How To Become a Kick@ss Content Creator!

On this page, you will find my favorite creators and blog resources, as well as the trainings and courses I have invested in to learn how to build a thriving, successful blog.

To kick ass in this business, you need to learn topics such as domain names, hosting, WordPress, page building, content creation, SEO, affiliate marketing, and more.

Even if creating blog content is “just a hobby” at this stage, a small investment will get you a long way – way faster.

Please take my word on this: I learned the hard (and time-consuming) way that investing in your own education is extremely valuable. Saves you a ton of trial and error, not to mention frustration.

This article contains affiliate links! If you trust my advice and use my links to make your purchases, I get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank You!

Quick Guide Creator Resources

Content Creator – Educate Yourself!

Again, I can not stress this enough. You need to understand Google algorithms, SEO, keywords, headlines, evaluating competition, storytelling, building trust, and more.

Below you find the most important courses and training I have invested in since I started in 2019. As you see, some are more comprehensive than others.

For example, in Scale Your Travel Blog, you invest in an interactive community, while Superstar Blogging is a low-priced online course that provides fixed tutorials in a DIY style.

The Magic Of Choosing Blogging Courses

I quickly realized that investing in a course was the best thing I could do for my blogging career. I have invested in four really good courses in the last couple of years, with a few important differences.

The first one is called Scale Your Travel Blog (SYTB), is run by successful bloggers Mike and Laura, and is super comprehensive and “has it all.”

Thirdly, successful travel blogger Nomadic Matt has created a budget-friendly blogging course called Superstar Blogging that will also take you through everything you need to know.

Lastly, Blog Growth Engine is a comprehensive blogging course created by Adam Enfroy. Adam is a successful blogger across several niches, and this course does not directly focus on travel blogging but on SEO and blogging as a business.

Read on to learn more about each course.

1. Scale Your Travel Blog SYTB

Scale Your Travel Blog (or SYTB) is a really good and comprehensive blogging course that I have invested in.

It teaches you everything you need to know to succeed in blogging, and this course has more modules and covers more aspects of blogging than the BFL course.

This includes a personal site audit, a tailored keyword list, and 1:1 Zoom calls, to mention a few.

If you want to know more about what SYTB will give you, check out the FREE Online Training Webinar presenting SYTB and what you get with this course.

It is also pricier than the BFL course and will cost a one-time payment of $2497 (or 6x $427 partial payments).

That is a good chunk of money, but the mentoring and help that you get to start, run, grow, and monetize your blog is also top-notch!

With SYTB, you get a site audit of your blog (if you have already launched and feel a bit stuck) and tailored keyword lists to focus on based on your DA and niche.

Also, you will have an intro call and 1:1 mentor calls to help you start in the right direction and keep you there, as well as an FB community full of “colleagues”!

This is what you get in the SYTB course:

• Introductory strategy call
• Site audit
• Tailored Keyword list
• Module 1: Introduction + Mindset
• BONUS Module: Website Set Up + WordPress Tricks
• Module 2: On-Page SEO (SEO For Travel Blogs + Beyond)
• Module 3: Backlinks
• Module 4: Off-Page SEO
• Module 5: Scaling With Affiliate Marketing
• Module 6: SEO For Old Blog Posts
• Module 7: Making Money With Ads
• Module 8: Scaling With Email Marketing
• Module 9: Scaling With Sponsorships
• A variety of bonuses
• Group coaching calls
• FB community group
• Weekly live Q&A calls with Laura on FB

Ready To Monetize Your Blog?

When you have your blog up and running, you probably want to start making money on the work that you are doing!

You don’t need to wait until you have reached a specific number of readers, sessions, or page views, but you want to do it the right way!

There are three ways to monetize your blog:

• Affiliate Marketing
• Ads on your site
• Selling services or digital products

Courses About Affiliate Marketing

The courses that I have taken that are really good are with Shelley Marmor, a super successful affiliate marketing 6-figure travel blogger.

She also offers a Facebook group, and you will get tips and tricks about affiliate marketing from her regularly when you sign up for her email list.

Here are some of her done-for-you resources and templates:

• Affiliate Blog Post Template
• Affiliate Tables
• How to Optimize Old Blog Posts For Traffic
• 10 Ways to get Backlinks for Domain Authority Masterclass
  

Don’t Want A Course?

You can find out things on your own, too; just know that it will take more work, frustration, dedication, and time before you will be able to grow and monetize.

Ready for that? Read on for DIY advice!

Buy A Domain Name With Namecheap

When starting a blog, you will need a blog name that shows up in the URL, the address line. That is your domain name, the unique name of your little “country” on the Internet.

I purchased my domain names with Namecheap, which I am happy with.

How to choose your domain name.

When you choose your blog or website name, remember to think FAR AHEAD. Don’t choose a name that will limit you in the future!

This implies you might not want to limit your website to a specific geographic location in your blog name (unless you plan to focus on a geographic area indefinitely).

Consider whether it is smart or not to use your own name in the blog name, as there are pros and cons to this.

Using your name will make it harder to sell your blog in the future, which you might want to do. On the other hand, branding is becoming increasingly important, and your name will follow you wherever you go, even if you change niches.

WordPress Dot Org Blog Platform

Again, there are a variety of blogging platforms to choose from, like Squarespace, Wix, and more. One of the biggest in the world is WordPress, which I am using for both my blogs.

The downside of choosing WordPress is that it does take a bit of work to learn the platform; it is not completely intuitive. But once you know and get the hang of it, there are upsides!

Because it is widely used, it is compatible and easily integrates with many plugins, tools, and services you need.

Also, if you want to sell your blog at some point, it is an advantage to have WordPress.

NB: You want to have the .org version of WordPress (not .com) to get private hosting and your own domain name in the URL (your domain address can still be .com, this is unrelated, dont worry).

Next, you need to think about hosting, which is renting your space online. You need to find a “landlord”, a hosting company, for your domain name and blog.

Flywheel Hosting

A hosting service is the company that is responsible for making a space for your domain name and your WordPress platform on the Internet, so it is your house on the Internet!

You need to have the house before you can start to decorate with furniture, art, colors, and everything you want to make it look the way you want and present your content the way you want to.

You do not need to host your website in the same place as your domain name, but you can if you want.

I still have the domain names that I bought from Namecheap (which also offers hosting), but I have web hosting with Flywheel, which you will read more about below.

You want to choose a hosting service that ensures that your website is FAST, which is why I changed from the host I used to have to Flywheel.

As Flywheel hosting provides a super fast site, is reasonably priced, is compatible with WordPress, and has great and fast customer service, that is the hosting platform that I recommend.

Choosing A Theme For Your Blog Interior

Once you have purchased your domain name, chosen a blogging platform (WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, etc.), and found your hosting service (Flywheel, Namecheap, Bigfoot, A2, etc), it is time to start creating your style and interior on your blog.

Create your brand.

A theme is a framework for what your website will look like for readers coming to your site, the front end (while you work on the back end).

I am using the FREE Kadence theme, which, in addition to not costing any money, looks good and is a light theme, helping me to have a fast site (super important) so readers are not annoyed by slow page speed.

The theme you choose regulates how you can play with the layout, colors, and decoration of your blog. Some themes cost money, and some themes are free.

Whichever you choose, you need to have a theme that is light, which means that it does not have a lot of heavy code (CSS and HTML) that can make your site slow and difficult for you to work with and for readers to navigate.

Now you are good to go, start posting blog posts on your little part of the internet!

And when you run into problems as a DIYer, you can always head to YouTube to find solutions. There are many good tutorials (and some bad ones), so make sure you validate the person providing solutions or advice.

Creator Tools

Rank IQ SEO Tool

I have been using Rank IQ as my SEO tool for almost a year now (and you SHOULD have an SEO tool); until then, I have been using a lower-priced tool.

There are a variety of SEO tools out there; some are free and give you basic assistance. Others are priced higher, with great tools, and might be within reach of established bloggers and content creators who already have a decent income and budget.

Rank IQ is a medium-priced SEO tool in comparison to a variety of others, but considering the services and tools you get with Rank IQ, I would say it outshines other cheaper options.

And let me just say that Rank IQ has blown my mind!

Here is what you get with Rank IQ:

• Extensive Keyword Library
• Keyword search tool with extensive analysis of competitiveness, traffic, and ranking time
• Create Post Outline
• SEO Optimized Title Analysis
• Topic Coverage Analysis
• Detailed Update Old Post Guide
• Blog post optimizer (which is the golden nugget!)
• Rank IQ gets its data directly from Google Analytics to run its analysis.
• Rank IQ Mastermind Group on Facebook

Pin Generator Scheduling Tool

I only recently started using Pin Generator as my Pinterest tool, which is cheaper than Tailwind, and it has changed my pinning game with Pinterest.

As Google algorithm updates shatter the online community with irregular intervals, diversifying traffic has become ever more important. And Pinterest is still a great way to do this, with consistent and regular quality pins.

With Pin Generator, you have different options, from creating your own pins to fully automated and all in between.

I normally use the middle option, with having pins generated, editing them to give them a personal touch, and then scheduling.

I create at least 30 really good pins now in the time I used to create one or two!

Starting With Ads On Your Site

In order to make any money at all on ads from an Ad Network, you need to have traffic to your site, as you normally will get paid after something called RPM, Revenue Per Mille (1000).

So for every 1000 viewing, you get paid one RPM, which is also dependent on WHERE your traffic comes from.

Many ad networks are working with US-based companies, which means that the traffic that is included in the RPM is mainly US traffic.

So, you need to build traffic from the US to make having ads on your site worthwhile.

The ad networks you can consider are:

• She Media Collective (min 20.000 page views per month, but often accepted before)
• Google AdSense (no clear requirement, “consistent traffic”)
• Ezoic (minimum 10.000 visits per month)
• Mediavine (minimum 50.000 sessions per month)
• AdThrive (minimum 100.000 page views per month)

Want to know about my journey? Check out the about me page if you want to know who I am and how I got here!