Blogging & Small Business Resources

I started Runstreet as a blog in 2010 and worked on it sporadically throughout the years. When I moved to NYC in 2012 and got busy with life and managing Runstreet Art Run events, I didn’t really work on the blog consistently. Then 2020 hit and all our events got canceled as well as in-person coaching. I suddenly had lots of time and anxiety on my hands. And what’s an anxious Virgo to do but work on something — so through trial and error and many hours I had in 2020 and 2021, I was able to grow the Runstreet blog traffic exponentially (more than doubling traffic in a year) and monetize it. I weeded through countless online courses, articles, tips and videos, and have compiled my list of the most helpful courses, programs and resources that helped me drive a lot more traffic to the blog and start making money from it.

If you’re a blogger or interested in getting started blogging, these are my top picks for the best blogging design tools, classes and more to grow your blogging business:

Blogging Classes

I am an inherent nerd so I love taking online classes. I took so many during the pandemic that I finally stopped adding the certificates to my LinkedIn profile because I couldn’t keep up.

Of the many classes I took on blogging and marketing, these are the most helpful:

  • Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course by Michelle Schroeder Gardner is a game-changer. This course breaks down all the confusion about affiliate marketing and helps you create a streamlined, measurable system for putting affiliate ads on your blog. Michelle gives lots of firsthand experience and has a proven track record of making thousands each month off of affiliate income on her blog about personal finance.

  • Moz.com is a great resource for learning SEO techniques and there are many free SEO tools on the site that will help you drive more traffic to your blog. I used the free site audit tool as well as took a few beginners classes and this is what has helped me double my blog hits in a year.

Visuals and Design

Blogs are very visual and your readers will multiply more quickly if you use original graphics. My top graphic design software I use for designing blog graphics, workouts, Pins, social media graphics, and newsletters is Canva.

Canva has a free version as well as Canva Pro, which has all kinds of useful tools from logo designs to background removal, stunning stock photos, templates for recipes, workouts, newsletter headers, social media templates and so much more. I use Canva for all my graphic design and it is easy to share and collaborate with team members using the platform as well. Canva Pro also has a social media scheduler so you can stay consistent with posting on all your channels.

Getting some professional photos for your blog will really help your About page and blog posts stand out. I am lucky because my best friend is also an amazing NYC photographer and I highly recommend him if you are living or visiting the NYC area — Marques Jackson Photography. Marques’ photos helped me grow the Runstreet Instagram and events while also making the blog photos really pop.

Social Media

I grew Runstreet events and sponsorships in large part from growing the Runstreet Instagram, but Instagram is not necessarily the best for driving blog traffic. I still post blog links on Instagram stories but my main social network traffic source has quickly become Pinterest.

And this is thanks to the Pinterest Strategies class by blogger Carly/Mommy on Purpose. I had no idea how to use Pinterest before and now am getting thousands of blog hits thanks to applying her Pinterest strategies.

Website

Squarespace is my website host and I love Squarespace for designing beautiful, easy-to-use sites that you can update yourself. Unlike the complexities of WordPress, you don’t need to pay people to maintain or update your Squarespace design or features as they are very easy to use, with drag and drop features. I also use Squarespace for my newsletters and have found it to be streamlined and love that you can easily include GIFs.

You can try out Squarespace here.

 

Networking and Mentorship

I highly recommend joining networking groups and finding a mentor who has experience with online business and media, and you will be amazed at how much some guidance and advice can help your blog and also keep you motivated. I have a mentor with SCORE NYC, and SCORE offers free mentors to small businesses all over the US. You can find a SCORE mentor here.

Sometimes Runstreet uses affiliate links. This means that if we’ve used a product or service and liked it, and that product or service has an affiliate program, we sign up for it. Then, when we mention that product or service in a blog or email, we link to it using an affiliate link and get commission from any sales made from the link, at no extra cost to you. We only do this for companies and services we’ve tested and recommend.