The Best Blogging Tools You Need to Grow in 2022
Check out this roundup of The Best Blogging Tools You Need to Grow this year! From SEO tools, courses, and e-books these blogging tools and resources will help make you a better blogger, increase your traffic, and help you make more money.
The Best Blogging Tools You Need to Grow in 2022
One of the number one questions I get asked when it comes to blogging is what tools and resources I use, so today I’m sharing the absolute best blogging tools and resources for growing your blog. This list offers some of the best tools for those who want to increase their traffic, improve engagement, enhance productivity, and make money from their blog. Whether you’re a beginner or you’ve been blogging for awhile,I’ve got you covered with this amazing list of 25 blogging resources + tools!
*this post contains affiliate links. Thank-you for supporting Kindly Unspoken!
The Best Blogging Tools and Resources
Blogging Courses and E-Books
Up first I wanted to talk about some of the BEST blogging courses you can invest in to truly grow your blog. Too often bloggers fail to invest in themselves and their blog, and as a result never end up growing or worse – end up quitting. I don’t want that to happen to you, so I’m sharing the absolute best blogging courses and e-books around that will help you increase your blog traffic, monetize your blog, and master the most popular social media platforms including Pinterest and Instagram.
Best Blogging Tools – How to Make Money Working With Brands
Boss Pitch – Are you completely lost when it comes to working with brands? Are you tired of low-paying or unpaid collaborations? Then you NEED Boss Pitch! This course has hands-down been one of the BEST investments I ever could have made for my blog and was one of the key elements for how I went full-time with my blog.
It covers all the bases from start to finish on how to contact brands directly, how to get them to respond, and how to get them to PAY you to work with them (and I’m not talking in free shampoo either).
Years ago, I used to mostly work through sponsored networks when working with brands, which meant less money in my pocket and less authenticity. After taking Boss Pitch, I almost solely work directly with brands now, which means better partnerships, more freedom, and more money. Boss Pitch sets you up with all the tools to work with your dream brands, and I’ve now worked with amazing brands like Walmart, Physicians Formula, Pantene, Crest, and Dr Pepper just to name a few! <<<Get Started With Boss Pitch Here>>>
If you’re tired of never hearing back from brands, barely making any money through networks, or if you’re stuck in the cycle of working for free product, then you NEED Boss Pitch.
Boss Pitch teaches you that you don’t have to be a HUGE blogger to work with brands- you just have to find what it is that sets you apart from others and learn how to showcase your value. But don’t just take my word for it- check out these amazing success stories from tons of incredible bloggers who have also found success in taking Boss Pitch.
Best Blogging Tools – For Mastering SEO/Skyrocketing Your Traffic:
Stupid Simple SEO – SEO is what grows your blog. Plain and simple.
In my early days of blogging I had ZERO clue what SEO was, so I chose to ignore it. Big mistake!
Years later I realized the importance of SEO in getting my content seen by the world and growing my blog, and decided to invest in this amazing course. BEST DECISION EVER!
If you want to learn about SEO in a simplified way then this course is for you. Mike (the course instructor) makes everything SO easy to understand and this course will teach you everything you need to know about setting up the proper keywords for your site and posts, and how to get your posts to rank on google.
In case you want to get a feel for what the course is like, he’s currently offering a FREE Masterclass on How To Use SEO to Grow Your Traffic and Income.
After taking this course, my blog traffic from google increased by 76% in just one year’s time. It’s totally worth the investment! Buy it here
Traffic Transformation – Is your traffic currently at a stand still? Tired of putting in long hours on creating content and only a handful of people seeing it? Enter: Traffic Transformation.
In my early days of blogging I received some misguided advice on what to do to grow my blog and as a result I ended up relying heavily on Facebook groups, reciprocation threads, and spending what felt like 800 hours a week doing low-payback tasks that left me exhausted and frustrated from my lack of growth.
Right before I was ready to throw in the towel, I thankfully discovered this amazing Traffic Transformation guide and that’s when everything changed for me. I immediately stopped doing things that weren’t beneficial for my blog and instead shifted my efforts to strategies that 100% worked. >>>Grab the E-Book Here<<<
Almost overnight my traffic started doubling (and eventually quadrupled) and because I was spending less time doing time-wasting tasks, I was able to focus more on content creation and other growth areas. If you want to check out a sneak peek of the course, grab this Free Blog Traffic Guide.
I also recommend checking out this free resource on 50+ Ways to Increase Website Traffic, with a lot of great tips and easy techniques you can implement to improve your traffic.
Best Blogging Tools – For Growing on Pinterest:
Pinteresting Strategies E-Book – If there is a single item I would recommend to any of you today, it would be this Pinterest Strategies E-book. A year ago I had no clue how to strategically use Pinterest to grow my blog, but thanks to this amazing e-book, I figured out EXACTLY how to use Pinterest to skyrocket my traffic, and the results have been amazing.
Since implementing the strategies learned in this e-book I’ve consistently doubled my traffic every month, which is unreal. So many courses out there always recommend using Tailwind to grow your Pinterest traffic, which does help and I’m a fan of, but this Pinterest Strategies e-book covers the secret sauce of long-term Pinterest traffic and growth. I’m always astonished by the low price tag of this e-book because it’s THAT amazing and has been instrumental in my blog’s growth. >>>Buy it here<<<
Pinterest Ninja E-Book – Another Pinterest course I’d 110% recommend is Pinterest Ninja. It’s the most in-depth Pinterest course around and in conjunction with the Pinteresting Strategies E-book above, has helped me grow my Pinterest exponentially. It covers all the bases from how to strategically set up a business profile, how to create popular “pin-worthy” images, how to use group boards for growth, how to monetize blog posts and pins, and so much more!
This e-book also comes with access to an amazing Facebook group and you’ll get a list of 367 Pinterest group boards that are currently accepting contributors. (This alone makes the investment well worth it, as it can be tedious trying to find open Pinterest group boards) Even better, you gain access to lifetime updates, which is great for when Pinterest changes their algorithm. >>>Grab your copy here<<<
Best Blogging Tools – For Growing On Instagram:
A huge reason that I’ve found success in growing both my Instagram following and engagement has to do with this amazing course I took last summer. The Instagram Decoded Course covers every crucial aspect of how to improve your Instagram account, how to increase your following, and how to increase your engagement rate.
I know there’s a lot of courses out there that make big promises and fail to deliver, but this course is the best out there, by far. The information I learned in this course combined with all my marketing knowledge is hands-down what helped me go from 500 to 10K followers in just 6 months time!
Related: How to Gain Genuine Instagram Followers
If this sounds like something that interests you, you can learn all about the course over here. and check out some of the testimonials from other users of the course! Even better once you’ve purchased Instagram Decoded, you instantly become part of a wonderful Facebook Community that provides constant support, feedback, and networking opportunities.
More Blogging Tips:
- How to Start A Blog: A Beginner’s Step-by-Step Guide
- What Bloggers Really Do and How to Support Them
Organization/Scheduling Tools
Any successful blogger out there will tell you that staying organized and planning ahead is a must, which is why I love these blogging tools below so much!
- Tailwind (FREE 30 Day Trial)- Tailwind is a GAMECHANGER if you want to not only grow on Pinterest, but also save a TON of time in scheduling out pins. I’m a big believer in the benefits of manual pinning based on this amazing e-book, but Tailwind helps cut down the amount of time I spend on Pinterest each week by allowing me to schedule out pins for weeks at at time. My traffic skyrocketed once I started using tailwind, and I’ve been gaining hundreds of followers weekly. I did start out using the free version, but eventually upgraded to the Plus plan which is only $9.99/month and LOVE it. Get your first month for free by signing up here.
- Erin Condren Life Planner – If you’re a blogger you know how difficult it can be to keep track of all.the.things, which is why I can’t live without my Life Planner. Instead of having to use multiple planners, I can stay on top of both my blogging and personal tasks plus I love that all of Erin Condren products come with free personalization- so you can make it exactly how you want it. You can check out my 7 Tips and Tools for Staying Organized over here for a full review/photos of the one I created.
Analytics/SEO
- Google Analytics (FREE)- The BEST analytics you can have for tracking your blog’s traffic. Not only can I use it to see exactly how much traffic I have on a daily basis, but I can also see demographics of my audience, their interests, and my most popular posts and referrals. This is all super helpful in planning future content that I know my audience will love. I use Google Analytics on my desktop and recently added the app for my phone to keep track of real time analytics.
- Jetpack (FREE)- This is a plugin I use within my Wordpress dashboard and I love using it to watch my site stats. Although I can get the same information from Google Analytics, I find this one a bit more user-friendly to look at in knowing where my traffic is coming from and what people are tapping on most. The Jetpack plugin also comes with spam protection and other useful tools.
- Yoast SEO (FREE)- I use this plugin in every single blog post I publish to ensure my search engine optimization is up to par. It has a helpful analyzer to ensure you are making a post that is easy to read and understand, and that it has been optimized for easy searching through google and other search engines. SEO is SO important for getting traffic to your blog, and I definitely recommend grabbing this plugin
Photography Equipment
- Canon Rebel T6i – Although I don’t think every blogger out there necessarily needs a DSLR camera (I take a lot of gorgeous photos on my iPhone), if you are looking to create more professional-looking photos, then I highly recommend this camera. I originally had a Canon Rebel T3i but upgraded last year to the T6i because of it’s mirrored screen- which is amazing for creating makeup tutorials and videos. I’ve personally found it very user friendly and the different photo settings makes it easy for beginners.
- Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens – The regular lens that comes with the Canon Rebel T6i is great for everyday photos, but for makeup photography and outfit photos I wanted a lens that would do a great job in capturing tiny details. This lens does an outstanding job in creating clear, crisp photos (as you can see in this post) and it was well worth the investment.
- DSLR Tripod – As I take all of my photos myself, a quality, sturdy tripod has been a must. I purchased this one at least 5 years ago and it is still going strong. It also comes with a bag perfect for traveling.
- Camera Tripod and Smartphone Mount – As mentioned above, I also often take photos with my Iphone and typically capture all of my outfit of the day looks using this smartphone tripod and mount. It’s also great for doing IG stories!
- Bluetooth Remote for Photo/Video – I use this in conjunction with the tripod and mount above and I love that it syncs right up to my phone via bluetooth and this remote makes taking photos hands-free a breeze.
- Photo Ring Light and Diffuser – This one is a recommendation for all my beauty and makeup bloggers out there. If you’ve ever wondered how beauty and makeup bloggers get such well-lit, detailed photos of their makeup- it’s because they use a ring light. This ring light is a less expensive version of a diva light and I’ve loved it since day one. It helps my makeup look beautiful and vibrant in all of my photos and makes all the difference.
Graphic Design Tools
- Picmonkey– Since day of my blogging journey I’ve been using Picmonkey and I absolutely love it! From designing Pinterest images that you see in every post, to creating printables like these gorgeous spring ones, it’s such an invaluable blogging tool and super user friendly. As a graphic designer, I’ve always used Adobe Indesign and Illustrator, but actually have started using Picmonkey more lately because it’s so easy and looks beautiful and professional.
- Canva – Another great option is Canva which offers several useful templates. I don’t use Canva as much because I’ve always found it a little glitchy to try and use, but it’s definitely a great free option for beginners.
Stock Photography
- Pexels (FREE)- My absolute favorite free stock photography database. All the photos are high quality and you can find photos for just about any topic. Even better they are part of the Creative Commons Database, so no attribution is required.
- Pixabay (FREE)- Another great database for free stock photo images. In addition to photos, they have vector graphics, illustrations, and videos.
- Creative Market– Unfortunately you can’t always find exactly what you’re looking for via free stock photos, which is why Creative Market is so amazing. They offer low priced photos, graphics, themes, fonts, and more and even better if you sign up for their mailing list you get 6 FREE Goods sent to your inbox every Monday (no purchase necessary!). I’m always taking advantage of this and grabbing the free fonts, graphics, and social media themes that can be used for designing graphics on pinterest or creating cute freebies and printable for my readers. Check out this week’s freebies here.
Affiliate Networks
If you’re a blogger looking to start making money off of the products you love and recommend, then I highly encourage signing up for the affiliate networks below. There are tons of affiliate networks out there, but these four are the ones I’ve found to be the most user friendly and are most popular among my audience. Of course if you use affiliate links on your website you must disclose them to your audience, as per FTC guidelines.
- Amazon Affiliate – This is the number one affiliate network to be part of simply because everybody and their mom shops on Amazon. I’ve personally earned the most money with this network and if I had to recommend being part of one affiliate network, this would be it. I’m also an Amazon Influencer and have my own personal shopping page that my followers can use any time they want to shop through my links.
- Rewardstyle (Invitation Only) – This exclusive program is for beauty, fashion, and lifestyle bloggers and offers a high earning potential on the cutest fashion items, makeup, home items, and more! I personally love using this program in my blog posts because of the awesome shop the post feature. If interested in joining, leave me a comment below and I’d be happy to refer you to the program!
- ShareaSale – Another great network is ShareaSale which I use to promote a lot of my favorite brands like Patchology, Erin Condren, and Groopdealz. Although the shoppable widgets aren’t as pretty as Amazon or Rewardstyle, the commission rates are often higher, which is awesome.
- Flex Offers – Target, Wal-mart, Kohls, and Macy’s are just a few of the stores you’ll find through Flex Offers affiliate program. This is probably the most all-encompassing affilate program in that just about every store and website imaginable is on Flex Offers. Linking to products is a breeze with their deep linking bookmark feature and I’m always using it to quickly link to something for IG stories.
More Blogging Tips You’ll Love:
- How to Start A Blog: A Beginner’s Step-by-Step Guide
- What Bloggers Really Do and How to Support Them
And that about wraps it up, friends! I hope you enjoyed today’s post on The Best Blogging Tools You Need to Grow and that you found some resources + blogging tools that will be helpful to you in achieving your blogging goals.
Have any questions on any of the tools or resources I recommended today? Leave them below and I’d be happy to answer them!
Thanks for stopping by! – Cara
Pin Me For Later
Wow! Thanks so much for this amazing list of resources! I’m just getting started out in the blogging world and definitely want to run it as a successful business. There is a lot to learn, but it’s exciting! I have been looking at Reward Style and 100% am interested and would love an invitation, but I’ve heard it can be difficult to be accepted unless you have a ton of traffic and followers. Either way, if you can invite, i would so appreciate!
You’re so welcome, and I’m so glad you found it helpful to you. Also just sent over your Rewardstyle invite. You’ll have two weeks to fill it out and send back to them. Hope you get accepted! 🙂
Thank you so much! ?
Thanks for sharing all your favorite resources! I’m going to pin this for later and dive into them when I have a little more time to devote to research!! Appreciate you!!
So glad you found it helpful! Let me know if you have any questions about any of them. 🙂
My goodness, there is so much out there that I didn’t even know about! Thanks for sharing this, pinning it to look at later!
So glad to help! There really are tons of resources out there but I try to only share the things that have worked for me. I’ve taken some courses and purchased items before that have been a total waste and I hate when bloggers promote something just to make a buck even if it doesn’t really work lol. These legitimately have helped me and I like sharing the love with others.
Wow what an amazing informative post! I just can’t seem to crack Instagram, even with being a part of several social media support groups and webinars on a weekly basis for work I just can’t seem to grow. I know all the “secrets” and updates to the platform yet it’s just impossible to grow organically. I really need to up my Pinterest game too <3
Green Fashionista
IG is hard to grow on authentically nowadays simply because everyone plays the follow/unfollow game and people are really picky about not wanting to follow others who don’t follow them back. I try to just focus on the engaged audience I do have and build upon that, rather than worrying about gaining more followers now. Trust me- it’s not just you lol most days I could scream at IG.
These are great ideas. I definitely need to get a good camera & light. Im going to check out the ones you suggested. Do you know of any non dslr cameras that are good picks?
Thank-you! Yes- I love the Canon Powershot Zoom Digital Camera! It’s a great camera for beginners but still gets crystal clear shots if you’re not comfortable with shooting with a dslr yet. I also use my iPhone for a lot of photos too. Hope that helps!
Wow so much useful info on this post! I def need to save it to refer back to when I have time to do some of these things! Thanks Cara!
Thanks Tanya! Hope you found some tools/resources that are helpful to you!
This is such a comprehensive list! BossPitch has been so helpful for me too but I haven’t been pitching enough lately because my business has been so busy. Need to get back into it.
Thanks Jenny! Yes, I definitely encourage you to start pitching again. I got in a slump there for awhile, but honestly I keep playing the saying “The answer will always be no if you never ask” over in my head and that totally helps me stay motivated in continuing to pitch every week. Tuesday and Thursday mornings are always pitch mornings no matter what is going on in my week.
Ah, what a fun surprise to see BP represented here!! You are SLAYING the game, Cara- you work so hard, and it shows. And pays off, quite literally! YOU GO GIRL!!!
Thank-you SO much! So glad I took Boss Pitch and that you’ve created an awesome course sharing your wisdom with others! 🙂
Thank you SO MUCH for this post. So many helpful resources that you linked to!
Thanks Ellen! Hope you found some tools and resources that are useful to you!
I would also add Google Search Console under the SEO tools – it’s built to show you how you’re doing regarding organic traffic, keywords, etc.
I honestly prefer Buffer over Hootsuite. I tried using their service, but I find it very tricky to use – the dashboard the not the most user-friendly I ever met.
Oh I’ll definitely look into the Google Search Console!And I can see how Hootsuite is a little tricky to get the hang of. I had it in my marketing role where I worked for several years, which is why I prefer it, but Buffer is also a GREAT option! Thanks for the recommendations.
This post has SO much goodness! I’ve been pitching brands more often, but I really need to get my booty into gear and keep pitching. I’ll definitely be taking a look at some of these courses–I need to invest in myself to get better & better!!
Thanks Kristen! You would LOVE Bosspitch. Erica is such a great mentor and the course really helped me gain the confidence and understanding to know how to effectively pitch to brands and get them to want to work with me. If you ever have any questions about any of the courses, feel free to shoot me an e-mail. 🙂
This is such a great list and super helpful! I love reading about tools from successful bloggers. And, since you offered, I’d love an invite to Rewardstyle!
Thanks Lisa! Just sent your invite over, let me know if you didn’t receive it! 🙂
These all sound like amazing blogging tools! You can really never have enough things to help you grow!
I 100% agree! We can never stop improving our blogs. 🙂
Loved this post and will be bookmarking for future reference for sure!
Thanks Allison. Hopefully these tools and resources will be helpful to you!
Yes to Yoast SEO – super quick and easy and it works! Love it. Saved my butt so many times! Also, I’ve been trying to get ahold of T.J. Maxx for monthsssss – kudos to you!
Absolutely- it’s such a helpful tool and to be free is even better. And thanks, keep trying and hopefully you’ll get in touch with someone soon! (My contact is no longer there or I’d totally send it to you!) 🙂
Such a great post, Cara!! I am definitely pinning it~!
Thanks! Hope you found some helpful resources. 🙂
Wow, you packed this with so much info, Cara! Super helpful for any blogger!
Thanks Lily! Glad you found it helpful. 🙂
This is so jam packed with good information!! THANK YOU!! I’ve implemented some of these and am in the middle of Pinterest Ninja course which I LOVE! I can’t wait to look into these others!! I’ve subscribed too so I won’t miss your updates!?
Thanks Erin! So glad you found it helpful and glad you’re enjoying the Pinterest Ninja course. It’s a great course for Pinterest beginners! 🙂
This is such an awesome and useful post! I need to look into the traffic course and Boss Pitch. Especially with my recent rebrand, I’m tired of just being okay with the way things are and want to step it up! Also, thanks for sharing that affordable ring light!
Thanks Karly. Let me know if you have any specific questions about either course. I’m happy to help!
this is SUCH a great resource! thank you so much – i’m def taking some of these and working with it!
Thanks Cait. Hope you found it helpful!
I am so impressed. I know This took some time to compile and we readers appreciate it sooo much! Have a great day beautiful girl!
Thanks Andrea. Hope you found some of the resources helpful!