I started my blog in 2014 and have been learning new things every day! I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination but everything below is something I have used and loved. This page will be constantly updated as I find more blogging related products and services that could be useful for you!
Disclaimer: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and if you purchase through the link I will earn a commission (yay!) All products below I either use currently or have done in the past and would recommend. Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Getting started:
WordPress.org – I originally started my blog as a free hosted site on wordpress.com. While it is a great place to start, I love the freedom you have with wordpress.org in terms of site design the ability to place advertising on the site to hopefully earn some side income.
Bluehost – When you switch to a self-hosted blog you require a web host. I chose Bluehost based on recommendations from several other bloggers and on their extremely competitive pricing starting from US$3.95 per month. It was super easy to set up and so far I have had no problems!
Redwood Theme from Solo Pine. I spent a lot of time looking at themes and the Redwood theme is beautifully designed, mobile responsive and really affordable, as are all of the Solo Pine themes.
Food photography:
Canon EOS 600D – I bought this camera in February 2015 and I LOVE it!! It’s an entry level DSLR which was perfect for me because I had never used one before. Since I started using it and learning how to use it properly my photography has improved hugely. You can definitely still take really good photos with a point and shoot or phone camera but I would never go back now!
EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS – this is the standard lens that came with my camera. I used it originally for all my food photography and it is a really great lens. It is the only lens I used when we were travelling in Vietnam and it’s the one I use daily for photos around the house and on the farm.
EF 50mm f/1.8 II – this is my favourite, my little baby lens. I bought it when we were overseas (tax free!) but I would have bought it anyway. For the price (about NZ$180) you get a lot of lens for not much cash. I now use this almost exclusively for my food photography. It is a prime lens which means it doesn’t zoom in or out, which is fine…you just have to get nice and close!
San Disk 16GB Extreme SD Memory Card – buying memory cards is hard. There are so many to choose from and it seems like a lot of money to spend on something boring! This memory card is great though – lots of room on it and nice and speedy.
Tasty Food Photography – BUY THIS BOOK!! I can’t believe how much I have learnt from this book. It was written by the extremely talented Lindsay from Pinch of Yum and if my photos even look even half as good as hers, I will be happy! It is US$29 (about NZ$45) and it is worth every penny. I read it cover to cover in about an hour and refer back to it all the time. It covers all the basics from understanding your camera, to lighting, props and editing. Highly recommend!
Photoshop – I have just recently purchased Photoshop and I LOVE it. I used to think that editing photos was cheating, but now I realise that it is just putting life back into the photos. Photoshop is not cheap, but I think it is worth the cost. There are so many cool things you can do that I am still figuring out. You can get a 30 day free trial which is a great way to decide if you like it or not and then you can pay month by month.
PicMonkey – This is a fantastic option for online photo editing if you don’t want to spend any money. The free version allows you to do all sorts of cool things to photos including making collages and adding text to photos. I used this all the time before buying Photoshop and would use it if I didn’t have my computer with me.
Plugins:
Yoast SEO – this is a super helpful plugin that prompts you to use keywords in all the right places to get your content found online.
Easy recipe – This is the plugin I use to write my recipes. It’s easy peasy – put in the ingredients, the method, the time and the servings and it formats it all nicely for you. You can upgrade to a paid version for more bells and whistles but I find the free version perfect.
Akismet – keeps nasty spam comments away. It does stop legit comments here and there so I still check through the spam every couple of days to make sure nothing has been hidden from me by mistake.
Comment reply notification – I love this plugin! I really like it when I get an email letting me know that someone has replied to my comment on their blog, and this is exactly what this plugin does. When I reply to your comment you will receive a notification. It’s a great way to keep in touch and keep the conversation going!
Hi Laura, thanks for all these precious information. I am planning to start a blog myself and there is so much to chose from on the web that its a bit overwhelming!!
Marie 🙂
Hi Marie, that’s awesome, glad I could help! I agree, it is overwhelming! Good luck with starting the blog 🙂