Favorite Resources for a Momtog Faith Blogger
What are my go-to tools and resources for online Christian Stewardship?
Here is a comprehensive list of my favorite resources utilized past and present that helped turn this online business, i.e. ministry, into a reality.
Through much trial and error, I have learned what tools work, what tools are worth the money in the beginning, what free tools are the best to get your foot in the door, and am still learning EVERY.DANG.DAY.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
I USE THIS DAILY! Canva is a free and paid online platform that provides designs, presentations, social media graphics, and more with thousands of beautiful layouts. Design with millions of stock photographs, vectors, and illustrations. You can even upload your own. Edit your photos using preset filters or get advanced with photo editing. Hundreds of fonts, free icons, and shapes. Canva is used and loved by millions of people around the globe. Try it today.
RelayThat helps my business by making it easy to make awesome designs that follow brand guidelines. I love that I can generate unlimited designs in minutes and simply choose the ones I like most or even make some adjustments if I want.
Google Slides is part of the DRIVE. It is similar to Microsoft PowerPoint and offers the flexibility of working anywhere for FREE! I create PIN images, social media images, printables, and much more beyond your basic slideshow presentations. (You need a Gmail account.)
DIGITAL ORGANIZATION
Google drive or workspace is a one-stop shop for all your online business needs. Google is a MUST tool. Between Gmail, Calendar, Photos, and the DRIVE – I cannot pick a favorite specific software tool they offer. It is similar to Microsoft office but a web-based version. Docs, slides, sheets, forms (surveys), calendar, keep (sticky notes), and much more! Check out my YouTube channel for tutorials on the Google Products I utilize as a mom and business owner.
Another Google product and is NOW under the umbrella of Google Workspace. It is a separate application that houses all your photos and can automatically backup your smartphone images as well as make simple videos. It now has a paid version and is no longer unlimited.
Workona is the TAB organizer! I constantly have tons of tabs open for getting things done and this nifty add-on has been extremely helpful. However, I am still learning how to get the most out of it by creating standard operating systems.
VIDEO & PHOTO
Cyberlink PowerDirector – PC video editing tool
FREE DaVinci Resolve Video Editor
An alternative to the two above is Wondershare’s Filmora.
WEBSITE
Siteground is an amazing hosting company. The chat feature is phenomenal. No matter the problem, which is normally a blunder that I have made, the company has always been available to help sort through my discrepancy. I choose them for speed, support, and analytics when it comes to hosting a website on WordPress.
Build a self-hosted website on WordPress.
WIX is for the person who just needs a landing zone and for everything to be as user-friendly as possible. WIX allows you to build a BEAUTIFUL website with a drag and drop template. It is the first page-builder that I used and currently have a site on their platform now.
Using WordPress? Use this theme for more robust design options.
SCHEDULING
Calendly is a FREE and paid tool that allows you to easily pinpoint a convenient appointment time between you and clients, students, potential customers, and even your family! It will save you time and effort when it comes to scheduling events in the future. The FREE version has been sufficient thus far in my business.
Dubsado
ZOOM is no longer an unknown resource since the 2020 pandemic. Many people had to turn to video conferencing for meetings, classroom teaching, and even Bible studies. The company did a superb job trying to stay on top of the wave and I still highly recommend it with a PASSWORD. The free version is perfect for one to one meetings.
After searching for months, Later is the Instagram scheduling app for my biz. It was clean, easy to use, and provided enough on the FREE version to keep my social media presence afloat. It also provides THREE platforms and 30 posts each for FREE.
EMAIL MARKETING
MailChimp Email Marketing
ConvertKit Email Marketing
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Trello is my CRM or my ORGANIZE EVERYTHING TOOL. The FREE version is enough. Keep all your projects organized, invite your clients and team and stay on track with deadlines and progress reports. It is where I plan ALL my blog posts with an ongoing checklist that is created for each and every project so I know exactly where I am and what needs to get done.
The above list is constantly changing and developing as new technology arrives on the scene or updates happen. FOr example, after Google announced their latest analytics update to how they rank websites according to SEO I had to update my WordPress theme to stay competitive.
I now use the Kadence theme on WordPress with the Divi Theme PLUGIN vs their theme.
Resources for Hardware Recommendations
More tools coming soon!
