4 Blogging Resources Absolutely Worth Purchasing

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There’s a saying that goes, “You have to spend money, to make money”. I believe this is true in the world of blogging, especially if you lack basic web design skills and SEO knowledge, which I do. Here is a list of 4 different blogging resources that I have purchased in my last 2 years blogging, all of which I’m glad I did. I recommend these items to anyone looking to make improvements upon their blog, increase readership and make money. Let’s get started:

Premium Theme or Framework: Many bloggers out there lack the design capabilities to make a beautiful looking website on their own. Rather than cut yourself short with a free WordPress theme, I suggest investing some extra money into a “Premium WordPress Theme”. They will usually run you under $100, far less than getting a custom designed blog. Two themes that I recommend, which are actually called “frameworks” are Genesis and Thesis. I personally use both, however I find Thesis easier to use for beginners. You can also purchase “skins” for these frameworks, which give a fresh look to your site simply by uploading the files

Gravity Forms: Gravity forms is a WordPress plug-in that allows you to build and create your own custom contact forms. Gravity Forms far exceed the functionality of the free WordPress contact plug-ins in basically every way. With integration of ReCaptcha, Paypal and more, this plug-in will do more than its fair share of work. At a starting price of $39, it’s well worth the investment if your interested in providing your viewers an easier, better looking way to contact you, sign up for your e-mail newsletter, etc.

Scribe SEO: Search Engine Optimization is crucial to creating a successful blog or website, and if you don’t know how to perform SEO, the Scribe plug-in will get you there! Scribe is a built-in service, that analyzes posts and pages of your choice and gives you an SEO rating from 0-100%. Along with the rating, it indicates measures that you could be taking to increase your effectiveness in search engines, keywords to target, etc. Scribe has taught me a great deal about SEO and increased my visitors from search engines as well. Scribe is a pay-per month service, which starts at $17 a month and goes upwards as the number of post analyses increases. I highly recommend this resource to anyone who is lacking visitors from Google and really wants to make an effort to increase their numbers.

E-Mail Newsletter Solutions: While many people once thought e-mail marketing was dead, bloggers everywhere are proclaiming a comeback. Yet to effectively perform e-mail marketing campaigns, it’s often easier to have an established company behind you. Companies such as Constant Contact, MailChimp and AWeber all take the hassle out of e-mail marketing and creating newsletters. Most have a starting price from around $10 a month for quite a large amount of contacts and e-mails, so it’s definitely a bang for your buck. You also receive incredible e-mail and phone support that will assist you in your marketing campaigns.

There you have it, 4 blogging resources that are absolutely worth purchasing! If you are interested in seeing any of these plug-ins in action, you can check out my mens entertainment blog, BROcrastinator, as I use them all there. I hope this list helps you build the blog of your dreams and gets you one step closer to reaching your goals.

*Special note: I have no affiliation to these companies, nor did I profit in any way from this article. I’m just a satisfied customer who believes you will be as well.

Rob Paone is the founder of http://brocrastinator.com/ An entertainment blog geared towards the Average Joe interested in sports, music, movies, humor and hot girls.. When he’s not blogging, he’s working towards his college degree, working-out, or enjoying some cold beers.

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