Whether you’re learning how to start a blog or have already launched and want to get more blog traffic, this guide on SEO for beginners is the perfect place to start!

Plus, don’t forget to snag a FREE copy of my Blog SEO checklist at the end of the blog to ensure that every blog post you write is perfectly set up for success!

Why Does SEO Matter?

Implementing strategic SEO is a huge step toward getting your site recognized and rewarded by search engines.

So what do I mean by rewarded?

Whenever you Google something, you get a list of results. This is called the SERPs (search engine results page).

Google serves you results that it thinks are most closely related to the keyword or phrase that you searched for. As you can see below, I searched for “best skincare for oily skin” and these are the results it gave me.

These are all organic results (you know because they don’t say “Ad” next to them) that Google deemed worthy enough to be at the top of my SERP.

SO…if you are writing content that you want to be seen by a larger audience than just your friends and family, then your goal should always be to be at the top of the SERP for every new piece of content.

Because guess what? 75% of searchers never scroll beyond the first page of results¹ so if you aren’t at least in the top 10, the likelihood of your content being seen organically is slim.

Essentially, SEO is a game, we are the player, and Google is the referee that ultimately makes the calls on who wins and loses.

So I’m sure you’re wondering — how the heck do I win?

Think of SEO like a steroid. Every website has a certain amount of SEO juice and the more juice you give it, the stronger it will be, and the stronger it is, the more likely Google will put you in the game.

There are a lot of different factors that play into the “strength” of a site, but when it comes to SEO for beginners, the best place to start is with keyword targeting and by optimizing each and every blog post.

How to Find Keywords

One of the best free tools for finding keywords is by using the Google Keyword Planner. It allows you to search any word/phrase and it will give you the most searched topics related to it. 

Note that Keyword Planner is a part of Google Ads but you do NOT need to have active Ads to use this free feature.

So when you have a blog topic idea, open Keyword Planner, type in your topic idea, and voila! Keyword Planner will show you a list of keyword ideas that you can use for your blog.

Where Should Keywords Be Placed?

Now that you have your primary keyword picked out, it’s time to write your content! When writing your content, it’s important to use your keyword strategically throughout your blog, but make sure it’s being used naturally.

Cramming keywords will result in more harm than good and remember, we are writing for Google AND the reader.

Here’s where you should FOR SURE have your keywords placed:

1. Page Title – This is the title of your blog and one of the first things Google looks at. Your title should include your keyword and tell your reader (and Google!) exactly what they can expect from the content.

2. Meta Data – Did you know that your blog actually has TWO titles? There is the page title (mentioned above) and the meta title. Metadata is what gets served to the SERP’s and every single page and website has a meta title and meta description.

Here is what metadata looks like when you search for something on Google:

Meta titles & descriptions are your first chance to make a good impression on someone when your page comes up in the SERP, so you want to make sure it’s enticing!

Most blogging platforms will automatically input your page title into the meta title field and will pull the first 120 characters from your blog post as the meta description.

This is fine and we’re even starting to see Google pull its own meta descriptions for articles, but regardless, I highly suggest editing these and ensuring that your keyword is in both the meta title and meta description in a natural way.

As a WordPress user, I use the Yoast SEO app to easily make these edits on every page.

3. URL – Your url should include your targeted keyword and all blogging platforms should give you the option to edit your url slug.

If you aren’t sure what a slug is, it’s the part of the url that starts with the “/” and comes after your domain.

4. Headings – Subheaders are a great way to break up your content and are also pretty imperative to SEO. Before scanning the full body of your content, Google will scan for headings first.

Subheadings are the use of H2, H3, H4 tags and so forth. These should be used in hierarchal order as much as possible — Google knows that an H2 is more important than an H3 — and you should include your keyword WHEN IT MAKES SENSE. Again, overstuffing is a no-no.

5. Body Content – First and foremost, Google (and readers!) prefer naturally written content over something that’s stuffed with keywords.

Focus on writing blogs that sound natural when read aloud, but make sure it’s optimized well enough for search engines to understand it.

Your keyword should be placed within the first paragraph of your text (ideally in the first couple sentences) and then naturally throughout.

I can’t really say “your keyword should be included X times throughout your blog” because really, it depends on the length of your blog.

Also, it’s not necessary to use the exact same wording of the keyword over and over throughout the actual content.

For instance, if your keyword is “skincare for oily skin”, it’s okay to say something like, “skincare products for oily skin” or “oily skincare products.”

Plugins like Yoast might not recognize those variations, because they look for exact matches, but I promise you, Google will.

6. Images – Bet you didn’t realize this, but along with the web page, your images are also indexed and crawled by Google.

Here is how you should be including keywords with your images:

1. Image file names. 00283.jpg is NOT an okay file name. Instead, name it something relevant to the photo and try to use a form of your keyword like, “cleanser-for-oily-skin.jpg”
2. Image titles. This is the text that pops up when you hover over an image.
3. Alt text. The best practice for using alt text with images is to make it descriptive to what the image is. Alt text is used for SEO, but is also useful for accessibility to blind readers.

Important SEO Tips for Beginners

Hopefully by now you have a good handle on keywords. It might seem like a lot of work, but once you dive in and start doing your research and implementation, it becomes second-nature and will be a game-changer for your blogging!

Here are a few other tips I want to stress that are also important for SEO:

1. When it comes to images, bigger is not better.
   
   Big images will really slow down a site and can deeply impact your SEO juice in a bad way.
   
   Make sure to compress your images as small as they can be, without losing quality.
   
   I personally love and suggest using the Smush plugin for WordPress.
   
   
2. Write LONG, quality content.
   
   Google likes quality AND quantity. Your blogs should all be around 1300-2000 words so if that means you only write one blog a week versus three, you’ll be better off.
   
   The quality of the content should be unique, shareable, and valuable for readers so if you find yourself writing a lot of fluff just to get to 1,500 words, it’s time to do some more research to see how you can expand your topic.
   
   
3. Spend time formatting.
   
   Readers digest information in small chunks and your formatting should reflect that. Make sure to break your content up using headers, bullet points, dividers, etc.
   
   And PLEASE no lengthy paragraphs. Keep paragraphs to three sentences or less.

Get a FREE SEO Checklist

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, that’s totally normal and understandable!

This is a lot of information to take in and keep in mind, I’ve been doing this for 10 years so sometimes I forgot how new it can be to others.

If you have specific SEO or blogging questions, you can always shoot me an email at basichousewifeblog[at]gmail.com.

But to make all this SEO stuff a little easier, I put together a Blog SEO Checklist (because who doesn’t love a good checklist!?)

This checklist breaks down everything you should be doing to implement SEO on each and every blog post.

And did I mention it’s totally free!?

Get a Free SEO Checklist

Sign up below and your FREE blog SEO checklist will be in your inbox shortly!

Name

Email

I WANT THE FREEBIE

The post A Bloggers Ultimate Guide to SEO for Beginners appeared first on The Basic Housewife.

Whether you’re a new blogger trying to make sense of the blogging world or you’re an existing blogger who’s feeling stagnant with your traffic income, check out the blogging courses that I have loved and recommend to all new bloggers!

I worked in content marketing for almost a decade prior to starting my blog. So luckily, I was already very well-versed in content marketing, social media, affiliate marketing, etc, and didn’t have to do too much education right off the bat.

But just because I already had that knowledge didn’t mean I stopped there. Over the years, I have taken a number of blogging courses, both free and paid.

Did I sometimes mentally struggle to fork out the cash to pay for courses on topics I was already well-versed in? Absolutely.

But anytime I invest in a course, I remember that I am ultimately investing in myself. Because investing in your blog = growth.

But the program is, there’s a LOT of information out there and it can be hard to know what’s worth your time and what’s not.

And as a beginning blogger, the amount of information at your disposal can be exhausting and overwhelming, not to mention, expensive.

That’s why I’m sharing my favorites with you today and did I mention they’re all under $200?

My Favorite Courses for New Bloggers

The industry is constantly evolving and being able to keep up with trends is what sets a good blogger apart from a great blogger.

That’s why blogging courses are so important!

Here are the best blogging courses I have taken that are perfect for beginner or intermediate bloggers wanting to learn how to make money blogging, how to set up a blog, how to get more blog traffic, and more!

1. Perfecting Pinterest

I can’t say enough good things about Perfecting Pinterest! Whether you’re a new blogger or experienced, this Pinterest course has literally something for everyone.

For instance, I already had a business account set up on Pinterest and was getting decent traffic so there was a lot of the course I was able to skip. However, Sophia had some strategies that were totally new to me and completely changed the way I pin!

Once I started following Sophia’s advice, I got my pin impressions from 100,000 to 1,000,000 in just a few months.

This course is a mix of video and text, which keeps the content fun and interesting. I love Sophia’s personality and she’s a no-BS teacher, meaning she gets straight to the point and gives you actionable steps to improve your Pinterest strategy.

Best For: New & Intermediate Bloggers
Format: Video & Text
Length: Complete at your own pace
Cost: $139

2. Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing

This is an excellent course for new bloggers who want to understand the ins and outs of affiliate marketing.

It shows you the exact strategies that Michelle used to take her affiliate income from $0-$50,000!

This is the most recent course I’ve taken and I’ll be completely honest, I was not the intended audience. My affiliate strategy is almost the exact same as Michelle’s (which made me feel very validated!), but keep in mind, that I’ve been doing affiliate marketing for 6+ years!

That being said, if you’re new to affiliate marketing, this course would be AMAZING!

It’s completely text-based, but the sections are small and digestible. She gives you her exact affiliate marketing strategies, examples of affiliates she works with, worksheets, and so much more!

Best For: New Bloggers
Format: E-book
Length: Complete at your own pace
Cost: $197

3. Understanding WordPress

Understanding WordPress is a super helpful crash course into the ins and outs of using self-hosted WordPress. Using screencasts and screenshots, it walks you through everything you need to know, from how to use it to how to customize your site, in digestible chunks.

I always recommend that bloggers use self-hosted WordPress vs WordPress.com so to overcome that learning curve, this course is great!

One thing I’d like to note is that this course specifically does not recommend using Bluehost as a hosting site, which is the host I recommend to most new bloggers.

If you want to know why I recommend it, click here.

I personally used Bluehost for years (until my blog got to a certain size) and I truly think it’s a great and affordable option for new bloggers and it’s pretty easy to switch down the road when you’re ready to spend the money on something bigger and better.

Best For: New Bloggers or bloggers switching from hosted to self-hosted
Format: Video & Text
Length: Complete at your own pace
Cost: FREE

4. Traffic Transformation

If you’ve been struggling to get traffic to your site or are a new blogger wanting to start off on the right foot, Traffic Transformation is a godsend.

Lena provides 21 actionable steps that you can take to improve your blog traffic. These are all strategies she used to get from 17,000 monthly page views to 400,000 in less than a year!

Traffic Transformation is a LOT of info to process (the ebook feels a bit clunky, in my opinion) but the content is worth it and can significantly increase your traffic if followed! The examples are very specific, which really sets this course apart from the rest.

Best For: New or Intermediate Bloggers
Format: ebook
Length: Complete at your own pace
Cost: $79

Have you tried any of the above courses? What other courses have you taken that you’ve loved?

I’m always on the hunt for new and interesting blogging courses so leave a comment if you have any you recommend!

The post The Best Affordable Blogging Courses I Recommend to All New Bloggers appeared first on The Basic Housewife.

Choosing a blog niche is probably one of the biggest obstacles that can hold back new bloggers from getting started.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in choosing the perfect niche, then choosing the perfect blog name for that niche, etc. but I’m here to tell you — it’s not as big of a deal as you think.

In fact, unless you go into your blogging journey with a very specific niche in mind, it will change over time.

So if what’s holding you back from starting a blog is the fact that you can’t seem to narrow down a niche, I promise that it’s actually pretty easy!

I think we often get wrapped up in the word “niche” thinking that our blog has to be focused around this super-specific topic and we can’t talk about anything else.

And while your blog should definitely target related topics, it’s okay to start more broad and then narrow down.

I think that having a cohesive, overarching theme (what I call, your umbrella topic) is way more important than a honed-in niche.

And it’s also just a lot less intimidating to think of it in that terms!

So throughout this post, we’ll talk about why having a niche is important and the steps you can take to find your blog’s sub-topics that fit within an umbrella topic.

Ready to get started?

Why Is A Blog Niche Important?

The short answer is: It’s good for SEO.

Having a specific niche helps search engines like Google to understand what your content is about so it can serve it to the correct audience.

It also allows your following to know what to expect from you.

Think of it this way…

What if you were following a blogger who posts about meal prep, workout tips, and holistic living, but then one day posted about their favorite dog toys. Weird, right!?

This is a quick path to getting unfollows and unsubscribers. You want to make sure your topics don’t completely catch your reader off guard.

While I don’t think it’s necessary to have a super honed in niche right away, I do think that the topics you write about, at the very least, need to make sense together.

That’s why, for people struggling to decide on a blog niche, I recommend starting your blog with an umbrella topic and subtopics and narrowing it down as time goes on.

This is the route I took and I’ll show you exactly how to find those topics in the following section.

2 Steps To Choosing Your Blog Topics

As I said before, while I don’t think it’s particularly important to have a super honed in niche, I do think that your blog needs to have an overarching “umbrella topic” that will act as your blog’s niche.

Deciding on the umbrella topic is usually what trips us up the most, and while it might seem obvious to decide on your umbrella topic before you find your subtopics, we’re going to work backward.

In the exercise below, you are going to figure out the topics that interest you most and from there, will be able to determine an umbrella topic.

So grab a pen and paper and let’s get started!

Step 1: Brainstorm 10-20 Topic Ideas

–> Create a list of 10-20 things that you are passionate or knowledgeable about.

If you need some inspiration to get started, consider the following:

• What are your hobbies? (reading, crafting, working out, etc.)
• What are your skills? (budgeting, decorating, cooking, etc.)
• What are things you enjoy? (fashion, trying new restaurants, traveling etc.)
• What is important to you? (eating healthy, organization, parenting tips, etc.)
• What are aspects of your character? (being a mom, being a vegan, being an accountant, etc.)

These are all potential sub-topics of your blog! Let’s move on…

Step 2: Choose 5-6 Topics That Are Somewhat Related

–> Looking at your list, what are 5-6 topics that make the most sense together?

Here are some examples of good vs bad combos.

Good Topic Combos:
Food, fitness, self-care, and holistic living
Skincare, fashion, shopping deals, and home decor
Parenting, family planning, cooking, and budgeting

Bad Topic Combos:
Fashion, local restaurants, pets, self-care
Finance, travel, skincare, and fitness
Shopping deals, home decor, pets, and cooking

By “clumping” related topic ideas, you will naturally find your overarching umbrella topic for your blog.

Your umbrella topic will end up being a broad, over-arching theme such as health, lifestyle, marketing, finance, parenting, food, travel, etc.

TIP: If you find yourself super interested in a topic, but can’t figure out how it would fit in with the rest of the topics you choose, think of how you can spin it.

For instance, if you love fashion, but the rest of yout topics fall under the ‘Health’ umbrella, you could incorporate posts like ‘The Best Places To Buy Workout Clothes Online’ or ‘Must-Have Running Shoes for Every Type of Runner’.

As long as your content relates to your umbrella topic in one way or another, it works.

Once you have your list of 5-6 topics, you officially have the sub-topics of your blog!

Step 3: Researching Blog Post Ideas for Each Sub-Topic

You want to make sure that you are going to be able to generate enough content for each of the topics that you chose so this is where we brainstorm and research.

On another sheet of paper, write down your 5-6 topics with enough space to add notes underneath.

Under each of those topics, write down 2-3 general blog post ideas. These should be broad ideas that will be narrowed down through research. For instance…

• If the topic you chose was budgeting, you could write ideas like, “ways to save money”, “monthly budgets”, “budgeting tools”. etc.
• If the topic you chose was cooking, you could write ideas like, “30-minute meals”, “cooking for two”, “favorite kitchen appliances”, etc.

And now give yourself a pat on the back because not only have you discovered your blog’s “niche”, but you just started brainstorming blog post ideas!

Now, head over to my post on My Process For Finding The Best Blog Post Ideas and continue your research.

You’re on a roll!

Post Publishing: How to Evaluate Your Content to Narrow Down Your Niche

Once you’ve done your topic research and found some good blog post ideas, it’s time to start writing, publishing, and evaluating.

Don’t have anything for your blog set up yet? Don’t worry — Here’s How to Start a Blog in 5 Steps.

Evaluating your blog posts to see what’s working and what’s not should be done regardless of whether you started with a super-focused niche or not.

However, evaluating your content is extra important if you started with a more general umbrella topic.

Before you start the evaluation process, you want to make sure that you have a decent amount of content published that you can analyze.

I would say that you need to have at least five blog posts for each topic that have been published for no less than 4-6 months.

That being said, if you’re a new blogger, you should do the evaluation process around the 6-8 month mark.

4 Steps to Evaluating Blog Content

1. Open Google Analytics (or whatever analytics tool you use) to see the traffic to your individual blog pages. Switch your date range to see the last 6 months.
   
   In Google Analytics, you do this by going to Behavior > Site Content > All Pages.
   
   
2. On a peice of paper, write down the top 15 blogs that brought you the most traffic during that time period.
   
   
3. Next to each blog, write down the sub-topic that that particular post falls under (aka, one of the sub-topics you choose from Step 2 in the section above.)
   
   I like to choose a different color pen or highlighter for each topic so that it’s easier to evaluate.
   
   
4. Look at your list — are certain topics dominating that list of 15? If so, those are the topics that you need to be focusing on.
   
   It doesn’t mean that you should throw the other topics to the way-side, but you should be putting your time and energy into the topics that that perform best!
   
   If you find that you have a pretty even spread and nothing particular stands out, that’s okay too.
   
   Your sub-topics might just be perfect for your umbrella topic or you need to come back and evaluate again in another 6 months (which you should be doing regardless!)

Need More Help?

Hopefully, you found this article resourceful and if there’s one thing I want you to take away from this article, it’s this:

Choosing the perfect blog niche is nothing to get stressed about! As is the digital world, your blog will be ever-evolving. So just start by writing what you know about and then go from there!

If you find yourself super struggling to narrow down an umbrella topic, feel free to shoot me an email and we can walk through it together! I’m always here to help.

The post An Easy 4-Step Process For Finding Your Blog Niche appeared first on The Basic Housewife.

_{Some of the links below are commissionable, meaning I earn a small amount when you purchase through them. This does not affect your price at all.}

One of the easiest ways for me to help new bloggers grow is by being transparent with the blogging tools that I use.

Had I known about a lot of these blogging resources when I first started, I probably could have grown much faster and saved myself a lot of time.

My hope is that whether you’re looking for the best web host, graphic design tool, or social scheduler, that you can find something new and useful in this post.

If you want to see the blogging tools that I use on a day-to-day basis, check out my blog on the 7 Best Blogging Tools I Can’t Live Without.

My Favorite Blogging Tools

As my content strategies change, so will the list, but this is my current list of blogging tools that I either use constantly or highly recommend for new bloggers.

Website & Hosting

WordPress.org – A self-hosted blogging platform that requires a hosting site. Different from WordPress.com.

Bluehost – A web-hosting site that is easy and affordable for new WordPress bloggers. This is what I used for many years before switching to WPX.

WPX Hosting – A premium web-hosting site. This is what I currently use because it offers better page-load speeds for image-heavy sites.

Social Scheduling

Tailwind – A Pinterest scheduling tool that allows you to schedule, bulk pin, design pins, view analytics, and more.

Preview App – An Instagram scheduling tool that allows you to schedule & auto-post, rearrange your feed, view top hashtags, edit, and more.

Editing & Graphic Design

Canva Pro – Hands down the best design tool for creating graphics, logos, worksheets, etc with a drag-and-drop editor and thousands of templates. There is a free version, but I use the paid version and love it.

Lightroom – Photo editing app. I use the paid mobile app version.

Tailwind Create – Make dozens of pins in a matter of minutes with their easy-to-use pin creator.

InShot – Video editing app. Especially great for creating TikToks and Reels.

Finding Content Ideas

Buzzsumo – Enter a website or keyword to find the most shared content

Pinterest Trends – Look up keywords/topics to see when they are most searched on Pinterest

Google Trends – Look up keywords/topics to see when they are most searched on Google

Answer The Public – Enter a keyword/topic to see the most commonly asked questions about it

Content Planning

Trello – A card-based task management tool. Allows you to create lists, assign people, add deadlines, create checklists, and more.

Google Sheets – Great for organizing ideas, monthly KPIs, budgets, etc that can be shared with others.

Writing

Google Docs – Draft posts or create outlines that can be shared with others.

Grammarly – A writing assistant extension that helps you avoid spelling and grammar mistakes.

Hemmingway Editor – Avoid lengthy, over-complicated sentences and ensure that you’re writing for your audience’s reading level.

Email Marketing

MailChimp – An all-in-one email marketing platform that’s easy-to-use and offers free plans.

Analytics & Site Data

Google Analytics – Measure your site’s traffic, top pages, audience demographics, and more. THIS IS A MUST.

Google Search Console – Tools and reports to measure your site’s search traffic and performance. AN SEO MUST.

Keyword Research

Keywords Anywhere – A chrome extension that shows you monthly search volume, competition data, and more.

Google Keyword Planner – Enter a keyword to discover how often certain words are searched and how those searches have changed over time.

Keysearch Pinterest Keyword Tool – Enter a keyword to discover Pinterest keywords related to your topic.

Stock Images

Canva Pro – With a Canva Pro subscription, you get access to their full library of stock images and video.

Pexels – Free stock images.

Unsplash – Free stock images.

Blog Monetization

Google AdSense – Display advertisements that are targeted to the site content and audience

Sovrn – Add code to site to help with content monetization, link monetization, and affiliate marketing.

Courses

Perfecting Pinterest – I can’t say enough about this course! Whether you’re a new blogger or experienced, this course has literally something for everyone. When I first started following Sophia’s advice, I got my pin impressions from 100,000-1m in a few months. Definitely worth it!

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing – This is an excellent course for new bloggers who want to understand the ins and outs of affiliate marketing. It shows you the exact strategies that Michelle used to take her affiliate income from $0-$50,000.

Understanding WordPress – A crash course into the ins and outs of using self-hosted WordPress. It will literally walk you through everything you need to know in digestible chunks.

Traffic Transformation – Increase monthly page views with this 21-step guide. It’s a LOT of info to process and take in, but can significantly increase your traffic if followed!

The post The Complete List of Blogging Tools I Use as a Full-Time Blogger appeared first on The Basic Housewife.

_{This article contains affiliate links, meaning I earn a small commission when you purchase through links. However, all opinions are my own and I greatly appreciate your support.}

After 8 years of working in content marketing for small businesses, I have used my fair share of blogging tools and resources. So when it was time to start my own blog, I knew exactly the tools that I wanted to use…and the ones I didn’t.

In 2020 I was fortunate enough to go full-time with my blog. Yep, that’s right! Basic Housewife is a full-ass business.

And a big part of that success is contributed to some of the amazing blogging tools that I use that help with design, scheduling, productivity, and more!

Seriously, I cannot imagine my life without these apps and tools.

So whether you’re looking for blogging tools for beginners or are an advanced blogger looking to change things up, check out the 7 must-have tools for bloggers that I use daily and you should too!

My Must-Have Favorite Blogging Tools

While there are dozens of apps, programs, and sites that I think are blogging essentials, these are the 7 that I use daily and seriously could not live without.

WordPress

What It Is: Blogging Platform
What It Costs: Free

I’ve used most of the popular blogging platforms over the years and I can honestly say that if you want to be a serious blogger, WordPress.org is the only route to go. Sure, you can build a great blog on other platforms, but I can personally testify to the fact that my site saw a major traffic jump when I transitioned to WordPress.org.

I love WordPress.org because it’s easy-to-use, has a plethora of plugins to customize your site, has tons of online support articles and tutorials, and it being self-hosted gives me so much more flexibility.

Now, if you’re going to use a blogging platform like WordPress.org, you’ll need to invest in web hosting. I use Bluehost and I 100% recommend it as a hosting tool for new bloggers.

Check out WordPress here >>

Bluehost

What It Is: Blogging Host
What It Costs: Plans start at $3.95/month

Bluehost is a hosting company that stores your site and makes it available to the public. Although the set-up can be more technical, choosing a self-hosted option gives you way more freedom with the customization of your blog and will allow you more monetizing options down the road. Win-win.

Bluehost is a great blogging platform for beginners as it’s super affordable, they have 24/7 support, it’s compatible with WordPress.org, you get a free domain when you set-up, and it’s overall just super user-friendly!

Check out Bluehost here >>

Canva Pro

What It Is: Design Software
What It Costs: Free or $9.99/month for Canva Pro

Canva is by far the best online graphic design software that I’ve used and whether you have zero graphic design experience or consider yourself a creative connoisseur, Canva is perfect for ALL skill levels.

I use Canva to make social graphics, blog graphics, media kits, and so much more. While there is a free version, I personally use Canva Pro and find the $9.99/month fee to be extremely worth it.

Here are some of the benefits of Canva Pro:

• Create a brand kit with colors, fonts, and logos — makes creating graphics super fast!
• Get access to 75+ stock photos, videos, audios, and graphics so you don’t have to pay for an additional stock photo subscription
• Create and save templates — great for creating blog images or pins!
• schedule content directly onto platforms like Pinterest and Instagram

Check out Canva here >>

Tailwind

What It Is: Scheduling Tool
What It Costs: Free or starting at $9.99/month

Tailwind is one of my holy grail blogging tools that has not only saved me endless hours of time, but has helped increase my social traffic. Tailwind is a social media scheduling tool that works with Pinterest and Instagram and allows you to create and schedule social content with ease!

The Pinterest scheduling feature is my absolute favorite and allows me to schedule a week’s worth of pins in a matter of minutes. It also provides fantastic insights that you won’t get from Pinterest Analytics.

Most recently, Tailwind added a Create feature that allows you to design pins faster than ever. In one click, Tailwind Create transforms your photos into dozens of personalized Pin designs so all you have to do is select and tweak your favorites!

While there is a free version, I 100% think it’s worth it to at least get the Pro version for $9.99/month (billed annually). The free version really limits you to how many pins you can schedule and create per month, which can also limit your Pinterest success.

Check out Tailwind here >>

Pinterest

What It Is: Social Platform
What It Costs: Free

If you aren’t already utilizing Pinterest as a blogger, you are missing out on a HUGE traffic opportunity. Pinterest is a visual search engine that is used by 459 million people every month to find ideas, information, and more!

Pinterest offers free Business accounts that will give you insights into how your pins perform, how much traffic they are sending to your site, upcoming search trends, and so much more!

Considering it’s a completely free feature, it’s something you should not be skimping on because it could be a huge traffic driver for your content!

Check out Pinterest here >>

Trello

What It Is: Project Management Tool
What It Costs: Free

Trello is a project management tool that basically allows you to create massive to-do lists and is how I manage my weekly tasks. Whether you’re a solopreneur or have a team, it will have a huge impact on your organization and productivity!

Trello allows you to create different boards that are made up of lists and within those lists, you add cards. Think of cards as your to-do’s. On each card, you can write notes, create checklists, assign deadlines, leave comments, tag other people, etc.

You can use Trello boards for anything and everything you want. Personally, I have boards set up for my yearly goals, weekly to-do lists, my content calendar, and so much more.

Check out Trello here >>

Keywords Everywhere

What It Is: SEO Tool
What It Costs: $10 for 100,000 credits. Pay as you go program.

Working in content marketing, it was ingrained in me to use the Google Keywords tool, which worked fine for many years. But when I found Keywords Everywhere,I realized how limited it was and my SEO game was forever changed.

Keywords Everywhere is an SEO browser extension that gives you super-specific keyword data on monthly search volume that you can’t get through Google Keywords and will ultimately save you a ton of time!

Keywords Everywhere works on a credit system so the cheapest package you can buy is 100,000 credits for $10. 1 credit = 1 keyword. So for instance, I bought 100,000 credits 6 months ago and am down to 20,000, so I expect to spend about $20 a year for this software. With the data it provides, it’s WELL worth the cost.

Check out Keywords Everywhere here >>

The post 7 Life-Changing Blogging Tools That I Can’t Live Without appeared first on The Basic Housewife.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through my fool-proof process on where to look for blog post ideas and how to research them to ensure you’re writing the right content for your audience.

There’s no denying it — the blogging world is big and it’s easy to get lost in the sea of blogs. Now more than ever, being able to come up with the best blog post ideas for your niche is going to be key to your success.

It’s not just about what we as bloggers want to write, anymore. It’s what our audience wants us to write about.

And while “Meet the Blogger” and “My Weekend Trip to Aspen” posts are fun — I’m going to be super blunt real quick — your reader doesn’t care.

Unless you have an established audience, don’t waste your time on fluff posts when you could be spending time on content that has been well-researched and that you KNOW people want.

But you’re probably asking: WHERE do I find these blog topics? How do I know what people want?

In the next few sections, I will walk you through my process on where to look for blog post ideas and then how to research those ideas to ensure you’re writing the right content.

But first…

Exercise #1: Before we dive in, I want you to jot down your blog’s main categories and any sub-categories. Then, I want you to write down 2-3 blog topic ideas for each. These can be broad ideas that will be narrowed down through research in the following steps. The topic I will be using throughout is ‘kitchen organization’.

Brainstorming: 5 Places to Look for Blog Post Ideas

Sometimes, brainstorming blog post ideas is the hardest part of blogging. The options can seem endless or you might be in a total creative funk and unable to think of anything good.

The 5 methods listed below are the exact methods that I use to find blog topics. I refer to this as the Brainstorm Phase.

Exercise #2: Take your list of topics and use the following methods to create a master list key-phrases that you find within this Brainstorm Phase. The more you write down the better! These will be narrowed down in the research phase.

Google Auto Suggest & Related Searches

Open Google in an incognito window and start typing in a general topic idea. You’ll notice that Google is auto-completing the search phrase for you.

This is Google’s way of telling you, “These are the most commonly searched keywords around that topic!” and is a great way to narrow down a broad idea to something more specific.

For example, even though I went in with the idea of writing about kitchen organization, ‘kitchen organization products’ is a more niche keyword that will allow me to target a more specific audience.

Once you’ve completed a search, if you scroll down to the bottom of a search page, you’ll also see the “related searches” section:

Again, Google is basically handing you popular keyphrases and topic ideas so now it’s your job to make killer content with them!

Pinterest

You’ll want to do a similar thing with Pinterest as we did with Google above.

Log into your Pinterest account and in the search bar, start typing in your topic idea. Pinterest will auto-populate suggested searches.

Pinterest is literally telling you that these are the most popular phrases that people are typing into the search bar.

Quora

Quora is basically a giant discussion board where people come to ask and answer questions from every type of niche out there. And for you, it’s GREAT place to see what type of content people are in need of.

Just type in your topic idea into the search bar and see what questions people are asking around that topic.

Quora will not only help you find new blog topics, but it will also help you outline your existing topics as well.

Let’s say I was writing The Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Organization. I might want to include a section on ‘spice organization’ and/or ‘tips to keeping a kitchen clean’ because I see that people are actively searching for suggestions.

Review Existing Content

If you already have content on your website, look into your analytics and make a list of your top 10 posts from the past 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year.

What do these posts have in common? Can you repurpose any of it into fresh, new content? Can you expand upon any of these topics or refine some?

If certain topics are already doing well for you, it’s to your benefit to capitalize on that!

Ask Your Audience

If you have an engaged audience on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., don’t be afraid to ask them what they are looking for!

Remember: You are making content for them so it’s a win-win for everyone when you are writing content they care about.

You can ask them to submit specific questions they would like answers to or just general topics that they might want to know more about. You could post a poll, do a this or that, or just straight up ask “Would you guys be interested in a post on [insert blog topic]?”

Researching: 3 Steps To Narrow Down the Best Blog Post Ideas

Once you’ve brainstormed your master list of key-phrases, it’s time to find the best of the best. We do that in the Research Phase.

Because here’s the truth: Just finding a topic that you think is great is not enough.

You’ve got to put some time in to make sure that it’s worth your time. And not all of the topics that you found in the brainstorm phase are going to be worth your time.

Researching your topic allows you to avoid topics that are:

• Too broad or too niche
• Too competitive and that you’ll never rank for
• Not actually what your audience is looking for
• Etc.

Exercise #3: Take your list of ideas from the Brainstorm Phase and complete the following three steps for each key-phrase that you found. This will help you narrow down the best of the best.

1. Check the Search Volume of Each Keyword

The Search Volume is the number of times a specific topic/keyword is searched per month.

PS: If you have no idea what I mean by keyword or search volume, you should probably start here.

You can find this information either by using the Adwords Keyword Planner Tool (free) or the Keywords Everywhere extension.

The search volumes (SV) that you target are going to vary by blog size. When first starting, I recommend targeting keywords with a SV of 3,000 or less. If you are ranging from 10k-20k visitors/month, I’d recommend targeting keywords with a SV of 10,000 or less.

This step will weed out a lot of topic ideas, but will help you find ones that are going to be much easier for you to rank for!

2. Scope Out the Competition

Take any potential topic ideas and run a Google search in an incognito window. This will show you all of the sites that are currently ranking for that topic already.

Here are some things to consider when looking at your competition:

• Are the top-ranked spots dominated by names like Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, etc? If so, it might be really hard for you to rank beside them.
  
• Can you create better content than what’s currently ranking? ie. More original photos, more words, more informational, a longer list, etc.
  
• What spins are people putting on the topic? Is everyone writing basically the same thing? How can you change it up?
  
• What titles are people using? Even if the content is similar, how can your title be more enticing than the ones that are already ranking?

You always want to make sure that your article is a step-up from the competition. Otherwise, how do you ever expect to rank?

If you see an article that is “The 10 Best Kitchen Organization Products”, then make yours “15 Must-Have Kitchen Organization Products”.

If you see an article that is “My Favorite Cookie Recipe”, title yours something like, “The Cookie Recipe That Will Change Your Life” and make sure it’s a damn good recipe and blog post.

3. Check The Trends

One of the most frustrating things about creating content is that it takes time for it to rank on Google and even Pinterest.

Google takes 3-6 months to start ranking a new URL. Pinterest takes 2-3 months to start ranking a new pin.

That being said, it’s super important to plan, write, and publish content well ahead of when that topic is trending. And to better understand when you should be writing about certain topics, you need to look at trends.

By using Google Trends you can type in topics to see when people are searching for those key-phrases.

My recommendation: Always write and publish your content 3 months before it’s trending.

So if ‘Kitchen Organization’ is most highly searched in January, I would want to write a blog on ‘Kitchen Organization’ in October at the latest.

You can do this same thing with Pinterest Trends to see when people are searching for certain topics and phrases in Pinterest.

One of my favorite features of these trend tools is that they also offer related search terms, making this another great resource for finding new blog post ideas!

And That’s It!

Coming up with new blog topic ideas doesn’t have to be challenging. In fact, it should be fun and insightful!

Going through this process gives you great insight into what’s trending, what’s popular with your audience, and what content you can create. But it will also weed out a lot of topic ideas and that’s okay.

If this process seems overwhelming, just think of it as a two-step deal: Brainstorm & Research. It’s that simple.

In the comments below, let me know if you have other/additional methods for brainstorm and research! And if you have questions, feel free to drop them below as well.

Happy blogging!

The post My Fool-Proof Process for Finding The Best Blog Post Ideas appeared first on The Basic Housewife.

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I’m assuming you’re here because you’re finally ready to take the plunge into the blogosphere, am I right? That’s awesome! Add I’m so glad that I can be your go-to resource on how to start a blog!

I remember being in your shoes a few years ago and although I already had years of content marketing under my belt, setting up a blog from scratch was totally new to me.

And if I’m being honest, in the beginning, I definitely went the easy route with setting up my blog. Do I regret it? Not really, because I learned SO much from doing so. But was it a huge pain in the ass to fix my mistakes and essentially “start fresh”? YES.

So rather than you making the mistakes I did, I’m here to guide you through the process of how to correctly set up your blog from the start.

Are you ready to dive in? Let’s do this.

5 Critical Steps to Starting A Blog

Before we get started, I want to make a couple of things clear. If you are just looking to blog as a hobby and don’t plan to monetize it (aka make money), these steps aren’t necessarily for you.

These blogging tips are for people who:

• Want to drive traffic to their blog
• Want to make money from their blog
• Are looking to turn this into a part-time (or full-time!) gig
• Generally want to kick ass at blogging!

If you resonate with any of the statements above, continue on, because I promise that if you follow this easy set-up process, you are setting yourself up for success.

Step 1: Find Your Niche

I’m assuming that you’ve already thought this through by now, but if not, I want to give you a few pointers.

While it may be fun to write about anything and everything under the sun, it’s not going to get you very far in the blogging world.

Find your niche, and stick to it.

Now, you might be thinking — but lifestyle bloggers talk about everything! Yes and no.

We know what we’re good at and we stick with it. For instance, my specialty is writing gift guides and product round-ups within the categories of home, health, and fashion.

Even if I found an amazing recipe, I wouldn’t blog about it, because it has nothing to do with the rest of my content and would seem really out of left field.

If you’re struggling to find your niche in the beginning, that’s okay.

I would recommend blogging about a broader range of topics (that are cohesive with one another) and then after 6 months, evaluate what content does best and narrow down your niche from there.

Step 2: Find An Available Blog Name & Research It

I’m going to warn you right now…do not get attached to a particular blog name.

If you’ve already purchased a URL, you’re golden. You can move on to Step 3.

However…

If you haven’t and are still in the brainstorming phase or haven’t looked into available URLs, this step might prove itself harder than you’d think.

Why you ask? If someone has already purchased the URL with your great blog name idea (whether they are actively using it or not), it won’t be available to you.

If you haven’t come up with a blog name or the one you want is unavailable, this is what I encourage you to do:

Get out a piece of paper and write down a ton of adjectives that resonate with you, the topics you want to write about, etc. Then, start mixing and matching words to see what combinations you come up with.

I encourage you to come up with a few different ideas, just in case you have to resort to plan B or plan C.

Once you’ve come up with blog name ideas, head to your internet browser and type in ‘Google Domains’. Type in the potential domain you want to use and hit the “Get it” button.

This is where you’re going to check to see what domains are and are not available. We are not going to purchase a domain at this stage, yet.

It will then let you know if the domain you want is available. If not, it will offer some suggestions, usually with different domain endings.

I urge you not to choose a domain that ends in .net, .org, etc. and to stick with the classic .com.

Most URLs should not cost you more than $20, but keep in mind, that’s an annual charge.

Once you find a URL that’s available, jot it down (don’t buy it yet!), and do a quick Google search for that blog name.

You’ll want to check a few things:

1. Is it associated with an already well-established brand? If so, you might have a hard time ranking in Google for your own blog name. That’s not ideal.
   
2. Is it associated with something you’d rather not be associated with? Make sure that your blog name and url isn’t similar to something potentially…risque? For instance, you’d hate for someone to type in (what they thought was) your url, but then end up on an adult site. It’s a longshot, but it happens.
   
3. Are the social media handles available? This isn’t a make or break deal, but is always good to check.

Alrighty, now that you’ve got a name, let’s move on to the next step!

Step 3: Sign Up for A Blog Host

You’ve probably already done some digging and realized that there are a lot of different blogging platforms nowadays. Some of the most popular ones include Wix, Squarespace, Blogger, WordPress.com, etc.

While these options are appealing to new users — they are usually free, easy to learn, and they market themselves as a great place to “get started” — I’m gonna lay some truth real quick. Are you ready?

Your blog will never grow to its full capacity if you are using these hosted blog sites.

I have personal experience on why these sites will hold you back and I’ll go into that more below, but here are some facts.

Why You Shouldn’t Use a Free or Hosted Blog Site

1. Your SEO is limited. Search Engines, like Google, prioritize self-hosted sites in the search rankings, meaning if you are on a self-hosted site, you are more likely to be seen by your audience.
   
2. Customization is limited. Free sites especially, are very limiting with their design options, url structures, etc. If the site is asking you to create a url that has the blog name at the end (basichousewife.wix.com) that’s a BIG no-no.
   
3. Making the change later will be a major headache. I went through this transition a couple years ago and let me just say, it’s going to save you a lot of time and stress to start right or to make the change while your site is still young.

If you truly want your blog to grow to its full potential, you need to be using a self-hosted blogging platform.

If you aren’t sure what I mean about hosted vs self-hosted, check out my blog on Using A Self-Hosted Site. It will explain everything in detail.

But honestly, JUST TRUST ME ON THIS. Here’s why…

I originally started my blog on Squarespace and while it was working great, I saw that all of the big bloggers were talking about self-hosting.

SO, I made the (very daunting) switch from hosted to self-hosted, and within less than a month, my traffic increased by 62%!

And I get it…The idea of hosting your site on a web server can seem super technical and confusing.

That’s why I highly highly recommend using Bluehost and WordPress.org.

When I made the transition to go from hosted to self-hosted, I had never gone through the self-hosted process before, but Bluehost and their support team made it painless.

BENEFITS OF BLUEHOST:

• It’s super affordable. Compared to its competitors, Bluehost comes in at a fraction of the cost, and hosting plans start at just $3.95/month for new customers!
  
  
• You get a free custom domain when you first sign up! Remember when we talked about domains? When you sign up with Bluehost, you get a domain FOR FREE. (So make sure you don’t purchase one through a domain site like Google Domains or GoDaddy!) 
  
  
• They offer helpful, 24/7 customer service! They offer a ton of support resources along with customer service support via chat, phone, or email. I have utilized their support staff a number of times and they always walk me through the issue or just go in and fix it for me!
  
  
• WordPress through Bluehost is completely free! The only thing you will ever have to pay for with WordPress is a fancier theme (optional) or paid plugins (optional).
  
  
• They offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you sign up and decide it’s not for you, they do have a money-back guarantee, but I definitely encourage you to reach out to their support before canceling! They will be happy to guide you through any problems or questions you might have!

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR FREE DOMAIN AND START CREATING YOUR BLOG FOR ONLY $3.95/MONTH.

And if you need help on how to set up a Bluehost account, this post has easy-to-follow step-by-step directions.

In full transparency, I no longer use Bluehost, but still advocate for it as a great option for beginning bloggers. I currently use WPX Hosting, which is more expensive, but better at handling larger sites and also has amazing customer service.

Step 4: Customize Your WordPress Site

After you’ve signed up with Bluehost, it will walk you through the steps of setting up your WordPress account. Seriously you guys, Bluehost makes it SO easy.

It will have you fill out basic info about your blog like site name and tagline and will have you pick out your first theme.

All of this can be changed later so don’t feel like you have to commit to anything now!

If you want a thorough understanding of how to use your self-hosted WordPress site, I HIGHLY recommend checking out this FREE course from Grayson Bell.

WordPress Themes

Once you’ve filled out your basic site information, it will ask you to select a WordPress theme.

Themes are basically the layout and design of your blog and WordPress offers TONS of free options.

Don’t get stressed about committing to one theme in the beginning because you can always change it or purchase a paid theme later down the road.

Once you’ve chosen your theme, you can now start customizing your blog.

And again, if you are struggling to navigate WordPress and can’t figure out how to customize your site, you definitely need to check out this FREE WordPress course!

WordPress Plugins

Think of plugins as apps that can add additional functionality to your WordPress site! WordPress has a built-in plugins store that’s FILLED with free and paid plugins.

Grayson will talk more about plugins in his free course, but here are some of the WordPress Plugins I highly suggest using as a beginner:

• Yoast SEO – SEO optimization tool
• Header Footer Code Manager – Add and track code snippets
• Smush – site speed tool

Step 5: Start Creating Content

Before hitting publish on your blog, I highly suggest that you create at least 5 pieces of content to launch with.

This will create a better user experience so that when a new person enters your website, it looks like you have a variety of content and not like you just launched yesterday (even if you did.)

If you need help on the content portion of things, check out my guide on Blogging Basics: SEO for Beginners.

Ready to Get Started With Your Blog?

If you’ve been contemplating starting a blog and just haven’t pulled the trigger, here’s my piece of advice to you: JUST DO IT.

Don’t stress over getting everything perfect. Don’t worry about getting every little thing right. No matter how new or advanced a blogger is, we make mistakes and that’s okay because that’s how we grow and learn.

But you will never grow if you don’t at least try.

So if you’re ready to take the leap into a new journey and get your blog off the ground, you’ve got this! And I’m always here for support if you need it.

The post How to Start A Blog in 5 Easy Steps appeared first on The Basic Housewife.

In fact, being productive not only impacts the quality of your work but your mental health as well.

Have you ever noticed how you feel when you’ve had a super lazy day or haven’t crossed anything off today’s to-do list? It’s defeating.

But when we feel productive, we feel accomplished, and when we feel accomplished, it releases happy endorphins from our brain.

That’s why ensuring that you feel happy and productive while working at home during this crazy time is more important than ever.

From must-have products to my favorite productivity apps, check out this list of work from home essentials that will leave you feeling organized, productive, and excited to get to work!

FYI: This blog contains affiliate links, meaning I earn a small commission when you click through and purchase. However, all opinions are my own and truly appreciate your support!

The Best Work From Home Essentials for Your Office Space

From basic necessities to some off-the wall gadgets, check out these work from home essentials that will increase your productivity and make you feel more official.

A Desk

This might seem like a super obvious one, but having a dedicated desk space to work at is SO important for your productivity. Regardless of your space, there is a desk of every size at every price point. Shop this desk here >>

A Comfy Office Chair

Having an ergonomic desk chair is going to significantly help your posture, back pain, and productivity. Check out this highly-rated chair on Amazon >>

An Othopedic Seat Cushion

And if you don’t have an office chair and don’t want to spend the money to get one, consider turning your regular chair into one with an orthopedic seat cushion! Shop this seat cushion here >>

A Posture Corrector

It’s easy to fall into a work slump, quite literally, especially when you don’t have the proper office equipment. Save your back with a posture corrector that you can wear while you work. Shop this posture corrector here >>

A Multifunctional Desk Lamp

This desk lamp is such a dream, you guys. Not only does it offer different lighting modes and brightnesses, but it’s also touch-controlled, has a USB port, and is a wireless charger! Shop this all-in-one desk lamp here >>

A Wireless Keyboard

This is a fairly straight forward wireless keyboard, but the reviews are fantastic compared to similar models. Shop this wireless keyboard here >>

A Wireless Mouse

If you’re sick of using your laptop’s trackpad, it’s time to step up your game and get a wireless mouse. This one is super sleek, has amazing reviews, and comes in TONS of colors. Shop this wireless mouse here >>

A Laptop Stand

If you use a laptop to work, elevating it will be a game-changer for your comfort! Having your screen at eye-level will minimize hunching to improve neck and shoulder tension. Shop this highly-rated laptop stand here >>

An Ember Coffee Mug

Ready to have your life changed, coffee drinkers? The Ember coffee mug is battery powered to keep your cup warm for 1.5 hours or ALL DAY when set on the charging coaster. It’s also available in different colors and can be controlled via app. Shop this self-warming coffee mug here >>

A Wireless Charging Stand

Keep all of your tech devices conveniently stored and charged on one of these wireless charging stands. Shop this wireless charging stand here >>

An Ergonomic Mouse Pad and Wrist Pad

Add comfort in to your workday with a memory-foam mouse pad and wrist pad meant to alleviate stress on your wrists and hands. This set is available in a number of colors and patterns. Shop this mouse and wrist pad set here >>

Thümm & Co. Myrna Watch

I think we’re all guilty of spending wasted, unproductive hours while working at home. Get back into a routine with this gorgeous watch from Thümm & Co — whether you’re looking for women’s or men’s watches, this is the perfect way to track your time while also being completely stylish!

Shop this watch here >>

A Webcam

If you are doing a lot of virtual conference calls, it might be worth investing in a webcam. This one is HIGHLY rated, super affordable, and has a built-in microphone. Shop this webcam here >>

A Keurig Coffee Maker

If you’re used to drinking the coffee at work and haven’t already invested in a home coffee maker, it’s time to do so! Keurig’s are a classic and come in a variety of sizes, styles, and colors. Shop all Keurig coffee makers here >>

A Google WiFi System

Reliable, speedy internet is a work from home essential. Google Wifi will replace your router and additional points expand your network to keep the connection fast in every room! Shop Google WiFi’s here >>

Cable Organizers

Keep your desk space clean and tidy with a cable organizer that’s minimal and chic! Shop this set of cable organizers here >>

A Sticky Note Set

Since you no longer have the office supply closet to raid, check out this handy compact filled with various sticky notes! Shop this sticky note set here >>

A Bluetooth Speaker

You’re definitely going to want to listen to music, podcasts, or audiobooks now and then and a smart speaker like the Echo Dot is a great choice! Shop the fan-favorite Echo Dots here >>

Blue Light Blockers

Blue Light Blockers are one of my most important work from home essentials. I’m prone to getting screen headaches and these have significantly reduced my eye and head strain! Shop my favorite blue light blockers here >>

Under Desk Footrest

This adjustable under-the-desk footrest will help improve your posture, circulation, and overall comfort while working from home. Shop this adjustable footrest here >>

Weekly Planner Pad

Get super organized with your weekly tasks and to-do’s with this planner pad! Shop this weekly planner pad here >>

Apple AirPods

Wireless headphones are a must if you’re working at home with other people or want to take conference calls while pacing around. One look at the reviews proves that AirPods are the top choice for wireless headphones. Shop Apple AirPods here >>

My 5 Favorite Productivity Apps for Working From Home

If you are needing help organizing your work, limiting distractions, or tracking your time, check out some of my favorite productivity apps that are total work from home essentials.

Trello – An Organization App

This is my holy grail when it comes to productivity apps. Trello is a free project management tool. I use it to organize my ideas, my weekly tasks, my content planner, and more! It has features such as checklists, due dates, a comments section, and tons others. Plus, there is also a mobile app so you can keep yourself organized on the go! Check out Trello here >>

Flora – A Focus Timer

My phone is 100% my biggest distraction throughout the workday. Luckily, Flora is a free app that I’ve found to be super helpful for my productivity! It’s simple (and fun!). You plant a seed and set a timer for how long you want to be distraction-free, but if you leave the app, the tree will die. And if competition motivates you, you can challenge friends to see who can be the most productive. Ready to get growing? Check out Flora here >>

Toggl – A Time-Tracking App

If you’re looking for a way to manage your time, track your hours, or even something remind you to take breaks, Toggl is your tool! Toggl offers easy, one-click timers, auto-tracking (for forgetful people like me!), reporting, revenue tracking, and more! Plus, it’s free! Check out Toggl here >>

1Password – A Password Management Tool

Our household loves 1Password because it securely stores ALL of our information in one central place and makes it super easy to grab and share passwords as needed. Check out 1Password here >>

Done – A Habit Tracker

This is one of my favorite apps on my phone and has really encouraged me to make and break certain habits! The sleek interface was the first thing that sold me, but I love that it tracks daily, monthly, even yearly goals, tracks streaks, and has simple reporting to show trends. Plus, being able to fill up your habit bar is super satisfying! Check out Done here >>

Share Your Work From Home Essentials

I’m super curious to know — what are some of your must-have work from home essentials or tips? Leave a comment below and let me know. I’m always looking for new ways to spice up my workspace!

The post 25+ Work From Home Essentials to Boost Your Productivity appeared first on The Basic Housewife.

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Blogging for Beginners: How Your Blog Platform Can Make or Break Your Success

When I started my blog, I was excited, anxious, and ready to get the ball rolling. I chose to use Squarespace because it seemed like the best blogging platform to start with and was the easiest and fastest way to get my blog up and running.

However, after about a year of blogging, I was seeing pretty stagnant growth and it was causing some discouragement.

For the record, I had managed blogs for some pretty big companies and helped them to increase their traffic significantly. I KNEW the content side of it, so I wasn’t sure what I was doing wrong.

So I set out, did my research, and realized that all of the big, successful bloggers were doing something that I was not.

I realized that if I wanted to see my blog grow and make GOOD money, then my blog needed to be self-hosted. Oof.

Now, I knew this was the proper way to go about setting up a blog, but as I said, I just wanted to get my blog up and running. I took the easy way out and I had no idea how greatly it would affect me.

So I decided to make a change and this is what happened…

Changing my blog platform increased my traffic by 62% in less than a month.

In June of 2019, I made the daunting switch over to WordPress.org (NOT to be confused with WordPress.com) and used Bluehost for my hosting platform. This is what happened…

It might not look like a big curve, but do you see that little bump in July 2019? That was when I switched blog platforms!

After only one month, I saw a 62% increase in my traffic and the only change I made was switching from a hosted to a self-hosted blog.

I had gained THOUSANDS of new visitors in a matter of weeks.

And my traffic only continued to grow as Google recognized and rewarded my content. And we all know that more traffic = more money.

So let’s get into detail about what all this means…

The Importance of Hosted vs. Self-Hosted Blogs

It’s no surprise, but there are a lot of different blogging platforms nowadays. The most popular ones include Wix, Squarespace, Blogger, WordPress.com, etc.

The problem with these platforms is that they are all hosted. And if I’m being completely honest, your blog will never grow to its full capacity if you are not using a self-hosted site.

You might be wondering, what the heck is self-hosted vs hosted blog? Totally valid question. Let me break it down super quick.

Hosted → The blog platform you are using is hosting and storing all of your blog’s information and data and will long-term have less flexibility with a non-self-hosted site. While these are usually more user-friendly and offer more technical support, you are also much more limited with how you can monetize your blog.

Self-Hosted → You purchase space through a hosting company to store your site and make it available to the public. Although the set-up can be more technical, this option gives you way more freedom with the customization of your blog and will allow you more monetizing options down the road.

Now, I get the appeal of the hosted sites — I really do. They are usually free, the set-up is super easy, and they seem like a great place to “get started” for a newbie.

But I can guarantee that if you want your blog to grow and to make money, you need to be utilizing a self-hosted blog platform.

Why WordPress.org and Bluehost?

Let’s just say, there’s a reason every successful blogger uses the same platform.

I have tried everything from Squarespace, Wix, Shopify, etc. and I firmly believe that  WordPress.org (again, not to be confused with the hosted version, WordPress.com) is by far the best blogging platform on the block. It’s easy to use, has a plethora of plugins to customize your site, and because it is so widely used, the online support articles and tutorials are endless!

BUT…because WordPress.org is a self-hosted platform, you need to make sure you have a hosting site first.

The idea of hosting your site on a web server can seem super technical and confusing, but Bluehost makes it SO easy. When I made the transition to go from hosted to self-hosted, I had never gone through the self-hosted process before, but Bluehost and their support team made it painless.

Benefits of Bluehost:

• It’s super affordable. Compared to its competitors, Bluehost comes in at a fraction of cost and hosting plans start at just $3.95/month for new customers!

• You get a free custom domain when you first sign up! (So make sure you don’t purchase one through a domain site like Google Domains or GoDaddy!) 

• They offer helpful, 24/7 customer service! They offer a ton of support resources along with customer service support via chat, phone, or email. I have utilized their support staff a number of times and they always walk me through the issue or just go in and fix it for me!

• WordPress through Bluehost is completely free! The only thing you will ever have to pay for with WordPress is a fancier theme (optional) or paid plugins (optional).

• They offer a 30-day money back guarantee. If you sign up and decide it’s not for you, they do have a money-back guarantee, but I definitely encourage you to reach out to their support before cancelling! They will be happy to guide you through any problems or questions you might have!

How to Get Started with Bluehost

Getting started with Bluehost is super fast and easy. First, head to the site to get signed up by clicking the link below.

Click here to get your website domain and to start creating your blog.

Select the “Get Started” button on the homepage.

It will then take you to a page to select what plan you want. You can read what’s included with all of them, but as long as you only have one website, that’s all you’ll need as well.

You can always choose to upgrade later if you want. I started with the Basic plan, but as I started creating more blogs, I upgraded to the Choice Plus plan.

Next, it will ask you to pick your custom domain name…

So like I mentioned before, you get a free domain when you first sign up for Bluehost. If you aren’t sure what a domain name is, it’s the part of the url that comes before the .com, .org, etc.

So for instance, my domain is basichousewife.

In the “Create a new domain” box, you can type out the domain you are interested in. When you press “Next”, it will let you know if that domain is available or not.

If you’ve already purchased a domain through a different platform like Google Domains or GoDaddy, you can input it in the “Use a domain you own” box and it will walk you through that process to verify that you already own it.

You can also skip this step altogether if you aren’t quite ready to commit to a domain yet.

Just an FYI — Many hosted-platforms like Wix and WordPress.com will promote a free domain with their service, but they tack on a root domain that looks like .wix.com, .wordpress.com, etc.

So rather than just basichousewife.com, my url would be basichousewife.wix.com or basichousewife.wordpress.com. Make sense?

There are a number of issues with these root domains, but the two biggest is that

a) they just don’t look that professional and

b) Google doesn’t like them and it will be much harder to rank high in search results.

Next, you will complete your account and pay for your new hosting service…

On this page, you just need to fill out all of your account/contact information, confirm your plan, and submit payment.

As you can see, there are a number of extras that can be purchased with your plan. Check out the “More information” links to see if those additional options feel necessary to you or not.

I personally suggest purchasing Domain Protection at the minimum.

Ready to get started with Bluehost? Get signed up here for only $3.95/month + receive a free custom domain!

How To Add WordPress to Bluehost

Like I mentioned before, Bluehost makes the process of adding WordPress SO dang easy. Like almost too easy where you will be like…wait…that’s it?

But that’s just another reason why I truly believe it to be the best blogging platform out there.

SO…once you’ve signed up for Bluehost, it will ask you to create a password and sign in using your new credentials.

First, it will walk you ask you to answer some quick questions about your blog.

This is info you can change down the road, so don’t get too hung up on it. For instance, my site doesn’t even have a tagline.

Next, it will ask you to select a WordPress theme.

These themes are free and you can always change it or import a paid theme later, so don’t get stressed about committing to one.

Click on “Start building” and that’s it! You’ve got yourself a WordPress blog!

At this point, you can head back to your Bluehost Dashboard and it will walk you through the next steps of getting your blog set up.

Seriously, you guys…it’s that easy!

Ready to Get Blogging?

Hopefully by now, it makes sense why I think being self-hosted and Bluehost and WordPress are by far the best blogging platforms.

Now, I know that not everyone has the means to purchase a hosting site and a domain, but this comes down to investing in yourself, and honestly, in comparison to the potential payout it could have, it’s well worth it.

If blogging is something you are serious about, if it’s something you want to see grow, and if you’d one day like to do full-time, being self-hosted is 100% the way to go.

SO…if you’re ready to have a kick-ass blog that brings you traffic and revenue, click here to get started!

What to check out my other Blogging for Beginner guides?

• Blogging Basics: SEO for Beginners
• My Fool-Proof Guide for Finding the Best Blog Post Ideas

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