Resources

This page contains a list of all my resources that help me do what I do as a blogger, vlogger and most importantly as a sewist. 
I hope it serves you as much as it serves me.

This page may contain affiliate links which means that I get a small commission when you click on/ or purchase anything via links here but at no extra cost to you.
Thanks for your continued support.


BLOGGING

WEB HOSTING + PLATFORM

This was such a no-brainer for me. I have been with them right from the start, even had a blogspot name, it's just so easy to stay where I was plus I was already used to the editing platform. They are also free and are owned by Google.
The downside, of course, is ease of use and not so many widgets or plug-ins to support the platform but, I just figured, the blog isn't making me any money right now, so, this is my best bet.
If you don't mind spending money every month when your blog hasn't started earning then you can go with others

DOMAIN NAME

 These are the #1 when it comes to domain name registration and hosting for Nigerians. The staffs are very helpful, but I got to find out very fast in this online, blogger, internet world, the response time for some of these companies are low, so patience is the key.








WEBSITE THEMES

Of all the aspects of creating/updating my blog, this, gave me the biggest headache. And it wasn't because the blogger platform didn't have beautiful themes(gone are those days of boring themes) but just the zero response I was getting from these designers, the experience was nothing short of a nightmare.
My advice if you want to buy themes, go to Etsy first and save yourself the hassle, I'm sure some if not most of the sites you are going to have Etsy shops.
I found this shop on Etsy and, Eve, the owner was literally the only one who replied in a timely manner and was super helpful because I had a billion questions and the theme I choose came with free installation.
I wholeheartedly recommend her. Tell her I sent you.

PICTURE EDITING


This is such a wonderful web-based app for photo editing, creating graphics for your youtube thumbnails, Pinterest, facebook banners etc, it has the dimensions all figured out for you, it has layouts for each social media graphic, all you need to do is drag and drop. I believe it is also on the android app store. it's absolutely perfect for non-techy people(like myself) and the best part, all this is contained in the free version.
There is a paid version that unlocks some paid layouts and produces real png photos, but trust me you can survive very well without it.




This photo editing app can also be used on your laptop and phone, it's not the best for absolute beginners, but I use it to create true png pics and it has greater editing prowess, but fret not if you are an absolute beginner, I still consider myself one. There are tons and tons of youtube videos with great tutorials on how to use/ create different photo effects.


ORGANIZATION

This is hands down the best organization tool for me. In here I can get very detailed about blog/video post ideas I have, if its a series, how do I want to schedule them? I have bullet points for points I want to delve into and really explain in my blog posts or youtube videos for that matter. Another feature I love is that it can be synced across various devices including your pc and across several browsers, and, it also has a web clipping function for times when I'm inspired by something online and want to save so I can work on it later.
I use this to keep myself on track and stop procrastinating. Setting a deadline for when you want to start writing about a particular blog topic or creating a video can help with putting out content consistently. I must admit I don't get overly fancy with this, I'm very basic. I especially like that you can set alarms or email reminders days for days, hours or minutes before the task( i need time to talk myself into things lol)


EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION

FEED BURNER


I know people are reading this in total shock and rolling their eyes in disbelief LOL. All I can say is I'm working on it, this comes free with blogger, so, it'll have to do till I'm done testing out the waters.





ANALYTICS

Whilst this is a free analytical tool for your blog, I can say its absolutely fantastic. 
it gets very detailed about your site visitors and what they are doing while on your site, the path travelled(so to speak) till they drop off, which is one of my fav features.
I do wish they had heat maps though, it could help with insight on where to put things like share buttons etc.
There are free courses for beginners, advanced, e-commerce on the google site, called the google academy to learn how to utilize this tool, check it out here.

OTHERS


 You have absolutely NOOOOOOO idea how happy I was to know that this plugin works with blogger. I mean, they let your site visitors share to sites and social platforms you NEVER NEVER EVER knew existed, which I think is genius because you never know who is visiting your site and what social media platform they prefer.
I'm not in the business of restricting my visitors, so share ye, share all. LOL. Signing up also gives you access to analytics of how many shares your post has received, and through what social media platform.


CLICK TO TWEET

This is another genius way of increasing engagements on your post. You just sign up with your twitter account and follow the instructions.
There is a free and paid version, but you are very okay with the free on.
Once you register with your twitter account you can see how many times people clicked to tweet your quote etc, you can also have a few per posts.
I must admit, I'm not huge on twitter but this does help with my presence on these twitter streets.
Here's my post with an example


GRAMMARLY

Trust me, nothing is worse than reading a post with bad grammar or poor tenses, no matter your native language. it disrupts the flow of the reader(in this case your site visitors) and people unconsciously take note of such things and begin to build a not so favourable image of you.
Grammarly to the rescue, it's more advanced than the native dictionary that comes with your laptop, and, also helps with tenses.
it can be used across different platforms and works on almost every site.
Give it a try. Oh, did I mention its free?


HEADLINE ANALYZER

Don't be like the earlier me and just make up random titles for your blog posts, this headline analyzer form coschedule is the BUSINESS, after I found it I was like, "where have you been all my life?"
It analyzes the strength of your post title according to several factors that are all needed for the perfect, "attention-grabbing headline". Factors such as title length, emotions, power etc.
its completely free, so check it out.



VLOGGING

FILMING

SAMSUNG

Right now I film with my phone(Galaxy S5) it's pretty great, nice sharp pictures, no depth of field or anything like that but in the daytime, it's absolutely beautiful.
On the downside of filming with your phone is, there's not a lot of control over what you are capturing, there's also the space issues, you will have to record a couple of minutes, transfer that to your laptop, film again, transfer etc etc, its a very tiring process, but you can make it work. 
The alternative to this process is buying a phone with at least 30gb of storage.
Another thing that is a bummer with filming on your phone is the lack of good low light filming, I know some cameras & DSLR also have this problem but its still better than smartphone quality.

RECORDING

This is the only app I have ever used for shooting youtube videos, i hear its also good for pictures but I've never tried it.

I really love it for videos because it shoots in 1080p and at 60fps, you can zoom in or out and colours are rich and true to life.
But the absolute best thing for me is that you can lock down the exposure, this is very helpful for making your videos appear semi-professional(as much as a smartphone can give you).
So you set the exposure, lock it down and you can move around during your videos without it changing colours and shades on you.
The only downside to this app is that you can't pause your videos and come back to where you left off.
As soon as you pause your video, it shuts down that session, then you have to set and lock the exposure again. It's not really a dealbreaker for me but I just wish it wasn't that way.


VIDEO EDITING

This video editing app is absolutely great for beginners, it has a lot of drag and drop options and a lot of preset features too.
You can do slow motion, zoom in and out, picture in picture, video in video and voice-overs, there are also sound effects clips etc all right in the app.
But the features I love most about it are the fonts and preset moving fonts features. You can only get this with the full feature version though but it's not that expensive, especially for what you get.

VSDC VIDEO EDITOR


This is the other video editing app I use, this is a little bit more advanced, but not as much as something like photoshop.
With this, you get a little bit more control over the editing process but it lacks the fonts capabilities of filmora, although to bypass that you could always just go to another app, make your fonts and upload them like a picture into your video.
I use the free version even if there is a paid option, I'm okay with the free version.
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