Efficient Blogging

PBS Book Links

Thanks for picking up my book!

As promised, this page contains the links to all the resources mentioned in the book:

If you haven’t already, you may want to pick up the 1st book in this series “How To Make Money Blogging: How I Replaced My Day-Job With My Blog”.

You can get a free PDF version here

 

Bufferapp.com

If you aren’t aware, Buffer is a tool that lets you schedule out your Facebook, Twitter, G+, and even Linkedin posts. It is free to start and highly recommended.

 

Pinterest Tools

 

Keyword Research

 

Getting an LLC

 

Studiopress Genesis theme

This is the premium WordPress theme that I use, love, and highly recommend.  Oh and did I mention that this site is running Genesis?

 

Applying for an EIN (TAX ID)

Just follow these simple steps when applying for an EIN number… Go to the IRS EIN page (http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Apply-for-an-Employer-Identification-Number-(EIN)-Online) and scroll down to the bottom and click the link that says “APPLY ONLINE NOW.

 

FTC required disclosure of affiliate links

If you are interested in reading all the nitty gritty of FTC required disclosure of affiliate links, I would check out these articles:

 

Vaultpress.com

They run a service that auto-backs up your site files and database for you each day. They also have a security monitoring feature where they monitor your blog for security threats, malicious code, and hack attempts. The service starts at $5/month

 

Fiverr.com

This site is great because you can hire help for all kinds of tasks from logo creation, to voiceover work, to social media submissions all for $5. But that is also why this site is not great. I have found that generally you get what you pay for with Fiverr.com

 

Odesk.com

I have hired a handful of workers from Odesk.com and Elance.com and I have had some wins and some losses. The key is to find someone who is knowledgeable in exactly what you are wanting them to do. Ideally, you want someone who has done (and has reviews to prove it) the exact thing you are wanting to hire them for.

 

Hiring Writers

 

Finding Photos to use

  • Compfight.com is another great way to find CC images and they even provide the HTML code allowing you to give credit that you can just copy and paste into your blog post.
  • Photodune.net – They don’t have the biggest supply yet, but typically they are better quality images than some of the other cheap stock photography sites. You can find images for as cheap as $1 a piece.
  • Dreamstime.com – These guys have a huge supply of stock photos, some good, and a lot of mediocre ones mixed in. You can find images as cheap as 20 cents a download.
  • istockphoto.com – These guys are expensive, but they have great images and lots of them. So if you need a high quality image, this is the place to go.

 

Photo-editing websites

I normally use Photoshop myself, there are some fantastic free tools out there that make this very easy. I would check out:

  • Gimp.org – This is an open-source (and FREE) piece of software that you can download that does 99% of what Photoshop can do. It is high-powered, so for simple editing like cropping or adding text, I would probably use a more basic tool.
  • Picmonkey.com – This is a great website that allows you to make a ton of edits to your photos all for free, although they offer a premium version with additional features. Whenever I am not at a computer with Photoshop, this is my go-to tool.
  • ipiccy.com – This one is about as close to a web-based Photoshop alternative as you can get. This is a high-powered tool that can do a lot all from your browser.
  • idpinthat.com – If you are looking for images to use in your blog posts and would like to overlay them with text, this is just what you are looking for.
  • canva.com – This site is great for creating Pinterest-friendly graphics and they have tons of templates that you can use to make the process a lot easier.
  • https://imgflip.com/memegenerator

 

Logo Design Templates

99Designs sells Logo Templates for $100. Basically they are beautiful and well-designed logos that you just plug in your website or company name. So after purchasing you tell the designer what you want the logo to say, what color you want it, etc and they make the simple and quick customizations for you. GraphicRiver.net also has a bunch of logo templates that you can have tweaked (words & colors changed) for quite a bit cheaper than 99 Designs. At the time of this writing they don’t have as large a selection as 99 Designs, but they do also have a bunch of gorgeous ones for sale for about $30.

 

Ebook Covers

myecovermaker.com is my favorite tool for creating a quick 3D ebook cover.

 

Writing great headlines

Great headlines will be different depending on your audience, but for some great template ideas that will work in many niches, Brian Clark has a great list here… http://www.copyblogger.com/10-sure-fire-headline-formulas-that-work

 

Plugins Mentioned

 

Anything I forgot?

If so, contact me and let me know and I will get it added!

As you would expect, I do what I teach so some of these links on this page are affiliate links. But as mentioned in the book, I only recommend products and services that I use and/or really like!