Hello and welcome, my friends, to the Create With Code Dragon resources page! I created this page to provide a handy-dandy listing of products, websites, companies, etc. that I have found to be particularly helpful. I hope you will find them helpful, too. 🙂
BLOGGING & WEBSITE RESOURCES
Bluehost – the best web host for your blog or website
If you’re thinking about starting a blog or creating a new website – for yourself or for a client – the first place to start is with choosing Bluehost. Bluehost is a leading web-hosting company, has an excellent reputation, and I am personally familiar with them. I’ve been a customer of Bluehost for years now, and have chosen them to host my own (various) websites as well as multiple client websites. I have experienced no downtime or issues on my websites or my blog, and am very satisfied with their customer service.
You can start your own WordPress blog with them for just $3.95 a month! Along with the affordable rates, every Bluehost account comes with free 24/7 support.
Elegant Themes (DIVI) – an awesome WordPress theme for your blog or website
If you’re thinking about starting a blog or creating a new website and have chosen to build it on the WordPress platform, then you should consider a WordPress theme that is truly versatile and fun to work with: Divi from Elegant Themes. I have built a few websites using Divi and had a great time working with it! I felt like this theme suited my work style, with the bright colors, easy to understand interface and its highly visual setup. By visual I mean you don’t need to know much code at all to create a blog or website using Divi, because of the Divi Visual Editor.
Its features are so extensive and laid out visually before you on your screen and you can drag & drop, as opposed to needing to go into the HTML and CSS and manually type in code. And Divi is actually a system in-and-of itself, or a platform if you will. As they say on the Divi description page:
Divi is more than just a WordPress theme, it’s a completely new website building platform that replaces the standard WordPress post editor with a vastly superior visual editor.
You can check out the other awesome things that Elegant Themes has to offer here.
Legal Pages for your Blog/Website
If you have a blog, create websites for clients or otherwise do business online, it is important to make sure your online presence is protected legally. Specifically, it’s important to make sure that you are complying with FTC regulations and other laws such as the GDPR and CCPA. It is recommended that you protect your online assets with at least the following 3 legal pages:
- Privacy Policy
- Terms and Conditions
- Disclaimer
With these legal templates from ASelfGuru – written by an experienced lawyer – you can get those 3 essential legal pages up an running on your blog in as little as 30 minutes. Read more in our article Easy, Affordable Ways to Protect Your Blog or Website Legally.
UpdraftPlus plugin to back up and restore websites
If you have already started a WordPress blog or website – for yourself or for a client – another important detail to take care of is to set up a system to back up that website’s files. UpdraftPlus is one of the best plugins for this job, has excellent ratings, and it’s easy to set up and is quite affordable too. You can get started for free, but UpdraftPlus also offers a Premium version of its plugin.
This is also a product that I’ve used for years on my own WordPress sites and on client websites, and am very satisfied with it! For more info read the UpdraftPlus Premium full list of features.
DESIGN RESOURCES
Adobe
Having been a huge fan and customer of Adobe for close to 20 years, I can wholeheartedly say that the Adobe Creative Cloud is a must-have for any graphic or web designer. Through the years I have had the pleasure of working Adobe’s incredibly versatile tools, from image-editing to full-out graphic design layout platforms. It doesn’t get any better than this as a designer.
Check out the fantastic deals that Adobe offers here. There are many different affordable plans available so you can get started editing photos, creating illustrations, or designing whatever your imagination can come up with. You can get started on as little as $9.99/month!
Adaptive Web Design:
Crafting Rich Experiences With Progressive Enhancement
by Aaron Gustafson
The author of this book has been around the world of web design and web development for a long time, and really knows his stuff. He goes into depth about the early days of the web (when it was “young”), what he’s learned, what can be done better, etc. He also goes into detail about many different coding languages, SEO and SO much more.
He and I must be kindred spirits in terms of being around since the early days of the internet 🙂 Here’s my light-hearted take on how websites used to look in the 1990s.
OTHER RESOURCES & RECOMMENDATIONS
BLOGGING BOOKS
The Essential Habits of 6-Figure Bloggers
Secrets of 17 Successful Bloggers You Can Use to Build a Six-Figure Online Business
by Sally Miller
This book is jam-packed with honest, nitty-gritty advice from 17 of todays most successful bloggers. The author surveyed each of these pro bloggers with questions such as “What’s your advice for bloggers who are still struggling?” and “What was the biggest obstacle you faced in building your business to where it is today? How did you overcome it?”
With advice on everything from how often to post to a blog to what single strategy helped them propel their business to $100,000, this book is a must-read if you are starting your own blog. I personally benefitted and learned quite a bit from reading this book; particularly from the section on what each blogger (and/or “online entrepreneur”) would do differently today if they had to start all over again.
How to Blog for Profit
(Without Selling Your Soul)
by Ruth Soukup
The author of this book has a LOT of experience building a successful blog. Her blog Living Well Spending Less is visited by over a million visitors every month (wow!) so she obviously knows what she’s talking about. Ruth doesn’t go into much detail on the technical details of how to actually set up a blog (as in, how to set up a WordPress theme for example). What she does get into a LOT is the importance of creating compelling content and how to advertise that content out to the world.
The Blog Startup
Proven Strategies to Launch Smart and Exponentially Grow Your Audience, Brand and Income Without Losing Your Sanity or Crying Bucketloads of Tears
by Meera Kothand
This book is another one that is full of practical advice and real examples from the authors’ struggles and successes while building her online business. As she says on the cover, Meera’s book is a roadmap for the first 90 days of your blogging journey, and she encourages readers to take things one step at a time and not jump ahead (so as not to get discouraged). Also emphasized are things such as finding your own unique voice and writing style, and staying true to yourself and your own distinct brand.
Check out more of our book recommendations in our article Best Books on Blogging, Freelancing and Small Business.
