Do you ever feel like your blog needs a little help? Maybe it’s time for an intervention? Well, no matter if you’re a beginner or a seasoned pro, there are going to be times when your blog isn’t working the way it should. Maybe you need help with something specific, or maybe you just want to make your life easier.
When it comes to running a successful blog, there are a ton of little things you can do to make sure it's profitable and optimized. From outsourcing some of the heavier lifts to finding the best tools for your blog, there are plenty of things you can do to make sure your blog is a success.
In this article, we'll be discussing the best tools for running a blog that makes the most out of your time. From social media management to optimization services, there are plenty of tools out there to make sure your blog is running as smoothly as possible. In this article, we'll be discussing the top 13 tools for your blog that make the most out of your time.
13 best blogging tools to make your life easier
With the growing demand for online content, blogs have become an essential part of any content marketer’s arsenal. In fact, research shows that 97% of marketers say that blogs are an important part of their content marketing strategy.
But with so many new bloggers starting up every day, knowing which tools are right for you can be challenging. Here’s a list of the essential blogging tools every blogger needs to know about. From free tools to paid services that will save you time and money, read on to discover what’s right for your blog and budget.
Blogger
As the original content management system (CMS) for bloggers, there’s no denying that Blogger is a great tool for starting a blog. It’s free and easy to set up, allowing you to create a professional-looking blog in just a few minutes.
Furthermore, blogger comes with plenty of helpful features for blog starters, including:
Multiple blogging platforms with diverse features: You can set up your blog on both WordPress and blogger.com.
Easy management of your blogs: Add, edit, and delete posts, assign categories and tags, and delete blog history with a few clicks.
Built-in SEO: Engagement and backlink analysis let you see which posts are getting the most attention on Google, as well as how your blog is performing compared to other blogs in your niche.
A fully-featured blog editor: Easily create and edit blog posts with the powerful blog editor, which comes with an integrated word cloud, image generator, and more.
WordPress
Over the last decade, WordPress has become synonymous with blogging. It’s easy to see why:
WordPress is free and easy to use, with a huge ecosystem of plugins, themes, and services to help make your blog stand out from the crowd.
Beyond blogging, you can use WordPress to power your entire digital presence. To be able to do that, knowing how this platform works will be a plus, but knowing how to deal with common problems with WordPress will be a must to create an amazing website. Also, with powerful SEO and Conversion optimization tools, you can create a professional website, mobile app, and more— all within WordPress.
Hubspot
When it comes to growing a business through content— be it through blogging or any other form of digital media — there’s only one name that comes to mind: Hubspot.
If you’re marketing your blog the old-fashioned way, through paid ads, then you’re likely wasting your time. With so many other marketing channels being offered free or for a small price, it makes much more sense to leverage your blog’s natural authority and reach. Hubspot’s blog growth software helps you do exactly that.
With their incredible software, you can easily create and manage multiple blogs on multiple platforms, including WordPress and blogger. And with tools like lead scoring, you can easily see which blog topics are driving business and leads for your clients or employees. It has everything you need to create engaging content and boost your inbound marketing efforts. You can create lead magnets, create and schedule lead-capturing emails, create high-quality content, and much more.
Beyond that, you can easily create and manage podcasts, videos, and webinars, as well as develop a fully-functional marketing team that can support your business through every stage of growth.
Google Analytics
For years, Google has been a staple of the blogging industry, providing an excellent platform for content marketers. As part of the Google ecosystem, Google Analytics is excellent for tracking pageviews, visits, and conversions for your blog.
A blog is a website, and like any website, it's important to understand how people are interacting with it. Visitors to your website are going to leave behind some data. When you're running a blog, that data is extremely valuable. Luckily, data analytics tools like Google Analytics makes it super easy to understand how people are interacting with your blog. All you have to do is add your site to your Google Analytics account, and you're set.
For example, you can see for yourself how many people are visiting your blog, how long they're staying, what their top search terms are, and more. This data allows you to see what content is performing well, what type of topics are getting more interest, and more. This data can also help you see what types of posts people aren't clicking on as much, which can help you determine if you should continue to focus on that type of content or try a different approach.
And the best part? You can use Google’s powerful formula to see which posts are getting the most attention on your blog and use that data to create better content moving forward. Once you have a better idea of where your readers are coming from, you can better plan out your blog and increase its open rate.
Google Adwords
If you're looking to advertise your blog, Google Adwords is one of the best tools available. There are a ton of different options when it comes to advertising your blog with Google, and we've covered some of them in detail in this blog post.
For the most bang for your buck, we recommend starting with Google Adwords. AdWords allows you to advertise on Google search results pages, which means potential visitors to your blog will see your ads when they're looking for answers. You can choose between two different ad types: text ads and image ads.
For text ads, you can choose between up to 6 different ad formats, including an ad format that automatically changes words based on what people are searching for. For image ads, you can choose between up to 11 different ad formats, including an ad format that automatically creates an image ad based on the person's geographic location.
Buzzsumo
Finding the right content to promote is crucial to growing your blog. And when it comes to finding content that is both relevant to your audience and is actually good, finding good content can be hard.
Luckily, Buzzsumo makes it super easy to discover the best content and blogs to promote on your own blog. Just enter your blog’s main keywords and check out popular content on topics you’re interested in.
You’ll then see popular content sources on topics related to your keywords and get a good idea of the types of posts that are performing well on your blog. Keep in mind that you should only promote content that you have permission to share on your own blog.
HootSuite
When it comes to social media management, there are a ton of tools available. While most of them will manage your accounts and schedule for you, not all of them are created equally.
HootSuite is one of the top social media management tools out there and the one we recommend for any blogger. HootSuite allows you to track and manage all of your social media accounts in one place. You can post to all of your accounts at the same time, organize posts by the due date, schedule posts for later, and much more.
You can set up alerts for keywords, hashtags, and topics that are important to your business and brand, so you’ll always know when something is happening. You can also pause and re-publish old tweets, schedule social media posts, and much more. Having one app to rule them all can make your life easier, especially when it comes to social media management. You can see stats and analytics for each of your social media accounts right in HootSuite.
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
As your blog grows, you're going to want to keep up with the hardware so your site doesn't become too heavy a load for your Internet connection. For this, you can use the Amazon Web Services (AWS) hosting plan.
AWS hosts your blog on a server that's located in the cloud, giving you access to lots of bandwidth, storage, and other site resources without having to manage all of the hardware yourself. AWS also state of the art cybersecurity protection to prevent cyberattacks like identity theft, credit card scams and phishing.
This is perfect for any blogger with a small business who wants to focus more on their content and less on the hardware required to host the site. For each plan, AWS provides you with a different amount of resources, which you can change as your needs change, and your traffic grows.
Moz
Last but not least, you can check out Moz. Launched in 2012, Moz is a data-driven marketing company that helps businesses understand the full potential of their online presence, including their blog. As part of their SEO audit, they’ll inspect your site, run a keyword analysis, and provide detailed reports on your blog’s performance.
In short, Moz is a tool that helps you discover what content performs the best on your blog and what type of content your readers want to see the most. Using the blog analysis data you've already collected, you can use Moz to see which posts perform the best and determine if you need to keep writing that type of content or if there's a different approach you should be taking.
Beyond that, you can use their keyword research tool to uncover new keyword ideas, research competitor blogs to see how you match up and even see where your blog isn’t getting the most attention on Google.
Last.fm
Everyone loves a good playlist, and with so many ways to create them, there’s bound to be at least one that speaks to you. Whether you want to create mixes for your blog or share playlists on social media, there are a lot of free mix hosting websites out there. You can try out Last.fm, both for music streaming and for discovering new artists.
With over 70 million tracks in its catalog and counting, Last.fm has something for everyone. You can also create Last.fm radio stations based on various music genres and discover new music you may like. Plus, with our premium accounts, you can even discover what music your readers like and create playlists based on their preferences.
Outreachy
Blogging is a lonely business. Unless you have a tumblr, no one seems to be listening. So it’s up to us to create communities around our blogs. Outreachy is a tool that helps you do just that. By creating a free account, you can create “outreachy posts,” or small guest posts for other blogs.
Outreachy will find suggested topics for your posts based on what you write in your account profile, so it’s best to include information about your blog, the type of post you want to publish, and information about the blog you’re guest posting for. Outreachy will then suggest topics for your posts, so you just need to pick and choose which ones you want to publish.
Optimizely
If you want to test out new headlines and see what type of impact they have on your Google Analytics data, there's one tool for the job. Google Analytics provides you with a ton of data, but it's difficult to understand what data is important and what data is not. For example, you might have the feeling that your site's ranking is going down since you didn't update the site's content recently, but you might actually be fine regardless.
To try and figure out if your site is actually getting worse or if you're just interpreting the data incorrectly, you can use the service provided by Optimizely. Using a series of tests, you can find out what headlines improve your traffic and what headlines have a negative impact on your site's ranking.
Bufferapp
If you're worried about the amount of time it takes to update your blog or the quality of your posts, you should consider using some AI content writing tools. Blog post outsourcing has become increasingly popular over the last few years, and there are a ton of different options out there.
Launched as a side project in 2013, buffer quickly grew into one of the most popular tools for content marketers. With a unique approach to social media management, it’s easy to see why: you can create flexible, sharable content with their content management system that can be saved anywhere, anytime.
With the new Buffer Writesonic integration, you can easily create content for your social media posts and schedule it via Buffer. It saves a lot of time for marketers and social media experts.
Beyond that, you can use their in-house tool to manage your social media accounts, analyze your success, and even schedule posts, comments, and likes.
Conclusion
Blogging is an essential part of any digital marketing strategy. It allows you to create content and share your voice with the world. The best bloggers are those who can find their own voice and create content that is relevant to their audience.
Though blogging can seem like a daunting task when you’re just getting started, it doesn’t have to be. With a little bit of effort and the right tools, you can make your blogging experience much easier and more effective.
If you are a blogger, these are the tools that you should try out to make your life easier and grow your blog. From free tools to paid services, these tools will save you time and money. Plus, you can choose it according to your budget. So, get ready to take your blogging to the next level by putting these tools to use.
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