Category: Featured

The featured category has more in-depth articles, how-tos, opinion pieces, and more from the Blackandise team and guest writers. We want to give the audience an opportunity to see these top articles.

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List of Local Content Marketing Strategies

List of Content Marketing Strategies

Local content marketing doesn’t have to be complicated. The strategy that works best is simply following the rules and being consistent. We have done the marketing for a few years, let us help you out.

Local Content Marketing

Content marketing refers to the forms of marketing that are focused on creating, publishing, and sharing your content with a targeted audience online. This type of marketing is great for:

  • increasing brand authority
  • attracting potential customers for lead generation
  • growing website traffic
  • generating online sales
  • engaging with an online community
  • increasing website traffic
  • spreading brand awareness

Below, you will find our useful articles about local marketing strategies.

Local Marketing Tips

Social Media Marketing Tips

Email Marketing Tips

Organic Growth Tips

PPC Marketing Tips

Local Marketing Resources

We hope these local marketing articles help you with growing your personal or professional project. Good luck!

Houston Local Marketing

And a quick reminder, we offer local marketing help in Houston for small businesses. So if you need any marketing consultation or if you need ongoing support for a few weeks or months, we can help you get things rolling.

From personal blogging to profession projects, just let us know what you are trying to accomplish. We offer local marketing sessions in Houston, Texas or online via Google Hangouts, Skype, or Zoom.

If you want to discuss Facebook Ads or Google Ads management, please email us directly with your budget and campaign goals.

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Best Laptop Accessories in 2019

20+ Best Mini Laptop Accessories

If you want to have the best when it comes to new laptop accessories, it is important that you are able to consider a few important pieces of information first before making a purchase. 

These considerations will help you make a sound decision regarding which gadget you should get for your own laptop in the future.

In the following paragraphs, we will discuss the major considerations that you need to make prior to buying these must-have laptop accessories for your laptop.


Laptop Accessories Pricing

First, you would have to consider the price. You should buy a laptop accessory that will not only fit your budget but also last for a very long time.

You may be under the notion that expensive could be equated to high quality, but you’re wrong.

There are many durable laptop accessories that will be able to deliver in terms of function and form without costing too much money. Of course, this is all contingent on the kind of features that you need for your own machine.

Laptop Accessories Brands

Although not the most important, the brand is a significant consideration to make when buying laptop accessories. This is because all well-known brands carry their own weight when it comes to product quality and longevity.

In addition to this, it would be advantageous to get the best laptop accessories from the same company that created the laptop you are currently using if you can. This way, you will not have to deal with any possible compatibility issues in the long run.

Furthermore, most accessories come with the laptop as a package deal depending on the brand. In this case, you would not have to pay additional fees to get what you want down the line.

Durable Laptop Accessories

The second consideration that you need to make before buying any kind of laptop accessory, is the longevity of the product. As mentioned earlier, the accessory that you’re going to buy should last for a long time prior to needing replacement.

In order to ensure the longevity of the product, you can check out the reviews available on the product that you are eyeing for your own collection. This way, you will have an idea as to how other customers feel about any particular accessory that you are thinking of availing.

This will help you make the right choice for sure. Visit the manufacturer’s website for more information.

Must-Have Laptop Accessories

Before buying random new laptop accessories, you should also consider what you are going to use the accessory for. Are you going to use it for traveling or just to provide easy access at home?  Whatever the purpose may be, you, as the user, should have a clear idea as to what you intend to use the gadget for.

For example, cases or sleeves are definitely must-have laptop accessories that can be used to keep your precious computer safe.

In addition to this, there are also accessories that can extend the battery life of the laptop significantly. If you use the laptop for work, choosing to buy a new long-range battery pack can definitely give you more juice for the machine.

This is why you would have to have a clear purpose when buying laptop accessories. It will make shopping even easier and much more fulfilling in the end.

Best Laptop Accessories

Now that we already know some of the major considerations that you need to make when buying your new laptop accessory, we can now proceed to list down some of the most common laptop accessories that you can have for your minicomputer as soon as possible.

The new laptop accessories listed below are the best selling accessories for that category. These best selling products will have hundreds of positive reviews with a rating of 90% or greater.

With these accessories, we hope that you will be able to maximize the capacity of your computer significantly so that you would be able to get more out of the machine as soon as you start using it regularly.

Laptop Backpack

This is one of the most important laptop accessories that you should buy for your laptop in the future. It will make things easier to handle especially if you’re one likes to travel for work.

With a reliable laptop backpack, you would be able to store all the important cables and gadgets without having to worry about anything.

You should look for a laptop backpack that is waterproof and is decently sized. The backpack should be able to house the machine itself along with some small accessories that would be significant to the operations of the laptop.

The best laptop backpack accessories include:

Laptop Case

A hard-shell laptop case will be able to protect the machine from significantly damaging impact and scratches.

However, you still have to be careful as to how you handle your laptop because of laptop cases, no matter what the material, still do not necessarily guarantee safety and protection from permanently damaging dents in the near future.

However, having some protection is always better than having no protection at all. So it would be good to invest in this particular accessory for the laptop.

The best laptop case accessories include:

Laptop Stand

This particular accessory will be helpful to users who would like to utilize their laptop screen as a second monitor. It provides safety and security for the laptop to be propped at an angle for better viewing and usage. It is readily available online at an affordable price.

The best laptop stand accessories include:

Surge Protector

This specific accessory is useful in preventing external damage to laptops that may be brought about by unwanted, sudden electrical surges and power tripping. This particular accessory has multiple sockets so it can house a lot of gadgets safely without consuming too much power down the line.

As a reminder, be sure to buy something bigger than usual if you have a lot of gadgets to use other than the laptop. It will be much safer this way.

The best surge protector laptop accessories include:

Wall Chargers

Another new laptop accessory worth having is the USB wall charger with a multitude of ports. By having this in your bag, you will get to share the charging experience prior to your trip without having to fight over who gets to use the charger first. You will have all the power that you need while on the road with a USB wall charger on hand.

The best wall chargers laptop accessories include:

Charging Cables

It never hurts to have extra cables around for emergencies. This will be a good accessory to have if you like to move around a lot.  All you need to find now is a stable charging outlet and everything else will follow.

The best charging cable laptop accessories include:

Bluetooth Speakers

If you would like to have surround sound on the go, it is important for you to have Bluetooth speakers connected to your laptop.  Standard Bluetooth speakers usually provide at least 12 hours of clear sound so you would not have to worry about running out of juice while traveling. This portable 1.7-inch cube will surely fit into your pocket without additional hassles.

This is why you would not have to worry about portability if you decide to get this particular accessory for your laptop. It also comes with the usual 3.5 MM audio cable so you would not have to worry about performance at all.

The best Bluetooth speakers laptop accessories include:

Earbuds

A laptop can also double as a listening device, which is why it is important for you to have reliable earphones to use while on the road with your laptop. However, make sure that the earbuds are made of silicone because it is known to be softer than plastic.

It would also help you to buy these products in different shapes and sizes so that it will not have fitting issues down the line. This wall provides more comfort not only for yourself but also for other users that may end up borrowing your earbuds from time to time.

However, it is recommended that you buy multiple earbuds to prevent the transfer of bacteria in the future.  In this regard, affordability is also an important point to consider.

The best earbuds laptop accessories include:

Wireless Headphones

Much like earbuds, this will come in handy when you travel and use your laptop in public. Using a stereo headset will allow you to listen to your favorite music files or to watch your favorite movies in complete privacy.

The only difference between an earbud and a stereo headset is that the former is more compact and portable. If you are on the go, earbuds are easier to handle. On the other hand, a headset, while heavy and not easily transportable, can produce great sound quality and would be able to last longer than most earbuds. 

The best wireless headphones laptop accessories include:

Related: 4 Best Over-Ear Headphones, 3 Types of Headphones for Work

Laptop Mouse

This option may be pricier, but it is certainly worth the investment. If you want a product that will be extremely useful in terms of design and function, the laptop mouse can surely give you what you need.

One other advantage of this particular product is that it frees up your laptop computer from additional cables that may become a nuisance down the line.

The best wired and wireless laptop mouse accessories include:

Related: 4 Gaming Mouse for Real Gamers

USB Flash Drive

This may be one of the most basic but completely reliable laptop accessories that you can have at home. It provides portable external storage for users who would like to travel while keeping their files readily available.

This particular gadget also helps with moving files securely without totally relying on a stable Internet connection. If you have larger files to transfer, this particular accessory will be of great use to you.

The best USB flash drive laptop accessories include:

USB Hub

Aside from the multiple slots that this particular product can offer laptop users another selling point of this product is the SD Card Reader that it can provide the user with further performance enhancement.

This is good for backup purposes because most built-in SD card readers don’t fare very well especially if you have a laptop on a stand hooked up to a display. The reader will have difficulty processing information because of low memory and because of the angle of the machine.

The best USB hub laptop accessories include:

Related: Best NAS Devices

Security Lock

For added security, a lock port can surely be used to keep the laptop in place and prevented it from being stolen so easily.  Most of these lock ports have combinations that could be easily formulated by the owners themselves. It will certainly keep your laptop safe from thieves and other unscrupulous individuals in the near future.

The best security lock laptop accessories include:

Ethernet Cables

Sometimes, your built-in Ethernet Port won’t be much good especially if you travel to a remote location that may have for an Internet connection. You will be in luck if the hotel that you are staying in would provide an extra cable or two to get a better signal.

You would have to use your own cables most of that time, which is why it would be good to invest in this particular set of cables for your mini pink laptop in the future. You will never go wrong if you get your own Ethernet cable as well as other related peripherals for your laptop sooner rather than later.

The best ethernet cable laptop accessories include:

Disposable Cloth

These particular types of cleaning towels are made especially for laptop and desktop screens. It will not make any additional scratches or smudges on the screen when in use because it is made of light and soft material that is particularly designed to glaze over the glass and other smooth surfaces. Because of this, you would not have to worry about further degrading the quality of your laptop screen over time. 

Additionally, this is probably the most affordable of all the accessories mentioned on this list. Also, as mentioned on the label, it is easily disposables so you would not have to think about maintenance at all.

The best disposable cloth laptop accessories include:

Conclusion

With all these accessories and gadgets available, it will certainly be easier for you to use your own laptop computer down the line.  It will also give you the opportunity to enjoy the machine even more because some of these accessories will provide extra storage as well as more useful features.

Related: Must-Have Laptop Accessories, Best Computer Accessories

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Featured

Best Computer Accessories in 2019

A List of the Best Computer Accessories

The best computer accessories list has been updated for 2019 to continue helping users with their computer accessory buying experience!

We have done the hard work for you by listing the top computer accessories. By having good computer accessories, we are able to work faster and more efficiently at work or at home.

In this article, we focus on a variety of popular accessories as well as unique features that some of the accessories have to make your work easier.

For example, we will look for the important features that most users love, such as computer keywords with a 10-key.

Best Computer Accessories

Apart from the familiar and most known accessories like monitors, speakers, keyboards, mouse, printers & scanners, and webcams, we also discuss other computer accessories like storage devices, projectors, cleaning kit, surge protector, stereo headsets among others.

You can now find hundreds of Amazon’s best-selling computer accessories for Black Friday and Cyber Monday by clicking below.Best Black Friday Computer Accessories

If you don’t want to be overwhelmed, below you can found our selection of high-quality computer accessories.

Computer Keyboard

It is the core device used to enter text, characters, and functions in the desktop computers by use of keys. They have the option of being connected by wires or through wireless means. Features to be considered are:

  • Type of work you need to do with the keyboard. For people who write a lot like writers, there are ergonomic keyboards that make it easy and comfortable to type. Serious gamers buy specialized consoles that have extra features to assist them while playing.
  • Most people probably prefer typing on a soft and comfortable keyboard. Be keen while selecting as there are others that require additional pressure to make an impact.
  • Make sure that the keyboard you want has all the features that you require while still ranging on your target budget.

The best keyboard computer accessories include:

Related: Best Gaming Keyboard

All-In-One Printers

As much as there has been a tremendous advancement in technology, we find ourselves in need of printing out documents. Printers are great accessories that help bring an idea to the computer into a tangible thing in the form of paper. To select a great printer, consider the following:

  • Inkjet or laser? This choice depends on your budget though they don’t cost that much money. The increased cost comes from buying cartridges and the ink
  • Single or multiple functions? Do you want a multiple function printer that can scan, fax, and print or would a regular printer do just fine? It all depends on the type of work you do and convenience.
  • Remember that image quality matters and some users must have high-quality images to showcase their work.
  • Other regular jobs would only require printing out text documents, so a basic printer is suitable.
  • Print speed – massive work requires fast working printers while for people who print occasionally it isn’t much of a requirement.
  • Office size – large office space is eligible to hold a big printer while a person with limited space will have a small, portable printer.

The best printer/scanner computer accessories include:

Webcams

The quality you get from a webcam largely depends on the amount of money you spend on the gadget. For casual use like keeping in touch with family and friends, a low quality, and inexpensive webcam is best suited.

One of the forgotten computer accessories, webcams are still great for professionals. Your webcam functions need to be of super high quality and have multiple features.

Webcams are available in varying sizes, shapes, specifications, and prices. When in the market for one, consider the following:

  • Continuous autofocus – this feature enables the webcam to focus on you solely and not the distractions that might be in the background.
  • Megapixels – the higher the megapixels, the better the image quality.
  • Frame rate – quality frame rate ensures the video quality is smooth as it is the feature that determines the number of images to be displayed per second.
  • Lens quality – plastic lenses tend to produce low-quality pictures as compared to glass lenses.

The best desktop webcam available:

Projectors

To display images, texts, or images on a large surface, you need to either acquire a large screen television or buy a projector. The latter is the cheaper alternative and to make sure you get the best consider:

  • Zoom range – a feature that enables the user to alter the size and position of what they are projecting in different environments.
  • Resolution – presentation have minimal demands when it comes to resolution, but for a person using the projector for displaying HD movies, the high resolution gives the best results.
  • Purpose – is it for entertainment or business? Business people deal with a lot of still images and texts thus no demand for top-notch projectors. Entertainment involves plays a lot of motion pictures and videos, therefore, requiring a high-level projector to display quality content.
  • Reviews – these will help you gauge the gadget before purchasing to find out other users’ experience, its performance, and how long it would take before replacing things like the projector’s bulb.
  • Portability – using the projector as a home theater means that it will stay in a fixed position; therefore, its size doesn’t matter. For business people that need to carry it often need to purchase a small and easy to carry gadget.
  • Cost – more money, better quality. Research on the numerous types of projectors available in the market and come up with the one that suits your needs as well as fit within your budget.

The best computer projectors include:

USB Hubs

This is a device that has one USB port expanding to create more ports to connect to other devices as a host system.

  • Safety – some cheap knockoff will be poorly wired which would lead to frying the connected devices. It is better to get a pricey but original product that will serve you for an extended period while still maintaining safety to other devices.
  • How current it is – the more current it is, the more upgraded the features are.
  • Multiple ports – most USB hubs come with four ports, but you can get more. It is reasonable to get more ports so that you don’t have to buy new USB hubs every time there is no space when you get a new device to connect.
  • Buy a powered USB hub whereby it has its power adapter. This ensures available power isn’t shared among devices plugged in.

The best USB hub computer accessories include:

Surge Protectors

So many people tell the sad tale of their gadgets getting fried by a sudden power surge. Their devices damaged, sometimes beyond repair. This usually happens when a device is connected directly to an outlet.

A surge protector acts as a shield that protects your desktop computer against unpredictable power surges. You can purchase one that has around 12 outlets thus protecting your computer as well as other devices. Look for a surge protector that:

  • Can be able to sustain all your equipment ranging from your desktop computer to TV to your smartphone. A strong surge protector will ensure you can protect all your essential devices at once.
  • Buy a surge protector that is certified by the Underwriters Laboratory. This is a sure way of knowing that the device you have bought will serve its purpose well.
  • A high absorption rate means that it can take up a lot of energy before it fails. When shopping for a surge protector, make sure it has a high absorption rate, a quick response time (low is better), and lower clamping voltage (helpful in activating the surge protector when the electrical current becomes high).
  • Check the warranty to find out what is covered and what’s not (filing a claim should be easy if the surge protector is unable to do its work and your gadgets are fried).

The best surge protectors include:

Headphones

Fun activities like watching movies, listening to music or gaming are always a thrill to engage in. This, however, should not be done at the expense of other people’s peace of mind. It is essential to enjoy yourself without disturbing other people and headsets are the perfect solution. An ideal headset is one with a clear sound and sound base.

The standard 3.5mm jack for all headphones allows you to use these headsets in other devices like a smartphone, laptop, and tablets. Headsets are vital for people who listen for a living like a transcriber who converts audio into written text. Headsets will help them focus solely on the words being spoken.

  • With stereo headsets, it is a general rule that you get what you pay for. Price is directly proportional to the quality of sound and material used to make them. Getting a high-priced headset will ensure you get guaranteed durability and great sound experience.
  • Get headsets that can be able to isolate sounds so that you won’t have to struggle to turn up the volume to keep out sounds from people or cars when walking.
  • As much as we all want to get noise-canceling headsets, they are costly to purchase. Unless your job description requires that you don’t get distracting noise in the background, then it would be a wise purchase.
  • Do not purchase before testing them out. You need to make sure you are comfortable with the quality and feel of the headset before leaving the store.

The best stereo headsets for gamers include:

Speakers

Computer speakers are not that good to have as the primary means of projecting sound from the computer. External speakers have an excellent base that brings out the best sound especially for the movie and music lovers. Factors to consider before buying speakers include:

  • Do I have enough desk space? This is very important before buying these computer accessories. Make sure to get speakers that can fit perfectly on your desk or under it. Most workplaces have limited space and thus small speakers required.
  • The speakers should be flexible enough to be used on multiple devices by having many audio input interfaces.
  • Options to control volume and bass. It is good to play videos and audio at a reasonable volume to mind neighbors.

The best computer speakers include:

Computer Monitors

Functions as a gadget that displays all the information processed by the computers’ video card. They perform display functions like regulating position, brightness, contrast, and switching it off and on.

Without this basic accessory, you wouldn’t be able to use the desktop computer. There is a wide range to choose from depending on size, features, and type.

  • Check the resolution that is best suited for your screen size. Large screens should be accompanied by a high resolution to make sure the pixel density is greater.
  • Game lovers are more prone to pick monitors with a high refresh rate reason being it provides a smoother and fun gaming experience.
  • Type of stand and the degree of rotation – make sure the stand is firm and durable, and it can be manipulated to your desired direction.
  • Check the response time it takes for a pixel to change color. This is because older versions, the response time was a bit slow causing ghosting effects.

The best computer monitors include:

Computer Mice

This is a basic must-have accessory for performing everyday tasks on your desktop computer. There are numerous things to look out for before buying a mouse which includes:

  • Size and how it feels on your hand. Make sure you test out the mouse before purchasing to get on that you are most comfortable using. Different mice are meant to be held in three types of grips namely palms grip, claw grip and, fingertip grip. It all depends on your personal preference.
  • Do you want a wireless or wired mouse? A wired one involves plugging it into a port in the computer to function whereas wirelesses mice do not include any wires. They are fitted with batteries for power to function.
  • Mouse sensitivity to ensure your every move is executed precisely. A high sensitivity means that only minimal movement is made to make the cursor respond.

The best mouse computer accessories include:

Related: Best Gaming Mouse

Microphones

One of the most popular computer accessories ever thanks to the rise of podcasters. This computer part is preferred explicitly by people who do record conversations or music tracks and those that have a podcast they want to broadcast. A stand-alone microphone should:

  • It can pick up high low sounds with colossal clarity. When recording people holding a conversation, you will find others talking louder than others. A good microphone picks up all that.
  • It is able to handle noise and distinguish it from a desirable sound.
  • Before purchasing, take a controlled test to make sure you get a microphone with the sound you like.

The best microphone computer accessories include:

Related: Best Microphones for New Podcasters

Portable USB Drives

The significant feature of this device is that it can comfortably fit into your pocket. It plays a vital role in transferring data from one device to another. A USB drive with 8GB storage is sufficient for performing day to day data transfers.

  • Buy a product that will serve its purpose for an extended period. There is no need of buying something then it breaks apart after just one fall. Get drives with sturdy material.
  • Always go big when purchasing a USB drive. It is better to have one 32GB drive than having two 16GB drives.
  • Always insist on security to protect your files from intruders. A majority of USB drives come with security options for either a password or a fingerprint scan.
  • Warranted drives sound much better when purchasing a USB drive. This ensures that your gadget is protected against manufacturing defects that might occur within the period that you will be using the drive.

The best portable USB drive computer accessories include:

External Drives

Age and malware can cause a computer to crash. It is painful to lose all your data from such an experience. This is why it is advisable to purchase an external hard drive (one of the most important computer accessories for all desktop users) to store copies of your documents, pictures, and videos.

It can also be helpful in storing large files that keep your internal memory from filling. Before buying look at the following:

  • You need to determine how much space you need to sufficiently store your files. For a person who has some media files, a 200GB portable USB drive should be enough. For a family that has a lot of media files, 5TB may be the best option.
  • Get a device that will serve you for a long time. An ideal hard drive should have enhanced physical protection from falls and other accidents.
  • Protect your devices and files from intrusion by buying a device with added security features like encryption.

The best external hard drives include:

Related: Best NAS Devices

Keyboard Covers

It is responsible for protecting the keyboard against foreign objects like food, dust, dirt, or liquid. By covering the keyboard, you ensure that the keys work correctly and letters and numbers do not fade within a short period. The covers are easy to clean or disinfect.

  • Make sure that it is the right fit for your keyboard so that it is neither too big nor too small.
  • Get a functional but cheap one as they all perform the same duty which is to protect the keyboard.
  • Ensure that it is transparent enough for you to be able to see the keyboard letters and numbers.

The best standard desktop PC keyboard cover available:

Cleaning Kits

Over time, your desktop accumulates dirt that can be hard to clean. There are also areas of your computer that are super hard to reach for cleaning. A cleaning kit contains brushes that can reach these places and leave them spotless.

There is tissue found in the kits that you can regularly use to wipe off your desktop monitor screen. Having a clean computer ensures that it lasts for longer and performs at its best always.

  • A cleaning kit that does not contain products with harmful chemicals that might damage your device as well as have detrimental effects on your health.
  • Get clear instructions on how to use the products as you may end up using it the wrong way like spraying liquid content on to the desktop computer instead of spraying it onto a cloth then wiping.

The best cleaning kit available:

MicroSD Cards

If you need more storage space for your new smartphone (lucky you), digital camera, or gaming system, then you’ll likely need to get a microSD card. Gone are the days that these little cards cost an arm and a leg. We list the two best and most reliable microSD card makers below. These microSD cards are so cheap now and the sizes are up to 1TB these days!

The best microSD cards available:

Conclusion

There are so many computer accessories on the market to fit different types of budgets while still maintaining a variety of features from various brands. Many of these accessories will also work for your laptop.

So if you or a friend have a new laptop then take time and check out our short must have laptop accessories list. When in search of good computer accessories, never base your decision on price alone.


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List of Black Bloggers to Support

Ultimate List of Black Bloggers to Support

Although blogging is a fun and long journey, blogging while black can be difficult. Besides being difficult, the journey is also lonely at times. This is why we decided to create an updated list of black bloggers to support.

This Black Bloggers to Support article is a reference list for bloggers looking to find hard-working black bloggers.

The Blogging Scene

There are many black blogger lists out there, but those lists love to ignore certain blogging niches such as technology, marketing, personal finance, food, and travel.

Also, if you aren’t blogging yet, check out our Learn How to Start a Blog article for instructions on setting up your own WordPress blog.

Here is our ultimate list of black bloggers to support.

Black Business Bloggers

These black business bloggers are teaching people how to make money by being a smart entrepreneur.

Six Figure Chick [founder Alcyone “Cici” Gunn]: A social media entrepreneur with a business-focused blog. Cici is a well-known strategist teaching entrepreneurs how to create better content, grow their brand, and make money.

Black Fashion Bloggers

These black fashion bloggers are teaching us how to embrace fashion with their tips.

Color Me Courtney [founder Courtney Quinn]: A travel and fashion blogger obsessed with all things colorful. Courtney encourages women to love their quirks and dress outside the lines. Color Me Courtney has become the go-to destination for all things colorful in the blogging space.

High Fashion Living [founder Ryan Clark]: A GQ brand ambassador and fashion blogger, Ryan Clark is the source for fashion. With plenty of fashion tips and tricks, High Fashion Living wants to be your personal style coach.

GabiFresh [founder Gabi Gregg]: A swimwear designer, plus-size model, and fashion style blogger. GabiFresh is here to educate women on fashion. With almost 1 million followers online, Gabi Gregg is more than a blogger as she has become a recognizable icon for body positivity.

Kelly Augustine [founder Kelly Augustine]: From a unique viewpoint, Kelly’s work is centered around her personal style with a focus on beauty, cosmetics, plus size fashion, and life in New York City.

TrendyCurvy [founder Kristine Thompson ]: A plus-size fashion blogger based in Los Angeles. Kristine had a simple mission with TrendyCurvy,  show the world that curvy women can be just as stylish and fabulous.

Black Finance Bloggers

These black financial bloggers are helping people eliminate debt and save money.

Yes, I Am Cheap [founded by Sandy Smith]: A personal finance blog focused on eliminating debt, saving money, and investing.

Tay Talks Money [founded by Taylor Gordon]: A personal finance blog focused on educating millennials about their finances. Taylor wants to help people live a happy and stress-free life.

Sophisticated Spender [founder Crystal Hammond]: A personal finance blog focused on financial planning, savings for retirement, and being prepared for financial emergencies.

Young Yet Wise [founder Candice Marie]: A financial blog written by a successful full-time entrepreneur. Young Yet Wise is packed with great financial advice and a mission to inspire professional women to get better at mastering their money.

Nicole Walters [founder Nicole Walters]: A financial blog focused on growing your income. Nicole writes to help others grow their network and monetize their lives.

Feel Good Finances [founder Amber Berry]: A finance blog focused on helping entrepreneurs and side hustlers. Amber is a Certified Money Coach that want to help others identify, understand, and change those bad money habits.

Principles of Increase [founder Aja McClanahan]: A financial blog focused on educating people on how to take control of their money and live a better life in general.

Pocket of Money, LLC [founder Dr. Maria James]: Pocket of Money, LLC is a financial blog that has information and resources for individuals looking for ways to reach financial success, achieve a higher net worth, and build wealth while enjoying life.

Finances Demystified [founder Dominique Broadway]: A financial blog created by the award-winning financial planner, Dominique Broadway. Finances Demystified focuses on helping people understand finances and how money works.

The Finance Bar [founder Marsha Barnes]: A personal finance blog with the goal of providing financial resources and guidance in a creative way. Marsha is a Certified Financial Social Worker with the ability to create innovative financial resources.

The Budgetnista [founder Tiffany Aliche]: A personal finance blog created by the award-winning personal finance educator, Tiffany Aliche. The Budgetnista focuses on budgeting, debt/credit, savings, banking, and travel.

SEMrush

Black Food Bloggers

These black food bloggers are filling the internet with their tasty recipes and cooking tips.

Jessica In The Kitchen [founder Jessica Hylton]: A food blogger with a mission to provide simple and delicious meal recipes. Jessica In The Kitchen features over 600 recipes, helpful guides, and many culinary tips and tricks.

Southern Souffle [founder Erika Council]: A food blogger with a specialty of southern soul food. You’ll find fried chicken, cornbread, bourbon, and lots of biscuits here.

The Kitchenista Diaries [founder Angela Davis]: From accountant to culinary entrepreneur, The Kitchenista Diaries is a food blog that teaches people how to take home-cooked meals to the next level by exploring different ingredients, techniques, and tools.

Brown Sugar Mama [founder Nicole]: A food blog with simple and easy recipes using common ingredients. Nicole writes about cooking, baking, and community building.

Grandbaby Cakes [founder Jocelyn Delk Adams]: Grandbaby Cakes is a brand inspired by Jocelyn’s grandmother, she is a successful food blogger sharing her classic recipes in a modern and accessible way.

Afroculinaria [founder Michael Twitty]: A food blog that focuses on his interests in food culture, food history, Jewish cultural issues, African American history, and cultural politics.

Black Health Bloggers

These black health bloggers know about body health, healing, and all things wellness.

Food Heaven Made Easy [founders Wendy & Jess]: More than bloggers, Wendy & Jess are Registered Dietitians and certified diabetes educators. Food Heaven Made Easy wants the world to know that nutritious food should be tasty, affordable, and relatively simple.

Black Girl In Om [founder Lauren Ash]: A health and wellness blog to help women of color with their promotion of holistic wellness and self-care.

Black LGBT Bloggers

These black LGBT bloggers are keeping us entertained and informed with everything about the black LGBT culture.

G-Listed [founder Waddie G.]: Waddie is an unabashed writer with a popular LGBT blog focused on urban pop and queer cultures.

Ronald Matters [founder Ronald Matters]: A very black blog focused on bringing joy, Ronald Matters is a funny look into entertainment and black LGBT culture. This blog is a popular spot for sharing LGBT news, beautiful pictures, hot men, movies, new music, and celebrity gossip.

Black Lifestyle Bloggers

These black lifestyle bloggers are keeping us entertained with a look into their busy lives.

Her Modern Life [founder Sydnei]: A lifestyle blog with a modern millennial’s perspective. Sydnei writes about her exciting travels, fashion style, and clever life hacks.

With Mel Bae [founder Mel]: A lifestyle blog with an eye on the food, fashion, and makeup/beauty scene of New York City.

Gorgeous In Grey [founder Ty Alexander]: A beauty and lifestyle blog, Gorgeous In Grey is about what life can be if you take risks and adopt a fearless personality. Curated by Ty, GIG is the lifestyle guide dedicated to inspiring women to embrace their authentic selves.

Faith Health and Home [founder Makeba Giles]: A lifestyle blog focused on health, family, and current events for a positive lifestyle. Featuring information and personal articles on health, family, entertainment, and more.

Scout the City [founder Sai De Silva]: A family lifestyle blog writing about fashion, beauty, travel, and family. Along with London Scout, this mother-daughter-duo has filled Scout the City with beautiful images, videos, articles about fitness, food, travel, and fashion.

Mattie James [founder Mattie James] Follow Mattie James, a blog focused on style, living, family, and beauty.

Blushing Black [founder LaTisha Guster] A lifestyle blogger expressing her thoughts while sharing everything from major sales to decor ideas to motherhood.SEMrush

Black Marketing Bloggers

These black marketing bloggers know how to grow a business. These marketing professionals create content about growing an audience and scaling their business.

⭐️ Side Hustle Pro [founder Nicaila Matthews Okome]: We have followed her since her 2nd podcast episode. Side Hustle Pro is a podcast and blog with relevant marketing tips and strategies! Nicaila Matthews Okome highlights the accomplishments of bold black women entrepreneurs that have turned side hustles into profitable companies.

Succeed As Your Own Boss [founder Melinda F. Emerson]: A blogger and award-winning marketing entrepreneur, she is the go-to expert for successful small business, go-to-market strategies, and social media selling.

Black Mommy Bloggers

These black mommy bloggers are inspiring women across the world with talks of motherhood, mom entrepreneurship, and family talk.

LaTonya Yvette [founder LaTonya Yvette]: A New York-based mommy lifestyle blogger focused on family, culture, design, style, culture, womanhood, and community.

Mommy Week [founder Ashley Marshall]: A mommy blogger inspiring women with content based on family fun tips, homeschool advice, family travel info, simple healthy recipes, natural health remedies, DIY projects, and self-care solutions!

What MJ Loves [founder Melissa Jackson]: Formally known as Fab Haute Mama, Melissa of What MJ Loves is a mommy blogger with a focus on motherhood, beauty, fitness, and good food.

Rattles & Heels [founder Adanna Dill]: A mommy blog focused on motherhood, family, travel, and style. Adanna is a creative millennial with a love for content creation.

Pharr Away [founder Nicole Pharr]: A mommy blogger writing about the exciting journey of motherhood. Nicole focuses on marriage and motherhood.

LoveBrownSugar [founder Christina Brown]: LoveBrownSugar is about style through the lens of a great digital storyteller. An OG in this digital space, Christina inspires women every day with her tips about mommy entrepreneurship, beauty, style, and travel.

Cherish 365 [founder Jennifer Borget]: A mommy lifestyle blogger sharing her experiences as a millennial mom. Jennifer writes about her stories and lessons, photography and videography tips, and family travel adventures.

Black Tech Bloggers

These black tech bloggers are doing tech reviews, creating tech guides, listicles of best tech gadgets, and more for their audience.

⭐️ Blackandise [founder Cartez Augustus]: A blog focused on local content marketing strategies and tech reviews aimed at helping regular people learn about marketing and technology.

Brotha Tech [founder Terrance Gaines]: A brand and technology blog providing people with the latest technology news, reviews, tips and tricks to anyone interested in technology.

Small Biz Technology [founder Ramon Ray]: A technology blog focused on technology solutions that increase efficiency, saves money or increases the revenue of a small business.

Black Travel Bloggers

These black travel bloggers are bringing up along for an adventure with their visual storytelling.

Will Drink for Travel [founder Ashlee Tuck]: A travel blog with stories to tell. Will Drink for Travel knows about traveling and drinking good wine, beer, and spirits.

One Girl One World [founder Francesca Murray]: A travel blog that’s taking you on an adventure around the world. With a little entertainment and culture talk, One Girl One World has great tips, tricks, and travel advice.

Next Bite of Life [founder KemKem]: KemKem of Next Bite of Life has documented an exciting journey. Learn about other cultures through the eyes of these interracial travel bloggers slowly traveling through Europe.

Rachel Travels [founder Rachel]: An Atlanta-based travel blogger writing about the adventures of traveling and entrepreneurship. Rachel Travels has everything you need to know about becoming a travel influencer, saving money, and travel tips.

Hotel Whisperer [founder Danielle Pointdujour]: A luxury travel and lifestyle blog that shares striking destinations and insights into the best places to eat, drink, luxe, and more.

O. Christine [founder Olivia Christine Perez]: A NYC-based blogger with a mission to inspire people to focus on travel, wellness, new experiences, and the outdoors.

Minority Nomad [founder Erick Prince]: A photographer and travel blogger on a mission to visit every country in the world.

Gone Girl Travel [founder Carol Cain]: Carol is an award-winning travel and food blogger. Gone Girl Travel has a mission to encourage people to find that unique voice in travel.

Oneika the Traveller [founder Oneika Raymond]: A travel and lifestyle blog penned by a Jamaican-Canadian who has been to nearly 100 countries.

The Vagabond Experience [founder Nate Chambers]: An unconventional and experiential travel blogger focused on seeing new places and meeting new people in the world.

Life on the Shunny Side [founder Shunn Morrow]: Shunn is a Houston-based travel blogger that knows where to go to have a great time. Life on the Shunny Side follows her adventures in travel, style, and food.

Conclusion

Our Ultimate List of Black Bloggers will never be complete. We plan to continue adding more black bloggers. Help us at Blackandise make this list bigger and better by mentioning your favorite black blogger in the comment section below.

One more thing

Sometimes seeing someone successful in a similar niche is a great motivator. Please share this article with your friends, as it may help motivate them.

Thanks!

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List of SEO Tools for Content Marketing Strategies

Blackandise Ultimate List of SEO Tools for Content Marketing Strategies

Growing a website is getting harder these days.

You need to make sure your content is great, your keywords aren’t too competitive, your website is mobile-friendly, and your website is free of errors.

Here is a list of SEO tools that we currently use, or have used in the past, for our growing our website and creating a foundation for our content marketing strategies.

Best Free Keyword Tools

A list of free keyword research tools for your content marketing strategies.

Keywords Everywhere

A Chrome extension for finding long tail keywords. If you put a keyword in Google Search, you’ll get the keyword search volume, average CPC, and keyword difficulty. Additionally, you will get alternative keywords suggestions.

Go to Keywords Everywhere

Keyword Shitter

This is a simple free tool for finding keyword suggestions. Simply enter your base keyword and the tool will spew out hundreds of keyword suggestions based on your keyword.

Go to Keyword Shitter

Best Paid Keyword Tools

A list of the paid keyword research tools for your content marketing strategies.

SEMrush

This is simply the best SEO & SEM tool to use for beginners and professionals. We use this tool and we often recommend this tool for anyone looking for a premium keyword finder that does keyword auditing, SERP rank tracking, competition spy, and other SEO tools.

Go to SEMrush

Mangools KWFinder

This KWFinder is simple to use and a great keyword research tool for anyone looking for a cheaper alternative to SEMrush and Ahrefs. This tool works well and isn’t bloated… it has an accurate keyword finding tool, SERP research tool, and a competition spy tool.

Go to Mangools KWFinder

Best Paid Outreach Tools

A list of paid SEO tools for content marketing outreach.

AuthoritySpy

This outreach tool for automating the ability to find relevant influencers and bloggers in your niche.

Go to AuthoritySpy

SERP Insights

This outreach tool allows you to enter a keyword for any niche and receive a report containing information about all the competitors ranking high within a vertical. With this report, you can see what metrics you need to outrank your competition.

Go to SERP Insights

Majestic SEO

Quickly find relevant domains linking to your content. Majestic SEO is a powerful tool that is great for learning about domain trust flow, referring IPs, referring domains, and more. A great outreach and professional SEO tool to have for your content marketing strategy. This tool is often used with SEMrush to get a complete overview of a domain name, especially if you buy expired domains.

Go to Majestic SEO

Guest Post Tracker

Join a community of guest posters as this website provides access to a database of over 1500+ websites that accept paid and free guest posts.

Go to Guest Post Tracker

Best Free Website Crawlers

A list of free SEO tools for website crawling to help with your content marketing strategy.

Check My Links

A Chrome extension that allows you to quickly scan a web page for broken links.

Go to Check My Links

Domain Hunter Plus

A tool similar to the Check My Links extension, Domain Hunter Plus will scan a web page to see if the domains mentioned are available for purchase.

Go to Domain Hunter Plus

Screaming Frog

This website crawler has a useful free tool that can crawl a website to learn about website links, scripts, word count, header tags, and broken links. This tool is great for finding broken links as a way to do some backlink outreach.

Go to Screaming Frog

Best Paid Website Crawlers

A list of the best paid SEO tools for website crawling.

URL Profiler

A powerful SEO tool to quickly audit thousands of URLs at once. You can audit full domains, individual web pages, and even social media data.

Go to URL Profiler

Best Free Analytics Tools

A list of free SEO and analytic tools for analyzing your web pages to ensure you being penalized.

GT Metrix

This analytics tool allows you to do various speed tests on your website. You’ll get information on how to speed up your website if it’s a slow loading website.

Go to GT Metrix

Google Analytics & Search Console

This is a must-have if you want to do any kind of SEO. Google provides you with all the tools and data about your website. The only problem is that it may be hard for beginners to decipher.

Go to Google Analytics

You need to use Google Search Console so you can see how your website is doing in the searches. The Search Console will allow you to submit your sitemap, disavow bad links, check on website errors, and more.

Best Paid Analytics Tools

A list of the best paid analytics tools for SEO for the people that need more than the data from Google.

Bright Local

A tool focused on dominating local SEO. Bright Local is perfect for lead generation, citation management, and reputation management.

Go to Bright Local

Accuranker

Accuranker is simply a professional grade keyword tracking tool. This paid tool will track everything from local keywords to global keywords. The main advantage of this tool is the ability to dive deep and see data based on addresses, postcodes, cities, or even regions within Google and Bing.

Go to Accuranker

Copyscape

This is a tool that does one thing extremely well, Copyscape will scan the web for duplicate content you may have on your website.

Go to Copyscape

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed reviewing this list of excellent tools to help with your search engine optimization. As a creator, you’ll need to always be on top of your content marketing in order to keep your website on the 1st page of the search engines.

Our ultimate list of SEO tools is always changing as we add better SEO tools, extensions, and apps for content creators. If you can please help up make this list even better by leaving a comment with your SEO tool suggestion. And remember to share this article if you think it may help out a friend.

Thanks!

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List of Free Images No Copyright Websites

List of Free Images No Copyright Websites

As a content creator, finding totally images has always been a difficult task.

There are many websites with free images, however, the weird copyright lingo makes everything confusing for new content creators.

Thankfully, we have compiled a list of several websites that offer free high-quality stock images.

🔥 Best Websites With Free Images

These websites have so much content available for all types of content creators. You are not required to credit the author as these images are totally free to use for personal and commercial use.

Pexels

If you have read some of my older articles, you’ll see that I am a huge fan of Pexels. All of their images require no copyright or credit backlinks so everything is free to use! Pexels has over a half of million images available. The Pexels community uploads 5,000 new images each month. Pexels biggest categories are technology, nature, and people.

Pixabay

Pixabay has over 1.2 million images that require no author credits. All of their content is released under Creative Commons CC0, so the images are safe to use without asking permission or providing an attribution link. Most of the Pixabay categories are filled with thousands of images, so you’ll probably find what you are looking for here. Pixabay also has vector graphics, illustrations, and videos.

Related: Best Web Hosting for New Bloggers 

Popular Websites With Free Images

These websites may not have millions of images available but they are growing websites that do not require you to remember to credit the author. These websites have images for personal and commercial use.

Unsplash

Unsplash has over 300,000 free to use high-resolution images from a community of photographers. These open source images are great for commercial and non-commercial purposes. No attribution link is required but is appreciated. The most popular categories on Unsplash are business, computer, love, and houses.

Pikwizard

Pikwizard has over 100,000 high-quality images, with 20,000 that are completely exclusive to the site. What makes Pikwizard stand out is its high-quality images of people, which are few and far between on the best stock photography sites. There is also no attribution required.

StockSnap

StockSnap has thousands of free to images for us bloggers. All of their content is available for personal and commercial usage. The most popular categories on StockSnap are people, business, office, and food.

Librashot

Librashot images were taken by a photographer and are free for personal and commercial use. No attribution link is required. The photographer has over 1,000 high-quality images that are free to use on your blog. Librashot most popular categories are business, architecture, nature, and technology.

Foodiesfeed

Foodiesfeed has over 900 food-based images to use. All of their images are CC0, which is safe for personal and commercial use. The most popular categories on Foodiesfeed are healthy, close-ups, and hands.

SplitShire

SplitShire is another small collection of free to use images from a photographer. These open source images are free okay for commercial use. The photographer has a collection of 913 high-quality open source images. SplitShire most popular categories are technology, street, food, women, and nature.

Skitterphoto

Skitterphoto has good quality free to use images that are good for personal and commercial usage. This library was built by two amateur photographers from The Netherlands. These photographers have under 800 images available. Skitterphoto most popular category is nature.

Burst by Shopify

Burst has thousands of high-quality and royalty-free open source images. Even though this website was created for Shopify users, the license states that anyone can use their images. The most popular categories on Burst by Shopify are coffee, fitness, woman, fashion, and man.

Canva

If you’re a Canva user, you will get access to millions of high-quality stock photos to use for all your designing needs. Canva has stock photos in several popular categories such as Fashion, Health/Beauty, and Sports.

Conclusion

These are most of the reliable free stock image websites that content creators and bloggers are using today. Hopefully, our Free Images No Copyright Websites list helps you find the perfect picture for your website. If not, the best option is to go with a premium stock image website such as Shutterstock or Adobe Stock.

Related: Content Marketing Tips, SEO Tips for Beginners

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How to Choose a WordPress Theme?

Premium and Cheap WordPress Themes

Sifting through thousands of WordPress themes is never fun. It can take hours to choose a WordPress theme for your website.

Your website should act as a platform for your message. Having a great WordPress theme with good plugins and functionality will help you achieve this goal.

For new content creators using WordPress, this can seem overwhelming — where do you begin? How do you choose a WordPress theme when there are millions of themes available?

There are thousands of free WordPress themes available but testing hundreds of free themes to find one decent theme is annoying. We’ve done the work and here to help you find a reliable premium WordPress theme.

Before Choosing Your WordPress Theme

First, take a look at where to download, subscribe, and purchase themes. There are many different marketplaces, all with their own pros and cons. The right marketplace to hunt for plugins and themes will not only be a hosting site for these things but also assist in guiding you in selecting the right one to drive traffic.

Next, you will need to purchase a specific theme that tailors to your need and reflects the message you want your company and website to send. As you begin your search for the perfect template, look for certain categories and descriptions to help guide you on which theme is the best fit. One of the largest sites dedicated to WordPress themes is ThemeForest. This website has a WordPress theme for every situation.

The list below will help you break down where you can find great WordPress themes and templates, plugins, and other goodies.

Best WordPress Themes for Content Sites

These themes are the top all-purpose premium themes that are updated often. These themes will always have the latest features and amazing customer support.

Avada is one of the best selling Woocommerce themes for WordPress.

The7 is another popular WordPress theme that was designed for quick creation thanks to an easy to use design wizard. The7 is another WordPress theme with Woocommerce integration.

BeTheme is known as the beginner’s theme that is extremely fast loading.

WordPress Theme Like Shopify Options

These themes focus more on integrated Woocommerce themes. The Woocommerce themes are great for anyone looking to have an online store.

KitGreen is a popular cheap WordPress theme for anyone wanting something simple for design or art-based businesses.

Elessi was one of the best selling Woocommerce themes of last year thanks to its professional layout, visual editor, and dozens of features. This theme is great for anyone selling clothes, furniture, toys, and even artwork.

Bold Image WordPress Theme Options

Looking to display your photography or highlight images on your website? Two great themes are Lens and Composition. Both of these themes will broadcast stock photography, your own personal photography, illustrations, independent designs, or any image you want to be the main focus of your site.

Lenscap tends to be for more beginners, with limited customization, but selected so these features are popular, with a simple set up, and easy to use.

Composition is a more advanced template, offering countless ways to design and set up your images.

Flatsome is a top-ranked WordPress theme for anyone looking to display many images on their website

Home Decor WordPress Theme Options

Do you want to feature furniture or devote a page to perfect interior designs? Loft and Hive are great minimalist themes that can highlight the best of the best.

Hive is multifunctional, featuring a clean, easy to read format. Hive also supports multilingual, translation ready content. The homepage for Hive is a grid layout and this template also boasts multiple archive pages for that perfect balance of content and images.

Loft is great for businesses that deal heavily with images for interior design or modern furniture. Loft is perfect for beginners new to designing a website. There is an omnipresent navigation bar, a plentiful surplus of buttons, custom widgets, room for reviews and testimonials.

Subscription Based WordPress Theme Options

These memberships are designed for gated content. Now you can have a website filled with premium content for your members.

KICKCUBE is a simple WordPress membership theme with social login features allowing for easy community building.

Aardvark is probably the only WordPress membership theme you’ll need. This theme is capable of handling membership payments, e-learning, eCommerce, and more community features.

Modern Magazine WordPress Theme Options

Is your site going to be content heavy, filled with articles, reviews, or magazine related work?

The Thinker is a theme that brings out the best for bloggers, reporters, and writers alike. The Thinker is minimalist; relying on its gorgeous typography for a modern, clean design. This is another beginner-friendly template that also supports multilingual content.

Gloria is a more modern take on magazine and news content. The homepage is grid-based and has areas that can display ads. You can upload a custom logo, widgets, and social media connections. Noozbeat is a great template to support viral content and display your best pieces.

🔥 Newspaper is a fast and flexible magazine WordPress theme that comes with dozens of premade layouts and allows users to fully customize everything.

How to Choose a WordPress Theme for Business

Now that you have an idea of where to find popular themes and templates, what about which themes are the best for your business?

Selecting the perfect WordPress theme is important! Are you going for minimalism… or perhaps you are a photographer needing a template with big images…. or do you simply need a cheap Woocommerce theme that makes it easy for customers to purchase your products.

Whatever it is, make sure you find a template that will support multilingualism. Whatever the case may be, there is a template designed for it. Even basic templates have features where you can customize based on the aspects you require for your site.

Even if these specific themes do not match your needs, you will have an idea of which templates are the most popular for each category. You will also notice what each of these best selling themes have in common: simple design and structure with easy installation. As they say, a little bit goes a long way.

At the moment, the Newspaper theme is dominating it for business users based on the sales data on ThemeForest. However, if ThemeForest doesn’t have what you are looking for then you should definitely check Themify, Creative Market or ThemeFuse for cheap WordPress themes.

Popular Themify Themes

Themify is another marketplace that has thousands of WordPress plugins, themes and templates, and more. The benefits of using Themify are actually in the support section of their website, filled with dozens of tutorials, how-tos, and starter guides that can be used by beginners, designers, or master developers.

With Themify, however, you literally get what you pay for. A tiered pricing structure offers free themes with the customer paying nothing but receiving no support or updates. One of the bestselling cheap WordPress themes on Themify is Shoppe.

Popular Creative Market Themes

Creative Market has a cozy community with themes and templates that are well designed, almost a handcrafted feel. Creative Market also encourages its independent shops set up by developers, so the whole site and marketplace really feel like a good support system for unique designs.

The only real downfall in Creative Market is that the members, products, and shops are a little out of balance, meaning there are about 25,000 shops, 4 million members, and 2 million products, not a whole lot of interchange going on, so your site may not be as customized as you’d like it to be. You can visit the bestselling Creative Market WordPress themes.

Popular ThemeFuse Themes

ThemeFuse is a single developer marketplace with little to no third-party plugins. You can’t escape the subscription-based theme sites and ThemeFuse is no exception, however, a membership to ThemeFuse will guarantee you access to all of their products, either yearly or for a lifetime.

ThemeFuse has a large database of templates and themes, much more diverse than most other WordPress developer sites. On the flip side of this is the fact that a lot of the templates do look similar but make up for this by offering a plentiful array of design options. You can visit the bestselling ThemeFuse WordPress themes.

Conclusion

These are just a few cheap WordPress themes available in the vast world of WordPress themes. There are thousands of more categories like music, currency, political, environmental, scientific, and those are just to name a few. If your site is a niche category, you probably aren’t alone (and if you are, generic templates can cater to what you need).

Your website, whatever the subject may be, there is a theme that is the perfect fit, and if you can’t find anything in the specific categories you are searching, a generic business theme can be extremely beneficial when customized to your needs.

Related: Popular Blog Post Ideas, Blogging Tips for Successful Food Blogs, Content Marketing Strategies for Content Creators

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Resource List for Content Creators

Ultimate Resource List for Content Creators

This is our Blackandise Resource List, a curated list of the best tools and websites that we use or have used in the past. We are only listing the most trusted tools for content creators.

The resources here are important to running Blackandise.com and our other websites. We hope this list helps you with your projects.

Affiliate Marketplace Programs

These marketplace websites will allow you to find relevant affiliate programs for your content.

Amazon Associates: One of the most popular and trusted affiliate marketplaces available for content creators. Almost everything available on Amazon can earn you a commission. The commission depends on the product sold on Amazon.

eBay Affiliates: A great alternative to Amazon Associates. The eBay Affiliates commission depends on the product sold on eBay.

Commission Junction: This is one of the largest and most trusted affiliate marketplace programs. The commission depends on the programs you join on Commission Junction.

ShareASale: Another popular affiliate marketplace with tons of affiliate programs from which to choose. The commission depends on the programs you join on ShareASale.

ClickBank: An affiliate marketplace with over 30,000 digital products to promote. The commission depends on the ClickBank product sold.

Blog Reading & Discovery Tools

These curation tools will help you stay current with the new trends in your niche.

Pocket: This is the perfect “read it later” productivity app that allows you to save articles for later.

Feedly: Feedly is currently one of the best RSS readers available for helping readers stay updated on the latest blog content. The interface is simple and beautiful.

Google Trends: Google Trends has so much free data available, so why not use it. Use this tool to find trends within your niche.

Content Promotion Tools

These promotion tools will help you schedule and promote your content.

HootSuite: Manage all your social media accounts with this robust tool. Use HootSuite to schedule all of your social media posts, track mentions, follow hashtags, and even engage with your audience.

Buffer: Similar to HootSuite, Buffer allows you to manage and schedule your social media posts.

Planable: Manage, prepare, and approve all of your social media content with Planable, a simpler content management tool.

⭐️ Tweetdeck: Tweetdeck is the ultimate Twitter hub for managing multiple Twitter accounts, scheduling tweets, and following specific mentions and hashtags.

Content Management Tools

These curation tools will help you with your content management.

Google Calendar: Manage your schedule for free. Use Google Calendar to schedule a few posts or go all out and schedule your research, draft, delivery, and publication. Reminders and invites can be sent out to your team to create a streamlined workflow.

DivvyHQ: This editorial calendar management tool will help you stay organized and allow for easy team collaboration.

Workflowy: Workflowy is the tool that can be used as an editorial calendar or as a to-do list for content creators looking for a barebones tool.

Trello: A Kanban style view project management tool for organizing work. Trello is the perfect content management tool for content creators.

Redbooth: Another project management tool great for planning content. This popular tool has multiple views available for content creators.

Airtable: A simple spreadsheet-database hybrid used to organize tasks and projects.

Desktop Content Creation Tools

These desktop creation tools will help you manage all of your media files.

Camtasia: A popular and reliable screen recording tool available for Windows and Mac.

Image Optim: A Mac image compressing tool for optimizing your images.

Loom: An easy to use screen recording tool for Windows, Mac, and Chromebooks.

Audacity: The legendary sound recorder that is great for content creators looking for a multi-track editor and recorder.

TubeBuddy: Now you can save time with your YouTube process. TubeBuddy is a powerful management plugin for your browser that helps content creators save time.

Image Content Creation Tools

These quick image creation websites will allow you to create shareable graphics within a few minutes.

Canva: A popular graphic-design tool with a simple drag-and-drop interface. Canva has over a million photographs, fonts, and graphics.

Stencil: Another popular graphic-design tool to quickly create simple shareable graphics.

QuotesCover: Quickly create beautifully designed quotes with pictures. And no login or signup required.

Piktochart: This is one of the simple tools infographic makers are using to make those stunning infographics.

Pixlr: A cloud-based photo editor tool with simple and advanced photo editing features.

Photopea: A cloud-based Photoshop alternative with the functionality to open and edit PSD, XCF, Sketch, or any other image files.

Keyword Research Tools

These keyword research tools will help you find new relevant keywords.

⭐️ Keywords Everywhere: This is simply one of the best free keyword finding plugins available. This plugin will show important data for keywords such as the competition, monthly searches, and average CPC.

Soovie: The unattractive but useful keyword research website tool. Soovie is a great way to discover keywords. Use Soovie with the Keywords Everywhere plugin to see more keyword data.

Mangools KWFinder: KWFinder is great for content creators that are simply needing the right tools for finding low competition long tail keywords for SEO.

Ahrefs Keyword Explorer: Ahrefs keyword tool provides detailed data for each keyword. The data includes keyword difficulty, search volume, traffic potential, and backlinks.

⭐️ SEMrush: One of the most popular keyword research and domain analysis tools available for content creators. SEMrush was designed to be an all-in-one SEO tool that has something for everyone. It features keyword research tools, domain research tools, competition spying tools, and much more. You can read more about SEMrush, our favorite SEO tool here.

Ubersuggest: Ubersuggest is great for finding keywords for SEO and PPC. Additionally, this tool will show you the keyword trends, volume, and competition all for free.

Dyno Mapper: Use Dyno Mapper for tracking keyword phrases by location or by a specific search engine. With this tool, you are able to properly understand what your audience wants.

AnswerThePublic: This is a visual keyword research tool that focuses on queries and questions. Use this tool to learn how real people are using the internet to search for content

Related: Best Free Keyword Tools

Mailing List Tools

These GDPR compliant mailing list tools will allow you to maintain control of that mailing list.

⭐️ Mailchimp: One of the most popular email marketing management tools available, Mailchimp lets you organize contacts, send emails, and track results.

ConvertKit: ConvertKit is an email service provider that wants to help content creators succeed through marketing. This mailing list tool integrates with hundreds of other apps, making it a powerful automation tool.

GetResponse: Use GetResponse to send out newsletters, campaigns, and surveys.

SendPulse: A great alternative to sending out newsletters and surveys to your mailing list.

Note-Taking & Editing Tools

These note-taking and editing tools will help you create error-free content that your audience will enjoy.

⭐️ Grammarly: Use this online grammar checking tool to proofread your content before publishing. Grammarly is great for spell checking, grammar checking, and detecting plagiarism.

⭐️ Evernote: This writing tool is great for taking those quick notes on the go. Evernote has reliable cloud synching and is available on every popular platform.

Google Keep: Use Google Keep to quickly take notes or save images. This tool is a great alternative to those ordinary note-taking tools.

Hemingway Editor: Find out if your writing is too simple or too complex with this tool. Writers have used this writing tool for years to help them enhance their writing.

Copyscape Premium: A user-friendly plagiarism checker. Use it to check the originality of your content or to track down plagiarism.

Outsourcing & Virtual Assistants Websites

These outsourcing websites will help you grow your business faster with affordable virtual assistants.

UpWork: A contract-based freelancing platform used to connect with professionals in many industries. You can use UpWork for simple daily projects or complex month-long projects.

Fiverr: The popular $5 outsourcing website. Fiverr is great for finding freelancers to create your YouTube video intros or transcribe your audio recordings.

⭐️ Design Pickle: The growing unlimited graphics service for people wanting to get graphics made daily. Design Pickle is great for people that know what kind of graphics they want to get created. Take advantage of this service by planning all of your work in advance with a detailed spreadsheet.

Real-Time Social Listening Tools

These social listening tools will help you keep up with what’s happening in your industry.

Google Alerts: Use Google Alerts to receive emails whenever Google finds new results from web pages, news articles, blogs, or research documents.

TrackReddit: Use TrackReddit to set up trackers to monitor specific mentions of any word/phrase found on Reddit.

TweetDeck: Use the search and trending feature in TweetDeck to track real-time conversations and hashtags. Learn about Twitter’s boolean search feature to take full advantage of TweetDeck.

HootSuite: Use the monitoring feature in HootSuite to follow key conversations based on a keyword, keyword phrase, or location.

Stock Image Websites

These free stock image websites will help you keep your website updated with beautiful images.

Pixabay: Now with over 1.2 million images, this is a great place to find free images to use for your content.

⭐️ Pexels: All of these images are tagged and neatly organized. You can find over 100,000 free curated images to use for your content.

Pikwizard: This is a great alternative to the other free stock image websites. This website has over 100,000 free images with over 20,000 exclusive free images available.

Flickr Advanced Search: As a last resort, you can often find beautiful images with a creative commons license.

Related: Free Images for Blogs

Stock Video Websites

These free stock video websites will help you with your video creation.

Pixabay: Over 6,000 completely free videos are available for content creators to use for their projects.

Pexels: Use Pexels to find thousands of completely free videos to use for your blog or website.

Stock Footage for Free: Choose from over hundreds of professional-quality completely free stock video clips.

Web Hosting Websites

These web hosting companies listed are some of the best web hosts available for creators.

⭐️ Bluehost: An affordable and reliable web hosting company to use for small-medium blogs or websites. If you’re not getting over one million page views a month then Bluehost is all you’ll need.

HostGator: Another great web hosting company for content creators that must have managed hosting. The perfect alternative to Bluehost if you’re still under one million page views a month.

WP Engine: A premium web hosting company with extraordinary customer service and technical support. WP Engine is great for content creators looking for managed web hosting for their high traffic or resource intensive website.

Related: Best Web Hosting Companies

Website Analytics Tools

These website analytics tools are great for giving you the data needed to learn more about your website traffic.

⭐️ Google Tag Manager: If you plan to install any of the website analytics scripts, use Google Tag Manager instead of hard-coding it into the website.

Google Analytics: A script that all websites should consider installing. Google Analytics will collect and show important website visitor data.

Facebook Pixel: A useful script for anyone interested in using Facebook Ads or Instagram Ads. The Facebook Pixel will collect data about your website traffic. Measure your ads, track conversions, and remarket to your website visitors.

Hot Jar: A script used to help you improve your conversion funnels. See how your visitors interact with your website. Use Hotjar to get heat maps of your traffic clicks, get visitor recordings, and more.
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ClickToTweet: Create single links that visitors can click on to quickly tweet your content.

Jetpack for WordPress: A plugin with a reliable statistics module that shows useful traffic details from the WordPress dashboard.

Website Push Notification Tools

These push notification tools will help you to drive visitors back to your website.

OneSignal: OneSignal sends out over 2.5 billion daily notifications. This is one of the leading push notification services for web and mobile apps.

SendPulse: SendPulse has email marketing tools and web browser push notification. Send push notifications to your website subscribers.

PushCrew: A great alternative to SendPulse. Use PushCrew to send unlimited push notifications to mobile and web users.

Workflow & Automation Tools

These automation tools are great for automating those boring process in your day.

Sumo: One of the best tools to grow your email list and increase website conversions. Sumo offers many ways to grow your business with automation.

Zapier: This trusted automation tool has over 1000+ apps available for creating ways to automate your work.

IFTTT: Choose from hundreds of applets to make your job easier. IFTTT allows you to use pre-made applets or create new applets to automate certain online asks.

Fetch RSS: Use this fetching tool to quickly create RSS feeds out of most web pages.

Zoho Flow: Use the simple visual builder to connect your apps together and create the perfect automated workflow.

Drift: Create smart chatbots to engage with visitors on your website.

Misc. Tools for Content Creators

Guerrilla Mail: Create temporary email addresses.

IUBENDA: Quickly generate Privacy Policies and Cookie Consents for your website.

Conclusion

This list will never be complete as we will continue adding and removing resources. You can help make this ultimate resource list more useful by emailing us any new suggestions.

One more thing

Please share this article with your content creating friends, as it may help them with their projects.

Ultimate Resource List for Content Creators

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