Top 10 Essential Tools Every Skilled Blogger Needs

As a skilled blogger you need to make the most of the content that you are working so hard to produce.

There are plenty of tools to help you do that, and a lot of them can be obtained free of charge.

To be competitive in the blogging scene you need to do what the competition is doing and a lot more.

So to avoid being left behind improve your functionality and efficiency by taking the time to view the different blogging tools in the list below:
Top 10 Essential Tools Every Skilled Blogger Needs

1. BuzzSumo

Are you worried that you’ll create content that’s already out there?

It would be frustrating to create a high quality blog post only to find out later other bloggers have tackled the exact same topic. Use BuzzSumo to avoid this problem.

This tool allows you to see high quality content that’s already written on a particular topic and it can help see what content to skip over.

2. CopyGator

Via CopyGator and the power of RSS feeds you can track the people that might be stealing content from your site. Every time a person takes your content the RSS feed will let you know.

You’ll need to include link backs to your own site in the RSS feed for this to work. High quality content is hard to produce and you must protect it when it’s published online. Lifehacker also suggests going down the legal route to knock down the copycat material.

3. Grammarly

To refine your content and reduce the occurrence of mistakes you can get Grammarly, which integrates into the WordPress editor. It helps catch a number of grammar mistakes that might have been left in.

Even the veteran bloggers out there make mistakes from time to time. As we suggests some great tools and for those who do not want to invest in a personal editor can rely on Grammarly as the next best thing.

4. Canva

Images make a post more appealing, but if you’re a writer you might have little idea how to create custom images. Canva is a tool that allows you to create your own custom images without much of a hassle.

They offer a number of free templates that can be used to very quickly create an image that matches the content of the blog. You can use Canva to create images for other activities such as social media.

5. Ahrefs

This is a keyword tool that gives you the chance to locate those keywords that have little competition yet a decent amount of traffic.

There is a 2 week trial, which you can use in order to find out if it’s worth the cost and functions properly. It can be a good alternative to the Keyword Planner tool from Google if you feel it doesn’t provide the functionality that’s needed.

6. Revive Old Post

A smart blogger knows that utilizing your online assets can be just as powerful as creating new content. Revive Old Post is a tool that will periodically pick posts you have completed in the past and share them among the different social platforms.

This will provide waves of new traffic to old posts giving you more traffic than you would have otherwise had. For those of you that feel your old content is under-appreciated should take the time to learn all this tool has to offer.

7. Zendesk Chat

This tools allows you to engage in a live chat session with the audience. It might not be the blogger tool that you think is worth investing in, but it’s a great way to connect with your audience.

You can find out more about what they thought of your posts. Consequently, you’ll be able to create content that better matches the interests of your audience.

8. Click To Tweet

To improve the ease with which your readers can send out a tweet invest in the Click To Tweet plugin from CoSchedule. The tool creates a call to action that is placed alongside the content in a fashion that doesn’t detract from the aesthetics of the page.

As the person is reading they will be able to enter their thoughts in the tweet box and send it at any time. This will increase the amount of social traffic that particular webpage receives without having to do anything yourself.

9. SEO Yoast

As a blogger that wants to automate their SEO efforts you need to take advantage of SEO Yoast. It is packed with a lot of functionality such as analyzing the placement of keywords in the post and automatically creating the meta tag data.

The plugin even lets you alter the permalink structure of the website to improve the overall SEO.

10. Wunderlist

To keep on track with your projects regardless of how big they are Wunderlist is a great productivity tool. It’s particularly useful for smaller task management. A number of things might arise during the course of the day such as needing to make a phone call or writing an e-mail to a client.

Wunderlist allows you to place those tasks on hold in an organized way so that you don’t forget. In the mean time you can continue working on your primary task to avoid losing focus.

Conclusion

Now that you have familiarized yourself with some of the best tools a skilled blogger can use your productivity and end result will improve even further. As the saying goes, it is better to work smarter and not harder.

These tools will enable you to do that. Blogging will become more enjoyable when you tilt the odds of success on your side.

These tools are particularly great for those who are on a limited budget and cannot afford to outsource any help such as an editor or designer.

Some of the tools aren’t free, but when you consider the functionality you’re getting it’s a no-brainer to invest regardless of what type of blog you’re running.
 Guest contribution by: Stephanie Proper a career strategist and blogger from Portland. Through her articles she assists people in building their careers and going through the application process. Read about her project at properresumes.com.