My most-used blogging tools

When it comes to blogging, there are so many tools available to help bloggers streamline the process of updating, publishing and promoting content. Many people don’t realize how much work actually goes into blogging (A LOT), so it’s important to find the right tools to help you be successful as a content creator. Even though I’ve been blogging for about 10 months now (crazy how time flies!), I still consider myself “new” to the whole blogging thing because it seems like I learn something about it every other day. The last few months have been a huge learning experience as I’m taking the “Get Noticed” course for bloggers, created by Dana of Wonder Forest, and I’ve started using scheduling apps like Hootsuite and Latergramme — which have made a HUGE difference. So, here are my top blogging tools and why I love them. 

Hootsuite. I learned about Hootsuite shortly after I started blogging but kept putting it off on my to-do list — what a mistake! I use it every day now to schedule my Facebook and Twitter posts. It is seriously the MOST helpful tool. Now I’m not forgetting to share my new posts on social media or taking time out of my day to write them. I publish my posts first thing in the morning and write at least 3-5 social media updates to post throughout the day.

Bitly. I did start using Bitly almost immediately after creating my blog because I wanted to include my post links in Tweets without taking up all the characters on the URL. Now I use it for social media and to track how many views each link gets, which is really helpful in learning what sort of content is read most and what type of tweets are best for pushing them.

Latergramme. Instagram is my favorite app as a blogger, but it can also be a major timesuck! Just crafting a single post could take me 10 minutes or more to choose the right picture, get the right filter, write a good caption and include all my hashtags (which are very important!). I try to post 2-4 photos every day, and spending upwards of 10 minutes on each one was just not conducive to my schedule. That’s where Latergramme comes in. You can upload your photo, create your caption and schedule it. Then it will notify you before it publishes because you have to manually do it yourself — which is nice because sometimes you think of a better caption after you've left it alone for a few hours.

Bloglovin. I wish I had known about Bloglovin from day one. It’s basically Pinterest for blogs, and I can’t believe every blogger isn’t on it. It doesn’t take any work to get your posts seen every day — just create an account for your blog and the posts automatically show up when you publish them on your blog. It’s great for following other blogs that you love because they’re all in one place, rather than keeping a bookmark folder on your browser, which I used to do. Plus, Bloglovin has great widgets that you can use for free on your blog to get more followers, and that’s the whole point, right?

Viralwoot. So, this one isn’t exactly on my favorites list but I wanted to include it because it is a helpful tool. Viralwoot is a Pinterest scheduling site that allows you to pin photos from your website and schedule them to show up anytime on Pinterest. The problem with Viralwoot is that you have to log in every time you want to use it, and once you use the “Schedule Pin” toolbar button and log in, it makes you start the process over. Once I’m inside the website, I do like it because I can schedule the times, boards and change the captions on each photo. It’s just not very streamlined. So if you have tried any other Pinterest scheduling sites, I’d love to hear what works for you!

I hope this helps, and if you have any questions about the apps I use or anything else, just leave them in the comments or send me an email at helloeleniblog@gmail.com. And if you have any other tools that you love for blogging, let me know about those too!

P.S. 5 blogs to step up your blogging game and how to be productive while working at home