Best Blogging Tools: Our 13 Favorites! Best Blogging Tools: Our 13 Favorites!

Best Blogging Tools: Our 13 Favorites!

Whether you’re just starting your blog or already have it up and running, we want to share our favorite blogging tools — designed to give your blog the rocket boost it needs. And the best part? They’re free! From organizational planners to logo creators and SEO research, these incredible tools for blogging will help you soar to success.

Blogging Tools (Step-by-Step)

We’ve tried and tested many blogging tools in our time, but we’ve seen the most success with this comprehensive list of resources below. However, no blog is one-size-fits-all, and what works for us might not work for you. With that in mind, explore all your options and try as many blogging tools as possible. It’s all in the research! 

Note: We’ll be sharing exactly how to use these resources in our Salty Academy Blogging Masterclass. Here’s a sneak preview so you can get a headstart. 

Ultimate Blogging Masterclass Discover how we built a top-ranking, profitable blog – and how you can too! 👉 Learn Blogging Like a Pro
salty academy blogging course
flat lay laptop passport money iphone headphones

Step 1: Organization

If writing is the body of your content, then your organization is the bones! Before you begin the writing process, you’ll need to get on top of your organization — whether working alone or in a team. This helps you streamline your processes, structure your ideas, and stay on track with your posting plan.

Trello + Notion

Project management systems are an absolute lifesaver in blogging! We love Trello and Notion for planning with our team. On Trello, for example, we make boards for each team member and a deck of all our future content ideas.

blogging tools trello

On the other hand, Notion is fantastic for going into more detail. We’ve chosen to use this blogging tool to build out our course; there are calendars for us to keep track of what we need to do daily, and we can write out the scripts for our video recordings in a more structured way. 

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Best Blogging Tools: Our 13 Favorites!
best blogging tools notion

Step 2: Writing

Now it’s time to get into the body of your content – the actual writing! You probably already have plenty of ideas, so let’s make them a reality. 

Google Docs

Google Docs is where we (and our team) spend most of our time! Yep, hundreds and hundreds of documents with our blogs, trip plans, and future dreams are stored there. It’s a great way to collaborate with others, leave comments, and keep everything secure.

For even greater benefits, Google Workspace (which includes Google Docs) offers multiple other services, such as personalized email and extra storage. You can sign up for Google Workspace here.

man writing blog on laptop

Grammarly

Typos no more! Install this extension on your browser to correct your grammar and spelling as you write. It even makes helpful suggestions for ‘easier to read’ sentences. 

You can also change your ‘language’ whenever you need to; this is really helpful for us writing in both US English and Dutch!

blogging tools grammarly

Step 3: Curating

Now, the creative bit: curating your blog so it’s visually appealing for your audience. You want to focus on great images, clear headers, and an easy-to-read structure. This encourages people to stay reading until the very end! 

WordPress

Your blog’s home. With easy-to-use themes, wordpress.org makes your website look like it’s been designed by a pro, all from the comfort of your sofa. You can use blocks to create a readable layout for your article and choose your fonts and colors. 

blogging tools wordpress

In terms of themes, Elegant and Kadence are both great options for beginner bloggers and those who are further along in their journey. While Elegant is slightly easier to use, Kadence offers more detailed features if you upgrade to the paid program. For example, an advanced color palette and SEO-friendly code for rapid website speed. 

blogging tools kadence

Join our blogging masterclass to find out exactly how to set up WordPress, understand its functions, and launch your blog. 

Ultimate Blogging Masterclass Discover how we built a top-ranking, profitable blog – and how you can too! 👉 Learn Blogging Like a Pro
salty academy blogging course
best blogging tools couple working together

Canva

Ready for a glow-up? Canva helps you create beautiful visuals for your blog with easy-to-use templates. There is a free option and a paid one, and it’s great for creating logos and any design features you’d like to include within your website. 

Tip: We also use Canva for other things within our company. For example, when we need a colorful layout for our media kit or inspiration for project applications. It’s excellent across the board! 

blogging tools canva

Step 4: SEO

You can have the most readable, informative, and visually appealing blog, but it won’t help anyone unless you can attract readers to your website. This is where SEO comes in. You’ll want to use these fantastic blogging tools to nail your keyword research and distribution to rank well through Google. 

Note: Need help figuring out what SEO is? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. We’re going into advanced detail in our Blogging Masterclass.

Ultimate Blogging Masterclass Discover how we built a top-ranking, profitable blog – and how you can too! 👉 Learn Blogging Like a Pro
salty academy blogging course
best blogging tools seo

Yoast

SEO can feel overwhelming, but Yoast makes it so much easier! Install the plugin to WordPress; it’ll check that you’re using your keywords correctly. It has an easy-to-use traffic light system that shows you where you’re doing well and where you can improve, focusing on keyword use, distribution, and SEO title and meta descriptions. 

It also focuses on your ‘readability’ and will highlight if you’re using too long sentences or not enough connecting words. These are all things that make your blog more accessible for readers. Additionally, if your blog is more ‘readable’, you’ll rank higher on Google: the more people read to the end of your blog, the better you’ll do! 

best blogging tools yoast

Google Trends is a fantastic free blogging tool that helps you find the right SEO keywords for your blog. You can see what questions people are asking, how trends fluctuate, and the highest searches in your niche. It’s not only an excellent way to choose what keywords to use in your blog, but it helps you work out what to plan next.

Did you know? Before visiting a destination, we often check the top-performing keywords to understand what we should see/write about while we’re there. This helps us with our trip planning!

best tools for blogging google trends

Mangools (Our Favorite SEO Blogging Tool)

Mangools is our SEO blogging tool of choice! This also works on a traffic light system, showing which keywords and phrases rank best for our blog.

You can also do site profiling, showing where you stand against other industry competitors. This is a great way to explore what you need to work on in the future.

best blogging tools mangools

Step 5: Promotion

Drawing visitors to your blog is not only done via Google search results; promoting your blog through other mediums to your audience (and outside your audience!) is essential. Here are some of our favorite blogging tools to promote our work.

blogging tools using social media filming herself with phone in european village

Social Media

Social media platforms are the easiest way to showcase your hard work. Promote your blog on Instagram or Pinterest—or whichever works best for you—and watch the readers roll in. 

Our strategy is to promote our latest publications through Instagram Stories, Reels, or Pinterest. In this way, we’re not only updating our followers, but if a reel goes viral, we can reach an even greater number of people. It’s an excellent way to promote not only ourselves as content creators but also the piece we’ve just worked so hard to publish! 

best blogging tools social media

Brevo

No spam here! Brevo helps you create incredible email campaigns to engage your readers and keep them returning for more. We use this platform to send our Travel Letter every month and regular course updates! 

Depending on your niche, email marketing campaigns can also be a great way to promote your blogs. You might consider doing a weekly or monthly round-up of your latest offerings or promoting blogs seasonally according to the time of year/trends. For example, we might promote our Thailand travel blogs in January as it’s one of the best months to visit.

Tip: Unsure how to grow your email marketing list? We’ll give you all our best tips, tricks, and tools in our Salty Academy Blogging Masterclass.

Ultimate Blogging Masterclass Discover how we built a top-ranking, profitable blog – and how you can too! 👉 Learn Blogging Like a Pro
salty academy blogging course

Step 6: Monetize

If you’re anything like us, your blog is your passion project and a place to share your talents and interests with your following. However, we would be lying if we said we weren’t happy when we started seeing financial rewards for our efforts. In fact, monetizing our content has meant we can make Salt in our Hair our full-time job and now even pay a team to help us! These are the best tools for blogging that will help you earn on the go.

Mediavine

You’ve written the blogs, added photos and visuals, and hit publish. Mediavine then places ads throughout your page so you can earn some sweet passive income from your hard work! 

best blogging tools mediavine

Although Mediavine is better suited to those who already have a greater reach (50,000 sessions in the last 30 days), they also offer a more accessible program called Journey, which only requires you to have 10,000 sessions in the previous 30 days.

Beginners Tip: If you’re just starting out, Adsense can be an excellent program to join as there’s not as man qualifying factors.

Affiliate Marketing: One of our Favorite Tools for Blogging

Affiliate marketing can be a great way to make passive income from your blog. For example, most people think we make money from our Instagram, but in reality, 92% of our revenue comes from our website, of which 70% is affiliate marketing! 

Affiliate marketing works like this: you place a unique tracking link in your content that directs your readers to an external product or service. For every purchase through that affiliate link, you earn a commission (which usually gets higher depending on the size/reach of your blog).

Affiliate Networks

Initially, it’s a good idea to join an affiliate marketing network like Awin, Partnerize, or Impact. They work with all the individual affiliate marketing programs (in our case, we use those in the travel industry, like booking.com, but this will vary depending on your niche).

The downside with these networks is that you get a lower commission rate than you would if you joined all the programs individually, but it simplifies management. Your payment will be based on what you make in combined sales through the network. 

best blogging tools couple working on laptop by the pool

Affiliate marketing can seem overwhelming at first, but don’t worry! We’re going to go into detail about how you can set up your affiliate marketing and make a profit from it in our Blogging Masterclass. We think this is one of the best ways to monetize your content.

Ultimate Blogging Masterclass Discover how we built a top-ranking, profitable blog – and how you can too! 👉 Learn Blogging Like a Pro
salty academy blogging course

Step 7: Track

Once you’ve completed all the steps in your blogging journey, published your blog, promoted it, and gained more views, you’ll want to track how it’s doing. This helps you see who your audience is reaching, where people might be dipping out in the reading process, and how you can do better. It’s a great way to improve your website and inform future work.

Google Analytics

This is one of our favorite blogging tools for tracking your stats. Google Analytics helps you assess which blogs are working, which need more work, and who you’re reaching. For example, blogs within travel can be seasonal depending on the destination, so GA helps us track which destinations to promote during which months of the year. It also allows us to see who our primary readership is so we can tailor our content accordingly.

blogging tools google analytics

Google Tag Manager

Tags are like ‘sensors’ that track what your readers do on your website. For example, if you want to know how many clicks you get on certain links or visits to specific pages, you can apply tags that track both.

You can add all these tags manually to your site’s HTML, but this takes time and technical coding know-how. Instead, we recommend using Google Tag Manager, a tool that allows you to set up all your tags and track them in one place.

Tip: You can also use this in conjunction with Google Analytics, which is excellent for examining user behavior and engagement.

07/12/2024 https://www.saltinourhair.com/blogging/blogging-tools/
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