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Starting a Blog
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Ashley Cuevas profile picture
Ashley Cuevas
You can start out with a free WordPress blog and then upgrade to buy a domain and plan later after you get traffic. Here are some tools I use for blogging.
Sections
6
 
Blog Platform
 
Design Tools
 
Content Tools
 
Promotion
 
Monetization
 
Analytics

Blog Platform

This is where you start.

 
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Free or affordable options let you create a blog easily. You can make money from ads without having to figure out how to place them. This is the easiest option.
WordPress.com
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Ashley Cuevas profile picture
Host a blog here starting at $3/month. Wordpress can be installed on a self-hosted server through DreamHost. This can be cheaper in the end than using a premium plan Wordpress.com.
Web Hosting for Everyone - DreamHost
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Design Tools

These are free tools used to create images.

 
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I've been using this instead of Photoshop since the Adobe Suite got so expensive.
Photopea | Online Photo Editor
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Easily create designs with Canva.
Canva: Visual Suite for Everyone
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Content Tools

Here are some tools I use to write or display content.

 
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I use this on one of my blogs to read the content I write.
FreeTTS: Free Online Text to Speech, Audio Converter, and More
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You can't blindly trust anything it says but you can use it to brainstorm content.
ChatGPT
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This creates coloring pages. One of my blogs is a nature quiz blog and I have printables like coloring pages available for free. I take the coloring pages this tool provides and improve them with Photopea.
PageCrayon | Generate Coloring Pages with AI
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This is a free video editor that can be used to make gifs.
CapCut | All-in-one video editor & graphic design tool driven ...
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Promotion

If you put the time into making a blog, you have to make sure people find it.

 
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Tumblr can be niche but it is an option
Browse communities on Tumblr
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Ashley Cuevas profile picture
Pinterest is so helpful. Make some pretty images or free printables to get traction.
Pinterest
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Ashley Cuevas profile picture
A good bit of my traffic comes from Facebook. I got back on recently to help direct traffic.
Facebook
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Ashley Cuevas profile picture
Don't forget this amazing tool for promoting your website.
Benable - Shareable lists of things you recommend
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Monetization

You can opt-in to ads effortlessly through wordpress.com. If you want to avoid ads, just use affiliate links. Here is where you can create them.

 
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The walmart creator program is the easiest way to make money. They allow you to gain commission from family and friends' purchases unlike Amazon.
Walmart Creator
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The amazon associates program is a popular way to earn money through affiliate links.
Amazon.com Associates Central
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Analytics

Here's how to see how your site is doing. Analytics are built into wordpress.com plans. If you're hosting your own site you can install these options.

 
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See your analytics from within your wordpress.org dashboard. This is what you want when you setup your own hosted blog.
MonsterInsights - The Best Google Analytics Plugin for WordPress
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Here's how to create your Google Analytics tracking without using monster insights.
Analytics for beginners and small businesses  |  Google Analytics  |  Google for Developers
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