Happy Wednesday, ladies! I’m branching out to a new topic today, the business of blogging. I’ve  been doing this for three years pretty casually, but I’ve invested maybe more time in researching than I have in even my own blog. In fact, I spent several months researching before I even started the blog. I can’t help it – that’s why I went to a research school and plan to have a career in field desperate for new knowledge. I love to research, learn, and reinvent. I also studied business and entrepreneurship which trained me to have a cautious eye as I look into ways to grow my own platform. But at the end of the day, one of my favorite things to do is teach.

On Fashion in Flight, I love to teach women easy style, beauty, and life hacks to  make their life, well, Chic in Seconds. It’s my mission, but I know that many of my readers are also bloggers or business owners in some capacity, so I thought branching into this topic and sharing some of my knowledge might just help you. So to start the discussion, I’m sharing a few of my favorite blogging resources.

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WEBSITES

IFB

When I was getting ready to start my blog, I read every single article on IFB. Every single one. Outdated or not, because I’m that obsessive and because I wanted to understand where blogging came from and how I wanted my blog to grow. These days I do get behind on the articles from IFB, but I still love them and this is the first place I direct new fashion bloggers.

Bloguettes

I love the Bloguettes blog for little tips and tricks here and there. Many of their features that you have to pay for, like workbooks and webinars, you can easily find elsewhere so I don’t recommend paying for everything they share unless it’s something you’re super interested in. However, their free resources are actually quite amazing. Both the blog and, especially, their YouTube channel are amazingly helpful!

Melyssa Griffin

Melyssa Griffin is such a great blogging blogger. She grew her business from nothing to amazing success and she’s so open about her journey. Her blog is an invaluable resource from everything from designing products to handling emails. Plus shes an expert on Pinterest, which always helps.

ByRegina

Before I discovered Melyssa, I found Regina’s blog. This girl has web copy down. Her posts make you feel like a best blogging friend and expert is sitting there talking to you about how to grow your business. Plus she always shares AMAZING tools and lots of free worksheets to help you plan things out and stay motivated.

BOOKS

How to Win Friends and Influence People

I talk about this book all the time. I think every person in the world should read it, but especially if you have any intention of working with people. The principles in this book are so good, and seem so common sense, but they’re so hard to put into practice. I’ll go more in depth into later this month, but I can say right now you need this book sitting at your desk daily.

Blog, Inc.

This was one of the first blogging books I read. It’s super helpful for the basics, even if some of it is outdated. Still, many of the tips and practices are timeless. If you’re thinking about starting a blog, I recommend starting here. It’s super easy to read on the fly and will give you a good foundation for what’s to come. From here, you can start researching the specifics you want to find out more about and target those niches.

Capture Your Style

Truth be told, I haven’t read this one yet, but I have flipped through it and loved what I saw. It’s currently on my reading list. But Aimee Song is so incredibly smart and creative business savvy. I’m super excited to dig into this one.

The Right-Brain Business Plan

I love business plans. I’m such a nerd, but honestly, I could spend hours pouring over business plans. I make them for fun, it’s such an addiction. But I’m also a really creative mind and I like building things my own way. This book was really great for helping me develop my own business plan, one that fit my needs and the way my brain worked. I wouldn’t say my plan looks actually anything like the ones shared in this book, because I prefer the traditional format, but in actual content, The Right Brain Business Plan was invaluable.

Nicely Said

This is another book I read early on. I loved it. I read another book recently during a class on developing web content, but this book covered all of that and more. As you begin to build your website, you’ll love this one for helping to get all the pages exactly how they should be.

PINTEREST

Pinterest is my favorite business and blogging resource. The problem is, it can easily be filled with outdated information. If you’re a big research buff like me, that might sound like a gold mine. But if you’re looking for quick tips and tricks, it can be overwhelming. There’s a few boards I love for quality content: Poor Little It Girl, By Regina, and Melyssa Griffin. I also decided to share my favorite articles on my own board, which you can follow right here. Before I pin anything here, I make sure it’s accurate and it’s value is non-diminishing, meaning, these tips are fads or trends, they’re the core practices which lead to blog growth despite the ever changing environment.

Are you a blogger? What are your favorite blogging resources?