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As bloggers, we know that the to-do list never seems to get shorter. In fact, it gets longer and longer each day. Instead of going crazy trying to do everything all at once, I looked for blogging tools that will help me stay sane and still produce quality content for my readers.
I am a huge fan of tools that help me get from point A to point B faster. After all, why do it the long way if you find a shortcut that works?
Today I am going to be sharing 10 blogging tools that help me save time as a blogger. Some of these are free and some are paid, but I stand by them all 100%.
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Pin for later 🙂
8 Time-Saving Blogging Tools
WordPress
Before I switched over to WordPress, setting up a theme and running a blog, in general, was a nightmare. I don’t understand coding at all, so having a website that does all the coding for me is a godsend.
WordPress also checks my analytics and has a ton of great plug-ins I use to keep my site looking nice and performing well. In addition to that, their app is great to have on my phone and quickly read/reply to comments and draft new posts on the go!
Bluehost
I’ve gushed about Bluehost in my post on How To Start A Money-Making Blog.
Bluehost is the hosting site I use for my blog and I absolutely love it. When I first started out with it, I was a little lost because I have zero idea about website building. Luckily, they offer 24/7 chat support, and that was a huge help in the earlier days of my blog!
Bluehost is are super affordable, at only 3.95 a month, so every blogger can create a professional blog right off the bat.
If you are interested in creating a blog, or already have one but want to learn some new tips and tricks, I offer a free 7-day blogging course. You can sign up to it below!
Canva
Canva is what I use to create all my graphics, social media pictures, and freebies. It took some time getting used to it, but now it is something I use almost every day.
Another thing I use Canva for is to create all my pins. My pin game has definitely not always been great, but I have now gotten into the groove of creating nicer-looking pins on Canva.
You can create so much on it. Anything from planners, resumes, social media designs, documents, worksheets, lesson plans, logos, business cards, and even invitations can be made for free using Canva.
If you only sign up for one of the services I’m recommending, let it be this.
ConvertKit
ConvertKit is what I currently use as my email provider for my mailing list. I used to have an account with a free mailing service for a few months, but I switched over to ConvertKit and it made a huge difference in how fast people are now subscribing to my mailing lists.
One of my favorite things about ConvertKit is that I can place a different opt-in form on each post, which I couldn’t previously do.
Right now I have 4 different opt-in forms across my blog. Each one is for a specific area I blog about. Previously, I could only have the same opt-in forms on ALL my posts. That meant that my readers who were reading a post on blogging had an opt-in form for self-care in the post. Not exactly relevant.
In addition to that, my mailing list is growing at a very fast rate which is what every blogger wants. I am a complete ConvertKit convert. Try them out for free for up to 1000 subscribers here.
Grammarly
I’ve used Grammarly since I started blogging, and it quickly became one of my favorite tools. I am not the greatest writer in the world. In fact, I am far from it.
What Grammarly allows me to do is not worry about whether what I’m writing makes sense, because if it doesn’t, it lets me know.
There are a few plans that Grammarly offer and each plan has different features. I recommend signing up for the Premium plan which has a lot of great features. It checks for overused words, plagiarism, inconsistent writing style and unclear sentence structure among others.
I think all professional bloggers and writers need a tool like Grammarly, no matter how skilled in writing they are. Mistakes happen here and there, and there are times when I would completely overlook something if it wasn’t for the alerts.
Sign up with Grammarly here.
Tailwind
I can’t have a post on blogging tools and not include Tailwind. I was hesitant to start using Tailwind at first because I thought that manual pinning was easier to do. That was until I tried out the free version after countless blogs told me that it was the coolest thing since sliced bread.
If you’re confused about how Tailwind works and if it will work better for you than manual pinning, here are my thoughts.
Manual pinning takes time. Lots of time, especially, if you want to get somewhere with Pinterest marketing. Before switching over to Tailwind I pinned maybe 20 posts on a good day.
Ever since switching over to Tailwind a month back, I am now pinning 100 pins across 67 boards. Want to know how long that takes me? I timed myself today. It took me 15 minutes to schedule 975 pins. Pinning manually, 975 pins would have taken me forever to pin.
My reach has also increased, and it is only growing. My best performing pin has been clicked on over 400 times, and I have grown my monthly viewers by 40K in one month.
My experience with Tailwind has been nothing but positive, and I think it can work for any blogger. Try it out for free here.
If you’re having trouble with getting traffic from Pinterest to your blog, I wrote a super affordable ebook on how to boost your blog traffic using Pinterest! Check out Pinterest Perfect here!
Yoast SEO
Manually making sure that every post is SEO friendly is a complete pain in the ass, and not guaranteed. That is why Yoast SEO is a lifesaver if you want to rank higher in Google searches, and have legit-looking posts.
Since installing the plug-in, I am now able to see if there is anything I need to fix when writing my posts to improve SEO.
It’s super easy to install and activate and is something that every blogger needs to increase traffic and keep Google happy.
I use the free version of Yoast SEO and it serves me just fine.
Stock Images
I’m no photographer, nor do I try to be one. What I do know is that photography takes a lot of time and effort, and I applaud all bloggers who take their own photos.
Since I do not, I like to use stock photos. I used Pexels for the longest time until I realized that I’d used all the pretty photos they have to offer. Pexels is a free stock photos website, and is great for beginners, or if you don’t want to pay for images.
A few weeks ago I bought a membership to Pixistock. The images there are absolutely stunning and fit my theme perfectly.
I think that at one point all bloggers should upgrade to a paid stock photo membership unless you take your own photos. The reason being is that everybody’s blogs are a bit saturated with the same free photos. It’s good to stand out.
Related:
Blogging 101
Pin for later 🙂
I need to include more opt-in forms on my site. Thanks for the ConvertKit suggestion! I’m using MailChimp right now.
I liked MailChimp a lot but with ConvertKit you can do a lot more with opt-in forms!
Loved this post! I’m new to the blogging world and familiar with some of these, but also found some new ones. Thanks for the great info!
My pleasure! I’m glad you found it helpful 🙂
I absolutely love it when website hosts have good support teams. On WordPress, someone always gets back to me within minutes when I have a question. Stock images, especially free ones, are another love for me. Since I mostly write fiction, Unsplash is a wonderful place for me to get beautiful photos, but I love Canva for book covers!
Oh I used to love Unsplash! How did I forget to mention it? Having a good support team is super important, especially for new bloggers! When I first started with Bluehost I kept those poor workers on my chat for hours at a time haha!
I haven’t heard of some of these I will have to do some research x
I hope you find something you like!
Tailwind is exactly what I need!! Definitely going to try it.
You will love it! Make sure to watch the tutorials they have as it can get a bit confusing for first-timers.
Great post. I have the Business WordPress plan and I love it – plugins are invaluable! I also wrote a pretty lengthy blog post about stock images yesterday – they’re SO handy for so many people! x
Oh I can’t wait to read your post about stock images! I definitely rely on them.
Super tips that you’ve provided in this article!! I’m a huge fan of both ConvertKit and Tailwind myself!
Glad you liked them! I LOVE both of those, they make my life 1000 times easier!
Great post, I’ll have to give tailwind at 😊💕
I’m sure you’ll enjoy it! Make sure to watch their tutorials as it can get a bit confusing for beginners 🙂
I love Grammarly, it’s such an underrated tool and so many people would benefit from even the free version! I also love Canva, it’s made life so much easier for me as a non-creative person. And Yoast has really changed my approach to writing posts, it’s SO helpful! Some great suggestions here for me to try out, thanks for sharing your tips!
Beth x Adventure & Anxiety
I completely agree about Grammarly! I used the free version for a long time before getting the paid subscription. My pleasure! I hope you found some new tools in here that can help you!
Such a useful post! You’ve convinced me with ConvertKit – I wasn’t sure because of price but multiple opt-in forms is definitely something I need. I also think I’m going to go with Grammarly, too – is there a free version?
You’ll love ConvertKit! Yes, Grammarly do offer a free version. You won’t get as many features with it, but it’s still awesome. 🙂
These tips are so fab and helpful! I also agree WordPress is the easiest blogging platform to use as it does all the coding for you! x
That’s the only reason why I have a blog! I couldn’t do the coding on my own.
I use Grammarly and Canva as well! I’m still kind of confused about SEO but I heard alot of good things about Yoast SEO. Could you possibly make a post that gives more info on SEO?
Yes, absolutely! Thank you for the suggestion. 🙂
This is such a helpful post! I love that I already have some of these but there was also some new things for me to look up. I absolutely love Grammarly and Canva. Thanks for such an informative post x x
My pleasure! I hope you like my recommendations 🙂
I’m obsessed with Tailwind – it’s so incredible!
Best invention ever!!
I think I need to try out ConvertKit ASAP!
– Laura || https://afinnontheloose.com
I really love it!
I love Canva and Pexels they have helped so much witb my blog and all social platforms.
Great tips!
Thank you for sharing.
Alyssa
THESACREDSPACEAP.COM
My pleasure!
Canva is one of the best things I discovered when I started blogging! CovertKit sounds great too, I’ll have to check them out. I don’t know how anyone doesn’t have Yoast x
Sophie
http://www.glowsteady.co.uk
Many bloggers I’ve talked to didn’t know about Yoast! I can’t live without it!
I LOVE Canva! I’m trying to get better about graphics and it’s definitely helped. Going to go look into a Pixistock membership now as well!
Mandi S
http://www.booksandwildflowers.com
Canva is the best! Yay, you’ll love pixistock!
These are some great tips! I adore using pexels for images as it can be great especially when the weather isnt great and you need good quality images. Thanks for sharing
X
Kayleigh Zara 🌿 http://www.kayleighzaraa.com
Pexels is definitely a website I’ve used constantly! They have a ton of great images. Thank you for reading!
Lovely Post! Would be absolutely grateful if you could check out my page ! I focus on all things self esteem and development !
Thank you!
Great tips here! I have tried many of the tools you mention. I use a great many of them. It’s really individual preference in some, I prefer to use something other than Convert kit at the moment though I have tried it before. Nice post!
Thank you! And I agree- not everything is for everybody!
Such a great post! I always love to hear what other bloggers love to use to save time.
xoxo Simone | https://beautymone.com
Thank you Simone!