Service and Tech Recommendations

So one of my affiliate banners was having issues with displaying properly, and I was getting outrageously frustrated with it! Soon, I noticed that the code had an error message in it (although I copied it straight from the affiliation page). After studying the code a bit, I noticed that it was missing a closing tag, something that one of the Codecademy lessons had JUST gone over! I edited the code and voila! It appeared in the preview! Imagine my jiggy happy dance once I realized that I was able to fix an error that I did not originally create! If you manage your own website, I do highly recommend learning some basic coding skills. It helps to be able to fix minor issues on the spot instead of wasting hours trying to contact the help desk.

Coursera enables you to take control of your busy schedule in order to go to (online) college at your own pace. You can either pay for individual accredited courses or hop into a few free non-accredited courses if you just desire to learn a new skill.

LinkedIn Learning is one of my favorite platforms to learn a new skill. Previously, the courses have just been available through a monthly subscription, but near the middle of 2019, LinkedIn Learning implemented an option to purchase courses individually (check out their article here). However you prefer to learn, LinkedIn Learning is a great way to obtain new skills on your own time!

Our website is powered by Bluehost, and fortunately, I haven’t experienced any issues with managing the blog now that I know what I’m doing. It provides quick access to WordPress which is where I do a mass majority of my editing. Plus, if I do get stuck, they provide a lot of helpful quick links right on the Home page. The layout is super clean and simplified, so if you’re new or just don’t like being bombarded with a thousand options at once, Bluehost is a great and reliable start.

If you are subscribed to our newsletter, then each month you receive an email of learning opportunities, book recommendations, upcoming events, etc. from us. Those emails are customized and managed through Constant Contact. Heck, even all of our subscribe buttons are from them! Although it took me a few weeks to figure out the platform, now it’s become a saving grace for whenever I want to share information with everyone without having to worry about social media algorithms limiting who gets to see everything.

Personally, I found that my general elective books like for Art History were usually ten times more expensive than the books for my actual major! You know, books that I might actually crack open OUTSIDE of that particular course! I highly recommend doing price checks for your books before purchasing or renting. Many used books from Amazon still end up being in great quality!

It’s always good to do price comparisons, especially when it comes to school textbooks. It’s also helpful to have multiple backup plans in case a particular book is extremely high in-demand for the semester. Barnes & Noble are really good at keeping up with local school demands for reading assignments, depending on the elective, so check first to see if you can save some money here and there by renting/buying a good-condition used copy first!

It is so easy for me to overlook small grammar mistakes, especially once I start typing like a mad-woman hyped up on too much caffeine. Grammarly has saved many of my careless errors that Word may not have known to catch. Regardless of if you are a Professional Novelist, a brand new Blogger, or trying to complete that research paper three days before the due date, this plug-in will be an awesome teammate during your writing adventures!