Blogging is one of the best ways to grow your business online.But there's no doubt about it. Managing a blog can be hard work.Between the setup, design, and content creation... maintaining your blog can feel like a full time job.That's where the best blogging tools come in.In this post, I've rounded up 25 of my favorite, "can't live without them," tools. ?I chose each one because of its ability to simplify your process.My criteria? It has to do 1 of 3 things. Help you:

• Set up
• Manage, or
• Market your blog

And on top of that, it has to make you more confident, efficient, and at ease with all that blogging entails.So, let's get to it. Read through my reviews and then choose the best blogging tools for your business.PLUS, you'll find an Infographic at the end with all 25 tools. Share and save!

25 of the Best Blogging Tools to Make You a Better Blogger

1. 750Words

Type: Online ToolPrice: $5 per month after free 30 day trialBenefits:

• Motivates and gets you in the habit of writing every day.
• Helps you learn how fast you write and how often you get distracted.
• Analyzes the feelings, themes, and mindset of your words.

If you struggle to sit down and write, you will love 750Words. It’s more than a tool, it’s a writing community.Each day you’re prompted to write, you guessed it - your 750 words.It's a tool that gets you used to writing by encouraging you to write at least 3 pages per day.And, you get awarded points for every day you complete.Not only does 750Words give you this little piece of motivation, but it also helps you learn more about yourself and your productivity.You can easily find out how fast you write and how often you get distracted. All that data is openly available within the dashboard.It even analyzes the feelings, themes, and the mindset of your words.

2. Bookly

Type: WordPress PluginPrice: $121- $339/monthBenefits:

• Makes book-keeping easy and the process streamlined.
• Create and customize a booking form for all products and staff.

Chances are that you’re not blogging just for the fun of it. You want to attract real customers and boost sales, right?Bookly is a booking plugin for WordPress that can help you turn website visits into real-life customers.And it's the tool I use to manage appointments (see it in action) and payments. It’s a premium plugin, but worth every penny.If you need a lot of functionality and flexibility in forms, calendars, staff members and more - you’ll adore this tool.Plus, it’s lightweight and won’t slow your blog down.

3. Brand24

Type: Desktop/IOS/Android AppPrice: Free 14-day trial. $49 - 399/monthBenefits:

• Track mentions across the web, on social, and by influence.
• Easily track mentions via top keywords.
• Find industry influencers to connect with and engage.

If you want to know what people are saying about your company, Brand24 is for you.This social monitoring tool is your key to tracking mentions all across the web, on social, and by influential publishers.You’ll know who wrote about your brand and what they said.And the best part? You can use the information you get from Brand 24 to start engaging with the people actively supporting you.

4. BuzzSumo

Type: Online ToolPrice: $79 - 559/monthBenefits:

• Research top performing content based on social shares.
• Find the best blog content around your keywords.
• Identify influencers for any topic or niche.

Great content is key to building a successful blog. With BuzzSumo (a tool I use every day), you can find the most popular content in your industry.I use it for research, quotes from other bloggers, and as a resource.Simply type in a keyword or phrase and look for the most popular content based on topic.You can also type in the domain name of your competition and look at the most popular content they've written. This will give you a good idea about what works and what doesn’t in your specific field.Rather than beating your head against the wall, looking for that perfect topic - use BuzzSumo to research what's already resonating with your audience.

5. Carbonite

Type: Online ToolPrice: $59.99 - $999/yearBenefits:

• Keep ransomware and other forms of malware far from your site.
• Protection against data loss.
• Automatic cloud backup for computers, hard drives, and visual drivers.

Carbonite is a super effective weapon available for small businesses that want to keep ransomware and other forms of malware far from their sites.Carbonite offers you robust protection against losing data important to your business. And in an age where hackers may hold your data for ransom, you need to keep your content safe.They offer automatic cloud backup for computers, hard drives, and visual drivers and is easy to install and access from anywhere.

6. ConvertKit

Type: Online ToolPrice: $29 - custom price/monthBenefits:

• Build beautiful, responsive opt in forms for your website and blog.
• Easily design a landing page for your product, offer or download.
• Create workflows, increase conversions, and build your list faster.

As a blogger, one of your biggest opportunities is building your email list.Haven't started yet? Don't worry. There's no time like the present and Convert Kit makes it easy to get set up.Whether you need a simple form to add to your blog or you're looking to create detailed campaigns and workflows, Convert Kit has you covered.

7. Co-Schedule

Type: Online ToolPrice: $30 - $1600/monthBenefits:

• Plan your content with an easy drag-and-drop content marketing calendar.
• Create your content with the built-in content editor.
• Sync with your WordPress blog and easily promote to social media.
• Analyze potential blog titles to determine performance.

If you’re always scrambling to come up with post ideas, you’re missing a crucial piece of blog strategy: a content marketing calendar.It’s the key to staying organized and on schedule.CoSchedule is an easy drag-and-drop content marketing calendar that will help you plan, create, and promote your content.But there’s more to the tool than just a nicely laid-out calendar. CoSchedule also has a built-in content editor, connects directly to Wordpress, and helps you promote your content across social media.And a bonus: I love their Headline Analyzer. It's a tool that analyzes your blog titles and scores it based on data.

8. Evernote

Type: Desktop/IOS/Android AppPrice: FreeBenefits:

• Capture and organize information (web pages, texts, voice notes, images, etc)
• Organize/search for your notes by geotag, keywords or tags.
• Set reminders for timely content.

Evernote is a powerful blogging productivity tool.With it, you can capture anything from web pages to texts, voice notes, and images. Think of it as a second brain where you can organize your information.And the sky is the limit when it comes to what you can manage within Evernote.Use it as a reminder system for guest blog posts or a capture tool as new blog post ideas hit you.

9. FocusMe

Type: Desktop ToolPrice: $9 month - $119 lifetimeBenefits:

• Improve your productivity by eliminating distractions.
• Master your addictions by blocking certain websites or apps completely.
• Limit the amount of time you spend on any website.

“I’ll just take a short break and log into Facebook for one minute,” you say.30 minutes later you’re still scrolling through your feed. Sound familiar?And it’s not just Facebook. There are hundreds of distractions all around us - killing our productivity.FocusMe is the tool that will solve this problem and help you focus on getting things done without wasting time on distracting websites.One of it’s best features is the ability to block certain websites or apps completely, or limit the amount of time you spend on them.Give it a try and you’re bound to see your productivity soar.

10. Google Analytics

Type: Online ToolPrice: Free - custom price/yearBenefits:

• Get analytics on the results of your efforts
• Get data on visitors/potential clients (location, what they’re searching for, etc)

The best way to grow your blog is armed with data.With Google analytics, you can monitor the health of your blog.Track your campaigns, set goals, and stay on top of your most popular content.Learn which type of content keeps visitors on your website the longest, what's converting, what posts could have done better, and how social is supporting the growth and promotion of your blog.

11. Google Sheets

Type: Online ToolPrice: FreeBenefits:

• Stay organized and keep all your data and information in one place.
• Create a content schedule for your blog.
• Track your blog metrics and analytics over time.
• Do blog and keyword planning.
• Easy blog content collaboration.

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that you’ve used Google Sheets. But did you ever use them for blogging?Well you should. While a simple Google Doc might be the right option for writing your post, a Google Sheet is the perfect way to stay organized.My team uses them to track campaigns, post dates, launches, metrics, and more. It's an easy way to coordinate and collaborate.

12. Hemingway

Type: Online & Desktop ToolPrice: FreeBenefits:

• Analyze your writing for increased performance.
• Get feedback on how to improve sentence structure.
• Provides a readability grade for easier comprehension.

This is one tool I use for each and every blog post I write. It’s an editing tool that analyzes your writing and offers you feedback on how to make your blog post easier to read and comprehend.To begin, paste your text into the free app. Hemingway will review your copy to reveal its readability score.You'll see which words or phrases are hard to read, when you're using passive voice or too many adverbs.And for those of us that are visual learners, it's all done through color-coding.

13. Hostgator

Type: Online ToolPrice: 3.95 - $79/monthBenefits:

• Easy control panel
• 1-click script installs
• Email marketing through Constant Contact
• 99.9% Uptime Guarantee

When you first start a blog, choosing a host is a big decision.I've trusted Hostgator for years. They're reliable, affordable, and easy to use.If you ever feel technically challenged, this is a great option.Between purchase and setup, you can have your blog live in 15 minutes.

14. OptimizePress

Type: WordPress PluginPrice: $97- $297Benefits:

• Create and edit high converting landing pages, sales pages, and membership portals.
• Add functionality to your blog with over 40 custom elements.
• Over 30 templates to choose from to get landing pages live in moments.

If you’re ready to leverage your blog to get new leads, OptimizePress is the tool for you.It’s a WordPress plugin and theme that’s perfect for creating high converting landing pages, sales pages, and membership portals.Creating and editing pages is easy. You can build your own page from scratch or choose one of the 30 templates and edit in real time.

15. Post Planner

Type: Online AppPrice: $9 - $49/monthBenefits:

• Schedule your blog post to publish on Facebook or Twitter.
• Pick the best optimal time and set evergreen content to recycle.
• Find and share the most engaging content on the web.

Once your blog post is written, you’ll want to share and promote it on social.Post Planner will help you share your content consistently.This desktop tool makes it easy to schedule your blog post to publish on Facebook or Twitter at the best optimal time.You can add them to a queue or schedule to post at a specific time. You can even set your posts to recycle and have them in constant rotation.

16. Social Fave

Type: Online AppPrice: Free - $300/month (paid annually)Benefits:

• Search and analyze your blog retweets and likes.
• Manage and analyze your community to build strong relationships with anyone sharing your blog content.
• Grow your account by finding relevant accounts to follow.

A big part of blog growth is capturing the right audience.With Social Fave, you can research keywords, identify influencers, and find keywords your audience is using.Build a targeted audience through their listening tools and stay active with alerts.best

17. Social Quant

Type: Online AppPrice: $50 - $300/monthBenefits:

• Build a targeted Twitter following that’s eager to read your blog content.
• Follow people based on your blog keywords.
• Connect with influencers interested in sharing your content.

Social Quant is a bloggers best friend.If you want to create an active and engaged Twitter audience, use Social Quant to find and follow effortlessly.No more scouring Twitter and randomly following anyone who's tweeted. Get focused on the people looking for your content.

18. Social Warfare

Type: WordPress PluginPrice: $29 - $250/yearBenefits:

• Customize the look and placement of your social sharing buttons.
• Control over how your content is shared - add images, descriptions and more for each social network.
• Create attractive click to tweet quotes for more social shares.

If you want your blog post to get shared, you need to make it as easy as possible for your readers to pass it along.Enter Social Warfare: a WordPress Plugin that makes sure your post is shared in the most optimal way.The tool is highly customizable with features including click to tweets, social share button placement, and the color of your buttons. (you can see it at the top of this post)

19. SumoMe

Type: WordPress PluginPrice: Free- $119/monthBenefits:

• Setup and customize pop-ups to increase conversions.
• Add a “welcome mat” to introduce new readers to a product, service or offer.
• Add highlights to text for highly-shareable tweets.

There are lots of ways to ask your readers for their email address, but SumoMe has consistently been my top performer.It’s a Wordpress plugin that gives you a large selection of tools to help you grow your email list.Use it to set up various "Welcome Mats" displaying your content.

20. Title Experiments Plugin

Type: WordPress PluginPrice: FreeBenefits:

• Run A/B testing on title variations.
• Determine which ones perform best to continuously optimize.

If your title doesn’t catch your reader's’ attention, it doesn’t matter how amazing the rest of your post is - nobody will read it.That’s why it’s crucial to pick the best possible title for your post.I pair the Title Experiments Plugin with Co-Schedule to A/B test 3 titles on each post.To begin, add several versions of the title to be randomly displayed in any post list.Each listing is counted as an impression, and each visit - as a view.Based on the number of views and impressions, you can determine which title gave you the best results.

21. Triberr

Type: Online ToolPrice: FreeBenefits:

• Build your tribe of loyal blog followers who share your content.
• Promote your blog post within a closed niche-related group.
• Create relationships with other bloggers in your industry.

Any blogger knows that hitting “Publish” on a blog post is far from the last step in the long blogging to-do-list.After a post goes live, it needs to be promoted, and that’s something that often takes as much time as writing the actual post.Triberr is one of the best ways to promote your new blog post and to build relationships with other bloggers in your niche.It’s a blogging community where you become a member of Tribes (groups), share their content, and offer yours for easy sharing to their community.

22. Ubersuggest

Type: Online ToolPrice: FreeBenefits:

• Provides suggestions based on seed keywords.
• Helps you brainstorm alternative keywords.
• Find niche keywords you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.

If you're a blogger, you know how much keywords matter.But how do you choose the best ones? Ubbersuggest!It’s a fantastic tool that offers suggestions to help you brainstorm and research keywords.All you need to do is enter one keyword and Ubbersuggest will generate similar ideas. I find it to be a great place to begin brainstorming new content.

23. Visual Website Optimizer

Type: Online ToolPrice: $49-$999/monthBenefits:

• A/B test different elements on your site to increase conversions.
• Easily run tests to land on your perfectly optimized copy.
• Run geo-behavioral targeting campaigns.

The only way you will ever know what works best on your website is to test it out. Visual Website Optimizer is the tool that makes that easy to do.This testing and optimization tool lets you create versions of your blog and landing pages. Once you've done that, you can A/B your headlines, copy, calls to action, and more.Use the data to identify which version got the best conversion rate or sales.VWO also has many additional tools, such as behavioral targeting, heatmaps, and usability testing.

24. WordPress

Type: Online ToolPrice: Free (self hosted) -$25/monthlyBenefits:

• Build and customize websites without any coding or technical knowledge.
• Contains the publishing tools you need to create drafts, revise your posts and even schedule publications.
• Optimized for search engines right out of the box.

WordPress has a balance of simplicity for beginners and complexity for developers.Better yet, with WordPress, you have complete control, but don't have to start from scratch. Use themes and plugins to build out your dream site.WordPress also contains the publishing tools you need. You can create drafts, revise your posts and even schedule publications.The best thing about WordPress is that it's optimized for search engines right out of the gate. But there's also a wealth of SEO plugins ready for you to use.WordPress offers you all the freedom without restrictions.

25. Yoast SEO

Type: Wordpress PluginPrice: FreeBenefits:

• Keyword optimization with to 5 keywords for each page.
• Analyze the readability of the copy you wrote and calculate the Flesch Reading Ease score.
• Avoid confusing Google with duplicate content, by setting canonical URLs.

Speaking of SEO plugins, that's the last one on my list. Yoast SEO has been my go-to SEO tool for years.Use Yoast to add your meta, keyword, SEO title, and slug. When you finish writing your post, Yoast will analyze and score your content for optimization.I appreciate the easy color coding for actionable advice.

Over To You...

Which one of these blogging tools will you add to your list?Pick one and test it out.Once you're confident it's the right fit, add another.Tell me in the comments below... which one will you try today?

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