Best Blogger Resources For A Thriving Blog!

On this page, you will find an overview of the best blogger resources that I have used to learn all about how to create a thriving and successful blog.

Including domain name, hosting, and blogging coursed that I have invested in, which I strongly recommend you do, too, if you can!

This article contains affiliate links! If you like this free content and use my links to make your purchases, I get a small commission at no extra cost to you! Thank You!

Blogging Courses

I quickly realized that investing in a course was the best thing I could do for my blogging career!

In the last couple of years, I have invested in two really good courses, with a few important differences.

The first one is called Blogging Fast Lane (BFL) and is run by successful bloggers Tom and Anna. It is a really good course that covers what you need and is also a less pricey option.

The second one is called Scale Your Travel Blog (SYTB), is run by successful bloggers Mike and Laura, and is super comprehensive and “has it all.”

I will tell you all about them below.

Scale Your Travel Blog SYTB

Scale Your Travel Blog (or SYTB) is a really good and comprehensive blogging course that I have invested in.

It teaches you everything you need to know to succeed in blogging, and this course has more modules and covers more aspects of blogging than the BFL course.

This includes a personal site audit, a tailored keyword list, and 1:1 Zoom calls, to mention a few.

If you want to know more about what SYTB will give you, check out the FREE Online Training Webinar presenting SYTB and what you get with this course.

It is also pricier than the BFL course and will cost a one-time payment of $2497 (or 6x $427 partial payments).

That is a good chunk of money, but the mentoring and help that you get to start, run, grow, and monetize your blog is also top-notch!

With SYTB, you get a site audit of your blog (if you have already launched and feel a bit stuck) and tailored keyword lists to focus on based on your DA and niche.

Also, you will have an intro call and 1:1 mentor calls to help you start in the right direction and keep you there, as well as an FB community full of “colleagues”!

This is what you get in the SYTB course:

• Introductory strategy call
• Site audit
• Tailored Keyword list
• Module 1: Introduction + Mindset
• BONUS Module: Website Set Up + WordPress Tricks
• Module 2: On-Page SEO (SEO For Travel Blogs + Beyond)
• Module 3: Backlinks
• Module 4: Off-Page SEO
• Module 5: Scaling With Affiliate Marketing
• Module 6: SEO For Old Blog Posts
• Module 7: Making Money With Ads
• Module 8: Scaling With Email Marketing
• Module 9: Scaling With Sponsorships
• A variety of bonuses
• Group coaching calls
• FB community group
• Weekly live Q&A calls with Laura on FB

Blogging Fast Lane BFL

The Blogging Fast Lane (or BFL) is a really good blogging course with four modules plus a bunch of bonuses, teaching you everything about blogging from A to Z.

It is also quite reasonably priced, at a $697 one-time payment (you can also choose a 4x $199 partial payment option) to get you started.

This is what you get in the BFL course:

• WordPress tutorial
• Finding your niche
• Branding
• Keyword research
• Affiliate marketing
• On-page and off-page SEO (which you HAVE to understand)
• AI for blogging
• Fb community
• Workflow organizing tools
• Create op-tins and value gifts in Canva

Ready To Monetize Your Blog?

When you have your blog up and running, you probably want to start making money on the work that you are doing!

You don’t need to wait until you have reached a specific number of readers, sessions, or page views, but you want to do it the right way!

There are three ways to monetize your blog:

• Affiliate Marketing
• Ads on your site
• Selling services or digital products

Courses About Affiliate Marketing

The courses that I have taken that are really good are with Shelley Marmor, a super successful affiliate marketing 6-figure travel blogger (I am not quite there yet).

Here are some of her done-for-you resources and templates:

• Affiliate Blog Post Template
• Affiliate Tables
• How to Optimize Old Blog Posts For Traffic
• 10 Ways to get Backlinks for Domain Authority Masterclass
  

Starting With Ads On Your Site

In order to make any money at all on ads from an Ad Network, you need to have traffic to your site, as you normally will get paid after something called RPM, Revenue Per Mille (1000).

So for every 1000 viewing, you get paid one RPM, which is also dependent on WHERE your traffic comes from.

Many ad networks are working with US-based companies, which means that the traffic that is included in the RPM is mainly US traffic.

So you need to build traffic from the US to make having ads on your site worthwhile.

The ad networks you can consider are:

• She Media Collective (min 20.000 page views per month, but often accepted before)
• Google AdSense (no clear requirement, “consistent traffic”)
• Ezoic (minimum 10.000 visits per month)
• Mediavine (minimum 50.000 sessions per month)
• AdThrive (minimum 100.000 page views per month)

Don’t Want A Course?

You can find out things on your own, too, just know that it will take more work, frustration, dedication, and time before you will be able to grow and monetize.

If you are up for that challenge, here are the resources you will need to start your own blog!

Buy A Domain Name With Namecheap

When starting a blog, you will need a blog name that shows up in the URL, the address line! That is your domain name, the unique name of your little “country” on the Internet.

When you choose your blog or website name, remember to think FAR AHEAD. Don’t choose a name that will limit you in the future!

This implies you don’t limit your website to a geographical place in your blog name (unless you know you want to focus on a geographic area indefinitely).

That implies you don’t use your own name in the blog name (it makes it harder to sell your blog) and don’t limit your name to a theme or niche in the URL (you can niche down by choosing content, keywords, etc.)

I have purchased my domain names with Namecheap, which I am happy with.

You do not need to have your web hosting in the same place as you have your domain name, but you can if you want to.

I have my domain names still with Namecheap, although I have web hosting with Flywheel, which you will read more about below.

WordPress Dot Org Blog Platform

Again, there are a variety of blogging platforms to choose from, like Wix, and one of the biggest in the world is WordPress.

The downside of choosing WordPress is that it does take a bit of work to learn the platform; it is not completely intuitive.

But once you learn and get the hang of it, there are upsides!

As it is so widely used, it is compatible and easily integrated with many plugins, tools, and services you will need.

Also, if you at some point want to sell your blog, it is an advantage to have WordPress!

NB: You want to have the .org version of WordPress (not .com) to get private hosting and your own domain name in the URL!

Flywheel Hosting

A hosting service is the company that is responsible for making a space for your domain name and your WordPress platform on the Internet, so it is your house on the Internet!

You need to have the house before you can start to decorate with furniture, art, colors, and everything you want to make it look the way you want and present your content the way you want to.

You want to choose a hosting service that ensures that your website is FAST, which is why I changed from the host I used to have, to Flywheel.

As Flywheel hosting provides a super fast site, reasonably priced, is compatible with WordPress, and has great and fast customer service, that is the hosting platform that I recommend choosing.

Rank IQ SEO Tool

I only recently started using Rank IQ as my SEO tool (and you MUST have an SEO tool); until then, I have been using a lower-priced tool.

And let me just say that Rank IQ blew my mind!

There are a variety of SEO tools out there; some are free and give you the basic assistance to not choose your keywords completely randomly.

Others are priced really high, with great tools, and will be super for established bloggers who already have a decent income and budget.

Rank IQ is a medium-priced SEO tool in comparison to a variety of others, but considering the services and tools you get with Rank IQ, I would say it waaay outshines other cheaper options.

Here is what you get with Rank IQ:

• Extensive Keyword Library
• Keyword Search tool with extensive analysis of competitiveness, traffic, and ranking time
• Create Post Outline
• SEO Optimized Title Analysis
• Topic Coverage Analysis
• Detailed Update Old Post Guide
• Rank IQ gets its data directly from Google Analytics to run its analysis.
• Rank IQ Mastermind Group on Facebook

Choosing A Theme For Your Blog Interior

A theme is a framework for what your website will look like after choosing your domain name, website platform, and hosting provider.

The theme regulates the layout, colors, and decoration of your blog. Some themes cost money, and some themes are free.

Whichever you choose, you need to have a theme that is light; which means that it does not have a lot of heavy code (CSS and HTML) that can make your site slow and difficult for you to work in and for readers to navigate inside.

I am using the FREE Kadence theme, which in addition to not costing any money, looks good, and is a light theme, helping me to have a fast site so readers are not annoyed by slow page speed.

Now you are good to go! And when you run into problems, you can head over to Youtube and try to find solutions to them there.

There are a lot of good tutorials (but also bad ones, so make sure you validate the person giving you solutions or advice!).

Want to know about my journey? Check out the about me page if you want to know who I am and how I got here!

The World By Hege is your one-stop-shop for the Caribbean and the Americas travel, with all you need to find your perfect destination, hotel, tours, activities, and, of course, beaches of your dreams! Read more about me here!