There are many things you need to start and maintain a blog. Also to make your blog even better you need more resources. We thought to introduce a page where we list all the resources which you need in order to start your blog, So here is the page with the list of all the essential resources which you would need for your blog.
Domain & Web Hosting
Even without a domain & hosting, you can start blogging using free blogging platform like blogger.com, wordpress.com but if you want to do professionally then you must buy your own domain. While choosing domain you should be careful and should be very choosy. Here is a post that might help you choose a good domain.
And after having a domain you need web space from some hosting company where your website’s files and the database will be saved.
- Cloudways: Cloudways is one of the best hosting management services which offers VPS servers from Digital Ocean, AWS, and other popular hosting services. We are currently using Cloudways for hosting and management of this site.
- Godaddy: This is the right choice to buy a domain and host both. You should browse the packages on the official site of GoDaddy. There are many sites as well that offer great discount Godaddy coupons which you can use to save a few bucks.
- One.com: This one of the WebHosts provides domain and hosting. It doesn’t sell only domains or only hosting. I have been with them for 3 years and never had any issues. I strongly recommend this. Read this post to know more about it.
- Hawkhost: This is one of the good WebHosts out there. I worked with it and it works well. You can also try hosting your site with it as well.
Blogging Platform
After getting the domain and hosting there is a need for a blogging platform to be installed on the hosting in order to set up the blog. WordPress is the right and the best choice for this because creating an awesome blog is easy with it, and also monetizing blogs that are powered by WP is very easy as the ad integration is quite easier than any other platform
Writing Tools
Grammarly: Grammarly is a must-have tool for every writer and blogger because it makes sure that your content is free from grammatical errors. It also works as a plagiarism tool. Read the review of Grammarly to know more about it here.
WordPress Plugins
Okay now, you have got a domain and hosted on any web host. Installed WordPress, Now what do you need? Plugins! Yes, Plugins are the arms of WordPress which make it more robust and add more functions to it. Here are a few important plugins you should install when you start blogging.
- Akismet: It is a spam protection plugin that is installed by default. You just need to activate it and enter its API key which you can get from Akismet’s website.
- GASP: GASP stands for Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin. It is also for spam protection.
- All-in-One SEO: This plugin gives an option to add custom meta tags such as meta title, meta description, and meta keywords for home page and internal pages.
- Backup Plugins: Install backup plugins to take automatic backups on a daily basis because you never know about cyber disasters which can ruin your blog. In such case, if you have the backup you can restore your sites within a few hours. A few good plugins are: backwpup, wordpress to dropbox
WordPress Themes
When you install WordPress then there are a few default free themes installed there already but in order to give some professional touch to your WP blog you should get premium themes.
- Genesis: – It is one of the most famous theme frameworks and a little costly too but it is worth installing because it gives a professional touch to your blog. On this blog, We are using Genesis Framework on this blog and we have seen good improvement after switching to it.
- Theme Junkie: – Theme Junkie has simple professional-looking themes.
- TemplateMonster – TemplateMonster is one of the best WordPress themes and Website Templates companies that offer a huge range of themes and templates.
Email Marketing Software
To send mailers you should have email marketing software that helps you automate your email marketing with better efficiency.
- Mailchimp: I am using this and it is working out fine for me. You may try it out. Readymade email templates are there in the dashboard and even you can design your own as well.
- Aweber: I haven’t tried it but have heard and read a lot about it that it is one of the best Email Marketing Software programs.
Read the guide to email marketing
Few How to Guides which might be helpful for you:
- 10 Reasons You Should Start Your Own Blog
- How to Start a Blog Step-by-Step guide
- How to install WordPress on your Web Space
- How to Create MySQL Database in CPanel
- Step-by-Step Technical Guide to Setup a WordPress Blog
- How to Choose the Perfect Theme for your WordPress Blog?
- How to add Addon Domain in your Bluehost hosting account?
- How to add Buttons in blog posts without using shortcodes?
- Why and How to Change Permalinks of an established blog?
- How to Use Broken Link Checker Plugin?
- How To Use WordPress SEO Plugin BY Yoast?
Note: On this page, there are many free and paid products listed. Every product has been linked to its source. We have used our affiliate links so that if you would make any purchase through these links then we will get the commission.
We hope that these are the resources that are important to get started rest you can check out more. Hope you like this page.