Hey there mama!

As a blogger, I enjoy using my creativity and writing skills every day to create amazing new content on multiple platforms. It takes a lot of time and tools do to that, and since this is my career, people are always curious as to what I use and how I find resources that work for me.  So that is what this post is about! Let me share my favorite tools and resources with you!

This post may contain affiliate links 

Resources And Tools I Use As A Blogger 

Being a single mom on a very limited income can make running a blog quite challenging.  Without enough money or time to spend on “fancy” tools, themes, resources, etc, I have had to find my own way to live that blogger life. Through lots of research, trial and error, and finding tools that will work on a budget I have found the perfect tools to keep this ship sailing.  Let’s dive in!

If you are looking for free or affordable tools to use for your blog, social media, or small business then you’re in the right place! These are the things that I use that have worked the best for me and allow me to run my blog on not much more than my own creativity and passion.

Theme, Design, & Branding 

You might be surprised to know that all of my blog’s design is FREE! Yep, that’s right. This mama has hustled and found a simple yet beautiful theme for my blog for free courtesy of Angie Makes.  From this theme, I have created my design and branding.

I use some free stock photos in my branding colors for my social media and blog images. I also will take my own photos as well doing my best to stick with my color palette and look. It’s not easy! But I do try. More on my images in a bit!

You can Google or Pinterest search for free blog themes and stock photos to use for yourself if you don’t want to drop major dollars on that stuff. It can be very expensive and be an expense that may not be worth it if it’s something you can’t afford.

My favorite sites for free stock photos are:

• Pexels
• Pixabay
• Unsplash

Creating Images & Graphics

So don’t worry, you don’t have to be a pro graphic designer in order to be a blogger or create beautiful images for your site and social media.

With just a little bit of practice, you can put together something that will catch those much-wanted eyeballs.  Most of this will also be free! No need to purchase fancy software or anything like that.

I use Canva, Adobe Spark, and Fotor to create most of my images. All of these design tools have free and paid options, and the paid versions are actually quite affordable!

So whichever version you use, you will easily be able to create the right type of graphics and images your biz needs! If you need help figuring things out, you can look up tutorials to help you! Canva even has its own tutorials available to make it even easier to use! Check them out here!

Fotor is a great tool for creating stunning graphics. This free site is great for editing images you already have or creating original ones for your business or social media.  I have only just started using it but so far I think it’s awesome! It’s perfect for minor touch-ups or for creating something new!

Taking My Own Photos

For my Instagram and occasional images for the blog, I snap my own real-life pics.  Most bloggers and influencers have fancy cameras and editing software, but me? Well, let’s just say I’m not as blessed as they are in the financial department. So what’s a broke single mom to do?

I simply just use my phone, a cheap tripod, and the tools I have already mentioned above.   Now, my phone isn’t anything fancy either, so it’s not going to take crystal clear high-quality photos, but I work with what I have. If you are blessed enough to have an iPhone or any other higher-quality phone then you are in luck!

Flatlays are something I love and are super easy to do, but my favorite photos are the candid ones I snap of my son during a walk or during school time.

I hate taking selfies, but this job makes them mandatory so I play around with those too. I recently bought a tripod to make taking my own photos easier, because using a selfie stick is so 2014.

I am really loving my tripod, it’s easy to assemble and so easy to use when you want to take selfies or any other photo when it doesn’t work for your phone to be in your hand. You can find super affordable tripods to save you some $.

You can also create  your own backgrounds, which can be really fun and perfect if your house isn’t exactly “pretty.”  These are great, easy to set up and you can change your backdrop anytime you like! Finding new backdrops is easy and you can do it all yourself. You will need the proper screen for this and I highly recommend this one.

Posting & Scheduling 

Finding the time to post regularly to social media and Pinterest can be a huge challenge. So using a post scheduler is the perfect solution. Just spend a little bit of time, say on a Saturday evening and you can create and schedule your entire week’s worth of posts. How cool is that?

I use Hootsuite and Tailwind for this. HootSuite has all your basic posting and scheduling needs for free with a paid version for more advanced options while Tailwind is a paid tool but so worth it! You will be able to create all of your posts for Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest including links and hashtags, and set them to post anytime! It’s such a time saver! Absolute blogger must-haves!

Groups

Using groups for networking, promoting, and all-around fun is definitely one of the top tools every blogger needs. Blogging Facebook groups, Pinterest group boards, and other interactive online groups are essential to your success. Have a search and see what fantastic groups you can find! There is one for pretty much everything!

Training & Other Resources

Keeping up with new tech, ideas, algorithms and all kinds of other constantly changing media is how anyone in business stays sharp and up to date. There are a lot of wonderful people out there offering free or affordable webinars, courses, and training just for you and me! I am so thankful to these people and the things I have learned along the way!

I find a lot of helpful info from  InstantBoss, their content is so good and they offer both free and paid courses and content. Simply doing a search for other helpful tidbits will bring up lots of other great stuff too!

Planning Content

To plan out the content I put together to share each week I use a weekly planner.

It’s the best way for me to not forget post ideas or to miss a sponsored posts’ deadline. I use my planner for just about everything else too. I use it for our homeschooling, my workout schedule, even my t.v show schedule!  Everything gets written down! It’s the simplest way to stay on track.

If you are in the very beginning stages of your mompreneur journey, then I suggest you browse my blog and check out my still ongoing mompreneur series!

If you’re curious as to how I make money from my blog, then go here!

I hope you have enjoyed this little look into the things I use as a blogger and you are sparked with new info and ideas!

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Much love, JessXO