As a food, wine, and travel blogger for 18+ years, I've learned SO much. And I'm happy to share my blogger resources to my fellow bloggers!
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My Current Favorite Camera for Blogging
In early 2019, I upgraded to the Canon 5D Mark IV. It's a full frame DSLR that's worth every penny. The Canon 5D Mark IV is heavy for a travel camera, but I absolutely love it because I can always count on it. I use this camera for food photography, for both studio recipe photos and on location restaurant photography, for wine photography, and for travel photography. It's great for taking 4K video, and the ISO range allows it to take great night photos.
My Second Camera for Blogging
I've had the Canon 70D for a few years now, and it served as my main blogging camera for a while. It's a great crop sensor DSLR, and allows you to take great video as well as photos. I really love the flip touch screen of the Canon 70D.
SanDisk 128GB Extreme Pro Memory Card
These memory cards are the best! Especially when I travel, I am able to take tons of photos and 4K video on each card
Blogging Hosting: WPOpt
My sites have been hosted by a variety of web hosts over the years. For the past few years, this site has been hosted by WPOpt. I have been very happy with WPOpt web hosting. Their customer service is the best in the business, and if there has ever been a problem, they've been able to fix it or help me fix it in a timely manner.
E-Mail Marketing: ConvertKit
Do not make the same mistake I made in waiting for YEARS to finally begin a consistent, relevant newsletter program. I now write a weekly newsletter that contains exclusive content just for my subscribers, as well as links to recipes, wine reviews, and travel tips they may have missed that week. It's an AMAZING way to connect with readers!! I get so many heartfelt, thoughtful, positive emails and direct messages in response to my email newsletters.
I use ConvertKit for email marketing, and I love it. You can check out ConvertKit here (affiliate link).
Social Media: Tailwind
I love Pinterest! It's such a great way to connect with new readers, longtime loyal blog readers, and share new recipes, travel tips, and travel guides. I pin between 20 and 40 times each day, which would take me a lot more time if it weren't for Tailwind. Tailwind is my favorite way to schedule Pinterest pins. Check out Tailwind.
Storage: Dropbox
Because I have a ton of photos and videos, I need a ton of storage. I'm paranoid about losing files! My main mode of data storage is Dropbox. I have the Pro plan which gives you 3TB of storage. But even the basic plan gives you 2TB at $9.99 per month. Check out Drobox for data storage. I love it!
Amazon Affiliate
I use AAWP - Amazon Affiliates Wordpress Plugin - to make all of my Amazon affiliate products look nice and neat in each blog post.
Affiliate programs
As a blogger, one way to make passive income is promoting the products and services we use and love. This is called affiliate marketing. We enjoy sharing our favorites with readers to help them easily make the best recipe, book the best hotels, and dine at great restaurants around the globe.
Some affiliate programs we work with to help share our favorites:
- Amazon - Because our audience is mostly in the US and Canada, we share links to the products we use on Amazon. Most readers in these two countries can easily find the same baking and cooking tools, cookbooks, travel gear, and more of our favorites on Amazon. Click here to view our Urban Bliss Life Amazon Shop.
- ShareASale - There are several affiliate umbrella programs that allow you to join several different affiliates and manage them from a single dashboad. ShareASale is one of those umbrella programs that we use.
- TravelPayouts - This is a travel affiliate program that you can use to help readers find the best flights with cash back, the best hotels, and the best tours and activities. Click here to learn more about TravelPayouts.