Our Recommended

Blogging Tools and Resources 

Complete with lots of exclusive deals and discounts!

Website Hosting

The best, cheapest and easiest website hosting option for beginning bloggers is Bluehost

They’ve got a few different plans, but I recommend just starting with the Basic Plan for just $2.95/month (this is a special deal just for my readers; normally it’s $7.99/month). You'll also receive a free domain name and Wordpress installation!

 *Note, since my page views have surpassed 50,000 per month, I’ve upgraded my hosting service to Cloudways, but until you need the upgrade Bluehost is the best place to get started. 

Email Marketing

Active Campaign is by far the most robust email marketing system I've ever used (or even heard of!) This is the #1 email provider I recommend you sign up with.

Even if you don’t need a lot of their features now, that’s okay. You can start off with their super affordable Lite plan (it’s only $9/month if you have under 500 subscribers) and then expand.

Convertkit

Email Marketing 

 

Prior to Active Campaign, I used Convertkit which is another great option when you're just starting out with email marketing. 

Other tools to grow and scale

The best platform for creating online courses (like this one!) Use my link for a free 30-day trial!

Payroll (super easy and incredible customer service)! Get a $100 Amazon gift card after you run your first payroll!

The scheduler I use for Pinterest and Instagram! Use this link to get a free trial + $30 credit!

Bookkeeping and invoicing software (save $100 off your first year with our link!)

The tool I use to make opt-in pop-ups, forms, and landing pages. Use my link to start a free trial!

The tool I use to create quizzes and grow my email list! Get 15% off any plan with the code: 6FBA15

Demio is my favorite tool to host live classes and coaching calls! You can have students hop on camera with you, leave comments in the chat and record calls to send out afterwards! 

Outsourcing to real people

  • NerdPress: Incredible tech support if you're looking to outsource this element

     

  • Foodie Digital: An all-women company for incredible SEO and tech support who we use for Root + Revel (note they only work with food blogs) (tell Liane Root + Revel sent you!)

     

  • Purr Design: The website design team I used to rebrand and redesign Root and Revel

     

  • Molly Cahill: Instagram coaching and growth strategies to help you find your ideal audience and engage with them

     

  • 238 Accounting: Bookkeeping and money mindset coaching

     

  • Casey Markee from Mediawyse: SEO Auditing

     

  • Danny Ozment's The Podcaster Pod: A course + membership to grow and launch your podcast! Use code JOINPODPOD to get a free month!

     

  • Simple Pin Media: Pinterest management and membership for strategy + tips!

     

  • Millenial Money: Financial Advisor

     

  • Jessie Hayden: The most amazing course designer

     

With 99Designs, you can opt to work 1:1 with a designer, or host a contest to get multiple designs from many different designers.

Use this link to get $10 off your first design!

Creating Graphics

  • Adobe Creative Cloud: The software I use to edit photos, particularly Lightroom

     

  • Canva: The free graphic design tool I use to create graphics for my blog posts, Pinterest, social media and more. 

     

  • Tasty Book Photography e-book: An amazing resource for those wanting to learn food photography from a true pro

     

  • Pexelsfree stock photography

     

  • ColorPick Eyedroper: A free Chrome extension for identifying any colors on any website 

WordPress is the only platform I recommend for blogging. There's so much research and data that Wordpress has better SEO, functionality that allows you to customize and create a better reader experience and overall leads to more traffic, profit and growth. 

A lot of students find the tech of Wordpress intimidating (this used to be me, by the way!) which is why I created the 
Tech LibraryThese in-depth video trainings walk you through step by step of how to use Wordpress and set-up your blog. 

This is a great resource for brand new bloggers and established bloggers who are currently on Squarespace, Wix or another platform. 

Organizational + Productivity Tools

Free web-based, working docs that live in a cloud and can be accessed anywhere by anyone you choose

The online tracker I use to track my time and generate report

The scheduling tool I use for coaching clients, podcast interviews, business phone calls, etc.

An analytics tool I use to track and improve my productivity

The free project management app I use to communicate with my team and manage projects, and create to-do lists

A free password management service that stores all of your passwords so you never have to remember them

An app integration service to automate your work and be more productive

An amazing free app that allows you to leave voice messages for your team

Site for setting objectives and communicating with you team

WordPress Plugins

  • WP Recipe Maker: Create cute recipes cards and essential for any recipe posts for SEO + organizing data. Use the code 6FBA on the checkout page for 10% off!

     

  • Wordfence: The best way in the world to protect your blog! This plugin blocks malicious traffic and includes an endpoint firewall and malware scanner. Fortunately, you can get started at no cost!

     

  • Broken Link Checker (free): Checks your blog for broken links and missing images and notifies you on the dashboard if any are found

     

  • Easy Azon: Quickly and easily insert Amazon affiliate links into your site's content

     

  • Hello Bar (I use the free version) : A sticky bar to help you easily collect email addresses from subscribers

     

  • Inline Related Posts (free): Easily add related content to your blog posts to keep readers on your site longer

     

  • Pretty Links (free): Shorten, customize and track any URL

     

  • Ultimate No Follow: Properly set up links on your blog by letting Google know which ones are promotional and which ones are educational. This is a MUST to be compliant with Google’s policies.

     

  • ShortPixel Image Optimizer: Optimizes images automatically, while guarding the quality of your images and making your website load faster

     

  • Grow by Mediavine: Maximizes social shares and drives more traffic using beautiful social sharing buttons

     

  • UpdraftPlus: Backup and restore on automatic schedules so you'll never lose your work again

     

  • WP Rocket: Improves performance and site speed. Use code sixfigureblog20 to get 20% off of your first year! 

     

  • Yoast SEO (free): An all-in-one SEO solution, including on-page content analysis, XML sitemaps and more

     

  • KingSumo Giveaways: Helps you grow your email list using viral social giveaways with from your blog

     

  • Milotree: A smart pop-up to grow your email list, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Pinterest

     

  • Nutrifox: Allows you to create custom nutrition labels effortlessly

     

  • WP to Twitter: automatically post tweets from Wordpress to Twitter

     

  • Header and Footer Scripts: If you are running a WordPress site, sooner or later you need to insert some kind of code to your website. This plugin will do all the magic for you, without having to know code!

     

  • Vaultpress: a plug-in that regularly backs up your site automatically and protects again spam

     

Pitching + PR Resources

Automatically set email reminders to follow up

 

The email app I use to automate follow-ups, track opens and manage leads

Find a contact's email address on LinkedIn

A free tool to help you find the email address of just about anyone

A guide for knowing your worth for paid partnerships

SEO Tools

Additional Blogging Tools

  • VWO: A tool I use to notify blog subscribers of new content

     

  • Keywords Everywhere: A Chrome Extension I use to write headlines based on the best SEO keywords (as of October 2019 this tool is no longer free)

     

  • Hotjar:  A software I use to collect customer feedback and see how visitors use my site

     

  • Coschedule Headline Analyzer: Free tool to help you write click-worthy headlines

     

  • Hemingway Appfor crafting short and compelling language

     

  • AdThrive: The Ad Network I use to monetize my blog (previously used Mediavine)

     

  • Grammarly: A free tool for checking spelling & grammar

     

  • SamcartThe payment processing system I use to sell ebooks, course and more! Grab a free 14-day trial with this link! 

© Kate Kordsmeier 2020. All Rights Reserved.