Our Favorite Blogging Tools
No matter if blogging is your passion, your profession or both, you’ve probably came to realize it can be challenging. Whether you are using WordPress, Blogger or any of the other number of blogging platforms, they all have one thing in common. You have to be logged in to the internet in order to write in your blog.
If not then you’re only other option was to use a word processing software like Microsoft Word to write out your thoughts, then cut and paste them into your blog. This causes formatting issues since Microsoft Word adds hidden characters to the text that are incompatible with your blogging software. Also, if you want to add photos or videos to your post then copying them over into your blog presents another set of challenges.
If you are going to be a blogger, you need the right tools to get the job done. Here is a list of some of our favorite blogging tools.
Microsoft Live Writer
Wait didn’t you just say Microsoft wasn’t a good tool for blogging? That was Microsoft Word. This is a tool Microsoft has developed specifically for bloggers. You can download it onto your laptop so you can write articles for your blog on the go even when you’re not connected to the internet. It will link directly to your blog (or multiple blogs if you have them), and when you get back online you can simply upload your work from Microsoft Live Writer directly into your blog and it will format correctly. It will also show you exactly how your blog post will look on your site as you are typing it, so adding photos and other content is a breeze.
Zemanta
This is a plugin for your blog. What it does is as you are writing a blog post it will help you link to other outside sources you may wish to quote or reference. You can program it to search the net for other blog posts that are similar to what you are writing about, and you can easily insert those posts into your blog. This is great for letting other people in the blogging community know that you are writing about them and possibly getting “guest blog” offers to help promote your own blog. It’s also great for people who are doing content curation posts, because it easily lets you quote the source of your materials.
Skype
Yes, Skype can do a lot more than let grandma talk to the grand kids through the computer screen. Skype is a powerful audio/video tool that most bloggers do not take advantage of. Have you ever wanted to do an interview with someone in your field and you didn’t just want to type it out, but let your audience hear it and even see the interview? Skype is a free program that will let you do just that. You can use it to do podcasts, live interviews, talk with your fans, etc. It will act as your own personal business phone line as well as video recording studio. A must have for any multimedia blogger.
Survey Monkey
What better way to find out what your readers are thinking than to come right out and ask them? Surveys are the perfect way to do this. The best part about survey monkey is it is free and very easy to setup, so it’s great for the new blogger. You can use it to ask your readers anything at all and make sure you are writing about topics that they are interested in.
Category: Website Tips
