simple, free, & filled with customization options to make your pictures special & unique!

  
Making Sense of Affiliate MarketingMaking Sense of Affiliate Marketing

If you are interested in turning your hobby blog or side hustle blog into one that makes you a real income I highly recommend that you take the course Making Sense of Affiliate Marking. If you apply all of the advice & tips from this course to your blog you will see a real difference as your income increases each month. Also, you don’t have to wait until you have been blogging a few months to take this course, why not start making money the moment your blog goes live!?

Income Opportunities for Bloggers

Social Fabric: “Shop” for opportunities by applying to sponsored posts. New sponsored posts, also known as “Shoppertunties,” are posted almost every day! 

IZEA: I love that with IZEA you can both apply for opportunities & that they will also reach out to you with private sponsored post opportunities that they believe will be a good fit for your blog.

Real Clever: Apply for sponsored posts & social media opportunities with awesome brands.

Affiliate Window: You can become an affiliate for some of your favorite companies, including ETSY!!

VigLink: This is a wonderful way to make sure you aren’t missing any possible affiliate income. It searches your website & adds links to keywords of specific brands and & businesses that they are partnered with so you can make even more income.

Facebook Groups to Connect & Grow Your Blog

Here are a few of my favorite Facebook Groups:

Blogger Roundups: This Facebook group is great for sharing your posts in specific roundups & curating your own collection for a blog post.

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing: This is a closed group only for those who have taken the Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Course. This group is invaluable & a huge free bonus that came with the course.