There is a wealth of great blogging tools.
But the most important way to find them is to understand, first and foremost, why you’re blogging and who is your intended audience?
By examining these two major points, you’ll be able to find better solutions than just tools.
- Tools are useless if you don’t know what they’re for and how to use them properly.
A blog is all about passion. But unfortunately for many of us (and I am one), it’s also art. Perhaps the HTML speaks as much as the Egyptians’ hieroglyphs. Maybe you call for help as soon as you have any updates.
You are passionate. So passionate that you have decided to start a blog to share your information and experience with the world. And that applies to the little blog that begins, like the large established site.
It’s important to make sure that you’re using quality blogging tools that can scale appropriately as your blog grows. This list of resources (i.e., blogging toolbox) is updated often as new blogging tools are released, and existing tools are updated. I recommend that you bookmark this page for quick reference in the future as you continue to improve the quality of your blog.
Without knowing quality blogging tools, all this can belong. Very long. You know how it goes.
For example, suppose you wanted to do a backup of your site, and you do not know-how.
- You will first look for information on Google. You will fall on a mass of articles more or less technical, you will begin to test plugins, and you’ll put half a day to fix it.
- And this is very serious. Seriously, this is as serious as the torn hull of the Titanic. This can kill your site. You can not afford to lose time with the art of searching for the right tool.
- Because every hour spent testing a plugin is a time that you will not spend creating content or promoting your blog. Because that is what matters to your blog’s success.
- Your job is not to code. Your job is to grow your site, traffic, and influence.
- All bloggers have this problem. Beginners and confirmed—those who write one article a week for fun as those who earn their living with their site.
Let me be obvious. You do not need to know programming to be a good blogger. For this, tons of tools can do the job for you.
Your concern is that you may not know them. So I told myself that I would list them.
Whether you are a passionate couple who wants to share their passion or a reinforced blogger, here are the best blogging tools that will help you to take a decisive course.
Buy a Domain Name and Host Your Blog
You have two options. Either you buy just your site’s domain name, or you are buying as accommodation.
Domain Names
You need to create a blog first, is Web hosting, and a domain name.
NameCheap is a very good solution to buy the name of your site, and this economically. This is an American company. The interest to buy it separately from its domain name hosting is that if you decide to change providers in the future, the change will be simplified.
GoDaddy: This site is known for affordable domain registration; if you want to host a website, which is if you wish your website to go live and so that people can view it anywhere in the world, GoDaddy provides you with cheap hosting charges, once I bought a hosting plan I even got a free domain to it. Godaddy even provides you with a sitelock, which you would require if you don’t want hackers to invade your privacy. They even get you a website builder if you are willing to pay for it. They provide you with domains at the cheapest rate possible, I have researched this.
Website and Blog Hosting
Web hosting is where your files will be stored, and the domain is the name of your blog.
As a beginner, selecting the right hosting service is not only crucial but also a headache! I’m sure that quality matters a great deal to you for your money, as it does to me.
I have had some bad experiences with Godaddy and Fatcow hosting services, and I have had some great experiences with budget-shared hosting companies such as Bluehost and Hostgator. You can also visit AlterWebHost to check reviews on different web hosting companies and hosting types including cloud, VPS, and dedicated servers.
Bluehost: I began hosting in a dorm room in 2002. This is one of my favorite web hosting solutions. You can buy hosting from Bluehost, which comes with a free domain and costs $3.95 – $6.95/month for unlimited hosting space and bandwidth. This process will take 5 minutes, and here is a video guide to help you. Click on the below link and get one hosting package for you.
HostGator: HostGator is another shared hosting solution that I recommend. This is reliability and quality of service as a web hosting company! I highly recommend checking out HostGator. HostGator makes it easy for customers to contact them when they need help. Being a large company, there are several ways on how customers can get timely support.
Dreamhost: Another interesting hosting service. Dreamhost offers a custom cPanel instead of the default. Also, you can quickly upgrade from shared hosting to VPS and dedicated hosting, which is very helpful to a growing WordPress blog and something that other web hosting services do not offer.
Check out Dreamhost | Dreamhost Coupon- SML50 | Free Dreamhost Trial Account
However, if you start with a popular website that receives serious traffic, you may also want to consider WebSynthesis or WPEngine.com. Read: how to choose the best web hosting.
WordPress or MovableType or TypePad?
You need to run your blog with WordPress. This is the most common platform where there is more available plug and that with which a maximum of services are compatible.
One in every ten websites is made using the WordPress Platform. I would go so far as to say that WordPress has revolutionized how websites are made and online businesses are managed. Not only do my clients’ websites use WordPress, but my entire business is also built on the WordPress Platform.
WordPress is everywhere, from our blogs to sales letters, membership sites, squeeze pages, launch pages, etc. This tool has single-handedly simplified the task of website creation. Now, I cannot imagine how we handled things before the advent of WordPress since we would have to write code one page after another with HTML manually, and believe me, that was no easy task.
The most economical solution is to use one of the many free themes available for free under WordPress. You will surely find one that fits what you want in terms of design.
But there is a “but,” I’ll explain.
I, too, had succumbed to the free themes when I started blogging. But since it’s become my job, I use it the most.
The big worry with free themes is all these little clues they leave behind you and say, “I blog amateur.” I speak of these 1001 English words that betray your blog. Such as “Leave a comment,” “+ date we post by admin,” “older posts,”… the Internet is an English-speaking world, and the free themes are no exception to the rule. Free themes and make you look like a blogger Sunday.
When I reported this problem on one of my first sites, I tried to make the changes myself. The concern is that I also do not understand the code. I called for a developer who “clears” and changes those little annoying indices.
If you want to take the next step and have a site that makes it pro, you can buy a paid theme with a technical support option. This is what Elegant Theme or Theme Forest or THESIS Theme or WooThemes or Creative Market.
There are many choices. Here are a few that I have used:
1. Theme Forest
2. Creative Market
3. Elegant Themes
I have installed themes from other providers, but these seemed to have the widest variety.
My own experience is this:
1. Theme Forest is my favorite. It has an incredibly vast variety of styles, functions, designs, and speeds of websites. I was able to find several that have worked well. The themes I used from theme Forest code seems to have been the cleanest, and I was able to find one of the most versatile – and fast – website theme (Avada).
2. Creative Market was my least favorite. I use Creative Market for images, fonts, presentation templates, flyer templates, and other graphics, so I tried out one of the WordPress templates they offer. It was gorgeous, but was very slow and “glitchy.”
3. Elegant Themes seems to be a great company with its finger on the pulse of web design. I found it a bit “pretty” and not as business-like and clean as I am looking for, but appreciate their blog and web marketing recommendations.
In the end, I love Theme Forest. They also send notifications and easy access to downloads when the themes (or plugins) you purchased are updated.
And if you want a blog with a unique design, you can contact a designer via 99designs.
99designs site is a fantastic crowdsourcing platform that helps anyone to improve their design skills, believe me, it’s better than any tutorial site across the web. The main attraction is, that even if you didn’t make it to the final stage of a competition you are getting a chance to solve design challenges. It’s easy to win a contest if you are a bit creative and understand what the client says.
And if you don’t know how to start just read the designer blog for a few days and you are good to go. The principle of this site is simple. Present your project and get proposals from several designers. If none please, you can get your money back. A great way to compare proposals designers at an affordable price.
I compared with 99designs done work with a graphic designer. There is no picture. A graphic takes you 900 dollars for three site models (you have to pay even if you do not like it, and yes, it is of benefit), while over 99designs will cost you less, you’ll more proposals, and you can be reimbursed if nothing, please.
Content is important, but I think what’s most important is how you utilize that content to create a consistent brand experience across multiple channels. My focus and my clients’ focus in 2016 is geared toward creating a seamless Cross-Channel Marketing program utilizing the best tools for their organization. Creating new articles, blog posts, and Podcasts is impotent to keeping your business in the spotlight. n the past years, I have created my own system for creating content that gets noticed, and below are the tools that I put to use:
Content creation tips we should keep in mind for 2016
- Don’t write content around keywords, move your focus towards creating content that inspires, provides value, and educates.
- Don’t forget your existing customers. rite content that addresses needs and questions that your existing customers might have.
- Don’t post content just because you want to. Research content topics that you believe will resonate well with your audience. Remember to focus on the quality of your posts and not just the quantity.
Content Creation Blogging Tools
Topsy.com: Topsy was designed by a San Francisco start-up to help make sense of the billions of tweets being posted on Twitter. The free Topsy social search tool is very powerful in allowing marketers to track their brand on Twitter, to see how content is being shared, who is sharing, the key influencers, and the sentiment over time.
Scoop.it: This is a great tool for collecting, organizing, sharing, and getting suggestions on topics of your choice. t offer great customization in terms of appearance, utility, and layout. can have free reign to include any image I want. t is possible to edit everything related to curated item (image, description, etc) and have the necessary link back to the original source built-in by default. It saves a lot of time and effort.
Quora: Quora connects you to everything you want to know about. Quora aims to be the easiest place to write new content and share content from the web. e organize people and their interests so you can find, collect and share the information most valuable to you.
Quora is itself another world, a World of knowledge that leads to some remarkable questions and so as answers. o, when you can get involved in gaining something fruitful for you what else can come to your mind then. Once reading becomes inveterate to you it won’t matter how many mistakes you have done and how negative you are regarding some useless things.
Analyze your traffic with Google Analytics and Google Analytics plugin NK. like this plugin for an important reason: its simplicity. imply enter the key to your Analytics code and validate all going to see traffic stats. his way, every blogger has access to this already comprehensive tool Google.
Share your content on social networks Digg Digg. As stated in the presentation this plugin is the same as those of the huge site Mashable. Add sharing buttons to your site via a “floating” bar. This is what attracts the most clicks!
But I personally use which allows a greater possibility in the settings. ut it pays very reasonable price levels: $ 14.
The speed of your site is important. hen a page takes more than 2.5 seconds to load, you already lose half of your visitors. Install the plugin WP SuperCache for your website to be fast like Roadrunner. he basic settings, very easy to implement, will be sufficient for most blogs.
See you more visible to Google with the SEO plugin. our strategy number must be the creation of good content and promotion. ut do not deprive yourself to highlight your keywords using the Platinum SEO Pack plugin or WordPress SEO by Yoast great.
Save your site. What will you do tomorrow if your site is not responding? r if an update you plant altogether? he easiest way is to make backups of your blog with WordPress Database Backup. his plugin will send a backup file every day to your mailbox or Dropbox.
The most valuable asset of your blog traffic is neither your nor your content. This is your part list of best blogging tools. A registered list is THE best way to create and retain an audience. his is better than Facebook is better than Twitter.
Start making your list grow with the Aweber autoresponder service. he first month is almost free, and their service is relatively affordable as you have fewer than 10,000 subscribers.
Capture email: I tested several plugins to create an email capture form. nd the result is striking since you can easily quadruple or quintuple the number of emails in your list with good form. y favorite is ThriveLeads, which can make all the forms you want fixed, pop up, open after clicking a link, and split-test.
Videos: If you have videos on YouTube and want to show them on your site, use the plugin YouTube shortcode to insert in any article.
Make split-testing: the best way to grow a blog is to test several versions of pages. our readers-they click more about red or yellow buttons? r does it place the image? ext What works best? Optimized can compare multiple versions of the same page and keep the one that works best. machine if you want to sell online, or simply interest your readers to the bottom of a page. The tool is quite expensive, but it really is a worthwhile investment.
Find photos: If you want to insert photos on your site, you must first ensure that you have permission. ou can find pictures at very low prices on Fotolia and Shutterstock.
Plan your messages on social networks: Use Hootsuite to consolidate in one place the publication on Twitter, Facebook, or any other social network. ou will gain not only time, but you will also have a battery of statistics to measure the effectiveness of your messages on social networks.
Spend less time on your email: Use a tool like Zen Desk to create support tickets. Instead of sending you requests by mail, your readers will open tickets you can track and adjust your pace.
The ultimate marketing weapon: Customer IO is a tool to target your email campaigns based on the habits and tastes of your audience. n effective weapon for big bloggers who want to sell online.
Organize a webinar: AnyMeeting is a simple and effective solution for ultra organize a webinar. ou can send the registration forms by email, and even sell the entry ticket and earn money with your videoconference.
Add a zone member: If you want to create exclusive content, reserved for the most faithful members of your blog, or just to your clients, you can do it easily with WishList Member.
Secure your blog: piracy exists. t’s a reality. nd the more popular your site becomes, the greater will be the target of ill-intentioned people. he damage can be really important, but you can secure your blog with Sucuri to repel any attack.
Overdrive your list: Lead Pages use to create a squeeze page that converts. What’s great about this service is that you can multiply the gifts. et me explain. One of the most effective techniques to capture email from a reader is to give him something in return, such as an ebook. Despite all the talk right or left, it works. y ebook converts 30% of my visitors inscribed. t’s solid.
If you want to do better, give a gift by article. ou can convert a LOT. he concern is that it forces you to expand the lists, so it artificially swelled the number of registered with AWeber. However, the greater part of, the more you pay. Read Pages that rule. his service allows offering bonus disputes with the same list.
Turn your blog forum: Simple Press is a plugin that supports the growth of your blog, which can then become a real forum for exchange among members. Perfect for creating a community.
Upwork: Formerly Elance-oDesk, a global freelancing platform where businesses and independent professionals connect and collaborate remotely. Upwork is a platform that connects employers with virtual freelancers. Upwork presents to reach talent from around the world. It is a legitimate company where freelancers can find legitimate work.
I use this website to find inexpensive resources to hire for several blog-related tasks that I don’t have time to complete.
Elance: Elance is a freelance website where freelancers can find work. However, Elance is going through the final stages of merging with Upwork. If you do not already have an active contract on Elance that you are working on, you will need to sign up for an account on Upwork instead.
Fiverr.com: Fiverr is a self-employed person’s secret weapon for earning more while doing less. It’s a micro-job platform where services start at $5. Costs average around less than $50. You do need to know the system.
E-Junkie: I use this excellent shopping cart system to sell eBooks on some of my other blogs. -Junkie supports the most popular payment solutions, including PayPal Standard and Pro, Google Checkout, Authorize.Net, TrialPay, ClickBank, and 2CheckOut. -junkie would be preferred if you can market your item and the item itself is in demand.
ClickBank: Clickbank is a large Marketplace where you get Vender’s digital products like tutorials and courses. Here is a wealth of knowledge if you search for it. Clickbank is a large community where you can promote an offer, service, or product. In addition, you can have affiliates promote your product. You promote them and get a good commission. Ommissions are 50% and 75%.
Paypal: This is another option that you can use to sell products on your blog. Only utilize PayPal as a means of accepting payment for my digital goods. T helps buyers to make purchases from unknown small-time sellers. PayPal takes care of the “trust” in eCommerce transactions. Here are lots of others things you can do with PayPal. Example – send money to your friends in your country or abroad, buy goods on Walmart, etc.,
Whatever your need, you will find an internet service that offers. The issue is your strategy. O, you have to do everything, or do you focus on what matters? All this requires a budget. Consider it an investment to deploy your blog.
Say you just one thing. Whatever you need, you’ll find an online service to get there. Blog blogger will analyze these data with Google Analytics when a high traffic site leaves KISSmetrics.
You choose the best blogging tools to transform your blog traffic machine and real little empire.
