As a blogger, have you ever wonder what are good blogging tools you need? I bet you do and that’s why you are here right? Well, don’t worry about it as I was in the same boat as you in the past. It happens to all of us, especially when we are desperate to find great blogging tools to enrich our blogs and websites.
What are blogging tools that worth your time and effort?
Through my blogging experience, there are many blogging tools where we can use for blogging. And yes, most of these tools are free but there are some which are paid tools (or premium blogging tools as we call it). Without much delay, the below are the blogging tools that I am currently using in my daily blogging life and I do hope that these tools will work well for you as well.
Free blogging tools for bloggers
1. Google Drive
Google Drive is one of the best free blogging tool I ever used. Before this, I was using the old school way which is using Microsoft Words and saving each file on my laptop. Why i love Google Drive so much is because I could easily compose an article or blog spot on it, save it and adjust later when I have the time. It is absolutely great since I can be blogging nearly every position on Earth as long as I have Internet connection.
2. Google Keywords Tool
People talk about Market Samurai, Micro Niche Finder and even SEMrush. Well, I use all of them three honestly but trust me when I tell you that nothing beats Google Keywords Tool. While the three are absolutely doing great in my blogging career, I cannot deny the fact that I uses Google Keywords Tool more than any of these three combined.
Just a few clicks, I am able to sort out keywords relevant to my writing and improve the content optimization of my blog. Do I need to remind you that it is free as well?
Nothing beats free stuff, huh? Check out Google Keywords Tool here.
3. Evernote
I bet nearly 95% of bloggers in this world would have Evernote app in their smartphones, tablets and even laptops. Thought of a great idea or blogging inspiration? Why don’t use Evernote to jot notes down?
I travel and move a lot. Whenever I get an idea on a topic, I would just pop up Evernote and write that down. It doesn’t matter if I am not using those notes at the moment but I am pretty sure (and happened before) that I would use them one day in the future.
Give Evernote a try and sign up for free account now!
4. Dropbox
I can’t deny the fact that Dropbox is playing a huge role in my blogging career. When it comes to saving pictures or photos to use for my blogging, I will definitely keep them in Dropbox. The ability to sync across devices makes Dropbox an even more worthwhile application for any bloggers or webmasters.
I am currently using the free one which 62 GB of space (thanks to my Note 2) and you can imagine where I am going from there. A must have for all bloggers. Period.
Get a free 2 GB Dropbox account for free and start sync data across devices and computer.
5. Yahoo smush.it
There is a WordPress plugin for smush.it but I am using the web one instead. Every photos or images uploaded can be compressed and optimized to reduce it size. And what’s the use of it?
The smaller the picture or image is, the faster it loads up. I am not sure about you but this is definitely one of the must have blogging tool for me.
*p/s Do note that at times, the Yahoo servers might be slow and thus, uploading images could be a little hassle thought.
See how Yahoo Smush.it works here.
6. WordPress SEO by Yoast
I am pretty sure the term search engine optimization or SEO is no longer a stranger to all of you. In fact, there are many SEO companies or SEO agents which you can use to improve your blog’s SEO and ranking.
However, have you asked yourself if that is truly necessary?
WordPress SEO by yoast is a free WordPress plugin that offers great SEO functions for your blogs and websites. What it actually does is doing multiple analysis on your content and determine the SEO level through it.
Once an analysis is done, it will then give you suggestions which may help you boost your SEO score even further. Sounds good? Certainly is for me!
If you are looking for a free but GREAT SEO plugin for WordPress, I truly recommend this from the bottom of my heart. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.
7. W3 Total Cache
- Google – 500 milliseconds of extra load time caused 20% fewer searches
- For Yahoo – 400 milliseconds of extra load time caused a 5-9% increase in the number of people who clicked ‘back’ before the page even loaded
- For Amazon – 100 milliseconds of extra load time resulted in a 1% drop in sales
Optimizing website to improve loading time is important. It optimizing your website is not inside your book, then you should do it right now. Nowadays, website that loads slower could easily affect their website ranking on search result pages.
W3 Total Cache is often named as the best WordPress cache plugin. I got to agree with this as my website loads a second faster (maybe more) when this plugin is activated. High recommended for bloggers who are interested to boost their website loading speed.
Check out W3 Total Cache on WordPress.org.
8. Flickr
I am not sure how many of you uses Flickr but I can tell you that I use it pretty much. I am a previous imgur user until the free storage capacity blocks me from using it to the max. Okay, I can’t be spending all my earnings on blogging only right?
Run and controlled by Yahoo Inc, I am pretty sure my photos are in good hands. What makes the cut even further is the latest free ‘giveaway’ which is awarding all users 1TB of memory space which makes photo sharing for bloggers even juicier!
Premium blogging tools
9. Scribe Content Optimization
Let’s say you want to bring SEO to the next level. This is where I recommend you this ‘˜state-of-the-art’ content optimization tool by CopyBlogger, Scribe. I personally use Scribe for all my money blogs and it proves to be more than just a great investment.
Don’t get me wrong as I uses WordPress SEO by yoast as well. However, the final SEO analysis is done using Scribe and it will pinpoint on keywords or SEO opportunities which I might accidentally left out.
I am always worried of my SEO (even though I know I shouldn’t) for my money blogs. I want my blogs to rank well and get good organic traffic to them. With Scribe, I knew I am already half way there. You can read more the product here: Scribe Content Optimization.
Don’t forget to request for your free SEO report using this link!
10. Thirsty Affiliates
Thirsty Affiliate is the latest plugin I bought for myself. Reading through my previous blogs and you will notice that I am a member of ShareASale (affiliate program). I always wonder how other bloggers share their affiliate links using so a nice URL.
A little Google-ing and I found out that most of them are using Thirsty Affiliate. Well, what this WordPress plugin do is changing the ugly url to something beautiful. Example as below:
Ugly URL: https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?cl=185140&c=ib&aff=250804
Beautiful URL: https://www.reginaldchan.net/recommends/thirsty-affiliates/
See the difference? This doesn’t only protects my affiliate links but at the same time, making it very pleasant to the eyes. Not only that, it could even improve the chances of getting an affiliate sale right? You can have a look at what Thirsty Affiliate is offering by clicking this link: Thirsty Affiliate Website.
11. Hybrid Connect
People say building a mailing list is important and I certainly cannot disagree with any further.
I read about Hybrid Connect on Adam Connell’s website, Blogging Wizard (you can find the link here). Adam, if you are reading this, thank you for your recommendation!
I am pretty sure most of you are aware of a plugin called OptinSkin. Well, Hybrid Connect works exactly like OptinSkin with more features packed in it. It offers the ability to put sign up box for mailing and newsletters nearly every inch of the blog.
What makes it better is the customer support. When I purchased Hybrid Connect, it wouldn’t work my Dynamik theme (due to my customizations) and they fixed it up. They didn’t stop there. Instead, they even offered me help when they noticed there was an issue with one of my codes.
I was more than just ‘wow-ed’. Thank you Hybrid Connect team!
Try out risk free Hybrid Connect with 30-days money back guarantee!
12. Dynamik Website Builder for Genesis Framework
I am pretty sure you are well aware that if you want to attract your readers, you need to have more than just a normal blog theme. Good themes are hard to come by but thanks to Dynamik team, building a custom theme for WordPress is as easy as click the drop down buttons. Want to know more about Dynamik Website Builder?
You can also head over to their official website, Dynamik Theme and Genesis Framework for more information.
Over to you
I hope the blogging tools listed above will provide you more than just great experience in your blogging life. Have you used any of these tools? Share with me by replying the comment form below.
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