The 7 Tools A Successful Blogger Uses

When Jessy Vaughn was just starting out as a blogger on her popular lifestyle website “My City, My Rules,” she admits that it was a struggle to find interesting topics for her blog. Social media wasn’t so big yet in those days so trying to figure out what her readers wanted to know about seemed like an insurmountable challenge. As technology progressed though, she began to discover certain tools that made the task of blogging much easier than when she was starting out all those years ago.

“About 10 years ago, we didn’t have these automatic topic search programs. We really had to go out there and pound the pavement to find our next inspiring story to write about. Then, I discovered InboxQ and my blogging life changed.” Her voice turned excited at this point. “No longer did I have to scrounge for writing ideas. Now, it was as simple as using keywords in an online program. The keywords are used to scour the web for related social media discussions. From the list, all I must do is choose what I feel will be the topic my current reader base would be interested in, then blog about it. Its fast and headache free.” She explained.

Of course, I wasn’t going to be one to let Jessy get away with telling my readers about only one secret to her blogging success. Since she spun off into blogging from her successful custom essay writing business. I knew there had to be a connection. A successful academic writer turned blogger? Do tell me more I coaxed her.

“Of course, I honed my writing skills in the custom essay writing business. Haven’t we all?” she asked between sips of Jasmine tea. “Essay writing helped me develop the necessary skills that made me a better writer and eventually, a better blogger. In fact, most of my early blogging material came from the various papers that I wrote for my custom essay writing clients.” For her, the academic writing seemed to be a world away already.  

“But when I wanted to increase my productivity, blogging was just an emerging writers tool at that time. I happened to just be at the right place at the right time. So, while I appreciate the comfort blogging brings me, I have to say, I would not have been this successful as a blogger without the proper custom essay writing training I received all that time ago and effective blogging tools at my disposal. “

Here’s Jessy’s list of the 7 top blogging tools for successful bloggers:

Content Idea Generator

This system only works for Google Doc now and is currently on version 2 already. Like InboxQ, the generator looks for related information to your previous blog in the usual suspect sites – Google News. Facebook, Twitter, and even public updates.

Diigo

Jessy says, “Don’t be afraid to take inspiration from others.” With this program, she keeps track of other blog writers and their blog topics. The idea is to have a list of other blogs to refer to when she writes her own. Based on the list, she could find herself writing about a similar topic, a related topic, or a follow-up the topic.

Quancast

Blog traffic stats are key to keeping advertisers and readers coming back to your blog. Quancast helps the blogger to understand the demographics of the blog. Who are your visitors? Where are they from? How often do they visit? What topics are of interest to them? Quancast helps answer those questions and more.

Everystockphoto

Bloggers have never been known to be extremely rich. So, they can’t always afford to pay for the photos that they need to spice up the blog page. That is where Everystockphoto comes in. These Creative Commons photos allow bloggers free use of some decent images on their page.

Skype

Most of us think of Skype as just another telecommunications tool. For bloggers around the world though, this is a mode of connecting with one another. It offers the bloggers the ability to participate in each other’s writing by recording phone interviews of one another or simply connecting with new bloggers worldwide.

Twitter

Who would have ever thought that 165 words and hashtags could help keep a blogger in business? Their list of trending topics and easy to access comments sections make picking out a blog topic a breeze. Most of all, a blogger can cross promote using the same keywords attached to the blog post.

Facebook

Discussions among friends, news feeds, and trending topics all allow Facebook to become an indispensable tool for bloggers. Try out your blog ideas by posting them as a status update on your FB page first. Then wait for the comments from your friends to come in. Depending on their reaction, the simple comment can either be expanded into a full blog post or, end up being deleted and a new topic tried out.

Successful bloggers know the importance of content creation. That is why most of the tools listed here are all about helping the blogger find the right topic to write about. That is, after all, the lifeline of a blogger. Without an inspiring topic to write about, a blogger would be stuck in a rut. By utilizing the power of social media, a blogger becomes a powerful voice online.

Bloggers like the work that they do because they are afforded the time and space to make a difference in people’s lives through the stories and articles that they write. With the proper tools, these become highly interesting pieces that mirror the topics of concern for today’s society.