Business & Blogging Resources for Creatives
Welcome to my writing, blogging, art, design, and crafting resources guide; a curated list of the tools I recommend for building your creative business.
Popular Products
Make More Money With Your Craft
A step by step plan to increasing your creative income today. Written for writers, bloggers, artists, crafters, and other creatives.
Income and Expense Worksheets
Track your income, expenses, and overall finances with these spreadsheets. Created for bloggers, freelancers, and small businesses.
Some of the resource links below are affiliate links – meaning they do not cost you extra. However, I may receive a commission if you use them. Thank you for your support!
Blogging Resources: Website Hosting
Knownhost offers fully managed web hosting services. Expanding each year they now offer Shared, Cloud, VPS, and Dedicated hosting to suit any budget. I’ve been using Knownhost for my own website since 2011. Click Here to learn more about Knownhost.
Blogging Resources: WordPress Themes
I am currently using the Kadence Farmhouse child theme by Restored 316. Restored 316 offers numerous, customizable, themes for your blog and business. (No coding knowledge required.) Many themes offer online shop capabilities, and all of them are responsive themes; meaning your site will look great on tablets and cell phones too. I’ve been using Restored 316 themes since 2016. Click Here to see more themes from Restored 316.
Stock Photos, Fonts, and More
If you are looking for beautiful FREE stock photos, Ivory Mix is the place to go. At Ivory Mix you’ll find lifestyle photos, flat lay photos, social media style photos, templates, and more. The best part is that you can download 500+ photos for free. (I personally use Ivory Mix photos on my website, and have been a member since 2018.) Click on Free Stock Photos to learn how to download your free stock photos today.
Creative Market houses all of your creative blogging needs in one site. They offer numerous photos, graphics, fonts, and more. They even offer free items each week. Click Here to learn more about all Creative Market has to offer.
TheHungryJPEG is home to the latest, quality premium bundles, fonts, graphics, crafts and many other design resources, including freebies! If you are looking for unique clip art, patterns, and fonts Click Here.
Canva is an amazing design and editing program. You can easily create logos, business cards, presentations, Instagram and Pinterest images, and so much more. Design your own, or use their ready made templates. I personally have a Canva Pro account, and use Canva regularly to make my products. Click Here for more information, and to start a free Canva trial.
SEO Tools: Search Engine Optimization Resources
Keysearch is one of the best keyword research tools for bloggers and website owners. It’s reasonably priced and easy to use, making it perfect for beginner bloggers to more advanced bloggers. You can find new keywords and track your competitor keywords with Keysearch. I personally use KeySearch for all of my keyword research, and have been using their service since 2019. Click Here for more info, and enter code KSDISC for 20% off.
SEMrush is an additional SEO tool that can help you find profitable and niche keywords for your blog. It has a lot more features than Keysearch, and is more expensive. If you can afford the price, I would go with SEMrush for the extra features. Click Here to learn more and to try SEMrush for free.
Email Marketing
ConvertKit is known as one of the best email marketing services for bloggers and business owners. Grow your email list quickly with the numerous tools, forms, and services offered by ConvertKit. All of my emails are sent out using ConvertKit. I’ve been using their email marketing services since 2018. Click Here to get a FREE trial, and learn more about all that ConvertKit has to offer.
Course Platforms
Thinking of creating your own course? Share what you know with Teachable. Create online courses and coaching services. Transform your experience and know-how into a thriving knowledge business. Build a course, build a brand, build a business. Click Here to learn more, and get started for free..
Courses and Education
Skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of classes for creative and curious people, on topics including illustration, design, photography, video, freelancing, and more. On Skillshare, members come together to find inspiration and take the next step in their creative journey. I personally love Skillshare and have an annual membership. If you are looking for courses on Procreate, among other things, you should check them out. Tip: many Procreate courses come with free brush downloads. Click Here to learn more, and start your free trial.
CreativeLive offers 1,500+ life changing and creative classes. From photo & video, to art & design, to classes for crafters & makers; CreativeLive has it all. Click Here to see a full listing of CreativeLive courses.
MasterClass offers online courses taught by the world’s greatest minds. Classes include Photography with Annie Leibovitz, Writing with Malcolm Gladwell, R.L Stine, James Patterson, and Amy Tan, Graphic Design with David Carson, Art & Creativity with Jeff Koons, Self Made Entrepreneurship with Sara Blakely and so much more. I’ve taken numerous MasterClass courses (Sara Blakely, Amy Tan, Neil Gaiman) and have loved them all. Click Here to see the classes MasterClass has to offer.
Freelancers for Hire
Fiverr is a hub for freelance talent all over the world. You can find logo designers, WordPress experts, social media help, virtual assistants, writers, and more. You can also join the Fiverr community and sell your own services. If you are looking for a freelancer to help you with your business, or you’d like to pick up some extra work Click Here.