10 Tools and Apps for Blogging - Make Blogging Easier and Faster

Tools and Apps for Blogging Intro

There are so many free tools and apps for blogging that can make your life easier!

These are my favorites that I consistently turn to.

They should help you too!

Write Better

The three tools below help you write better. These include Grammarly, Hemmingway, and Yoast.

Grammarly

You know how when you're typing into Word and it tells you, you spelled something wrong? Well, there's a way to have that happen when you're online as well! There's a free plug-in called Grammarly, that will do this for you online! They have a paid version as well, but I've always used the free version.

There's a free plug-in called Grammarly, that will do this for you online! They have a paid version as well, but I've always used the free version.

Click here to grab the free Grammarly plug-in for Chrome.

Hemingway

If you write a blog or captions for social media posts, this is a great tool to have. You can plug any sentence(s) into it, and it will teach you the best way to say what you're trying to say!

You no longer need to be a great writer to write a blog, you can just use the Hemingway app!

Grab the Hemingway app for free here.

Yoast Plug-In

You want to use SEO on your blog to bring you more traffic. But, let's be honest, SEO seems confusing and like a lot of work! The Yoast Plug-In is an easy workaround for this. You can use their plug-in for Wordpress and easily do SEO for yourself! When you're writing each blog post, you simply add your keyword(s) to the Yoast Plug-In at the bottom of the page. Then it will tell you what you need to change to improve your SEO!

Click here to get the free Yoast Plug-In. You can also search for it in "Plugins" when you're logged into your Wordpress account.

Yoast has a paid version as well, but I've always used the free version.

Find What to Write About

The following five tools are ways to find topics to write about. I'll go into detail about each tool below.

Google Keyword Planner

Use Google Keyword Planner to figure out how often a word is searched. This can help you decide if it's a good keyword to use, or not. Google Keyword Planner will also suggest other keywords that are similar to the keyword(s) you entered.

Google Keyword Planner is a free tool.

Click here to get started with Google Keyword Planner.

Buzzsumo

Buzzsumo is a great way to find what topics are popular and what's trending now. You can enter a keyword or phrase and see articles that have that keyword or phrase and have been shared the most. You can see what type of articles are shared the most as well as where they are shared. This can help you determine what will do well, and what won't.

You can also check out the "trending now" tab to see what topics are most popular right now.

I currently use the free version of Buzzsumo, but they do have a paid version. The paid version starts at $99 per month and gives you access to more search results.

Click here to get started with Buzzsumo.

Feedly

With Feedly you can add all of your favorite blogs. Then each day you can check what each of those blogs has posted about. Using Feedly is an easy way to keep up on the latest news in your industry, without having to check a bunch of different websites.

Feedly has a paid and a free version, I use the free version.

Click here to get started with Feedly.

Google Alerts

When you set up Google Alerts, you enter keywords and phrases you want to track. Any time one of your keywords or phrases is mentioned online, you will receive an email about it. This is another way to stay on top of trends and breaking news in your industry. I like to include words that will let me know when something new has come out. So I'll use phrases like "Snapchat Update" and "Facebook Update".

Google Alerts is a free tool.

Click here to add words to your Google Alerts.

Twitter and Facebook Lists

You can use Twitter and Facebook lists to keep tabs on companies and people that are similar to you, as well as competitors. They're a quick easy way to see what's happening right now in your niche. Plus, you can easily share or retweet from these lists.

Lists on Facebook and Twitter are both free.

Click here for how to use Twitter Lists.

Click here for how to use Facebook Lists for pages.

Add Graphics

At the very least, you need an image for your "featured image" when writing blog posts. You can either create a custom image, take a photo yourself, or use a stock image. For a list of website that you can find free stock images, click here.

Canva

Canva is a free website (they have an app too) that you can use to customize your images. It's easy and fast to use.

They have a free version, but I use the paid version. With the paid version, you're able to use their "magic resize" tool. This tool allows you to instantly resize any image with the click of a button. This is usefully when you're posting the same image onto different social media sites. Each site works best with a different sized image, so this tool helps with that process.

Click here to create a Canva account.

Create a Blog

To make use of most of these tools, you first need to have a website. There are many companies you can use to host your website. I use Bluehost and Wordpress. I find them to be the easiest to use.

Bluehost

Click here for step-by-step instructions on how to set up your website using Bluehost.

Click here to start creating your website using Bluehost.
*This is an affiliate link.

Share Your Posts on Social Media

You can't just write a blog post and expect people to come flocking to it! You have to share it so people know that it's out there! You can also share it more than once. (Just don't overdo it).

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is my main tool for scheduling out posts. I use it to schedule posts for Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. For Facebook, I schedule posts directly on Facebook. (I get higher engagement and reach on Facebook when I schedule directly on Facebook.)

Hootsuite has a paid and a free version, I use the free version. On the free version, you can connect up to three social media accounts.

Click here to get a Hootsuite account.

There are also some tools that will automatically share your blog posts. I don't currently use one of these, so I can't recommend one. But you can read about these tools here.

Conclusion

The goal behind these tools is to work smarter, not harder! What's your favorite tool to use for blogging? Comment below!