Me on France to Spain Ferry

I get asked a lot for my top tips when it comes to blogging resources and tools, so I’ve decided to compile them into a neat little list, so you can easily learn what I use to run and optimise my online business.


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Social Media Tools

I use a lot of social media tools to manage the accounts of my own blog and other freelance clients.

Please send me an email – steph{at}socialpuffin.com – if you’re interested in my social media consultancy services, otherwise here’s the top tools I use…

Social Puffin

Great social media, copywriting and website development consultancy who can definitely help with your blog!

Meet Edgar

The dream solution when it comes to automating Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn – saving hours of time across multiple accounts.

Tailwind

The ultimate Pinterest tool for scheduling pins months in advance and waiting for the traffic to roll in! Their Tribes feature is the best.

MusicBed

Huge library of copyright-free music for use with video making. Especially great for YouTube.

Hootsuite

I use this great provider a lot for my freelance social media clients. I love their stream set up which is fantastic for monitoring and analytics.

Buffer

A great, simple scheduler tool – perfect for beginners and those on a low budget.

Later.com

A superb Instagram scheduler that’s simple to get to grips with. Also works with Facebook and Twitter.

 

Hosting, Domains, Security & Email Marketing

When it comes to techy stuff, I like companies who make life easy for me…

A2

I can’t shout about these guys enough! After I moved from a disastrous company, hosting with A2 has been a dream!

Dashlane

Feel secure that all your social media platforms and software logins are safe from potential hackers with Dashlane, an amazing password management system that stores all login details across multiple devices so that, at the click of a button, they are auto-filled.

Go Daddy

Get your domain with Go Daddy – top customer service!

Mailchimp

A top beginner option for subscribers and email marketing, I love how user-friendly Mailchimp is and that your first 2000 contacts are free!

Sucuri

My preferred firewall and security service that clean and protect websites, these guys have really helped me avoid hacking and BOT attacks and I certainly feel safer running an online business that uses their services.

Iubenda

The easy way to ensure your blog is compliant with all privacy and cookie regulations, no matter where in the world your audience is, Iubenda automatically generates watertight and legally secure policies for you. Along with their Terms and Conditions Generator, Internal Privacy Management and Consent Solution, this is my one-stop shop when it comes to ensuring my website stays up to date and follows all the latest data international regulations.

 

Design & Products

A very important part of my blogging learning curve, here’s the resources I use to help design my blog and the products I sell…

Canva

The ideal free tool for designing Pinterest images, media kits, pdfs and more.

PicMonkey

Super image editing tool, which is great for beginners and has lots of helpful tutorials.

Lightroom

Image editing tool from Adobe I’ve fallen in love with.

Fiverr

Fantastic, cheap online store for a huge range of creative design services, including logo design.

Print on Demand

If you’re looking to start monetising your blog in a low-risk way, then “print on demand” services can be really useful when it comes to selling any physical products you want to design. Learn more in this easy to understand article.

 

SEO

Getting to grips with SEO is a massive part of succeeding as a blogger. Here’s the top products that helped me get there…

Long Tail Premium

An amazing tool when it comes to keyword research. Pricey, but worth every cent. Get 30% off by clicking the above link.

Keysearch

An easy to use, keyword research tool great for bloggers and beginners.

 

Payments & Money Handling

Getting paid as a blogger is usually a fairly international affair, with money coming from across the globe via all sorts of currencies. Here’s the tools I use to help me manage this…

Wise

A really awesome banking app that will get you a better rate exchange rate every time! You can also open a borderless account (essentially multiple currency accounts) with Wise, that will give you both virtual and physical cards, as well as free ATM withdrawals and lower overseas transaction fees. Learn more in this review article I wrote about how I use Wise.

Payoneer

If you use (or want to use) any international affiliate programmes, Payoneer is a must when it comes to getting your commission from across the world! Especially excellent when it comes to Amazon Associate programmes.