50+ Awesome Tools I Use To Run A Kick-Ass Blog
My social media buddies often ask me what my favorite blogging tools are. So, I’ve decided to list them all here.
I’ve been building different kind of websites for years now and obviously, I’ve tried a ton of tools along the way. Some of them are fantastic, and some of them just plain suck.
To ramp up your blogging business, you need to be a little more aggressive with your marketing.
BUT you can’t do that alone. We all know that blogging takes a lot of hard work, time and effort to do it well.
So you need to find the right tools to help you get more work done faster, while providing quality content for your audience.
Here are the various tools, apps and resources that will help you boost your creativity, and make your blog even more awesome.
Pin for Later: pinterest.com/pin/48343395975106055
50+ Blogging Tools That Will Make Your Life Easier
PS: I am affiliate with some of these but I recommend them because I love them.
Web Hosting Tools
To keep your site alive and running, you need the right web hosting (with the right plan). Here are some of my favorites that won’t let you down:
BlueHost
A non-techie person? Start with Bluehost (discounted link). Setup a WordPress blog within just 5 minutes using their one-click app. Not to mention they have the best customer service ever. Friendly and professional! Get BlueHost
Namecheap
My favorite domain registrar. I used to register all my domain names on Dreamhost until I found Namecheap. It’s cheap, safe and easy to use. Use NameCheap
Email Marketing Tools
Grow your traffic and sales even more by getting your visitors’ emails. Here are the tools I’m currently using.
OptinMonster
I love their reasonable price & how they have variety of opt-in forms. Works with WordPress + non WordPress users and can be integrated with ANY email marketing service (you can use their custom form if they can’t integrate your email host). Get OptinMonster
MadMimi
I use MadMimi to collect and send emails. I love their competitive price, the simplicity of their interface, and the email templates. Get MadMimi
Social Media Sharing Buttons
SumoMe
The only social sharing buttons I use. I love how you can also track how many shares + clicks for each page as well. See that floating social buttons beside this post? And those buttons when you hover over my images? That’s SumoMe! You can install it for free.
SumoMe
Digital Printable Planners
I definitely love planners! It keeps me organized. Here are some digital printable planners (weekly + daily) we’ve made that will help you plan out your day and keep you organized as well! Just click the image to purchase them on Etsy or simply click here.
Social Media Marketing Tools
These are the tools I use to manage my social following and to easily promote my posts across multiple networks. With these tools, I am also able to monitor my following growth, most popular posts, updates engagement, and so on.
HootSuite
The best tool that keeps my social accounts fresh and updated. I can schedule and auto-share posts across multiple social media networks. I recommend the PRO version only for $8.99/month.Get Hootsuite
Friend+ Me
If you’re on Google+ a lot, you will love this tool. Friend+ Me allows you to reshare your Google+ posts to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and even Tumblr. Use Friend+ Me
Tweepi
An awesome tool to grow your Twitter following! I like how I can easily find influencers and follow active people in my industry.Use Tweepi
Tailwind
The best Pinterest tool! My other favorite is ViralTag but this one is a lot better due to advanced features they have including pins scheduler, analytics, top pins, competitor tracking, trending pins + more. Get Tailwind
BackUp Tools
Backing up your files is vital for any businesses. You don’t want to lose all that files you worked hard for when something bad happens. So it’s always important to do backups properly.
WD My Passport
The best external storage for backing up my files. I’ve been using them for years and never had any problems.
Get WD My Passport
DropBox
I use Dropbox to easily share and exchange files with my staff and my clients. I can even access my files anywhere – mobile device, tablet and desktop. Get Dropbox
Content Creation Tools
Here are the tools and resources that help me organize and generate content ideas, plus the tools that help me polish my content.
HemmingwayApp
Use this online app to check your article before hitting the publish button! Hemmingway will help you find hard-to-read sentences, complex words or phrases and common errors in your writing.
Get HemmingwayApp
Evernote
The best organizer I’ve ever used. I use Evernote to store ideas, write my to-do lists and to create the first draft of my blog posts. Plus, I love how I can access my notes anywhere – phone, tablet, desktop.
Feedly
Feedly makes it easy for me to stay up to date with my favorite blogs. I get to read them all in one place!Use Feedly
Scoop.it
Need more content ideas? Use Scoop. it! I also use it to find great content to share across social media networks.
Use Scoop.It
Plagium
Plagium is a free tool you can use to spot duplicates or track “Plagiarisms”.
Use Plagium
Portent’s Title Maker
A fun free online tool for generating post title for your next content.
Use Portent
Word Counter
An awesome word counter!
Word Counter
Emoji Keyboard
Another way to add fun to your online content! Emojis. They have a plugin that work with Chrome & Mozilla!
Emoji Keyboard
SEO Tools
Here are the tools that help me optimize my site for search engines:
FeedTheBot Tools
Use this free tool to learn how Google sees your site, learn if you’re following Google’s guideline, find out how many social votes you currently have and determine how much links you have in a page.
Use FeedTheBot
Internet Marketing Ninjas
Although I haven’t tried their service, their SEO and webmaster tools are the bomb! I use them for finding broken links, generating XML sitemap and for analyzing images and links.
Use Internet Makerting Ninjas
WooRank
A free online tool that grades your marketing. It will tell you what to improve and what to fix on your blog to increase your traffic.
Use Woorank
SemRush
It’s a powerful tool for spying competitors. You’ll be able to determine your competitors, the top keywords used by your competitors that drives them traffic, their search positions, and more! It will help you understand what type of content your audience likes and how you can improve your blog content.
Get SemRush
Graphic Design Tools
These are some of the top tools I use to dress up and optimize my blog! These help me create and edit beautiful designs for my website, infographics software and graphics for my blog posts.
Photoshop
My favorite design software of all time. I use this to create layout design for my websites, photo-editing and for creating infographics as well. Download Photoshop
Canva
No Adobe photoshop? A non-graphic designer? Canva’s here to save you! Use this tool to make creative graphics for your posts and even cover photos for your social profiles – in minutes!
Get Canva
Stripemania
An online tool for creating beautiful seamless diagonal stripes for your designs.
Get Stripemania
PiktoChart
Turn your content into beautiful infographic with Piktochart. Lots of cool themes to choose from! In fact, I use them when I need inspiration for my designs.
Use Piktochart
ShutterStock
I’ve used them a couple of times and the quality of their photos are amazing! I had their monthly subscription (25 images per day, $249 a month) Use Shutterstock
IconFinder
My #1 go-to resource for free quality icons. Use IconFinder
Unsplash
Looking for copyright free high-resolution stock photos for your blog posts? Use Unsplash.
Get Unsplash
Paparazzi
A free Mac OS X tool that makes FULL screenshots of webpages.
Get Paparazzi
TinyPNG
The best online tool for compressing PNG files. While you can use the tool for free online, a Photoshop plugin is also available for $35 which lets you save hundreds of PNG files at once. Use TinyPNG
ImageOptim
Another free batch PNG compression app I use when I’m in a hurry! Currently available for Mac users only.
Get ImageOptim
JPEGMini
I’ve tried tons of JPG compressor and I think this one is the best.
Get JPEGMini
NameChanger
A free drag and drop Mac OS X tool that lets you batch modify file names, add and remove characters.
Get NameChanger
DaFont
My #1 go-to for super fonts.
Use Dafont
Deviantart
Best resource for cool Photoshop brushes, patterns and textures!
Use Deviantart
Adobe Kuler
A handy online tool that help me find and select pretty colors for my websites.
Use Adobe Kuler
Jing
My favorite tool for taking screenshots and screen video. Available for Mac and Windows.
Use Jing
Web Design Tools
Here are the tools that help me build and optimize beautiful websites.
Pingdom
I use Pingdom to test and analyze my website speed. I can easily determine the size per content, page size, domain requests. They also offer tips on how to speed up your site.
Coda
An easy-to-use FTP software for Mac users. I use this one to code and manage my websites. What I love the most about it is the ability to edit my sites directly from the software. Download Coda
Awesome Fontstacks
Looking for great fonts to use on your site? Mix and match fonts with Awesome Fontstacks. It will automatically generate the CSS codes for you.
W3C Markup Validation Service
Whenever I make changes or whenever there’s something wrong on my sites, I use W3C Markup Validation tool to determine the errors or check my website’s HTML for validity.
Use W3C Markup Validation Service
CSSMinifier
Manually reduce the size of your CSS file by cleaning up the unnecessary space using CSS minifier.
Get CSSMinifier
Tabifier
Tabifier makes your CSS format pretty, consistent and easy to read.
Use Tabifier
Themes
Here are my favorite places to buy awesome themes for my WordPress websites.
ThemeForest
Themeforest (or Envato) is one of my favorite go-to resources when I’m in need of quality WordPress or HTML themes. They have the best theme designers! And great support system too. Use Themeforest
Elegant Themes
My favorite WordPress theme provider next to Themeforest. $69 for 87 themes! Not quite a good deal, eh? Use Elegant Themes
StudioPress (Genesis Theme)
My favorite product is their Genesis framework, of course. It makes my life so much easier every time I do web design projects for clients. Lots of useful resources too! Use StudioPress
Inspirations
When I’m in need of inspiration for my design projects, here are my top go-to places (besides Pinterest):
Dribbble
A community of stylish designers sharing screenshots of their projects. It’s one of my go-to sources for design inspiration.
Use Dribbble
Visual.ly
Besides Pinterest, I use Visually to find inspirations for my infographics.
Use Visually
Tracking Tools
And finally, my favorite trackers!
Google Webmaster
Here’s where I check the health of my blogs, submit sitemaps, determine error pages, security issues, see how I appear on Google search results and learn the top search queries and top pages.
Use Google Webmaster
Google Analytics
The best tool I know for monitoring and analyzing website traffic – track how much visitors you get per day, understand where your visitors are coming from, and learn the your visitors’ behaviour. Use Google Analytics
Your turn: what are the top blogging tools you can’t live without? Pop them in the comments below!