Thread by @NicheDown

Let's talk #blogging tools of the trade ⚙️🔧🔨

Nearly all of the tools I used (and still use) to build my 500,000+ pageview/month blog, are FREE!

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1) Wordpress (.org)

In terms of ease of use and capability, it's hard to beat Wordpress. Yes, there are other options out there, but Wordpress just works, and has worked since 2003!

I wouldn't overthink this one. It's free, and the theme I use was free too.

There are some important differences between Wordpress (.org) and Wordpress (.com).

Go with (.org). You can read more about this here:

wpbeginner.com/beginners-guid…

2) Hosting

@bluehost Shared Hosting gets a bad rap these days, but it is a perfectly reasonable place to start! It's where I started. It's cheap and works fine in the early days, before you start getting real traffic.

After my site hit about 20,000 monthly pageviews, I decided to change hosting providers to @Cloudways.

My server set up: DigitalOcean, 4 GB, 80 GB Disk

Cost: $42.50 a month

Nice part is you can run multiple sites on a single server! And there are more affordable options

3) Analytics

-@googleanalytics
-Google Search Console

GA4 is seriously bumming me out, so I might revisit this one. But for now, I use Google Analytics and Search Console to monitor and analyze traffic, trends, etc.

4) Project/Content Planning

I use @googledocs for a all of my project management needs. It's free, and it works.

People love complicating this and using fancy project management tools. I'm here to tell you, you don't need them. Especially starting out.

5) Graphic Design

If you're not using @canva, you need to be. Their free version is all you need and it's POWERFUL.

Take boring images, and make them interesting. Speaking of images...

6) Images

Personally, when I see lame, stock images on a site, my mind immediately starts to discredit what I'm reading.

I get amazing, FREE images from:
1) unsplash.com
2) pixabay.com

and if they don't have what I need, I take the photos myself (whenever possible).

I've been known to go to the local Best Buy to snap photos of products...

People get a bit lazy with photos and I really think it hurts you in the long run

7) Logo

You can use Canva to create a free logo, but I paid like 5 bucks for my logo from thenounproject.com

8) Keyword research tools

-Ahrefs
-SEMrush
-Ubersuggest

The dirty secret in the blogging world is most of us use free "trials" of these tools to do our keyword research. And we do this over and over again.

It's probably why Ahrefs got rid of their trial option this year...

I also use Google ads Keyword Planner to triple check keyword volume. It's free.

ads.google.com/home/tools/key…

9) Research

@YouTube!

I'll say this until I am blue in the face...USE YouTube as your primary research tool.

Everyone else is busy regurgitating and rewording the top 5 posts. Use YouTube to do your research and you'll standout.

It is still under utilized in blogging...

10) CDN

I use @Cloudflare. Cloudflare is Content Delivery Network.

All you need to know is it speeds up your website considerably and it provides added security.

It's free, and you should use it.

That's it. Those are the tools I used to build my blog to 500,000 pageviews and $20k a month.

The crazy part, most are FREE.

You can complicate this, and add a bunch of other tools and pay for subscriptions etc. but just know, it's not necessary.

What's the best tool you're using right now that we should know about? (free or paid)