Ready to Start Blogging – User Friendly Resources to Get You Started

Ow User Friendly Resources for New Bloggers Congratulations!!  You have decided that you are ready to start blogging, and open up your little corner of the world to others.  You want your blog to be a reflection of who you are and what is important to you.  You have picked out your blogging platform, Blogger, WordPress, etc.  And, you have maybe even picked the Theme/Layout for your site and secured your domain and or blog name.  Now what!!

Well, if you decided to blog, I am pretty sure that you want people to both read and receive what you have to say.  In order to do that, you have to make sure that the first visit that they make to your blog is a memorable one.  You want them to return over and over again.  Even, if you are not blogging for profit, you still want to  develop a community, (a following of sorts).  If people are returning to your site, they are interested in the information or the opinions that you are imparting.  So, content is the most important part of blogging.

Style/Design is a very close second and equally important. I am by no means a professional Graphic Designer, but I have taught myself a thing or two or three(wink).  People are visual by nature. So, a relevant well placed photo to accompany your blog post goes a long way.  In addition to that, a well placed font over your photo draws attention to the pictures on your site.  They can even make them Pin Worthy (Pinterest), which in turn will bring traffic back to your blog. Whether you are using pictures that you have taken from your own camera or pictures that you find around the web,  Photo editing software can make all the difference.  Most people swear by PhotoShop and I use this software religiously, but it’s quite an investment right out the gate.  So, I’ve listed a few more economical options.  Lastly, the Fonts you use can be just as important as the picture.  Think about how many times the words and font draws your eye to an advertisement or a picture. See The Quote Below as an example – Note the Use of Different Fonts, as Well as Different Sizes.

Style - Rachel Zoe Quote

Here are a few resources that I think will start you on your way, at least they did for me.

Places to find free images:

Freepik.com

iStockphoto.com

Fonts –

Dafont.com

Myfonts.com

1001freefonts.com

Photo Editing –

Fotor.com

Picmonkey.com

Layouts/Templates – 

luvly.co

templatemonster.com

There you have it.  Jump in and get started and if you find anything else that you think should be added to this list, let us know.  Each one – teach one. Comment below.