As we start a new year, it is an excellent time to look at tools that can help your blog. Of course, there is always our Launch Your Internet Business series of tutorials. However, we are going to look at some specific tools to help once your site is live instead of just launching it.
Blogging Tools Come In All Forms
We start by considering all the ways tools can help our blogging. There are some that help us write faster, better (SEO and grammatically), communicate to our audience, and more. For this article, we will look at a wide range of tools and how they can help.
Write Better – Grammarly
The best tool I have come across personally is Grammarly. You can sign up for free at grammarly.com and grab the browser plugins. This site goes beyond blogging and instead is a spell/grammar checking tool that helps you fill out any content in a browser. Although this is useful in all web communication, its most significant value is to bloggers. It works like spell checking in your favorite word processor, but with more functionality. You will see the familiar red lines to denote misspelled words, but the tool also provides a form of proofreading. It will cover common grammatical mistakes and include tips on writing better. For example, it will flag words you use too often, point out the use of passive wording and more.
Get The Word Out – Buffer
We have covered Buffer in some detail in a prior post you can check out here. This tool provides a free option and some low-cost ones as well. This is one of the best time-saving tools I have used in the last year. It allows the user to setup multiple social sites and then post to them in a simple step. It also enables posts to be scheduled for future release. Better yet, the paid version provides a feature where you can follow feeds and share a re-post from the feeds. This feature allows me to scan through potentially useful articles and share the ones I find helpful. All of this in as much time as it takes to tell you about it.
Manage Your Mailing List – MailChimp
Any article about blogging refers to a mailing list early and often. The management of this resource is easier said than done. Enter MailChimp. Do not let the amusing name lead you to underestimate its value. MailChimp provides some forms to build a mailing list, but that is just the first step. Once you have a list, you can use this tool to manage communication to the list including emails, newsletters and they even provide some great templates for typical mailings. There is a free version. Also, you can step up to a mere $10/month for more advanced features. We use this extensively, and when you combine it with Buffer, we have the headache of managing communication covered.
I could go on, but this is a good start. Use these tools with WordPress, and you might not need to add any others to your arsenal. Nevertheless, keep an eye out for a follow-up article in the weeks ahead. We look at some other tools that can improve productivity and lead you to more of that all-valuable free time.
