All the items I use:

1. A spiral notebook.
2. Writing materials: pen, pencil, highlighters.
3. A planner/calendar.
4. Trello Board.
5. Canva Pro.
6. Laptop, iPhone, and iPad.

And that’s literally it. I could stop this post here, but I can’t leave ya’ll hanging like that.

The first thing I do is mind dump everything into my spiral notebook- all the blog topics, notes, and ideas I would like to write about. Although I like to randomly pick out topics from my list, I still choose the topic that I feel the most called from my spirit to write about, whether it’s on my list or not. Lifestyle and wellness topics are my niche so that gives me more options to choose from so I can never really get bored.

After I find my topics, I set up my Trello Board calendar and try to plan out content for the whole year and decide when I want to release certain posts. Trello is amazing! I love the simple layout; you can set due dates and reminders. I really be feeling like a productive professional blogger!

Similar with writing a school paper, I’ll write out my rough draft before I type it up on WordPress. This helps me to not be staring at a blank screen thinking about what to type. I always edit and proofread a bunch of times before I submit. I’m the student and the professor over here.

But before I even begin typing my content, I’ll gather and add all my graphics and links (social media links and links to specific items) first. Sometimes I’ll take my own pictures, utilize WordPress free pixel images, gifs, or I’ll use Canva Pro rather than using random pictures off the internet. I also try not to use Pinterest either because it’s hard to credit the original creator. I already got in trouble for unknowingly using an image off a business’s website last year because I didn’t tag them. It was a mess.

After my blog post is finished, it’s time to publish it. I love the “schedule” later option that WordPress has. I can set a scheduled date and time and WordPress will do the rest. I love being out n about and getting a notification on my phone that my scheduled post went live. I can also save my posts as “drafts” or “pending review” so that I can come back and work on multiple posts at a time. I rarely ever finish and publish a blog post in one day, I find that very overwhelming and too time consuming.

When I’m scheduling a post to go live, it’s important for me to make sure that my ‘auto share’ options are turned on. For example, auto sharing my post to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and LinkedIn. Unfortunately, I have to manually share my own post/link to Pinterest and my blogs Facebook page for some reason, which I hate because I might forget.

Next, it’s time to promote, which is actually my least favorite part of blogging. I don’t want to be annoying to my social media followers, but I also need to get the word out if I want more views and feedback. So again, I create my promotion designs through Canva Pro. I promote on my personal Facebook page, snapchat, and Instagram stories.

My monthly subscription fee for Canva Pro is $12.99 or I’ll do the yearly fee of $119.99 (most recommended). It’s a great investment and worth the money if you want to take your site to the next level. I make sure to keep up with my yearly domain costs and the WordPress Premium Plan annual fee of $96.00. Trello Board is luckily free.

When it comes to my blog/website theme, I choose from the options included in my WordPress Premium Plan. I’m not ready to invest a lot of money into a fancy blog theme, but I will in the future, and I would like to hire a professional photographer for a photoshoot at some point. Extra things I purchased for my blog: a site icon and highlight covers for my Instagram highlights. I created my logo on Canva Pro as well.

So, as you can see, there’s a lot that goes into running a blog and this wasn’t even the super detailed version.

Till next time,