I wish someone had helped me find the best courses for new bloggers. There are just too many courses offered now. I get emails every day with offers. Most of them sound really, really good and if there is anything we know its that online marketers are good at selling their courses.
If you are just starting out and want to use every penny wisely then you need help discovering which courses you should take and which ones you can take later on. I am going to tell you about a few that can really help a new blogger.
Maybe you are just curious and are considering building a website, whatever the reason, a little guidance is a good thing.
My Blogging Mentor
The Blogging University is where all of Crystal’s courses are listed. She has several different types of blogs, but the one I started out on was My Blogging Mentor.
This is the place to learn everything you need to know about setting up your blog. The courses are so good. There are so many, but the ones that a new blogger needs are for real beginners. The focus is really on someone that does not know their way in starting a blog.
Crystal Paine is the author of this website. She started The Blogging University. It is, in my opinion, the best way to learn how to set up your blog.
The Blogging University offers many courses. The main purpose of the Blogging University is the help newbies. Their focus is on someone that has never done this kind of work before. If you are an expert at all things techy when it comes to blogging, well, these are not the courses for you.
Each class offers video instruction with screenshots or actual video. They are in a layman’s terms and come with written instructions as well.
I initially took an expensive course when I started out. I will have to tell you I was lost in most of the instructions. The language was totally foreign to me. The course had many modules and taught all about laser focus, knowing who your avatar is and a lot of really good information but, what it did not teach is how to set up a blog. The tech issues are not laid out.
Your Blogging Mentor
Crystals courses are laid out well, video generated and priced pretty well. You also do not have to buy all of them at once. If you go to the page for her courses you will see you can pick and choose. So you do not have to put down a huge chunk of money.
Picking and choosing is a really nice option. That way you can progress through your courses slowly and pay as you go along. I really wish I had done them first.
The course in The Blogging University, 3 Steps To That Blog You Dreamed Of tells you to step by step what to do as well as Blog Start-Up 101, among others.
There are so many courses on her website. Not just about blogging but also about life skills. Here are some of the things she teaches about.
Your Blogging University( all courses)
She offers all kinds of life lessons, time management and how to save money shopping. Not all of them are related to blogging. I have never taken any of her other courses, but I can tell you my blog would not be where it is now without the ones I did take. They are most informative and reasonably priced.
After you have mastered setting up your blog and the other services you can progress to bigger things. They were one of my very best courses. Click on any of the courses above and you will be taken to that particular one. If you just want to browse go here.
I do want to say that I became an affiliate for The Blogging University long after I used them. When I noticed they had an affiliate program I signed up for it. You will see why if you take their courses. Being an affiliate means, if you do sign up for their course through this blog post I will get paid a reward. 🙂
Simplifying DIY Design
Templates, templates, templates. That is what is so great about Kara Fidd.
Okay, I can not talk about this girl enough. She offers so much and I reached out to her very, very late in my journey and she has been SO MUCH HELP!! The website is from Kara. She is a professed SAHM, that means a stay at home mom. Which makes me so proud of her anyway. She is also creative and gives fantastic step by step instructions.
If you email she will answer you back with honest informative answers. Kara will answer you back, not her assistant. I get really frustrated when a big blogger asks me to respond to her comments or ask a question and then her assistant answers me back.
Simplify DIY
One of her courses she is offering, the Product Creators Ultimate Toolbox is just what it says it is. You can click on the link above and check it out for yourself. Kara offers templates that you can make yours by changing the colors, font or anything really. The number of templates offered is crazy with instructions on how to make them yours.
Her main focus is on graphics and digital content. So if you have no idea how to create or generate products, fonts, colors and all other things to do with graphics, Kara is the girl.
She not only offers all kinds of courses but gives you templates for everything. If you have tried to create anything at all without the skills to do it, well, let’s just say what should take 30 minutes can take hours. I have been there struggling to set things up on Canva and other sites, because of Kara’s courses I feel like I can really do it now by myself. Her templates taught me so much.
She is sincere and offers so much for the price of her courses and packages of templates.
Taylor Stanford
30 Days to Blog Success is a well laid out course. It is very reasonably priced and Taylor talks in very simple terms. The workbook is complete and having it printed up to look at while you take the class is invaluable.
The course is video generated. Each module has a video in it and some units in the module have a video. The workbook and the videos guide you in setting up your own affiliate marketing programs. She is informative and very easy to listen to, not everyone is.
30 Days To Blog Success
Jennifer Maker Academy
Jennifer Maker is like a machine. She produces more on her website than I think I could in a lifetime. I just don’t know how she does it. One of her courses that I would HIGHLY recommend is her course called,
LIST LOVE Master Course
Jennifer is delightful to listen to. You will find that having an email list is the best way to communicate with people. So how do you build an email list? Good question, and it is one that Jennifer describes in detail in the LIST LOVE Master Course. She gives complete instructions on how to set up your email list, the providers she recommends and even offers the chance to have your website looked at by her.
Jennifer also teaches how to use a Cricut as well as all other courses about crafting, knitting and making all sorts of things. Some of which I have not idea about, but the crafters out there would.
She offers classes on:
- Crafts
- Cricut and SVG
For bloggers I would say that her LIST LOVE Master Course is a must have. After that they are just icing on the cake. Really, she might have other things you would love to take later, for now start there.
Convertkit
Convertkit is not a course, they are an email service provider. Converkit is one of the best resources for new bloggers. They offer so much with their services. They have quarterly challenges with video guided instruction each time one is offered. The affiliates are there to answer any question you have.
They offer free courses to explain their set up and options. The videos are good and you can start and stop them at any point. As I said, they are free and nothing is better than free. The service provided is not free but the instructions on how to use them is.
Email Service Provider and Courses
An email marketing service takes care of all your emails. Including sending them a newsletter, tracking their engagement and your subscribers. Yeah, I know, you didn’t know about subscribers did you, me either!
Why Convertkit?
Convertkit does all of that for you.
- Send targeted content with simple, but powerful automations.
- Build and edit email sequences with our drag and drop organizer.
- Built to use email marketing best practices by default.
- Free migration for 5,000+ subscriber lists.
- Customizable opt-in forms to fit your brand.
- Only pay for loyal subscribers once with unlimited forms, segments, and tags.
- World class customer support from people who care about your business.
- Industry-leading deliverability means your emails land in the inbox more often.
Man, that is a lot of stuff , isn’t it. So YOU NEED CONVERTKIT.
Elite Blog Academy
Elite Blog Academy is one of the best courses on the internet. It teaches you how to really focus on why you are writing a blog and who you are writing it to.
There are 4 modules with 3 parts in each one. The modules take you from writing a post to monetizing your blog. The modules are very thorough and teach you many things you probably didn’t think about.
EBA is only offered one time a year. So you must sign up for it then. They do not keep it open for long. The course is expensive, but it is also very, very extensive. I personally do not think it is a beginner course. I feel like it should be taken after you learn how to start and set up your blog.
Ruth Soukup is the founder of this course EBA and the 4.0 version has just closed up. It only opens up one time of the year, but Ruth offers many free training throughout the year. Her free training is filled with valuable information.
Bluehost.com and WordPress.org
I wanted to start a blog for years. The only real thing that was holding me back was ME. It seemed like a world that was so foreign to me. The language was an unknown tongue and the work took lots of time. So I am going to list the top 5 Best Courses For New Bloggers that I have discovered along the way.
There are a lot of web hosting sites out there. If you start searching in that area first you will discover this truth. It can be overwhelming and each one probably has different strengths and different weakness. I changed my mind a couple of times but have NO regrets on choosing bluehost.com.
Bluehost is not a course per se, but it is a necessity if you are going to blog. Blogging takes a lot of work and you need the host that is the easiest to set up, reasonably priced and offer service. Bluehost does all of that.
bluehost.com
There is no reason to reinvent the wheel. I am a firm believer in that. BUT and this is huge but, there is also no need to spend a ton of money in places you do not need to. I spent a lot of money on a lot of courses. It was so distracting while I was learning how to set up my blog.
The reason I am not going to list WordPress.org as a separate resource is because it comes with bluehost. When you purchase a bluehost plan to start your website is automatically installed with WordPress.org. Bluehost offers a 1-click installation. So you can purchase your bluehost.com website and be started within 5 minutes.
Service Is Everything
Bluehost also has 24/7 support. If you are at 2:00 am working on a post and something WEIRD happens, well, they are there. It is awesome to know that someone can help you immediately. No one laughs at you either. When I started this journey I realized how little I knew and how much help I needed.
SSL certified
What the heck is SSL? Well in this day and age security is everything.
Jeffrey describes why we need to be secure in this article from HubSpot: A Beginner’s Guide to SSl. Security is a must have and ensuring this safety measure is offered directly through bluehost. I did not understand the significance of that until starting my own blog. The first five letters at the beginning address in something being looked at online tells you whether a blog post or anything really is secure.
Bluehost takes care of that for you, as you can see, at the top of my own website there is a closed lock and the letters, https://lifelivedhonestly.com/ tell you my website is secure. You want to be secure.
SSL is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browser remain private.”
Jeffrey Vocel
WordPress.org
WordPress is the free resource you will use to create your website. It is software, the tool you will use to create. It is the most well known software for websites and FREE.
WordPress.org
Meet WordPress
WordPress is open source software you can use to create a beautiful website, blog, or app.
Bluehost and WordPress go hand in hand, like peanut butter and jelly. The software is not only free but also the themes that you to choose from. There are paid themes but WordPress has hundreds of free themes. Themes are the framework for your blog. They help you set your blog up and lead you to creating beautiful posts and pages.
Wrap Up
So there you have it, from one girl that has been where you are. I want to help you any way I can. There are so many more tools out there. As you start this blogging journey just keep in mind that is it better to start slow and steady.
- Bluehost.com
- Blogging Mentor
- Simplifying DIY DESIGN
- Taylor Stanford
- Convertkit
- Elite Blog Academy
- Jennifer Maker Academy
(I am an affiliate for the highlighted resources. If you go to any of them from here you will be going through my link and if you purchase them I will be given a monetary reward. )
Set A Budget
Setting a budget for the amount you will spend annually on courses will prevent you from wanting to take every single offer that comes to you.
Don’t get distracted by all the choices out there and set a budget for courses. If you don’t predetermine how much you will spend you may just go overboard. There are a lot of classes out there. It is crazy how much is offered. Get what you need first and then expand to what you want to learn. Would love to hear from you and see if there is anything I can clear up for you.
Finish The Courses
If you have signed up for courses, please finish them. They are expensive and you deserve to get your monies worth out of them. You can’t learn all you need to if you don’t finish the courses. I am preaching to myself here too!
Later on, when you have mastered the small stuff, you will have time to take other courses that are about more skilled tasks. Especially ones that will involve social media and other platforms. Get your basics down first.
Send me a comment about your struggles and success. I would love to hear from you.
Honestly,
Hey, what do you think? Let me know and if you have time follow me on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.