Useful Resources

 WordPress.com, blogger.com, weebly.com – free blogging platforms if you

decide to rent your webspace.

 Wordpress.org – popular self-hosting blogging and website platform for

maximum flexibility and scale.

 Hostgator.com (www.freelancewritersonline.com/hostgator) – web hosting

company for those that go with the Wordpress.org option above. Enter
‘WRITINGONLINECOURSE25’ at checkout for 25% off the cost of your
hosting plan.

Useful plugins for your Wordpress.org site:

(Simply copy and paste the name of the plugin in bold below into the search box that
comes up when you go to ‘Plugin’ and ‘Add New’ in your Wordpress.org
dashboard.)

 Akismet – protect your blog from comment and trackback spam. To get started:
1) Click the ‘Activate’ link to the left of the plugin description once installed, 2)
Sign up for an Akismet API key, and 3) Go to your Akismet configuration page,
and save your API key.

 AZ-One – if you’re an Amazon Associates affiliate, this plugin identifies which

Amazon store (com, ca, co.uk, de, fr, jp) is closest to your visitor and changes the
associate links on the page to direct the visitor to the right one. Also useful if you
release any of your own books or eBooks on Amazon.

 Black Studio TinyMCE Widget – adds a WYSIWYG (‘what you see is what
you get’) widget to your Wordpress blog dashboard so you can easily customise
elements in your sidebar without having to know code.
 Broken Link Checker – checks your blog for broken links and missing images
and notifies you on the dashboard if any are found.

 Click To Tweet by Todaymade - adds ‘click to tweet’ boxes to your WordPress

posts to encourage readers of your writer’s website or blog to share your content.

 Evergreen Post Tweeter - enables you to automatically and consistently tweet

out links to posts on your website.

 Jetpack by WordPress.com – bring the power of the WordPress.com cloud to

your self-hosted WordPress site. Enables you to connect your blog to a
WordPress.com account to use all the features normally only available to
WordPress.com users.

 Subscribe to Comments Reloaded – if you have a blog that people are

commenting on, this plugin enables those commenters to sign up for e-mail
notifications.

 VaultPress – protects your website content, themes, plugins, and settings with
realtime backup and automated security scanning.

 WordPress SEO – a simple tool to help make your website pages and blog posts
search engine friendly.

 WP Google Authorship – makes your Google+ profile picture appear in

Google’s search results.

 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin – generates a list of related blog posts and
displays them on your site and RSS feeds.
  Jon Morrow’s “Headline Hacks” - create engaging and effective
headlines while also generating great blog post ideas. Download from this
homepage by signing up for Jon’s free emails: boostblogtraffic.com.

 Buffer – share the best of the web throughout the day and night. Share great
content and build a reputation as a valuable curator of content – even while
you sleep! Go to bufferapp.com and sign up for a free account.

 FeedBurner and Digg Reader – RSS readers that store all your favourite
blogs in one place and update automatically when new posts are published.
See feedburner.com and digg.com/reader respectively.

 SocialBro – get a much more in-depth look at your followers than Twitter
itself can offer. Learn more at: socialbro.com.

 Hootsuite – manage all of your social media accounts from one single
dashboard. Also supports multiple user accounts if you’re looking after your
clients’ social media accounts too. Offers scheduling so you can tweet, share
and post in your sleep. Go to freelancewritersonline.com/hootsuite for more
information.

 What the Plus! Google+ for the Rest of Us – book by Guy Kawasaki on
how to master Google+ to attract followers and promote your brand. Get your
copy from Amazon here: freelancewritersonline.com/whattheplus.

MODULE 4

 Photopin and Flickr – great websites for finding creative commons images
for blog posts. Don’t forget to cite your sources directly. Search on
photopin.com and use the ‘Advanced search’ at flickr.com.

 PR Web – online press release distribution offering both a free and premium
service. See prweb.com for more details. Remember you can also manually
distribute press releases to publications.
  Google Keyword Planner – tool used to research keywords and phrases
that people use to search for online content. Helps make your work more
search engine friendly. Go to adwords.google.com/ko/KeywordPlanner/Home
to get started. It’s free but you’ll need a Google account.

 How to Start a Travel Blog and Make Money

Of course I’m going to list my own eBook here! Seriously

though, this is for anybody who wants to make money blogging about anything. If
you like the idea of getting paid to travel and write about it, this book is for you.
www.freelancewritersonline.com/howtostartatravelblog

It will teach you how to set up your own blog and make money but also how to make
(probably more) money blogging for other people.

 Dropbox

Dropbox is a great tool for writers, bloggers, small business owners and
‘solopreneurs.’ With Dropbox you will always have access to your most important
files, photos and other documents, regardless of where you are and which device
you’re on. You can also choose to share certain folders with other people online.
www.freelancewritersonline.com/dropbox

 Kindle

For your continued learning wherever you are, a Kindle device is invaluable, but it
can also be used to proofread your own work. When you read your content on a
Kindle or similar, you’re doing so from a reader’s perspective, and not a writer’s.
Trust me, you’ll spot more grammatical mistakes and syntax errors if you proofread
on a Kindle (or similar). www.freelancewritersonline.com/kindle
  MailChimp

Got an email list? Want one? Check out Mailchimp for a fun, easy and free way to
build your very own online tribe of fans and supporters via email. Get started for free
then upgrade as your list expands. www.freelancewritersonline.com/mailchimp

 Aweber

Aweber is a great alternative to Mailchimp to send out emails to the those that might
want to hear about what you’re blogging or otherwise talking about. Aweber is
trusted by thousands and is $1 to trial for a month and then $19 per month
thereafter. www.freelancewritersonline.com/aweber

 People Per Hour

While I still advocate pitching directly to clients, we all need the odd freelance
writing job from time to time, and who knows where one job may lead?

Everybody seems to know about Elance, oDesk and Freelancer.com, but my favourite
website for getting freelance writing work is People Per Hour. The quality of the jobs
is much better than on other freelancing sites, plus it’s fantastic for finding talent
that you may need for your own freelance business – from virtual assistants to web
designers, they’ve got everything here.

Get a 10% discount voucher for any of the services on People Per Hour when you sign
up directly via this link: www.freelancewritersonline.com/pph.