Inside My Blogging Toolbox

I started blogginng almost a year ago now. I have come to really enjoy it. Along the way I have come across some tools that have helped me over the past year in getting a post from a simple thought to a post on my blog.

Some tools are very basic and some tools I am still trying to figure out how to truly take advantage of. So here are a list of things that I keep in my blogging toolbox:

WordPress – I use WordPress as my Blogging platform. It has a great dashboard and is very easy to learn to use. It loads very fast and has lots of useful plugins and widgets. WordPress also has a countless amount of themes available for you to get the look and feel you would like to get from your blog.

Standard Theme – The theme that I use for my blog is the Standard Theme created by TentBlogger John Saddington and his team. It is a theme that is coded on the back end for speed and efficiency. It has a built in dashboard that allows for easy customization. I know that this is the best money that I have spent for my blog. If you are looking for a great WordPress theme look no further than the Standard Theme.

Google Analytics and WordPress Stats – I use both of these site analytics tools for my site because one is just not good enough by itself. Goolge Analytics gives me far more detailed information than WordPress Stats, but WordPress Stats gives me easy access to some vital information very easily. With WordPress Stats I can also access statistics from my phones WordPress app. Another stats tool that I may look into in the future if financially possible will be Church Analytics.

Google Webmaster Tools – I use this to see what keywords are driving traffic to my site. Some keywords have even lead to blog posts.

Google Keywords – I use this when coming up with titles for my blog posts and for meta data for posts. It’s all about driving traffic to my blog and SEO.

Google Reader – I really enjoy reading blogs. I cannot tell you how many times that while reading other peoples blogs that ideas for blog posts hit me. That is where my next item comes in handy.

Evernote – Evernote is an awesome piece of software that I think every blogger should take advantage of. I use it to capture ideas and move them from that initial idea to the final post product. For more on how I use Evernote please visit this link.

Photos – I use a few different places to find the photos that I use here on The Daily Walk. I think the visual that photos bring are important. I get most of my photos from the following places: Every Stock Photo, Wikamedia Commons, and Flickr. I have not started paying for my images. I cannot rationalize the cost at this point. If the blog where making money that would cover the cost I would probably look into it. If my blog ever does make money to cover this expense I would use iStockPhoto. The images on file there are of great quality.

Twitter – I use Twitter for the time being to get links to my posts out to more people. I really do not use it for any more that that. I can reach out to more people by doing this because some people do not use rss readers, but Twitter instead. It is mainly just a tool for now to drive traffic to my blog.

Affiliate Programs – I have advertising on my account for a couple of reasons. One, to make products easily accessable to others that I review and find interesting. Two, to make a little money. Not to become rich, but to cover costof the blog (i.e. hosting, domain name registration, giveaways, Mac Book Air , and other products that could aid in my blogging).

Another item that I have tried but just have not found one that I like is a desktop blogging software. I have tried a few but have just not found one that I like the feel of. So for now I do most of my writing in Evernote and transfer it over to WordPress when complete.

Finally, I think the next thing that I am looking to purchase that I think could be a major tool to assist in blogging is one of the new Mac Book Air’s from Apple. John Saddington from Tentblogger is reviewing the product and is currently evaluating the the Apple’s new product to see if it is a perfect fit for a blogger’s toolbox. I cannot wait to see what his final verdict is on the product.

So those are some of the tools that I find essential for blogging. I am always looking for new tools that could aid in the process.

Are there any tools that you find essential to your blogging toolbox?

[Image by Every Stock Photo]