Tools that no blogger can do without
The great thing about running a blog is that all you need is your laptop and a decent WiFi connection and you’re good to go, right? Well – sort of. That’s certainly all you need to get started, but if you are serious about your blog, and particularly if you want to monetize it, you need the right tools for the trade. Here are four that no serious blogger should be without.
A proper web host
Sure, you can run a blog on a platform like Blogger, but if you are serious about blogging, you will soon feel too constrained. Set up a proper website, it’s easy to do and doesn’t cost the earth. WordPress powers 25 percent of all websites on the planet, which tells you everything you need to know.
It’s flexible, you can create your own look, and it couldn’t be easier to add bolt ons like Google AdSense in a matter of minutes.
A good quality camera
Now this is a little contentious, as there are those who swear by their smartphone cameras and insist they are every bit as good as anything else. However, the images on your blog are what can make give it that extra two percent to push it above the rest and make it truly extraordinary. The internet is full of indifferent smartphone snaps, or the same old stock images from sites like Unsplash.
It’s worth investing in a good quality DSLR camera – the difference will be obvious and it will soon pay for itself.
An all in one printer
Contrary to popular speculation, the world hasn’t gone paperless yet. A printer is an absolute essential, whether you want to scribble some annotations of a draft or print off some of those gorgeous snaps. Most also have scan and photocopy functionality – that’s extra handy when you want to share a particular image onto your blog, for example some artwork or a document.
A decent all in one printer from a manufacturer like Canon can cost less than £50 and comes with WiFi and smartphone connectivity. You can also find the right Canon ink online and save yourself a fortune compared to high street prices, so it’s really not a major investment.
External keyboard and monitor
We all have our favourite laptop. Some swear by Macs, others have always used HP and won’t touch anything else, while relative newcomer Lenovo has topped the popularity rankings for the last two years running. The thing is, laptops were originally designed for use on the go, as a secondary PC.
If you find yourself with aches, pains and headaches at the end of the day, a proper desktop setup will work wonders. There’s nothing to beat a proper keyboard, and a large monitor. Hook it all up to a docking station, and you can add any other peripherals you want, for example speakers or an external hard drive – and all you have to do is clip the laptop in, and everything will be up and running. You’ll wonder how you ever survived without it!
XOXO
Debbie
This is a collaborative post
