Ok, this log gets popular with over 200K monthly visitors and I started getting a lot of questions on my email regarding the way I run it and the tools I use.
That gave me the idea of creating this simple page with my favourite blogging tools, the ones I use right now and the ones I’ve used in the past and I know they’re awesome.
Hosting
I work with one.com as a hosting company. They are based in the UK. I’ve been with them for the last over three years. I’ve had some issues with them, but they’ve got 24h chat support, and I can always reach out to them for help. They are affordable and easy to set up. You could get £5 off your first plan with this link here.
Theme
If there’s something that most new bloggers spend too much time and money on, that’s the theme they use. I’ve changed over 5 different themes on this blog, but I currently use Astra Theme and intend to stick with it for a while. I love it because it’s a very light theme, it doesn’t slow the blog down, and it’s very simple to use. They have a free and Pro version, so if you’d like to try it, start with the free one. It’s easy to customise and extremely affordable.
Page Builder
Elementor is the only page builder I’ve ever tried, but I can honestly say that they are awesome. If you head over to my shop page, you will see what you could with the free version only. The Pro version, which I had up until a month ago, is even better. It allows you to create pop-ups, templates, customise your sidebars, including About the Author boxes and build everything that comes up in your mind. I stopped using it as I wanted the simpler look of the website and didn’t need a page builder for it. However, if you really want to try a new look on your blog, I would go for Elementor.
Email Tool
I currently use Flodesk. I just signed up with them less than a month ago and already got almost 500 new subscribers. That blew my mind! I believe the secret is in their forms’ layout. They are simply beautiful, and that helps a lot when my audience is 90% female. Us, women, we just like things to be pretty. Also, Flodesk is easy to set up, extremely affordable and simple to work with. With this link here you get a lifetime 50% off of your subscription.
Tailwind
Pinterest is my major traffic resource. Most of the time I pin manually, I’ve got the time to do it as I work from home full time and don’t have any kids (yet). However, if I travel somewhere, or I know I will not be able to pin my pins, I schedule them via Tailwind. Their yearly subscription is exactly what I need – paying once in the year and using it whenever I need for as many pins as I want. You can get one month for free with this link to try Tailwind for yourself
Pin Design
If you didn’t know it, 80% of your work on Pinterest is on Pinterest design. If people don’t like your pins, they won’t click on them, hence – no traffic to your blog. I use Canva to create my pins, and it truly takes me less than 2 minutes to create each pin. No, I don’t use templates like many other bloggers. I design every pin individually, although they have similarities. I’ve also signed up for their Photo Unlimited program which gives me access to millions of good quality photos. My traffic doubled months ago just by doing that.
Trello
As I mentioned, I pin manually, so I needed a good system to track my pins. I use Trello to keep lists of my Pinterest boards and pins, where I’ve pinned and where to pin in the future. Trello is easy to work with and free.
Yoast SEO
Although I don’t chase the all-green with Yoast SEO, I must admit that they remind me to stay focused on what’s important. I use Yoast since the very beginning, and I’m totally satisfied with the performance.
Grammarly
In case you didn’t know, I’m not a native English speaker. I am from a country in Eastern Europe and speak English for less than 5 years. Although I feel comfortable expressing myself in English, I wouldn’t be able to get where I am without Grammarly. I use it since the very first day I started blogging, and I still use it today. I realise that with the time I use it less, but that won’t stop me from doing my checks. I believe every blogger needs Grammarly as after spending three hours of drafting a post, the last thing you care about would be the comas. But that’s what would actually elevate your blog post over the others.
Have more questions? Feel free to email me at info@doctorforlove.com
If you’re a blogger, make sure you check the guest post opportunities I offer on this blog.