If you have been blogging as a hobby and you want to make a blogging business, you’re probably wondering about what blogging tools or platforms to use to move to the next phase. Like me, you’ve read all the success stories on Pinterest and decided that why not you or your blog?
When I started blogging, the only tool I knew was WordPress. In addition, I heard so many stories on how blogging is “not a business.” These were from self-righteous people who look down on other people’s hobbies and talents when really we can all thrive.
People who say blogging is not a business probably have a site with an online or Etsy shop selling digital or physical products and have multiple revenue streams. They forget that they also started somewhere, with a domain name and an empty site.
That aside, here are 10 blogging tools I integrated with my site to give enable me to gain more insights, be productive and efficient.
Google Analytics -Data Collecting and Reporting Tool
With Google Analytics, you’re able to see how many sights visits you get in a particular time period, your audience and where they’re located and the number of sessions and pages per user. It’s an efficient blogging tool as it collects data and even gives you insights such as where the most traffic in a certain period came from.
My favourite data from Google Analytics is Sessions, page views, bounce rate and acquisition.
A session in Google Analytics is the number of interactions a user takes within a given time frame on your site.
Page views record the number of pages a user interacted with while bounce rate is the percentage of single-page views. With the bounce rate, a user views one single page or article then leaves. If they view one page or article then clicks on another, a site tends to have a lower bounce rate.
Google Search Console - SEO Blogging Tool
I am still learning how Google Search Console works. It shows you how your content is competing and ranking on google through impressions and click-through rate.
A good way to use it is to look at articles with a high click-through rate and write similar articles. Additionally, look at articles with high impressions but low click-through rates and think of how to increase the CTR.
Do you need to change the meta description or the title to get higher CTR?
Ubbersuggest - Content Research Tool
I only started using Ubbersuggest a month ago and I’m finding it really helpful than KWsfinder mainly because my search items are not limited and it’s free. Who doesn’t love free things?
With Ubbersuggest, you can generate keywords and content ideas, do a health diagnostic of your site and fix your site to rank better on Google and monitor the keywords you rank for.
Grammarly - Content Proof Reading Tool
I’m a prolific writer and writing is my career, I write a lot. I also make a lot of mistakes. This year, I decided to install Grammarly to help proofread my articles on the go. Now, I’ll admit that I don’t use the Grammarly editor as it doesn’t allow for subheadings, but I have the chrome extension and I write on Google Docs.
As new bloggers who are pinching pennies, we can’t afford virtual assistants. However, we can install the free or paid version of Grammarly and be more productive and efficient.
MailChimp/Convertkit - Email Marketing Tool
As they say, the money’s in the list. I have used both MailChimp and Convertkit. I have heard success with MailChimp but my heart longs for Convertkit. MailChimp is free for the first 2,000 subscribers while Convertkit is a paid-for platform, right from the start, going for $29 a month, last I checked.
The big disadvantage with MailChimp is it can be tasking to understand Groups, segments and list and their newly updated audiences and contacts. If you don’t understand, you’ll end up paying for one subscriber, twice.
However, with Convertkit, even if a reader subscribes to two of your offers, it counts them as one person.
Pinterest - Content Marketing Tool
Pinterest brings me the most traffic after twitter and Facebook. I’m still learning how to use it and I haven’t quite utilised it’s potential yet.
With Pinterest, you can research about blogging, business or DIYs. While most people take Pinterest as a social media platform, it’s actually an SEO platform, but for dummies.
Alex Nerney from Create and Go advises bloggers to focus more on Pinterest than Instagram. This is because Instagram is built to keep people in the app while Pinterest drives users to sites which is what we really want.
Tailwind- Pinterest Marketing Tool
Tailwind is a marketing platform for Pinterest and Instagram. It looks at the best times for engagement, growth and automatically shares pins or content for you. It also has actionable insights that you can apply and implement to enhance your Pinterest marketing strategies.
The best features and most useful features are the Tailwind tribes and the smart loop feature. With Tailwind tribes, you can add pins to a tribe that tribe members then reshare with their audience.
Add pins with the highest engagement and virality rate to smart loop to increase their conversion rate.
Google Adsense - Blog Monetization Tool
Adding ads to your site is a way of monetizing your site. A lot of bloggers are concerned about annoying their audience with ads or giving this idea that they sold out. The reality is we all want to earn money doing something we love or like and it takes money to maintain a blog.
Canva - Graphic Design Tool
You may be asking, ‘How do I make Pinterest Pins?’ Most bloggers use Canva or PicMonkey. I use Canva, it’s free in comparison to PicMonkey. You can use free canva photos, buy a photo from Canva at a dollar’s worth or upload stock free images to use in your designs.
Yoast - SEO Tool
Finally, the last tool you need to turn your blogging hobby into a business is Yoast to optimize search engine optimization (SEO). When it comes to SEO, Yoast helps you gain visibility by Google by helping you optimize your article on the applicable keywords, headline and a meta description that best describes your article.
It’s a free WordPress plugin but you can go premium if you want to make more of it.
These 10 blogging tools are what I use to manage my blog, get applicable insights and run it wisely and strategically.
You May Also Like:
Pingback: 5 Quick Steps To Start a Profitable Blog in 2020 - Nderi Sarah Blog
These are great tools!
I’ve recently started using ubersuggests and found it so so helpful x
I know. It has helped me immensely in auditing sites and keyword research.