Blogging Tools & Free Blogging Resources

A collection of the best blogging tools and free blogging resources to help you learn, grow, and become profitable while blogging.

Blogging can be a great way to make extra money once you really know what you are doing. However, blogging isn’t an overnight money maker and some work will need to be put into it.

Once you have a profitable blog though, it’s nice having that extra passive income which makes it worth it. If you do it right, with a little love and a little time, you can make enough with blogging so that you can stay home more with your family.

What Tools Do You Need for a Blog?

We’ve gathered the ultimate list of blogging tools and free blogging resources to help you not only get started but also be profitable.

We have used many of these blogging tools and free resources over the years. We’ve also heard good things about these free blogging resources and tools. As we use and learn about more resources and blogging tools, we will add them to the list.

Many of these links are affiliate links which means we may make a small commission if you purchase one of the items. We promote these links simply because we use and believe in the items.

Domain Names

The first step to starting a blog is to choose a good domain name. Here are some good resources when it comes to domain names.

Namecheap – Namecheap is one of our favorite domain companies. We have always purchased our domain names here and they also offer hosting. We’ve also tried the hosting and if you are just getting started, it’s easy to work with and affordable.

Website Hosting

To really get into the fun of blogging, you will need to have hosting. WordPress offers a free hosting platform, but at some point, you will want to go to a self-hosted site. That’s where hosting comes in.

BigScoots – Our favorite hosting by far! They offer fully managed hosting, shared hosting, and others for an affordable price. We’ve never had any downtime or trouble and the support, if we ever do need it, is quick and reliable.

Namecheap – Namecheap offers affordable hosting for websites and blogs! Their WordPress hosting was easy to set up and navigate. It was also an affordable option for just getting started.

WPEngine – WPEngine is a big name in the hosting world and has quickly become one of the most popular. We used to host with WPEngine but found the pricing to be a little high for what we needed.

WordPress Themes

A good theme can make all the difference. These are our favorite themes and sites to get WordPress themes.

Restored 316 – Lauren over at Restored 316 has one of the best communities. She has a variety of great looking feminine themes. We currently use a Resorted 316 theme now!

Kadence – I love the Kadence theme. You can use it right out of the box, it’s free, and it runs so smoothly on WordPress. There is also a paid version that gives you more options, but we combine the free Kadence theme with our Restored 316 theme.

Food Blogger Resources & Blogging Tools

If your interest is to start a recipe or food blog, these resources and products can help elevate your blog and teach you how to get started.

Food Blogger Pro – With a membership, you get access to a ton of different food blogging resources, tutorials, blogging courses, and more. Although we have never tried it, many bloggers have been raving about it. Plus, they offer a 60-day money-back guarantee so it’s definitely worth a try.

WP Tasty Recipes – I love WP Tasty Recipes, we used it in the past. It’s a premium plugin with a ton of different options, it’s SEO-friendly, and easy to work with.

WP Recipe Maker – One of the most popular recipe plugins that many bloggers use and rave about. We use it here to share our recipes. You can download it for free and use it and they also offer a pro plan that gives you more abilities, styles, and customizations.

Ad Networks, Affiliate Programs & Blogging Tools

SHE Media – SHE Media is one of my favorite ad networks for blogs and is something we use here on Homeschool and Happiness. They provide great customer service, can help you get started with monetizing your website, and pay out pretty decently. It’s also worth noting that they take the time to look at your blog, not just your numbers. However, you do want to apply when you are close to 20k pageviews a month.

Mediavine – Another popular option when it comes to monetizing your site. This one is for the big bloggers though. You have to have a high number of visitors each month to even be accepted.

Tasty Links – Tasty Links allows you to automatically link specific keywords to your affiliate programs so that you can focus more on blogging.

ShareASale – ShareASale allows you to sign up with various affiliate programs so that you can promote their links and get a commission. Think of ShareASale as a hub that gathers all of the affiliates you apply for and get approved for.

Impact Radius – Impact is another popular affiliate site that offers a ton of different brands you can apply to and become an affiliate with.

Commission Junction – A variety of different affiliate programs you can apply for.

Once you start going for affiliate programs to make money, it’s important that you choose programs that you believe in promoting. If you love a product, search to see if it has an affiliate program.

SEO Blogging Tools, Plugins, and Resources

SEO (search engine optimization) is extremely important when it comes to blogging. In fact, it’s one of the most important blogging tools you will want. Without optimizing your posts, search engines won’t be able to find you, and that is something you don’t want to miss out on.

RankIQ – This is my FAVORITE blogging tool when it comes to keyword research. I’ve seen some great results using RankIQ and it really helps you with creating amazing posts.

Rank Math – Rank Math has become our favorite SEO plugin. It’s super easy to use and gives you the information you need to help you rank in search engines. I also love the fact that they have the Index Now feature. You don’t need the pro plan, the free plan will work fine, but I would highly recommend that if you like Rank Math, you invest in the pro.

Yoast – Yoast is one of the most popular SEO plugins. It’s a guide that will help you go through your posts and help rank higher in search engines. It’s a great plugin that we love, however, we are trying Rank Match now.

Google Analytics – Track your blog statistics and where your visitors are coming from.

Google Search Console – A free tool from Google that helps you keep track of keywords and backlinks from your website.

KWFinder – Find keywords for your blog. You can search competitor sites to see what keywords they may be ranking for as well as find new keywords for your blog.

Social Media, Pinterest SEO, Marketing, & Tools

Tasty Pins – Tasty Pins allows you to optimize your blog’s images for Pinterest, SEO, and screen readers. It’s super easy to use and worth it.

Tailwind – Create and schedule your images to Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook. I love the group options because when you join a group, everyone helps promote each others content. Try out the plus plan for free if you use this link!

Social Pilot – Create and schedule customized posts, review the reports and analytics, collaborate with your team, and more. Social Pilot is easy to use, and affordable, and we love the number of platforms you can schedule and share on.

Image Creation & Optimization

Canva – Canva is our go-to image creator. We create images for the blog, logos, printables, and just about everything else. Canva offers a free plan, but you will want to take advantage of the pro plan and everything it has to offer, especially if you plan to use it long-term or make printables.

ShortPixel – ShortPixel is our go-to image optimization plugin.

PicMonkey – Another great way to make images and collages for your blog. The free plan is decent, but the pro is also good. It’s comparable to Canva, but I like PicMonkey because of its features that Canva doesn’t have.

Email Marketing

Mailerlite – This is one of our favorite email marketing platforms. You can sign up for a free account and have up to 1,000 subscribers. If you outgrow the free plan, you can upgrade and go for a premium plan.

MailChimp – A popular email marketing platform for your newsletters. For new users who aren’t familiar with email marketing, we found it to be a little overwhelming with a bit of a learning curve.

Sumo – Suma offers a free and paid option. The free plan is packed with helpful goodies for bloggers. From email marketing and contact forms to social sharing buttons and more.

Contact Forms

WP Forms – WP Forms is a lightweight contact form that is easy to use. You can use it for free through the plugin directory but if you want more features, you can pay for a pro plan. The free plugin should be all that you need if you are just looking for a simple contact form.

Writing – Blogging Tools

Grammarly – Proofreading is an important part of writing and Grammarly makes it easy for you. Through your writing process, Grammarly will help you check your spelling, check for plagiarism, and put together proper sentences.

Headline Analyzer – This free tool will help you write the best headline.

BuzzSumo – Great for finding popular content and generating topic or post ideas. This is a premium tool but there is an option for a free 30-day trial.

Google Trends – A great way to find trending content.

More Blogging Tools We Love Using

Gleam – If you plan to run giveaways, Gleam offers a contest app that allows you to easily run giveaways on your blog. It’s $10 a month. We have yet to use this but after some research, it is on our list of future apps to use.

More Items To Check Out

• Check out these helpful frugal blogs.
• Blogging can be a great winter business to start.