Every once in a while, I like to round up links of helpful websites that I’ve found to be helpful as a blogger and content creator. I find that blogging about beauty is always fun but my background in graphic design and web-development is also really exciting (I know… so geeky!) to write about once in a while! Especially because this is a such an unglamorous and difficult topic to learn and most people prefer to skip over it!
Blogging Resources I’ve written About in the Past
In case you have time to learn more, here are some of the resources/links I’ve written about in the past! If you have any topic suggestions, do leave me a comment so I can add it to my future blog post ideas!
- 18 Best Free WordPress Plugins Every Blogger Needs
- 17 Best Free Resources for Bloggers
- 20 of My Favourite Apps for the iPhone
- You can find more blogging resources under the Blogging tag
Helpful Websites Every Bloggers Need to Bookmark
Here is a list of a few helpful websites that I think every blogger should bookmark because it can help you with all things SEO, making the front-end look aesthetically pleasing, or even to help you come up with content! If you have additional ideas and suggestions, do let me know so I can add to this list and continue the spirit of sharing.
The Back-End/Technical Side of Things
1. w3 Schools
The holy grail of all things HTML/CSS related, this website has been my go-to resources since I first started web-designing. They have all HTML/CSS tutorials under the sun, and especially if you don’t want to pay someone to make minor adjustments to your page, this website has the resources/tutorials you will need to make that adjustment for yourself. The website is user-friendly, tutorials/articles are easy to follow so you are bound to find what you need!
2. SEO Basics for Bloggers
All bloggers know that SEO is key to ensure your blog gets exposure, but what exactly is SEO? There are plenty of courses out there that cost an arm and a leg that promises to teach you everything, but the lovely Dana from Wonder Forest will break it down to layman’s terms that can be easily understood by anyone, including beginners!
3. I Can Build a Blog
Just a quick disclaimer here, I am not being paid or compensated, or am I getting affiliate commissions to talk about Dana’s website here! Dana has created a website called I Can Build a Blog which will guide you through the technical aspects of blogging, particularly when it comes to coding, back-end, less-glamorous side of blogging. Her tutorials and articles are easy to follow, and covers a lot of current topics/trends so you’ll likely come across a relevant article or two!
Front End Design and Making Things Look Pretty
4. wordmark.it
Want to know how a specific word/sentence looks in different fonts and sizes? This is your go-to page to check how the fonts will look without constantly updating your webpage if you’ve changed the stylesheet. You can even see how the font look against white or black background, saving you the time from constantly testing the font, while changing only one variable at a time.
5. ScreenFly
We all know how important it is for our website to be compatible on multiple platforms, and devices, especially now that Google has updated its search algorithm to prioritize mobile-friendly sites. ScreenFly is a fantastic tool that lets you check your website’s responsiveness (in real-time) on various different platforms and devices. Check if your layout looks great on Apple iPad, or even the Motorola Razr! You can play around with the settings to see how your blog layout will look if the user changes the orientation (i.e. from portrait to landscape) and check it real-time!
6. Design-Seeds
If you are ever stuck coming up with a colour combination, here is another website that might help. Take inspirations from real-life images or previously created colour combinations to give you some inspiration!
7. Image-Map
Although I’m not the biggest fan of image maps (clickable links in an image) I do appreciate that they come in handy once in a while, especially if you don’t want to slice and dice your images on Photoshop to embed image maps. For those of you not familiar with it, image maps lets you include links in different spots of an image without have to do anything different to that image. It could be useful if you don’t have Photoshop or not familiar with Photoshop slicing and image mapping tools. Once you upload your image, it will generate the appropriate HTML to paste onto your webpage – doesn’t get any easier than that!
Content Creation & Help
8. Blog Topic Generator
Ever get that blogger writing block and just don’t know what to write about? Over at Blog Topic Generator, you pop in 3 nouns that you might be interested in writing about, and the generator will spit out blog post ideas like “The Ultimate Cheat Sheet On Beauty” and more! Incredibly helpful when you’re in a rut!
9. Click to Tweet
Have a catchy phrase in your blog post that you want people to retweet or focus on? This nifty little tools lets you tweet specific phrases and even embed a link in your post that lets your reader to easily tweet it.
10. Write or Die
Just like the name implies, this tool helps forces you to get your draft completed… or it deletes your entire content! Probably quite handy for someone in school too…
Now it’s your turn! Do you have any favourite links/websites that you go to to build your blog? As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Share with me comment section or through Twitter or Instagram!