The 60+ Best Blogging Tools You Need to Make You a Successful Blogger

by | March 2020 | 30 comments

Are you starting a new blog or looking for the best blogging tools to maximize your blog? It can be overwhelming trying to figure out which blogging tools you should use, especially if you research things to death like I do.

Iโ€™m the most indecisive person and spend days, even months researching everything, making spreadsheets, and comparison lists before making a decision.

When I wanted to move from a free WordPress.com blog to a self-hosted WordPress site, I was paralyzed with indecision and fear of making the wrong choice. 

I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to figure out what to do for web hosting, a WordPress theme, plugins, the list goes on. Thereโ€™s so much involved with blogging! It can be paralyzing.

But as my hubby always says, โ€œAnalysis is paralysis.โ€ And itโ€™s so true! Donโ€™t over-analyze things and spend too much time researching. Thatโ€™s valuable time you can spend being productive!

Let me help you out and save you hours upon hours of research and trial and error. Iโ€™m sharing my fave best blogging tools and resources with you. Youโ€™re welcome. ๐Ÿ™‚

Be sure to grab my free Ultimate Blogging Tools Checklist with 10 top-secret BONUS Best Blogging Tools not mentioned in this post!

60+ Blogging Tools You Need for a Successful Blog

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Weโ€™re going to cover A LOT of blogging tools and resources here, so if you want to skip ahead to a specific section, go ahead and click on the links belowโ€ฆ

This MASSIVE list of Blogging Tools & Resources will help you start blogging and take your blog to the next level! #bloggingtools #startablog #blogging Click To Tweet

BLOG SET UP Best Blogging Tools

1. Free Blog Launch Course

If youโ€™re starting your own blog, be sure to sign up for my free 7-Day Blog Launch Email Course! Youโ€™ll receive an email each day for a week with bite-size actionable steps walking you through the process of starting a self-hosted WordPress blog.

The Course covers everything from your blog name and branding, to registering a domain name, getting a web hosting plan, setting up WordPress, installing a Theme and Plugins, creating pages and blog posts for your site, and more. Sign up now to get started!

Free WhoisGuard with Every Domain Purchase at Namecheap

2. Namecheap

Iโ€™ve used several different domain name registrars and have liked Namecheap the best. Their interface is user-friendly, and their pricing is affordable.

On top of that, they include domain privacy protection for FREE! Other domain registrars charge extra for that service. So I love that Namecheap includes domain privacy protection at no extra charge!

You may also like: The Best Gifts for Bloggers or Boss Babes That Theyโ€™ll Actually Use

3. SiteGround

First things first. If youโ€™re going to have your own blog, self-hosted WordPress.org is the #1 blogging platform choice of serious bloggers. With WordPress.org, youโ€™ll need to get your own web hosting plan with a reliable hosting provider.

After extensive research trying to find the best web hosting provider to use for my self-hosted WordPress website, I decided to go with SiteGround. One thing I looked at for web hosting providers were their customer reviews, and SiteGround has amazing reviews praising their customer service.

It also came down to the numbers. Not only are their shared hosting plans affordable (and worth it!) starting at just $6.99/month, but the numbers really speak for themselves with their impressive uptime and website loading speed.

Another key deciding factor for me was reading post after post about other bloggers switching from Bluehost to SiteGround like this one and this other one. So that really sealed the deal for me!

If youโ€™re looking for an affordable, fast, and secure web hosting provider with excellent customer support, SiteGround is a great option! Plus, with SiteGround, youโ€™ll also get access to their SG Optimizer Plugin for caching to improve site loading speed.

Pricing for SiteGround Web Hosting Plans

4. WordPress

If you want endless customization options and the capability to make money with your blog, self-hosted WordPress is the way to go. If youโ€™re not familiar with WordPress or arenโ€™t sure what the difference is between WordPress.com and WordPress.org and which one you should use, be sure to take a look at my WordPress blog post that breaks it all down.

Divi WordPress Theme

5. Divi Theme

Iโ€™m a visual person through and through. So I was looking for a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) drag and drop website builder that I could use to design a custom WordPress website without having to deal with coding.

During my research for the best WordPress Page Builder, the Divi Theme by Elegant Themes kept coming up. I decided to give Divi a test drive with the live builder demo. I also tried another page builder with a free version to test out.

I thought it would be a tough choice. But after using the two, Divi was the clear winner for ease of use and customization. I love all the customization options with Divi! The visual builder makes it easy to customize a website without having to know any code.

Also, their customer service has been awesome! I love the live chat feature. Their support team is responsive and super helpful, always having the answer Iโ€™m looking for. I definitely made the right choice with Elegant Themes and the built-in Visual Page Builder with the Divi Theme!

>>> Get 10% OFF the Divi Theme here! <<<

WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION Best Blogging Tools

6. SG Optimizer Plugin

Site load time is extremely important for any site. If your site takes too long to load, your potential site visitors may give up waiting and move on. A caching plugin is key for improving your siteโ€™s speed.

I use the SG Optimizer plugin which is included with my hosting plan through SiteGround. It wonโ€™t work with any other hosting provider. So if youโ€™re not using SiteGround as your host, you wonโ€™t be able to use the SG Optimizer plugin.

WP Rocket - WordPress Caching Plugin

7. WP Rocket Plugin

If youโ€™re not hosting your WordPress blog with SiteGround, you still want to use a caching plugin to improve the speed of your site. WP Rocket is a premium caching plugin considered by many to be the most powerful one for fast site loading speed.

And I agree! As soon as I installed and activated the WP Rocket plugin (before optimizing any of the settings), there was an immediate increase in my site loading speed! Once I updated the settings, it was even faster!

Plus, WP Rocket works great with the Divi Theme and SiteGround web hosting. It even works hand-in-hand with SiteGroundโ€™s SG Optimizer plugin. I use both WP Rocket and SG Optimizer together as they complement one another for optimal site speed.

At just $49 for a year, itโ€™s well worth the small investment! And your license will renew at a 30% discount after one yearโ€ฆ score! Give WP Rocket a try! Youโ€™ll notice a huge difference in your siteโ€™s speed.

See my honest WP Rocket review here. And check out this post for How to Drastically Improve Your WordPress Site Speed with WP Rocket!

8. WP-Optimize Plugin

If youโ€™re using images throughout your site and blog posts, large image files can slow down your site loading speed. The WP-Optimize plugin will compress your images to reduce file size without compromising image quality. It will also clean up your siteโ€™s database to free up space and improve speed. 

NOTE: If youโ€™re using SG Optimizer or another caching plugin like WP Rocket, be sure to disable WP-Optimizeโ€™s caching service.

9. Wordfence Security Plugin

WordFence Security is an anti-virus, firewall, and malware scan plugin that protects your site from brute force attacks. It does this with a firewall that identifies and blocks malicious traffic.

It also has a scanner that checks your website for malware, bad URLs, backdoors, SEO spam, malicious redirects and code injections. Keep your website safe with the WordFence Security plugin.

Jetpack

10. Jetpack by WordPress.com Plugin

One of the main reasons I use the Jetpack plugin is for the downtime monitor. It notifies me if my site is down, which I find very useful. Itโ€™s important for me to be alerted if my website canโ€™t be accessed for some reason. That way I can get to work on resolving the issue to get my site back up as soon as possible.

Another reason I like using Jetpack is to see my site stats on my WordPress dashboard. And when I converted my WordPress.com blog to a self-hosted WordPress.org blog, I used Jetpack to transfer over my previous WordPress.com email subscribers.

Youโ€™ll also need Jetpack if youโ€™re using WooCommerce for an online shop with your site (more on WooCommerce below in E-Commerce Blogging Tools). The Jetpack plugin has quite a few other features as well, but I just use the ones I mentioned here.

NOTE: If youโ€™re using SG Optimizer or another caching plugin like WP Rocket, be sure to disable Jetpackโ€™s caching service.

11. LuckyWP Table of Contents Plugin

The LuckyWP Table of Contents Plugin makes it easy to insert a Table of Contents into your blog posts which is not only convenient for your blog readers but can also help with SEO (Search Engine Optimization). The Table of Contents is a useful SEO tool because each entry can rank for keywords and also has its own URL for internal linking.

Using a Table of Contents can also reduce your blogโ€™s bounce rate because your readers can easily find what theyโ€™re looking for. When they click on a particular entry in the Table of Contents, theyโ€™ll be taken directly to that section of the blog post.

You may also like: The Blog Investments You Need To Make When You Start a Blog

ORGANIZATION Best Blogging Tools

12. Trello

Trello is an awesome free tool for staying organized and keeping track of things. Itโ€™s like digital sticky notes for list-making. And Iโ€™m obsessed with both sticky notes and lists!

I use Trello for so much, including blogging and even my everyday life. One of the ways I use it with blogging is as a blog content planner to save my blog post ideas and track where my posts are in the blogging workflow process.

I also use Trello for to-do lists and to save ideas, links, photos, screenshots, and more. If you want to learn more about using Trello for your blogging biz, Kate Doster has an entire course on using Trello!

13. Google Drive with Google Workspace

Google Drive is cloud-based file storage. I store a lot of files with Google Drive, including my opt-in freebies. With Google Drive, you get 15 GB of cloud storage for free (much more than the 2 free GB with Dropbox!).

And if you sign up for the affordable Basic Google Workspace (formally G Suite) plan that includes business email (example: yourname@yourblog.com), youโ€™ll get 30 GB of storage included. If you need more than that, the Business plan includes Unlimited Cloud Storage (or 1 TB per user if fewer than 5 users).  Plus, with Google Drive, you can access your files anywhere!

14. Google Sheets with Google Workspace

I use Google Sheets to create all kinds of spreadsheets! And I use spreadsheets to keep track of where Iโ€™ve shared my site content, affiliate programs Iโ€™ve joined or need to join, headlines for my blog posts, to-do lists, the list goes on and on. The best part is that I can access my spreadsheets from anywhere!

15. Google Docs with Google Workspace

I like to use Google Docs to create drafts of my blog posts. I could use WordPress, but personally I prefer typing things up in Google Docs and then copying and pasting into WordPress for my blog post formatting. Google Docs can also be accessed from anywhere. So if a blog post idea pops into my head, I can easily start a new document wherever Iโ€™m at!

16. Google Calendar with Google Workspace

If youโ€™re a planner like me, Google Calendar is super helpful for keeping track of dates and making sure you donโ€™t miss something important. I use it as a visual blog content calendar to keep track of when I publish blog posts, send emails to my subscribers, run giveaways, and more.

WRITING Best Blogging Tools

17. Blog Ideas Generator

If youโ€™re struggling to come up with blog post ideas, the handy Blog Ideas Generator will put some together for you! Enter up to 5 different words (nouns specifically) and let it work its magic.

18. Grammarly

Blogging is essentially writing. So if youโ€™re going to be writing blog posts, you want to make sure youโ€™re using proper spelling and punctuation.

English was my favorite subject in school, and Iโ€™ve always been big on grammar. So I LOVE using Grammarly! I canโ€™t even keep track of all the grammatical errors Grammarly has caught for me throughout the years.

It can tell if youโ€™re using the wrong form of there/their or your/youโ€™re. It can also show you where youโ€™re supposed to use or not use a comma. I use it when Iโ€™m writing blog posts, emails, and more.

Plus, the Chrome browser extension is super handy! The best part? You can use Grammarly for FREE! If you want to be a professional blogger, Grammarly is an absolute must.

19. Hemingway Editor App

The Hemingway Editor App is a super handy tool to help you write better, easy to read content. You can copy and paste your blog post drafts into the app, and it will show you where you can improve your writing.

It does this by highlighting any hard to read sentences that are long and complicated. This lets you know which ones to shorten or break up into several sentences.

It also shows you words youโ€™ve used that you may want to replace with a simpler alternative. And it helps you avoid passive voice and fluffy adverbs that donโ€™t add value.

You want your readers to have an easy time following along as they view your blog posts. Thatโ€™s where the Hemingway Editor App comes into play. Eventually, it even trains you to think of these things as youโ€™re writing, making you a better writer.

20. CoSchedule Headline Analyzer

Thereโ€™s no point in writing a blog post if no one is going to see it. Part of writing a good blog post and getting people to read it is by giving it a compelling headline (i.e. title) to entice people to open and read your blog posts.

How will you know if itโ€™s a good, click-worthy headline though? Thatโ€™s where headline analyzers come into play and help out. My favorite headline analyzer is CoSchedule Headline Analyzer, so I start with that one.

Iโ€™ll run several different headlines through it to see how they rank. The CoSchedule Headline Analyzer will score your headline and give you suggestions for improvement. Aim for a score of at least 70.

21. Advanced Marketing Institute Headline Analyzer

The Advanced Marketing Institute Headline Analyzer is another headline analyzer. But it scores headlines specifically based on their emotional value. Try to score at least 30% with this headline analyzer.

22. Sharethrough Headline Analyzer

The Sharethrough Headline Analyzer will also analyze your blog post headlines and give suggestions for improvement.

23. Capitalize My Title

Do you ever wonder which words you should or shouldnโ€™t capitalize in a title? The free Capitalize My Title tool tells you exactly which words should be capitalized.

24. Ubersuggest

Thereโ€™s more to blogging than just writing great content. The keywords you use are crucial for SEO (search engine optimization). 

And you donโ€™t want to just use any keywords that pop into your head. You should research the best keywords to use. Researching keywords will help you discover which ones people are searching for. By using those particular keywords, your content has a better chance of being found.

Unlike many expensive and complicated keyword research tools, Ubersuggest is a free keyword research tool that is super simple to use. The straightforward data makes it easy to see which keywords would be helpful to use.

It shows you the average monthly search volume as well as the SEO difficulty score for the keywords you research. The SEO difficulty score tells you how hard it would be to rank for that keyword based on how competitive it is.

Ideally, you want keywords with a high search volume and low SEO difficulty score. That can be hard to achieve though, so aim for finding a good balance between the two.

You can also use Ubersuggest to research other competitor blogs. Youโ€™ll be able to see their top SEO pages along with the SEO keywords they rank for. This can give you ideas for keywords to use and possibly even ideas for blog posts.

25. Yoast SEO Plugin

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an important component in gaining visibility and traffic for your site with search engines. But SEO can be overwhelming and confusing. Luckily, the Yoast SEO plugin makes it super easy to improve your siteโ€™s SEO! You can also use Yoast to help get your Pinterest Business account set-up.

DESIGN Best Blogging Tools

26. Canva

I donโ€™t know how I got by trying to design anything before Canva. This free online graphic design tool makes designing graphics for your website or social media a joy!

I use Canva to create featured images for my blog posts, Pin graphics for my blog posts to Pin to Pinterest, and more. Itโ€™s definitely one of my fave blogging tools!

Itโ€™s easy to use and the pre-made templates are super handy! You could say Iโ€™m a die-hard Canva fan. Iโ€™ve tried other free graphic design tools, but theyโ€™re just not as user-friendly or they donโ€™t have as many design options. Iโ€™ll be sticking with Canva!

Thereโ€™s also a Pro version to kick your design level up a notch with custom fonts, transparent backgrounds, GIFs, and more. Canva Pro is definitely one of the best blogging tools there is! And Iโ€™m so happy I decided to upgrade. #worthit

Sign up here to try Canva Pro FREE for 30 days!

27. Optimizilla

Image optimization is key for your siteโ€™s speed. I use the free Optimizilla website to compress images before uploading them to my website to make sure theyโ€™re optimized with the smallest file size possible without compromising image quality.

Creative Market

28. Creative Market

Creative Market is a great site to find all kinds of creative resources for your blog, such as fonts, graphics, stock photos, Lightroom Presets, Pin templates, and more. In fact, I got one of the fonts I use from Creative Market. They offer free goods of the week, so be sure to sign up! Itโ€™s also great to be able to support independent creators.

29. Unsplash

Unsplash is a free stock photo site with over 1 million high-resolution images you can choose from and use for free!

30. Pixabay

Pixabay is another free stock photo site with more than 1.6 million high-quality stock images and videos that you can use freely.

31. Pexels

Pexels is yet another free stock photo and video website for people looking for visuals that can be downloaded and used for free.

32. Depositphotos

Depositphotos is a premium, paid stock photo service. Youโ€™re probably thinking, โ€œWhy would I pay for stock photos when I can get them for free?โ€ First of all, if youโ€™re looking for something specific, you may have more or better options using a paid stock photo site.

Also, you may get improved results with your Pins on Pinterest using paid stock photos that arenโ€™t used by everyone like the free ones. Pinterest is a visual search engine.

If youโ€™re using a free stock photo of a laptop for a Pin about blogging that someone else happened to use for a Pin about wedding planning, Pinterest might get confused about what the Pin is actually about and show your Pin to the wrong (bridal) audience.

Just something to think about and a great reason to try using paid stock photos to see if that gets you better results with your Pinterest Pins.

BLOG SHARING & BLOG TRAFFIC Best Blogging Tools

33. Pinterest

If youโ€™re not familiar with Pinterest or think of it as just another social media channel, you might want to sit down for what Iโ€™m about to tell youโ€ฆ

Pinterest is one of the absolute BEST blogging tools. Thatโ€™s because itโ€™s the HIGHEST source of traffic for my site as it is for many other bloggers. Unlike social media, Pinterest is actually a visual search engine. Think of it like Google with images.

You want to harness the power of Pinterest by creating eye-catching Pin graphics with must-click text, an attention-grabbing headline, and keyworded description to improve your blogโ€™s traffic.

For more about using Pinterest to drive traffic to your blog, see my post all about Pinterest for blogging and download your free Pinterest for Blogging Checklist! Also, check out the Pinteresting Strategies Course below.

34. Blog Post Vote UP

Blog Post Vote UP is one of my favorite blog sharing sites. Itโ€™s free to join and lets you link to your blog posts to drive extra traffic to your blog. You can also use it to find other interesting blog posts to โ€œvote up.โ€

35. Bloglovin

Bloglovin is a place for people to follow all their favorite blogs in one place and to discover new blogs they may be interested in. Itโ€™s free to use and a great way to get your blog discovered and followed by others. When members follow your blog on Bloglovin, every post you create will appear in their feed to drive traffic to your blog.

Once you sign up and sync your blog to Bloglovin, your blog posts will be added to Bloglovin automatically. How easy and great is that?! Bloglovin also has an Influencer Network you can join to find brands who may want to work with you.

36. Medium

Medium is an online publishing platform where people can share ideas and stories, including blog posts. It connects writers with readers for their content, and you can even earn money through the Medium Partner Program when subscribing members read your work!

37. Mix

Mix (formerly StumbleUpon) is a free content curation site you can use to collect web articles by adding them to Collections you create for your different interests.

You can add your blog posts to your Collections as well as add content from other people. Others can do the same and add your content to their Collections too. This is a great way to get your blog shared and discovered by new people!

38. Flipboard

Flipboard is a free website that collects and displays content with Magazines of related articles. Create Magazines and add content by โ€œflippingโ€ articles into your Magazines. You can do this with your own content by entering the URL or by submitting an RSS feed to become a Publisher.

PINTEREST Best Blogging Tools

39. Tailwind

Pinterest is a HUGE source of traffic for blogs and websites! Countless bloggers credit Pinterest for their success in getting their content seen and driving massive traffic to their sites. And the best part, Pinterest is free!

If you donโ€™t want to spend all day every day Pinning on Pinterest to try to get people to visit your blog, I recommend using Tailwind to schedule your Pins and automate your Pinning.

In addition to saving time with bulk scheduling Pins, Tailwind also has other super helpful tools, such as Tribes, interval scheduling, Board Lists, and more.ย Definitely check it out! You canย use Tailwind for freeย with the Free Forever plan.

If you want to stick to manual Pinning or try a mixed strategy with both manual and scheduled Pinning, see the Pinteresting Strategies Course below. And for more about using Tailwind with Pinterest to drive traffic to your blog, check out my Pinterest for Blogging Ultimate Guide post!

Pinteresting Strategies Course Pinterest for Blogging Tools

40. Pinteresting Strategies Course

Pinterest is one of those things Iโ€™ve spent countless hours researching. And I thought I had a good understanding of how to use Pinterest to drive traffic to my website.

But after months of pitiful blog traffic numbers, I accepted the fact that maybe I didnโ€™t know as much as I thought. I needed help and finally decided to invest in the Pinteresting Strategies course other bloggers were swearing by.

I didnโ€™t know what it could possibly teach me that I didnโ€™t already know. Butโ€ฆ then I took the course and WHOAH! There was so much helpful information I had never even heard of or thought of before. And the course is super affordable. I highly recommend it!

41. Pin Groupie

Group Pinterest boards may not be as beneficial as they once were, but it doesnโ€™t hurt to get more exposure for your pins. An easy way to find group boards to join is to use Pin Groupie.

Just enter a niche or keyword to search, and itโ€™ll pull up the matching group boards as well as show you the number of board followers, contributors, and pins. Click on the board name to see the board description. Most will have instructions for how to be added to the group board as a contributor.

But some group boards have a โ€œRequest to Joinโ€ buttons making it easy to join them. You can even filter the Pin Groupie results by โ€œRequest to Join Buttonโ€ in the Extras filter to specifically look for those group boards.

42. Pinterest Keyword Tool

The Pinterest Keyword Tool is a free tool for finding keywords with Pinterest. Just type in your topic, and it will generate popular keywords and phrases.

You may also like: Pinterest for Blogging Ultimate Guide โ€“ Here are the Best Tips & Tools for How to Use Pinterest to Drive Traffic to Your Blog

SOCIAL MEDIA Best Blogging Tools

Monarch Social Sharing Plugin

43. Monarch Social Media Plugin

Get your content shared on social media to grow your social media following and also increase traffic to your site! With the Monarch Social Media plugin, you can choose from more than 20 social sharing networks to display on your website to create custom sharing options for your visitors.

You also have the option to add sharing buttons in 5 different locations: floating sidebar, above and/or below content, on images and videos, pop-ups, or fly-ins. The Monarch social media plugin is included with the Divi Theme and integrates nicely with it, making it easy to have social sharing buttons throughout your site.

>>> Get 10% OFF the Monarch Social Media Plugin and Divi Theme here! <<<

44. Sassy Social Share Plugin

The Sassy Social Share plugin is another social sharing plugin. This free plugin makes it easy to insert sharing buttons anywhere you can use a shortcode.

45. Divi Template for Instagram

You only get one link to use in your Instagram bio, so make it count! Capitalize on your Instagram bio link by sending people directly to your site to capture that traffic.

By using an Instagram links landing page on your WordPress blog or website, you get instant traffic as soon as someone clicks the link in your Instagram bio.

Use the fully customizableย Divi Template for Instagramย toย easilyย create your own Instagram links landing page on YOUR WordPress blog or website!

Divi Template for Instagram Links Landing Page

46. Later

I use Later to schedule my Instagram posts. It helps to be able to preview how the posts will look in my Instagram feed to keep a cohesive and balanced effect.

I also like that I can upload photos from my phone but type up my posts on my computer. So much easier than trying to type on my phone!

And the saved caption tool is also super handy for hashtags I use frequently. Thereโ€™s a free plan as well as premium plans for more scheduling options.

47. Better Click to Tweet Plugin

The free Better Click to Tweet plugin gives your blog readers an easy way to share your content on Twitter with a quote and a link to your content using a simple shortcode.

EMAILING Best Blogging Tools

Bloom Email Optin Plugin

48. Bloom Email Opt-In Plugin

As a blogger, building an email list is crucial for your success! Thatโ€™s where the Bloom email opt-in plugin comes in. This email opt-in and lead generation plugin will help grow your following with easy to design email opt-in forms for your WordPress website.

You can choose from 6 different display types for the forms: pop-up, fly-in, in-line, below content, widget area, and unlock content. And you can use any of the 100+ pre-made templates or customize your own. There are plenty of customization options!

The Bloom email opt-in plugin is included with the Divi Theme and integrates nicely with both the theme as well as with MailerLite for your email marketing. Talk about easy! Integrations are the best!

>>> Get 10% OFF the Bloom Email Opt-In Plugin and Divi Theme here! <<<

MailerLite email marketing for small business

49. MailerLite

Once you build an email list, you need to keep in contact with your subscribers by emailing them regularly. When I was looking for an email marketing service, it felt like they were all missing something and/or too expensive.

That was until I found MailerLite! I wanted something affordable that would allow me to create visually appealing emails beyond basic text emails while also being able to segment subscribers easily. Enter MailerLite!

Thereโ€™s a free version up to 1,000 subscribers, but the paid plans beyond that are still super affordable! You can also create landing pages, popups, surveys, and embeddable opt-in forms with MailerLite.

And to top it off, MailerLite integrates with other tools I use, such as the Divi ThemeBloom email opt-in plugin, and WooCommerce. This makes it super easy to manage everything! And thereโ€™s also an app now for easy access on the go. Iโ€™m so happy I found MailerLite!

Another popular email marketing service used by many pro bloggers is ConvertKit. You can now use ConvertKit for FREE for up to 500 subscribers! Give both MailerLite and ConvertKit a try to see which email marketing service provider you like best.

50. CoSchedule Email Subject Line Tester

How many emails do you get a day? And how many of those emails do you actually open? When youโ€™re sending emails to your subscribers, you want to use attention-grabbing, click-worthy subject lines to entice people to open your emails. The free CoSchedule Email Subject Line Tester helps you write the best subject lines for your emails to ensure higher open rates.

E-COMMERCE Best Blogging Tools

WooCommerce

51. WooCommerce Plugin

If you want to have an online shop to sell things with your self-hosted WordPress site, the free WooCommerce plugin is a must! It makes it easy to set up your online shop and products, and it even integrates with the Divi Theme and MailerLite! I use WooCommerce to sell digital products that my customers can download from Google Drive.

52. WooCommerce โ€“ MailerLite Plugin

The free WooCommerce โ€“ MailerLite plugin integrates WooCommerce with MailerLite so you can track your e-commerce sales from your email marketing campaigns. Yay for integrations!

AFFILIATE MARKETING Best Blogging Tools

53. Rakuten

Rakuten (formerly Ebates) gives you cash back on online purchases as well as cash back on select in-store purchases as well as at some restaurants. Itโ€™s literally one of my favorite things in life!

I feel like whenever I talk about it, I sound like an infomercial because I just love it so much! Rakuten is one of the only (if not the only) things that sounds too good to be true, but actually is true!

I get a check every quarter for the money Iโ€™ve earned back on my purchases and have made more than $1,000 cash back over the years since shopping with Rakuten! Anything I can buy online, I buy online, and I do it with Rakuten to get cash back.

And not only do I love Rakuten for personal use, but it also has a great referral program! For each qualifying referral you send to Rakuten, youโ€™ll earn $25. Plus, itโ€™s completely free to join and use. If youโ€™re not already using Rakuten, you should start immediately. It will change your life!

Join Rakuten for free and get a $10 welcome bonus!

54. ShareASale

ShareASale is an affiliate marketplace with thousands of companies you can promote and earn a commission from, including Tailwind, Depositphotos, WP Rocket, and more.

55. CJ Affiliate

CJ Affiliate is also an affiliate marketplace with thousands of companies you can partner with to earn a commission by promoting their products or services, including Namecheap, Grammarly, Hotels.com, and more.

56. Amazon Associates

With soooo many products available on Amazon to choose from, thereโ€™s something for everyone with Amazon. When you become an Amazon Associate, you can promote and potentially earn a commission for any of the items listed on Amazon. This makes it a no-brainer when it comes to affiliate programs to join.

57. Ultimate Bundles

Ultimate Bundles is a site that curates themed collections of digital products (eBooks, eCourses, etc.) and offers them at a deeply discounted price for a limited time. This is a great affiliate program to join and promote the killer bundle deals!

58. Short Links by Pretty Links Plugin

You may have used tinyurl.com, bit.ly, or other link shrinking services at some point to shorten URLs. Well, the Shortlinks by Pretty Links plugin lets you shorten URLs by creating a custom URL using your own domain name.

Itโ€™s great for affiliate links or other long, ugly links to other sites. The plugin also tracks the number of clicks on the custom URLs you create and provides a report of where the hit came from and more. This is especially helpful for tracking your affiliate links.

ANALYTICS & SITE MONITORING Best Blogging Tools

59. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is key for monitoring your site traffic โ€“ where your site visitors are coming from and what blog posts and pages your site visitors are most interested in. You can use this information to determine where to focus your time for promoting your content.

You can also use the data to figure out which topics are most popular to then create additional related content. Put the information from Google Analytics to work for you and use it to drive more traffic to your site!

60. MonsterInsights Plugin

Google Analytics helps you analyze your data. And the MonsterInsights plugin gives you a snapshot of your Google Analytics data right on your WordPress dashboard for easy access.

61. PageSpeed Insights

The free PageSpeed Insights tool by Google will analyze the speed and performance of your site. It will also give suggestions to help your site speed. Itโ€™s super easy to use PageSpeed Insights. Just enter your domain name and hit โ€œAnalyze.โ€

62. Google Alerts

You can use Google Alerts to monitor the web for new content that mentions certain words or phrases you designate and be notified about it. For example, you can set it up to notify you if your blog name is mentioned. This can let you know if your blog was linked to on another site. Who doesnโ€™t love knowing when their content has been referenced?

OTHER Best Blogging Tools

63. Broken Link Checker Plugin

If you include links to outside sources in your blog posts, those links can change or the info the links lead to can be removed. You donโ€™t want to direct your site visitors to a non-existent source.

Thatโ€™s where the Broken Link Checker plugin comes in. It will notify you if any links on your site are no longer working so you can fix them. Talk about handy! It will also let you know if any images are missing.

*PRO TIP: The Broken Link Checker plugin can slow your site down. So you might want to delete it, then reinstall and run it every few weeks to check for broken links before deleting it again.

64. Anti-Spam Plugin

The Anti-Spam plugin is just that. Itโ€™s a free plugin that blocks automatic spam in the comments section of your blog. You donโ€™t want your real site visitors to see spam comments.

That could be a deterrent that prevents them from leaving real comments. So be sure to use a plugin to block spam comments from being left on your blog.

Akismet is another popular anti-spam plugin.  You can name your price for a personal, non-commercial plan.

Wrapping Up Best Blogging Tools

Whewโ€ฆ that was a lot! There are so many different tools and resources for blogging. It can be overwhelming and hard to know which ones you should use. But this list gives you the best blogging tools to try out and start implementing in your blogging strategy. So no need to stress!

Plus, you can get your free Blogging Tools Checklist with 10 top-secret BONUS Blogging Tools not mentioned in this post! The Checklist will help you keep track of all these tools. And if there are any other helpful blogging tools youโ€™ve used that you want to share with everyone, please leave them in the comments below!

Leave a question or comment HERE!

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This post may contain affiliate links or links to Amazon. If you choose to purchase anything through these links, I may earn a commission at no cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting me and my blog. Youโ€™re the best! See the full disclosure for details.

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Briana Nickas of Next Destination Unknown

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Hey there! I’m Briana, a blogger, hiker, traveller, RVer, photo-taker, and National Parks lover who is passionate about exploring the great outdoors while practicing clean living for a healthier lifestyle to continue doing the things I live for. My goal is to inspire others to live a life focused on wellbeing and wandering. Join me!

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Blogging Tools I use, LOVE, and highly recommend:

  • SITEGROUND I use SiteGround as my web hosting provider for this self-hosted WordPress blog. Their plans are affordable and include must-have features. Learn more about SiteGround and their web hosting plansย HERE.
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Leave a Comment!

30 Comments

  1. Nissa

    Great list of awesome resources for every blogger. Thanks for sharing and putting this together!

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Thanks, Nissa! Glad you found this list of blogging tools helpful!

      Reply
  2. Deandra

    This is a great list! I use a lot of these tools already too. I absolutely LOVE Canva! I loved it so much that I even got the premium account because it’s that important to me. I’ll have to look into Trello and blog ideas generator. Great post!

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Thanks, Deandra! Iโ€™m in LOVE with Canva too! ๐Ÿ™‚ Iโ€™m glad youโ€™re already using a bunch of these blogging tools and have found a few more you can try. Hope they help!

      Reply
  3. Adenike

    Thank you this post, really needed this blogging tools

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Sure thing! Hope they help you, Adenike!

      Reply
  4. SACHIN SINGH RAJPUT

    Well to be honest as a beginner I didn’t really know about such tools until now .. But Thanks to You I am highly thankful to you ..

    Goodluck and Hope to see you On greater heights soon ..

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Thanks so much, Sachin! I wish I had come across a list of blogging tools like this when I first started blogging. Hope it helps you and other beginner bloggers!

      Reply
  5. Stephanie

    Amazing list! Full of great tips.
    Thanks for sharing ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Thanks, Stephanie! I hope youโ€™re able to use some of the blogging tools.

      Reply
  6. Thea

    I saved this post so that I could take down more notes. I’m the type who learns by writing things down. Thank you so much for the amount of details you’ve put in here!!! It’s very timely especially now that Im starting a blog! โค๏ธ

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Hope these blogging tools help you with starting your own blog, Thea! I’m a very visual person myself and like to write things down as well. ๐Ÿ™‚ Be sure to download my Ultimate Blogging Tools Checklist to keep track of all the blogging tools in the post plus 10 bonus tools not mentioned in the post!

      Reply
  7. Cathy

    This is such a great post! Thank you! Iโ€™m definitely signing up for a bunch of these options. Thank you so much! ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Thanks, Cathy! Hope these blogging tools are helpful for you!

      Reply
  8. Erika Ravnsborg

    These are very good options. I know many people like wordpress but I like my Wix site. It’s easier for me to run. I’ll look into all these blogging tools though. Thanks for the list. I pinned them too.

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Thanks for checking them out, Erika! It’s true, a self-hosted WordPress site does require more work and maintenance than a Wix website. I like all the customization options you get with WordPress, but you have to use what works best for you. ๐Ÿ™‚ I hope you find the blogging tools helpful for your Wix site!

      Reply
  9. Chris Kosto | GoldenBloggerz.com

    What a huge & amazing resource of useful blogging tools! I have used the majority of them so I can confirm they’re indeed helpful. I pinned it for future reference.

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Appreciate that, Chris! That’s great that you’ve used many of these blogging tools and have also found them helpful. Thanks for sharing your experience!

      Reply
  10. Heather Ritchie

    I’m totally saving this post because I’m always on the lookout for new tools that help me be more efficient as a writer and blogger. I had the social media plugin Monarch and liked it and some of the other tools I can’t live without like Canva!

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Same here! There are so many blogging tools out there. You want to try them all, but it’s impossible. It helps to have a list of blogging tools someone else has used and recommends to reference. ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  11. Louise

    Ahhhhh we are kindred spirits! Google Docs, Trello, Canva, Siteground, Ubersuggest, tailwind! all in my tool box xxx Great list – thank you xxx

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Awww… yay for kindred spirits! Is that an “Anne of Green Gables” reference by chance? ๐Ÿ˜‰ That’s great that you’re already using those blogging tools. They’re all super helpful!

      Reply
  12. DeShena@Extravagantlybroke

    Wow! Such a great list. There were so many blog resources that I had not heard of or didn’t exactly know how they worked. I’m saving this one for sure!

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Thanks, DeShena! Happy I was able to share some new blogging tools with you and explain how others worked. Hope they come in handy for you!

      Reply
  13. Bee @mummybongbong

    Awesome long list!!

    I am still trying to figure out the best table of the content plugin. My previous one puts it in every post which I do not want, so I deleted it.

    Hope to find a good one soon or one that I know how to use..

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Thanks, Bee! I use the LuckyWP Table of Contents Plugin (Blogging Tool #11) and have been really happy with it. You can use the block editor with WordPress to insert it where/when you want. Give it a try, and let me know what you think!

      Reply
  14. Johny H.

    Hi, Briana! Thanks for this list. There is so much research for me to do now.

    I also wanted to share a resource in turn. I used to work with several travel affiliate programs and then this year when I had time to rethink my blogging strategy I found Travelpayouts. It totally changed the game for me.

    Travelpayouts is an affiliate network, which means it’s a platform that gives me access to a bunch of travel affiliate programs but allows me to join, control and receive money for all of them without leaving one site.

    So far, I haven’t noticed any particular program where the commission would be lower than through the original website. What I have noticed is that I spend much less time setting up widgets and links and tracking my sales.

    So, yeah. A tip for a tip. Check them out!

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Hope you were able to find some helpful blogging tools. Thanks for the info about Travelpayouts! I’ll have to look into signing up with them to consolidate travel affiliate programs.

      Reply
  15. Bright

    Thanks for sharing this post as it contains a lot of information.

    Reply
    • Briana Nickas

      Thanks for your comment, Bright! ๐Ÿ˜Š Glad you enjoyed all this info about blogging tools!

      Reply
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