Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I receive a small compensation to help support my blog if you decide to make a purchase through my links at no cost to you.
Thinking of starting a blog? Or already have a blog and want to take it to the next level?
Discover all of my favorite resources for building your dream blog!
How Read With Allison Started
First, know that blogging is more work than it looks like and should be a passion project first.
I started Read With Allison in July 2018 as a hobby. I had just joined bookstagram and wanted to have a blog for book reviews when I started requesting books from publishers. My original blog was hosted at wordpress.com, which is a free blog hosting website.
If you plan to monetize your blog or want more freedom to customize, I highly recommend starting off with a self-hosted blog. I self-hosted in July 2020 and went through a painful process of migrating 200+ blog posts to my new site.
Self-hosting your blog sounds really scary, but all it means is you own all the content. If wordpress.com had shut down while I was using that service, I would have lost all of my content. But since I am now self-hosted, I own my content and I can customize that content however I want.
I personally decided to self-host my blog because I wanted to get serious and monetize my blog. One of my lifelong dreams has been to have a successful blog. Read With Allison is at least my third attempt at blogging and my most successful attempt because I found something I genuinely enjoy writing about.
I started researching how to grow a blog and really threw myself into self-educating myself on how to correctly manage a blog. Here are some of my favorite resources for starting a blog.
Self-Hosting Service
I personally went with Bluehost when I decided to self-host. So far I have been happy with their service! They provide 24/7 support, which I was using by day two of self-hosting. They completed the process of migrating my wordpress.com blog to wordpress.org for me after my own failed attempt.
If you are just starting out with a self-hosted blog, Bluehost is the way to go for the price and the support. You can sign up for your own blog for only $3.95/month when you use my link.
Theme
After weeks of research and indecisiveness (my superpower!), I decided on the Mia theme from 17th Avenue Designs.
17th Avenue Designs work with the Genesis Framework, which is included with your theme purchase! Themes start at $45. The Genesis Framework alone costs $59.95, so it’s a great deal to get a theme and the Genesis Framework. I’m so glad I waited and did my research before purchasing Genesis Framework separately.
My theme came with super detailed instructions and was easy to set up. 17th Avenue Designs also offers lifetime theme support with your purchase.
Email Service
I tried one service before switching to MailerLite.
I have found MailerLite to be very user friendly and easy to navigate. Plus I love the block editor that lets you drag and drop elements to really customize your newsletters!