I thought it would be helpful to create a resource page that you can always come to for all of your travel writing and blogging needs. The goal of this page is to continually add great products, services, books, e-books, tools and more. Everything you find below are products, services, and tools I have personal experience with! Many of the links below are to free resources. I recommend bookmarking it for your reference and convenience.
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase. Please understand that I have experience with all of these companies, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions I make if you decide to buy something.
WEBSITE HOSTING AND BLOGGING TOOLS
SiteGround I recently moved my travel blog, 52Perfectdays.com to SiteGround. There are a bunch of web hosting companies out there and this is the one I am happy with. They moved my site when I signed up, which saved me hours of time working with my developer and they have great customer services. If you are unhappy with your current host or need to set up hosting for the first time, if you use my SiteGround referral code you will receive a discount on your hosting, free site migration and up to 6 mo free hosting bonus added to the new account for unused time with their current host. Simply click here: http://www.siteground.com/recommended?referrer_id=7341553
Godaddy I use Godaddy as my website host for Break Into Travel Writing. To be completely honest, I am on this host because my husband has a bundle package. You can purchase your domain, get web hosting and even WordPress set up with Godaddy. I have worked with Godaddy for years and it’s a good resource if you are just starting out. If your site is under 100 pages and doesn’t have 500+ photos it will be good for your needs. Another hosting and domain company I have worked with in the past and trust is Hostgator.
WordPress This is your #1 choice for building your blog or website (and I mean WordPress.org NOT wordpress.com). I love WordPress.org. I’ve worked with Joomla and Drupal and think WordPress is the easiest
SEO & Keyword Research
Use Keysearch or Ubersuggest to search for keywords and find related keywords. This is also a way to not only find good article ideas but at the same time find keywords that are easy to rank for.
Keysearch is just $17 a month and offers lots of great reports and features. I am an affiliate, which means you can get an extra 20% off using the code KSDISC when you sign up.
Stupid Simple SEO – The ultimate guide in keyword research. If you want to take your SEO to the next level, check out this free master class.
Increasing Affiliate Income
Thirsty Affiliates is a plugin that helps increase affiliate income It truly makes it easy to keep track of links and add them easily into articles. It’s a massive time saver and is absolutely essential for bloggers doing affiliate marketing who want to make more $$.
Lasso WordPress Plugin for Affiliate Income A favorite blogging WordPress plugin for affiliate link management is Lasso. This plugin manages your links, gives you no-code product displays, and notifies you of ways to increase your affiliate revenue. Try a 14 Day FREE Trial.
EMAIL MARKETING AND LIST BUILDING
I’m in the midst of moving to Active Campaign after using Greenrope for the last year. I’ve done a lot of research and talked with many other entrepreneurs and bloggers and the three email marketing solutions I recommend at the moment are:
Active Campaign This is my current email marketing platform and it’s one of the easiest out there. Send newsletters, design beautiful email campaigns, and keep in touch with your contacts and customers starting at $9 per month. They also offer a FREE 14-day trial.
Mailchimp A great email service if you are just starting out. Free for up to 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month.
Convertkit This is a newer platform that I see several top bloggers moving to, including Pat Flynn. This platform was built specifically for bloggers and like Active Campaign, it helps you manage emails lists and drip campaigns. The price tag is a big higher, starting at $49 a month for up to 3,000 subscribers.
SumoMe – I am in the midst of documenting my journey using SumoMe for list building. This FREE tool is a must if you interested in building your email list. The plugin also offers several other free tools as well as a Pro paid version.
PODCASTING
John Lee Dumas’ Podcasters Paradise Free Podcast Course: a 15-day free, automated email and video series. I met John for the first time in 2014, where he spoke about podcasting at mastermind event. I had no idea how fast this medium was growing or what a rock star John was at the time. Since then, I have got to know John and seen him speak several times. You want to learn from the guy who made over $4 million dollars last year from his podcast! If you are thinking about starting a podcast, take this FREE 15-day course!
Pat Flynn’s Step-by-Step How to Start a Podcast Tutorial – This is a FREE 6 video step by step tutorial that will help you get your podcast up and running! I used this tutorial to get my podcasts on iTunes. A bit is out of date, but this series was super valuable to me when learning how to launch my podcast.
E-BOOKS & COURSES
What You’ll Discover in this 130+ page eBook from Digital Photography School
How to simplify the process of making engaging and technically proficient landscape images.
How to overcome the unique challenges that landscape photography presents.
The 4 landscape fundamentals that turn bland into beautiful.
Workshops and guided tours of some amazing landscape images.
A straightforward explanation of the gear you need (it isn’t as much as you might think.)
Landscape specific post-processing techniques.
Advanced tips and techniques for specific scenarios: mountains, water, bush and forest, black and white and panoramic stitching.
Click here to view more details
GRAPHICS & DESIGN
99 DesignsIf you are looking for help with anything from web design to a logo, ” target=”_blank”>99 Designs is a super affordable resource. What I love is the process. You submit details about what you want for a design, answer a few questions and then a bunch of designers create graphics. You get to narrow down the group and until you choose one to finalize the project. It’s a great way to know what you are going to get and not hire one designer and cross your fingers they understand your vision.
Canva
Click here to view more details
BOOKS I LOVE
These are books every travel blogger should read and know about!
Lonely Planet’s Guide to Travel Writing by Don George
The Best American Travel Writing 2015
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss
Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts
The Elements of Style by Strunk & White
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase. Please understand that I have experience with all of these companies, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions I make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money on these products unless you feel you need them or that they will help you achieve your goals.