Blogging Tool Kit

Hey all! This is a special post about making over a blog. I definitely am not an expert and still have soooo much more to learn! But for those of you who are struggling to get started blogging and new to everything blog, I'm here to help! It took me a long time to get to the point I am at which still isn't very far. It was a frustrating and confusing journey to learn all of the new computer tasks required to make a great blog. I definitely have to give thanks to several music therapists with blogs of their own. I asked several about what programs and websites they used to create different graphics, fonts, and templates. Special thanks to Rachel See Smith over at Music Therapy Services of Austin, Amy Kalas at Wholesome Harmonies Music Therapy, Rachel Rambach at Listen and Learn Music, and Mundana Music Therapy for answering personal questions, providing me with awesome resources, and/or helpful blog posts!!!

Here is a list of websites for different blogging needs!

Mail Chimp - This is a free way to send out personalized newsletters to subscribers of your blog.
PicMonkey - A very easy way to personalize and add fun creations to a photo.
Microsoft Office Images - You can always find free images and clip art here.
Kevin & Amanda - This is a really great place to find fun and quirky handwriting fonts.
Da Font - Another great place to find fun fonts.
Scribd - This is a place to upload and share digital documents.
UploadNSell - This is the easy and perfect place to upload documents or e-books to sell on your blog.
Band Camp - Here you can upload your own personal recordings and share or sell them.
Web Treats - A place to find textures and graphics for free.
Digital Design Essentials - This site is similar to web treats but sells cheap design kits.
Gimp - This is an intense photo editing software that is a lot like Photo Shop but it's FREE!  I have found it to be complicating at first since I have never learned a program like this.  But I am watching YouTube video tutorials and online resources for learning.  So far I like what I see!  I created my blog header and this post's image from Gimp and was very proud of myself. :)

If you know of any other great resources, please share below in the comments section!