Over the years as a blogger, I have tried many different blogging tools. Some of the tools I have tested were incredibly powerful, and some were… Well, let’s just say that they were simply not worth trying.
Nevertheless, I can testify that getting access to the right tool made creating amazing blog content so much easier. I was able to implement a system to drive traffic to and also generate revenue from my blog.
Basic Blogging Tools You’ll Need
If you’re thinking about launching a profitable blog or wondering what are some of the best WordPress blogging tools, I’ve got you covered.
I have compiled a list of the 21 best blogging tools, which I have been using daily. The tools cover email marketing, social media scheduling, content generation, SEO and so much more.
Not all of these tools directly contribute to the bottom line, but each one of them proved very helpful over the last couple of years. In today’s blog post, I list what I believe to be the best blogging tools for beginners.
Disclosure: If you grab any of the blogging tools I mention using referral links, I’ll get a small commission. However, there’s no extra cost to you.
Wondering what made my list? Then let’s get started:
Grammarly
I’m sure that you’ve visited some blogs and found it very difficult to read a few of the sentences. Grammarly is a robust writing and spell-check tool that keeps your writing mistake-free.
Smart Bloggers use Grammarly to ensure everything they type is easy to read, effective, and mistake-free. I’m amazed at how Grammarly automatically detects grammar, spelling, punctuation, word choice and style mistakes in my writing.
My draft writings often feature poor grammatical structures, spelling, and incorrect punctuation. I won’t be caught publishing posts without it.
Google Analytics
Ever wondered where the traffic on your pages and blog came from? Do you know which of your blog posts is the top-performer?
Do you know which social media platform is sending the most traffic to your blog?
The blogging tool that provides real-time statistics and analysis of user interaction with your website is Google Analytics, a website traffic analysis application. This then enables website owners to interpret and optimize their website’s performance.
Google Analytics provides valuable insights that can help you to shape the success strategy of your business. If you are serious about becoming a successful blogger, then be sure to utilize this free tool.
Buffer
Once your blog post is written and published, you can set up an easy sharing schedule with Buffer. I use Buffer for straightforward social media scheduling. It is currently one of the best social media scheduling tools around. It integrates with a ton of other marketing tools and makes social media sharing a breeze.
As a beginner blogger, this was the first platform I used to build my audience and grow my brand on social media.
I wholeheartedly suggest Buffer to help manage your social media networks. You can use it to schedule your Facebook and Twitter posts. Keep your social media frequency pulsating by also adding a team via the platform.
Evernote
One of my favorite blogging tools is Evernote. I use it as my digital filing cabinet, note-taking tool, daily journal, project management system, recipe-keeper, and then some.
Many things make Evernote so noteworthy, such as its ability to create notebooks to contain your notes. It’s also well-designed for organizing thoughts and research.
The web-clipper add-on is Evernote’s feature, which I enjoy the most. It performs as a save button for the internet, useful for capturing articles you’d like to read later.
NameCheap
When launching a blog, you should start by purchasing a domain name. Namecheap.com is one such blogging tool that helps you to find available domain names. 
Having your own domain name, website and email addresses will give you and your business a more professional look.
Another reason for a business to register a domain name is to protect copyrights and trademarks, build credibility, increase brand awareness, and search engine positioning.
Namecheap has been my one-stop-shop for affordable domains. Try going for a .com rather than a .info or .us or anything else for that matter.
Yoast SEO Plugin
Perhaps you’ll agree that Google is the undisputed king of all traffic sources. On-page optimization is what brings more traffic from Google.
Using the Yoast SEO plugin will help you optimize page content so you can generate more traffic and make more sales. Yoast SEO is one of the most widely popular WordPress plugins around and it’s a no-brainer.
Yoast makes it easy for you to do things like control titles and meta descriptions, set your targeted keywords and track how often you’re using them, manage sitemaps, and so much more.
Canva
Canva is a free online graphic design tool. The predesigned templates are a huge help when I’m feeling uninspired. Using images helps in optimizing keywords to generate more traffic from search engines like Google.
There are free and paid templates or you can create customized templates. I highly recommend giving Canva a try!
Most importantly, if I can create decent visuals for my website, then you already know that it’s extremely easy to use.
ConvertKit
ConvertKit is my number one recommendation for email list management and the premier solution for serious bloggers.
ConvertKit makes managing your email list and setting up autoresponders so easy and user-friendly. Segmenting email subscribers into groups so that they get content specific to their individual needs has never been simpler.
It’s also quite easy to create landing pages and to embed opt-in forms.
ConvertKit now offers a FREE plan. Their basic paid plan is $25 per month when you pay annually. You won’t be disappointed!
Teachable
Are you interested in developing your own online courses to help others advance their knowledge? Are you yet struggling to monetize your blog? Did you know the worldwide eLearning market is projected to be worth $325 Billion in 2025?
An important component you need to start offering your own online training is an online course platform.These are also often known as a learning management system or an LMS.
However, choosing an online course platform is a MAJOR decision. I strongly suggest that you carefully explore all of the current platforms before you start creating any course.
Still not sure what could be a worthwhile teaching platform to employ? Teachable, the online course platform that I currently use, lets you generate, manage, and sell your online courses.
It simplifies the online course development and launch process by letting you upload your content without worrying about the technical aspects or the design features.
Teachable handles everything from web hosting to payment processing. You only need to focus on creating awesome online courses. So, stop procrastinating and Create Your School.
YouTube
This next blogging tool is one of the most popular tools on this list. YouTube is a video sharing service where users can watch, like, share, comment and upload their videos.
The video service can be accessed on PCs, laptops, tablets and via mobile phones.
YouTube is owned by the largest search engine in the world (Google) and YouTube itself is the second-largest search engine in the world.
Video is the best platform to create a know, like, and trust factor with your audience and it’s the quickest way to solidify yourself as a subject matter expert.
Building your email list via your YouTube channel is a proven list-building strategy.
Including a video on a landing page can increase conversion by up to 80%. After watching a video, 64% of viewers are more likely to purchase a product.
Do you see the benefit of using video marketing on YouTube to build your email list?
Fiverr
Fiverr is one of the largest freelancing platforms being a marketplace that connects buyers and sellers. Fiverr takes its name from the $5 asking price attached to all tasks when the company was founded in 2010 in Tel Aviv.
Fiverr is a great resource for cheap design work or other freelance services on demand. Some of the services which I’ve outsourced via the platform are:
- Search Engine Optimization
- Digital Marketing
- Topic Research
- Social Media Promotion
- Web & Graphic Design
- eBook Creation
- Business Card & Flyer Design
With Fiverr, you can avoid writing, research, SEO or anything similar.
The holy grail for bloggers, building an email list with Pinterest is perhaps the best strategy ever. It can be a serious powerhouse when it comes to increasing traffic to your website or blog and for growing your email list with free opt-in offers.
It’s true! The more people on your list, the greater your income potential. But, trying to grow your email list may seem like it’s growing at a snail’s pace, if at all.
Here’s how to grow your email list with Pinterest:
- Begin with an email opt-in that provides value to your ideal audience
- Add relevant keywords and your opt-in to your Pinterest profile
- Share your opt-in on applicable Pinterest boards
- Use text overlay in pin designs to highlight your opt-in
- Link your pin to your opt-in landing page
Just understand that you can grow your email list fast and for FREE with this blogging tool! So, I recommend using Pinterest to start promoting to your email list.
SiteGround
If you are serious about turning your blog into a business then I highly recommend self-hosting your blog. An inexpensive way to get started with this is through SiteGround.
SiteGround provides dedicated servers, shared hosting, cloud hosting, domain registration and email hosting. This company has been the most robust and user-friendly web hosting provider I’ve used so far.
Web hosting is their craft. The latest speed technologies are their passion. Unique security solutions are their specialty. Amazing technical support is always provided.
That is why they are trusted by the owners of more than 1,700,000 domains. So, if you want outstanding support and reliable hosting check out SiteGround.
WordPress
WordPress.org is what you need if you desire to create a responsive and unique website. The platform offers over 55,000 plugins to help you optimize your users’ experience and track statistics.
35% of the web uses WordPress, from hobby blogs to the biggest news sites online. I would avoid going for a BlogSpot, or a shared website as you want to maintain control of your website. Otherwise, you could lose all your work without any warning.
So, stick with a self-hosted option (WordPress).
DepositPhotos
Using stock photos can enhance your brand and give you a more professional aesthetic. DepositPhotos is where I purchase royalty-free images, which are used on my sites.
Featuring more than 140 million royalty-free stock images, there’s never a shortage of really great images to choose from. The royalty-free micro stock photo agency can fill any creative need.
So, disable your reliance solely on free stock photo sites for your website and social media images. DepositPhotos is also extremely affordable at about $1 per photo.
Keyword Planner
Do you want articles to rank well on search engines? If yes, you need to use the right keywords. Keywords Everywhere is a freemium browser add-on for Chrome & Firefox that shows monthly search volume.
I use this to get a ballpark estimate of how many people are searching for particular keyword phrases.
Keywords Everywhere show you “related” keywords as well as “people also search for” keywords in widgets on the right-hand side of Google & Bing.
The company has kept the pricing extremely low so that it costs the average user around $2 a month.
SmarterQueue
SmarterQueue is a powerful all in one social media marketing tool for bloggers. This blogging tool saves you hours when scheduling your social updates, and makes sure your posts get noticed, helping you grow your business the easy way.
SmarterQueue facilitates evergreen content scheduling, which means that after you create a social media post once, it re-posts it for you automatically, forever, without you having to do a thing.
Think about how much time you can save for other blog priorities.
You can also create categories dedicated to new blog posts and set them to post once only. Ah well. SmarterQueue is the social media tool that is no longer my secret weapon owing to this blog post.
CoSchedule Headline Analyzer
Your headline is the first thing your audience will see on your blog. If you want to generate amazing headlines that readers will be willing to read, this blogging tool is for you.
CoSchedule Headline Analyzer will score your overall headline quality and rate its ability to result in social shares, increased traffic, and SEO value.
Google Drive
Publishing quality content is a must if you’re serious about building a popular blog. Eventually, you are going to need help. Getting help may require outsourcing at least some of your content creation to guest writers.
Trust me, making the transition from a writer to the editor isn’t easy. Enter Google Docs to the rescue.
It’s one of several lightweight Office-style applications that Google provides via Google Drive, its cloud-based storage service.
One big difference between G Suite or Gmail for business email is its storage capacity. Free Gmail offers only 15 GB of inbox storage while G Suite’s Basic edition has 30 GB of storage per user shared across Drive and Gmail.
With Google Drive, every change made in emails, documents, etc. is saved automatically. No longer will you waste time searching for documents or email attachments.
Here are 7 benefits of using Google Drive:
- Efficient Built-in Search Engine
- Backup Your Precious Files
- Send Large Files to Family, Friends or Co-Workers
- Use Google Drive App to Access Documents
- Able to Access with Various Devices
- Open and Edit Various Kinds of Documents
- 15 GB Disk Space and It’s FREE!
In addition to Docs, Google also provides other online apps, free to anyone with a Google account, including:
- Google Sheets — a spreadsheet app which can replace Microsoft Excel for most tasks
- Google Slides — a presentation app that duplicates much of the functionality of PowerPoint or Keynote
- Google Drawings — a drawing app for creating simple diagrams
Grab this blogging tool to begin turning your passion into profits and your blog into a business.
Asana
Asana is a great blogging tool for planning blog content, even if you are just a Solopreneur.
When I launched my first website, one of the main reasons I didn’t publish more blog posts was because I lacked a system. One of the hardest parts of running the blog was finding enough time to get everything done.
I’m sure you’ll agree that 24 hours in a day sometimes just isn’t enough. Yet, our list of tasks gets bigger and bigger.
I now appreciate that planning blog content ahead of time can help you tremendously when deciding what to blog about.
Beginning bloggers often grab their laptops thinking they can just craft a quality blog post in one sitting. Frustration quickly sneaks in regarding how long writing and publishing just one article takes.
However, one thing all successful bloggers do is create systems in their business to help them master time management and outsource things.
That’s why it’s important to adapt to the habits of successful bloggers.
Elementor
Elementor is the best WordPress theme for beginners, pros, and everyone in between. I regard it as the #1 WordPress Page Builder.
It is surely the most advanced front-end drag & drop page builder. You can create high-end, pixel perfect websites at record speeds. Any theme, any page, any design. The visual builder and premade layouts make it extremely easy to customize pages.
When I discovered Elementor, it was simply a “no-brainer.” Join 4,000,000+ professionals who build better websites with Elementor.
My Publishing System
I’ve polished up my blogging process a lot since I first started blogging. These are the tools that I currently use to take posts from idea to publish.
- BuzzSumo, Feedly, and email newsletters for idea generation for my blog posts
- Asana to collect ideas and plan blogposts for the week ahead
- Yoast SEO plugin for optimizing blog posts
- Google Docs for writing
- Canva and DepositPhotos for creating images
- Buffer, SmarterQueue, and ConvertKit for sharing the blog post to social media and email lists.
A Few More Resources
My Online Blogging Courses – To become a better blogger, feel free to stop by the academy to check out some of my blogging courses to help you start crushing it with your blog!
Bluehost.com (As low as $6.95/m) I hosted my starter sites with Bluehost. Initially, I did not have a really good experience, but they have surely improved. They’re cheap and now provide great phone support.
MailerLite Email Marketing Service (mailerlite.com) – If you haven’t started an email list for your blog, you definitely should consider it. MailerLite makes it easy because the site offers this for free (up to 1000 subscribers).
Warning, Warning!
Becoming a successful blogger is not an overnight, get-rich-quick scheme. So, don’t be foolish and quit your day job.
Even if you’ve learned a lot about making money with a blog, it’s going to take a while. This is not a get-rich-quick scheme. Blogging requires WORK and you could be doing it for free for a long time before you reap any benefits.
Just be SMART and remember, WISDOM is the principal thing. Build your blog part-time and when you start making more from it than your day job, consider making it a full-time gig.
Which Blogging Tools Did I Miss?
There are some blogging tools in this article I wish I was more serious about in the beginning. Perhaps you can learn from my mistakes and avoid procrastination. Review and learn how to effectively use these tools and I think they’ll make things go a lot more quickly for you.
Yes, there’s no getting around the fact that to become successful, it’s going to take time to get there. However, just like anything, the more effort you pour in the more you get out.
Focus on consistency and increase your willingness to learn. Without them, it’s very difficult to earn a lot of money with your blog.
Whether you are a newbie or pro blogger, I do hope that found the 21 blogging tools highlighted in this article helpful.
What do you think? What are your favorite blogging tools? Please share it with us in the comments below. I wish you all the best on your blogging journey!
