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Melissa Torio
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    Blogging Resources

    Disclosure: This page may contain affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Please read my full disclosure for more information.

    How do you start a blog, you ask?

    But my best advice to get started is to JUST START!

    You'll learn a lot along the way.

    Make mistakes. Learn. Improve. Iterate. Grow.

    While I used to be in the IT industry for many years before becoming a Culinary Nutrition Expert and food blogger, I had to study and learn as I went in order to build a blog myself.

    Here are some of the resources I use or have used in this blogging journey.

    I hope you'll find this page useful!

    Jump to:
    • Domain Registration
    • Website Hosting
    • Website Platform
    • Theme
    • Plugins
    • Mailing List
    • Social Media Management
    • Creative Resources
    • Blogging Education
    • Small Business Resources

    Domain Registration

    Namecheap - affordable pricing with free WHOIS privacy included.

    Website Hosting

    I'm now with BigScoots on a managed hosting plan. Support is excellent.

    Cloudways is another hosting option if you're more technical.

    Website Platform

    WordPress.org - I think WordPress is pretty flexible and powerful. Avoid the wordpress.com platform and go with a self-hosted wordpress.org website.

    If you'd rather go with a template type website, check out Squarespace, Wix and Weebly.

    Theme

    Genesis Framework by Studio Press - lightweight and the use of child themes makes customization easier to manage.

    Child Theme - I use Foodie Pro (with the Feast Plugin) by Feast.

    Plugins

    Recipe Plugin: WP Recipe Maker - I use the premium version

    Akismet - to block spam

    Broken Link Checker - to avoid broken links in your posts

    Easy Affiliate Links - to manage affiliate links in one place

    Pretty Links - to create shortcuts  to internal or external links

    ShortPixel Image Optimizer - to optimize the image sizes for faster loading

    UpdraftPlus - Backup/Restore - free plugin with cloud backups to your Google Drive or Dropbox account

    WP Rocket - caching plugin, to speed up your site

    Yoast SEO - free option is good enough to help with Search Engine Optimization

    Mailing List

    Mailchimp - free up to 2,000 subscribers

    Social Media Management

    Later - for scheduling Instagram posts

    Tailwind - for scheduling Pinterest pins. I like the tribes and ability to just set the pinning schedule and queue up pins.

    Creative Resources

    Adobe Lightroom - for processing photos. The Lightroom app for your mobile phone is free, but the Lightroom CC desktop version requires an Adobe account.

    Canva - for creating content like Pinterest pins, Facebook covers, e-books

    Blogging Education

    Food Blogger Pro - I found this membership site very useful when I first started. I tried to go through all the video training - from starting a food blog, configuring the website, using social media, search engine optimization and more. I enjoyed the food photography and video courses as well. There is also a Food Blogger Pro podcast that is quite a wealth of information as well!


    Small Business Resources

    Of course, making money through blogging is a business. Here are some tools I've used.

    Payment Processor: Square

    Accounting System: Wave - free accounting software, invoicing and receipt scanning

    Project Management: Trello - for managing work through a Kanban board

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    Melissa Torio

    Hi there! I'm Melissa, a Culinary Nutrition Expert, an avid kombucha homebrewer and fermentation enthusiast. I hope you enjoy these dairy-free and gluten-free recipes and lifestyle tips for simple living. 

    More about me →

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