It can be a bit overwhelming when starting a blog for the first time. With trying to figure out the necessary tools and best sites to use that will give your blog a professional look while still being affordable. That’s why we have accumulated our top five must have tools you need when starting a blog.

This post is all about simplifying the blogging process while you learn the tricks of the trade.

Self Hosted Website

A self hosted website is one of the MUST HAVE tools you need when starting a blog. I cannot stress this to you enough. And what I mean by this is having a subscription to a site that will allow you to have your wordpress site hosted through a company that will allow you to keep your domain as just your registered domain. This means that whichever domain you choose for your site such as ilovecats.com for example will appear as such instead of a non-self hosted website that will show your domain as ilovecats.blogspot.com.

If you are planning on wanting to work with sponsors in the future, I highly recommend to have a self hosted website as it will increase your website’s look of professionalism to more companies as well as your viewers. There are a multitude of self hosted websites you can choose from to get started, however, the one that I use and recommend to everyone just starting out in their blogging journey is Bluehost. Bluehost is one of the easiest self hosted websites you can use. While you do get billed annually for being a member with them, their basic plan equates to roughly $5 per month. This is one of the cheapest sites you can use to get your site off the ground when you’re first starting out and not wanting to spend an arm and a leg.

You can click on the link down below to get your self hosted website started with Bluehost

Website Theme

It is insanely important to have a website theme and is another one of my must have tools you need when starting a blog. Whether you know how to code yourself (and let’s be honest, most of us don’t), or you pay for a prebuilt theme through Etsy, this is one of the most important aspects to have when it comes to your blog. It adds a level of professionalism to your blog that is necessary if you want ad agencies and your readers to take you seriously. The pricing for themes varies depending on which one you choose to go to but it doesn’t have to break the bank. If you decide to purchase a theme through Etsy, the package will come with a step by step guide which shows you how to plug in your theme to your WordPress site.

Click here to browse Etsy WordPress themes for your blog!

Stock Image Site

Finding a good stock image site can be one of the most daunting tasks. Between finding a site that carries pictures you actually like, and balancing affordability, you may go through trial and error to find a site that best suites your needs. I have found through use of multiple different sites that Pexels best meets my needs. I do believe they may charge a small fee for premium pictures, however, I have yet to have to pay for any of their pictures that I have used thus far. Pexels is a great stock photo site to use because it gives you access to thousands of photos, free of charge, and without having to tag your source under every photo you use.

Another great thing about Pexels is that they don’t require you to pay a monthly subscription for access to a limited amount of photos every month. I have noticed this is a common trait of most other stock photo sites I have come across which can be a bit limiting in the amount of content you put out every month. This way if you’re having a busy month or a slow month with the amount of content you create, you’re not feeling as if you’re wasting your money by having to buy permission to extra photos or not using up your allotted monthly photo amount.

This is one of my favorite must have tools you need when starting a blog as it helps you to avoid copyright which is often one of the main mistakes for first time bloggers. Check out the best ways to avoid copyright infringement on your photos here.

Here is an example of a great photo you can get off of Pexels website entirely for free.

Canva

Having a Canva account is a must have tool when starting a blog that starts to dive into the more promotional side of it. Using Canva will be largely necessary when it comes to making pins for your blog posts that you will promote on your Pinterest. However, Canva allows you to do much more than merely make pins. It allows you to build a brand kit and content planner to keep all of your designs cohesive and your content on track. It also allows you to create posters, videos and logos for marketing your brand. And one of the bonus features, is that it allows you to make templates. This is incredibly useful and helpful when building a email list as it allows you to distribute free templates to your readers as a thank you for signing up for your email list.

Canva offers both the basic and pro package. The basic package is free is does come with less features than the pro. However, if you’re just starting out with your blog, I do believe you can get away with using the basic plan for now.

Here is an example of a pin I was able to design using Canva!

Tailwind

Tailwind is another must have tool when starting a blog which allows you to help promote your blog. It can seem a bit overwhelming at first when trying to figure and plan out your Pinterest strategy. However, Tailwind makes it easy to plan out your pins at least a week in advance. It takes merely an hour to plan out each pin that is going to be planned at each time slot per day. This allows the most amount of pins to be pinned to your board. Tailwind allowing you to post the maximum amount of pins daily will allow Pinterest to understand the theme of your boards, thus boosting your pin performance.

This is a crucial part of marketing your blog to help boost your blog’s performance and drive traffic to your blog. Without this, you could spend hours each day trying to pin enough pins to create the same amount of traffic. And if you choose to forgo Pinterest all together, you would be basing all of your performance on Google’s SEO. You could spend years trying to get your traffic performance to match the same levels on Google as you would already to seeing on Pinterest.

I would recommend signing up for the pro version of Tailwind. The basic and free version does not allow you to pin nearly as many pins as you are going to need.