Artist Resources
It takes a lot of hard work and trial and error to find the right tools and resources to help you grow your creative business. Trust us, we’ve been doing this for a while now!
On this page, you’ll find a comprehensive list of everything we use to keep The Daley Doodle alive, well and pumping out great content.
Quick Access: Hosting // Website & E-Mail Tools // YouTube Equipment // Tech // Amazon Shop
This page contains affiliate links, meaning we earn a commission if you use those links, at no additional cost to you.
Web Hosting
Your website is a key ingredient to the success of your online creative business. There are plenty of free template website providers out there, but personally, we believe having control is the number one priority.
That’s why you should aim to create and host your own site, that can evolve as you, your business and technology all grow.
To start, you’ll need to find a home for your website, before you start building.
Bluehost: A great place to start, while your website is developing and traffic is lower. They have great support and plenty of options. (note: Use our affiliated link for a lower rate for new customers that join using our signup link – as low as $2.95/month!)
WPEngine: Once you reach a stage where your website is getting over 100k of visitors a month and/or you need a lot of storage space, due to the amount of content you have online, you’ll need to upgrade.
WP Engine is my weapon of choice. Your site speed will increase dramatically and you’ll be able to handle a far larger number of visitors to your website. Oh, and you get 3 months free on the annual plan!
Website & Email Tools
You’ve got your little plot of land in the vastness of the Internet; now it’s time to build your online home!
Here’s what we use to keep our website looking sleek, groovy and hitched up with an excellent array of tools.
Elementor: Elementor is a WordPress Page Builder, with over 2,000,000 active installs. It lets you create beautiful WordPress websites in the easiest and quickest way possible, using a simple, intuitive drag-and-drop interface.
It replaces the basic WordPress editor with a live front-end editor, enabling you to create complex layouts visually, and design your website live, without switching between the editor and the preview mode.
Best of all: you don’t need to know any code.
MailChimp: A great way to keep fans in your circle is by collecting their email and updating them in their inbox.
We’ve used MailChimp for a number of years. Not only is their UI easy to use and their process very quick, they also have an excellent selection of tools to integrate within your site.
Google Suite: We use google apps for hosting our email accounts (Gmail accounts using your own domain name, like dale@thedaleydoodle.com), and find it’s very easy to set up with Bluehost hosting.
ConvertKit: ConvertKit is quickly becoming a top choice by professional bloggers in regard to automation and email marketing tools. We haven’t switched to it yet, but several professional blogging friends have, and they all share rave reviews.
Google Analytics: Even visual people should get at least a little in tune with the numbers of their websites. Otherwise, growth is very difficult.
Google Analystics is pretty much the industry-standard tool for tracking website traffic and stats. The data it can pull is pretty incredible and, best of all, it’s free to use!