Simply click the links below to access the resources.
Training:
Honest Bloggers Bundle – you CAN make great money while working less hours AND keeping your integrity and honesty as a blogger. This is a compilation of my top 5 products plus a brand new, never-released-before book, How to Work Less and Create Killer Content. Most of these books have hit #1 best selling lists. One of the books included sold over 9,200 copies! This is the best of the best. No wasting your time. This is a get-your-blog-soaring-NOW type of bundle you don’t want to miss.
Happily Ever Blogger Bundle – this is a bundle designed for new bloggers, although, most seasoned bloggers tend to either not know or forget some of this training and it’s so vital to having a successful blog, so it’s also great for bloggers who have plateau’d. If you’re frustrated because you started blogging, but are not seeing the results you hoped for, feel like you’re tailspinning out of control, not knowing what to work on and when, or feeling like how can you POSSIBLY BE everywhere at once in order to gain the traffic, you need this bundle.
Discount code to get each bundle for 60% off: BUNDLESNEWSLETTERSECRETSALE
Fonts:
Creative Market – this site is one of my FAVORITE sites. From fonts to logos to specialty stock photos, this site has it ALL. Once I found it, I became quickly hooked and never looked back!
Hosting:
Bluehost – hands down, the best, most cost-effective blogging host around. Rated #1 by WordPress, this host is top notch!
Theme (parent):
Genesis – used by most top bloggers, Genesis is simply THE best when it comes to themes. The SEO is fantastic (which gets you more traffic!) and it’s so much easier to use than other themes I’ve tried.
Theme (child):
You need BOTH parent theme AND one child theme.
Restored 316 – my current theme is through this company. I like that they have modern themes to choose from. Prices are a little spendy, but it’s worth it to have a pretty theme that’s completely functional.
StudioPress – This company has a lot of great themes to choose from. I’ve bought so many from them over the years. Take a look at what they have to offer. I’m sure there’s something you’ll love.
Store:
Shopify – I have Shopify and absolutely LOVE them. There’s so much you can do with this as your shop, and the income is great too. My first month of opening my Shopify store, I made more than $50k that month. Just a few months later, I hit 7-figures in the store alone. I think everyone should have their own store!
Email Services:
Seva – with Seva, I have successfully began adding 10,000+ monthly subscribers to my email list (from 1,732/month). ‘Nuff said! I cannot recommend them more!
Mail Tester – this allows you to run tests on your emails to make sure they don’t hit your email recipients spam filters. Simply send your test email to the link they give you (it changes each time) and correct errors until you hit at least a 9/10 score.
Paperback Book Creation:
Blurb – this is a great site to turn your book into a magazine, hardback, or paperback book to sell or give as a gift. You can sell your books right on their platform (they make it and ship it when you sell!) They even have an affiliate program to earn $10 per referral. You can sign up for their affiliate program through Share A Sale here (I love Share A Sale by the way!)
eBook Promotion:
Book Bub – this site allows you to let them know when you have a free eBook you are giving away. It’ll get you a lot of new traffic to your book. I’ve tried it and have been very happy with the results.
Place It – if you are looking for quality mock ups for your products, this is the place for you!
Stock Photos:
Sarah Titus Photos – I have a killer deal going on right now, 650+ stock photos for only $27! You can’t beat that deal for gorgeous and unique photography!
Ingimage – a great source for stock photos. Their plans are extremely inexpensive compared to others, they require no attribution, and have a great selection of photos to choose from.
Stats Tracking:
Jetpack – This is a free plug-in to add to your site. I love this in-house stats tracker. It’s definitely one of those tools I can’t live without; it just does so much. My favorite thing it does is to quickly gauge my traffic levels through out the day. This helps me know if I’m on track or not, traffic-wise, and adjust my daily blogging plan accordingly.
Spelling/Grammar:
Grammarly – this Chrome extension makes sure everything you type is spelling and grammar proofed. It also checks against plagiarism.
*Please note that I choose to write exactly how I talk, so the grammar part isn’t something I personally worry about for any of my writings on the blog. For other projects as well as for plagiarism, this is wonderful!
Pagespeed sites:
PageSpeed Insights – fantastic site that analyzes your data and makes recommendations to help you speed up your page
Webpagetest – what I love about this site is that it will tell you exactly how many seconds your page takes to load. Then you can pull other blogs and see how your site stacks up against other bloggers in your niche.
Pingdom – this is another great site to test your website speed, and with this site, you can choose the location nearest or farthest from you to determine what your readers are experiencing from different locations!
Check out this post for more information on how to increase your pagespeed.
Optimize and condense pictures:
Compressor – choose lossy for biggest compression (less quality pictures), choose lossless for smallest compression (better quality pictures)
*Pictures on your site that you’ve downloaded previously and are not currently using, do not affect the pagespeed of your site.
Online storage tools:
Drop Box – this is a great site for sharing and collaborating files, pictures, and documents with others and it’s free!
Google Docs – I use this for everything from creating polls to spreadsheets my assistant can help me pull stats and save them on (so we can both see them). It’s super simple to use, but it does save with every change you make, so be careful to learn where that undo button is! 🙂
Is your site Google friendly:
Mobile-friendly – test to see if your mobile site is mobile-friendly for Google
Recipes plugin:
Easy Recipes Plus – this is my favorite recipes plug in. You can search it in plug ins in your WordPress dashboard. It creates beautiful recipe cards and surprisingly, it is free!
Amazon plugin for your site:
Amazon Simple Admin – I’ve used this plug in, in the past and it has worked great.
Pop Up newsletter:
Popup Ally – I have used this plug in and really loved it (now I use Seva). You can insert the newsletter box within your posts, have it to pop up on your site, or both! At the same time! It’s really cool.
Misc things you need:
Google Copyright Removal DMCA Form – if someone steals your content, here’s how to have Google take a look at it and have it removed. Before you contact Google, I’d encourage you to contact the site owner directly. More than likely, when you do, they will take it down for you.
DealSeekingMom Coupon Database – if you’re looking to add a coupon database to your site, here’s a great resource for you.
Invoicely – create free, unlimited invoices…’nuff said!
Social Media Helpers:
Tweet Eraser – need to delete your old Twitter tweets, but don’t want to delete one by one manually? This is a great site to help you delete a bunch at a time.
Pin Groupie – this is THE best site to help you get on Pinterest group boards. You can search the titles and see how many followers each board has and then request to be added on the group board. When I first started on Pinterest, I emailed many of these group boards to get added and slowly, I was added and grew my Pinterest account to what it is today, just under 200,000 followers. 🙂
Hootsuite – this is the site I use to schedule out my tweets on. It’s a fantastic (and easy to use) social media scheduler, and best of all, it’s FREE!
Grum – I use this to schedule my Instagram posts and LOVE it!
Promotions:
Drop My Link – if you are looking to leave QUALITY comments on other blogs to gain exposure and traffic, this is it’s own search engine that lets you filter by different kinds of comment feeds. Back when I was building traffic to my blog, this tool was incredibly helpful to me to find blogs in my niche and those with great comment systems I could utilize in a non-spammy, organic way.
Contacts:
Generic VA contract – do you need a VA contract? This site has you covered. Use their stock forms or use the ideas in them to draft up your own. They also have a Confidentiality agreement as well that is very helpful and many other forms.
*All resources have been personally used by me for longer than 6 months. I never promote something that doesn’t have those qualifications.
Thanks for such a great list of resources. Very helpful.
You’re most welcome Amy. 🙂
I’ve got to bookmark this list! As my blog gets bigger I will probably need more of these. I already use Genesis and I love it!!
Very true. Glad you have and love Genesis. I do too. 🙂
Do you know of a blog with a store that on BlueHost/Wordpress that uses a Shopify Buy Button? I want a blog with a “store” tab (so that I can sell items out of my closet). I want superb security on the site, as well as the ability to have affiliate links (so that I can earn extra money). I have been searching for hours for a sample blog, but no real luck. I almost went with Shopify and Weebly, but I’m leaning towards BlueHost. Shopify does not allow you to earn money from other companies’ affiliate links. Weebly’s ecommerce store does automatically calculate shipping or offer other things that BlueHost/Wordpress seem to offer, although both Weebly and Shopify have some great success stories. Please, help! I need some direction and guidance and real world examples.
It’s really just a personal decision of where you want to go in your future. If you want to make money from your blog, I always suggest BlueHost/Wordpress. I’m not familiar with the Shopify Buy Button though.
What a great list of resources! Thank you! I’m definitely checking several of these out.
So glad you like it Christy. 🙂
I loved reading your posts for new bloggers! I’m currently in the process of starting my own blog because I’d love to stay home with my kids as well. I will definitely use this post as my go to for advice while I’m starting out!
That’s great Summer. All the best in your new endeavor! 🙂
Hi Sarah,
I read on a different post of yours that you said this:
“This entire past year, I’ve been working on Pinterest and my email list. Both are seeing incredible results, high above many others. Why? Because I’m just working on those two things, not 20 things at once.”
Can you explain what you mean by “working on Pinterest and my email list” and explain what you’re doing with them?
I am enjoying your posts. Thank you for providing such great insight.
Sincerely,
Paige
Paige, great questions. 🙂 It would be too much to try to fit it all in a comment though, so I’ll make note of your question to share as a future post. In the meantime, there are several Pinterest posts you can check out on the blog here.
As a very new blogger, thank you very much for these resources!!! They will prove invaluable, I’m sure…
Absolutely Lisa. 🙂
Hi Sarah! Just came across your site today, and so far, I’ve found the info about blogging very helpful. I have Blue Host. I also purchased a $39.00 w\WordPress theme. I am currently in the process of trying to figure it all out and get it up and running. I really want it looking good and running nicely before I make it live.
So, here are my questions for you. You’ve mentioned Genesis and a Child Theme. Will the theme I’ve already purchased be enough to get me started? I don’t mind upgrading- but I’ve already put money into this, and I’d like to try and make SOMETHING before I put more in on something I think is an upgraded version of what I’ve already purchased. Please, tell me if I am wrong.
Also- Can you please explain to me what a widget is? I’ve read descriptions, but I am still confused. And, finally, would you suggest an ad or plugin from the beginning or should I wait until I’ve got some traffic on my site.
Thank you so much for your help and insight. You truly are an inspiration, and I hope become as great at this as you are!
Niki, for the question about the WordPress theme, I have no idea which one you have??? But I can say that I would go with Genesis or Thesis and a child theme. Genesis is THE best in my opinion and worth every penny, especially in the way of SEO. A widget is basically your sidebar.
I followed your directions on how to start and set up. I am having problems getting back in finding my dashboard. Any suggestions on what I may have done wrong or where to go for help?
Kim, here’s the link: http://www.domain.com/wp-login.php (switch out the word “domain” with your own URL you signed up with).
Thank you so much for the information that you provide here! This post has been a life saver! I have been reading your ebook and I am trying to put all of your recommendations into practice. I just got the Genesis Framework with the Lifestyle Pro theme and I am having a rough time customizing the header. I am totally self taught and I have figured out a lot, but I cannot get my logo to shift to the left. It stays right in the middle on top of a photo. It is also not responsive. You cannot see the full image on a mobile device. Any suggestions for this? Every time I think I am on a roll and ‘set’ I hit a road block. Thanks!
That’s great Jessica. With the error, I’m not sure without actually logging in and seeing the problem. It may have to be custom coded by a technician to have the picture AND the title there. That theme may only want you to have one at a time. Again, not sure.
Dear Sarah, you are awesome! I admire you and just love you. Thank you so very much for ALL this. I am just starting my blog. No posts yet. Trying to figure it out. Thank you! You rock!
Glad it is helping you Edi. <3
I posted last night but I don’t think it went through. I’m sorry if this is the 2nd post. I work full time in the retail field and have for 20 plus years. My husband just retired and I would love to retire and travel. I am 55 years old, have 3 grown children all married and one grandson that is my life, being 5 years old and full of energy gives me so much joy. Almost 2 years ago I started as a part time Travel Consultant and I love what I’m doing but I cant help thinking that with a blog I could help other people realize that you don’t have to be rich to travel and enjoy life. There are so many beautiful places out there to see. Reading all your blogging info is so helpful to me and a lot to consume but in the long run is so rewarding helping people. I want to thank you so much and I will continue to follow you. I hope to be up and running very soon. Thank you for all the help you give myself along with so many people.
I think with a website, you could promote your own travel consultant services/site, but also expand and reach out past that. You could do posts on your grandchildren and traveling, like a lifestyle blog and it would fit in well with what you’re already doing and leave a legacy for future generations to see. 🙂
Thank you so much for the great content. I am sure that I will come back regularly to check this out.
So glad you like it Beth. 🙂
Thank you for your resources. I have all your ebooks on blogging, and they are great resources. My question is: “Is it safe to use a plug-in that hasn’t been updated to the most current WordPress. Specifically, Fancier Author Box has only been updated through 4.2.11 but WordPress is on 4.7? Appreciate your wisdom. I still haven’t had my website designed and keep it in Maintenance Mode because I’m so afraid of messing up.
It is safe, however, it is ideal to use plug ins that have been recently updated if possible.
I cannot thank you enough for this post. I feel like I’m not making ANY progress on my blog because every time I do research for a certain aspect that I’m trying to improve, I am overwhelmed by information. It’s so frustrating! Now I have a wealth of information in one tidy post. You ROCK!
Absolutely my motivation for this post Meagan. Glad you liked it. 🙂
Thank you for this post Sarah! Can’t wait to invest on those things one day as my blog progresses. I have to bookmark it for future references. Do you have any tips on how to start a newsletter? What should I write about it? What is it that I should include? How different that would be from my blog post? Could I write a newsletter with the same subject of a post just to drag people to my read my posts? What is even the real purpose of a newsletter?
Thank you!
Great questions Edi. I put them on my questions to answer in a future blog topic. I plan to cover newsletters after I get a few projects completed. 🙂
Awesome Sarah! I’ll be on it when you publish. Thanks!
Hello Sarah, I’m in the process of writing my blog post and getting everything ready before I actually start the blog. My question is what software do you use to do your printables? I just recently purchased a Mac book Pro so I’m hoping it is something that I can use on it. Thank so much!
Good morning Sarah! I’m so happy to read about your love of ConvertKit – I use a different service for my subscribers and have been looking for something new and keep hearing great things about ConvertKit!!! Thank you so much for this post and keep on keeping on girl, you are so inspiring!
Thank you Lisa. You’ll love ConvertKit. It’s awesome! 🙂
In a world full of “for me only” people like you are a rarity. Please keep on being generous with your tips and helpful advice and you will be so richly rewarded.
Thank you Cecille. I am rewarded everyday, doing what I love, serving others. <3
Hi Sarah,
I just wanted to tell you how absolutely inspiring you are. Every word that gushes out of you is so genuine and honest. You truly truly believe that it is possible for anyone to make a living from home. My partner and I just had a baby, she is 2 months old (we also have a wonderful 6 year old boy) and I am realizing that I cannot spend all my hours at work. It hurts every single piece of my being when I have to say good bye early in the morning and return from work with just 2-3 hours of bonding time. It is absolutely EXHAUSTING and basically UNETHICAL. I have been reviewing your article “how to start a money making blog the easy way” and it is so helpful and easily broken down. I am sure you get this all the time but I just had to write something to let you know that I am saving up to follow all the steps needed to start my own blog. I feel like I am experiencing an awakening. I HAVE TO CHANGE MY LIFE. I yearn, I need, I must work from home to spend more time with my munchkins. I have a FIRE of inspiration that is growing and growing every time I read one of your inspiring emails, every time I see how great you are doing and how absolutely POSSIBLE IT IS. We are so conditioned to thinking that we must work 9-5pm, that’s not the ONLY way. Now that I am done rambling lol I did have a question to ask you. Did you immediately know what you wanted to do as a blogger? I know I want to start my own blog and I have an idea of what I want to do, but did you like KNOW KNOW? Or was it something that evolved through trial and error into the amazing powerhouse it is today? Because I am unsure of the direction that I want to take with my blog and any advice if you experienced the same thing in the beginning and what would help to narrow it down would be so appreciated. Thank you again for inspiring soooo many people looking to gain financial freedom and freedom to do as they please with their time and their LIFE!
Glad that my writings are inspiring. 🙂 Nope, I had no clue what to write on. I just started writing on a bunch of different topics, based on the questions my friends would ask. One question would become a post. Saving money posts did the best for me, I went in that direction.
As for everyone making money from home, yes, but not everyone from blogging specifically. There are many different things to do (network marketing, blogging, reselling, etc.) Each person should find what they are best at and enjoy, have the tools to do, and go for that.
Help! I’ve installed the Genesis parent and a child theme. I “thought” it would look like the theme after being installed. It does not! It’s plain nothing. 🙁
When I installed one of the free themes, it looked just like it and included the pretty pictures. What am I missing?
Also, how do I delete the free themes on my worpress.org site?
Thank you!!!
Your info is awesome and I am so very grateful for you sharing it with dreamers and wanna bes like me. I’m making tons of mistakes, but at least I’m trying thanks to you!
Sarah,
This is a super great list! Thank you for sharing.
I am a 61 year old lady and would like to start a blog. What advise would you have for someone old enough to be your momma?
I think both your age and experience will give you a great deal to talk about when you begin your blog. Take every step towards starting, and write posts about everything you can think about. People will enjoy hearing about your unique perspective and ideas. Good luck in starting!
Appreciate your perspective!
Hi there! I have a couple of questions! I have been pouring over your blog for the last week! Thank you SO MUCH for doing this! Anyway, you said that you have to have a tagline and its very important. I am curious why it is so important? Also, do you have any recommendations as to how to get a logo made for your site?
Melissa, it tells Google and your audience what to expect from your site. 🙂 For logos, I’d go to Creative Market for that.
Awesome content, Sarah!
I have a question but I’m not sure if it relates: For our blog or websites, what type of site security (or protocols) would you recommend to keep from getting hacked?
Hi Sarah,
Your blog has been extremely helpful to read – learning so much from the great info you’ve shared. I’m not a mom but I have still learned a ton about blogging from great blogs like this!
Thank you!!!!
Absolutely Elle. Glad you like it. <3
This is awesome. Thank you! I have a question. I see some incredibly beautiful Genesis child themes on Etsy. Would they work in the same way the ones via Studiopress would operate? I am trying to make this as easy on myself as possible, but want to do it right the first time! Thank you.
Yes absolutely Chelle. As long as those themes specifically say they are for Genesis, you’re good to go. 🙂
Came across you blog today. Love it!
So glad you like it. 🙂
I came across your blog from Pinterest. I have been blogging since March and have found my niche blogging for working women but I did enjoy reading how you sell your own printable products using Shopify– this is an area that I am starting to build. Did you transfer your domain to Shopify to keep “shop.saratitus.com” or do you have two so you can blog on your actual site (not the blog section on Shopify)? I would love to be able to monetize to make this my full time career so I can spend more time with my family and son. Thanks!
The shop.sarahtitus.com is something my current host set up. I didn’t have to buy an extra name or anything. Just tell your host you want it and have them forward it to your store. 🙂