18 Best Time-Saving Tools You Need to be More Effective

by Miles Halter | Blogging

There are many time-saving tools out there that can help you become a more productive blogger.

In this blog post, we will showcase the most valuable and practical tools that every blogger – beginner and expert – can use to improve the quality and output of their content.

By using these tools you can build a better workflow that produces more content, with a higher value, in less time. This helps you create better content for your readers to enjoy and brings them back for more.

So without further ado, let’s get started!

The 4 Major Components of a Winning Blog Post

Let’s face it, blogging is both a science and an art.

Some aspects of blogging require strategic thinking and planning to drive traffic, rank in search engines, create relationships and community, and create revenue for your website.

That being said, each blog post you write should consist of – at least – these 4 major components if you hope to turn that post into a valuable and helpful piece of content for your audience.

Each tool that is listed below feeds into these components in some way, and that’s why we are talking about them now.

Regardless, make sure each post you create consists of these 4 things:

Attention-Grabbing Headline

It’s important to understand that the overall goal of a headline is to get people to click on your blog post.

Without an attention-grabbing headline, readers may not even notice your post amidst all of the other content they are presented with on a daily basis.

But once they do click on your post, a catchy headline also sets the tone and expectation for what the content will be about.

It helps keep readers engaged and encourages them to continue reading through to the end of the article.

One way to create attention-grabbing headlines is by using power words or phrases that evoke emotion or create a sense of urgency.

Some examples of power words could include “revolutionary,” “shocking,” “amazing,” or “you won’t believe.”

Additionally, including numbers or lists in your headlines can also make them more appealing.

“10 ways to improve your productivity” or “5 surprising health benefits of avocado” are examples of this. While they may not be the best headlines ever, they illustrate the point.

While it may take some practice and experimentation, mastering the art of writing attention-grabbing headlines can greatly benefit your blog’s success and overall reader engagement.

Luckily, writing great headlines is a learned skill. And with a little time, practice, and a couple of easy tools listed below, it’s fairly easy to pick up.

Organized and Well-Formatted Content

If your content isn’t organized, it will come out looking like an incoherent rambling of jumbled information.

Honestly, your blog post could be the most informative piece of content on the internet, but if it’s a mess, your reader will not gain anything from it.

When creating your content, you want to think your way through the topic in a logical format. Plan out the topic in a step-by-step order.

The first problem is this, and it’s solved by x. The second problem is that, and it’s solved by y. The third problem is here, and it’s solved by z.

Do you get the picture?

Think through the problem or topic your post covers from the beginning to the end, and then walk your reader through it step-by-step.

This, alone, will increase the value of your content tenfold.

Use of Visual Aids

Listen, at this point, we’ve all searched the internet for a guide on how to do something in our lives.

Whether it was a blog post walking you through setting up your website, or a YouTube video explaining how to change the capacitor on your HVAC unit (something I just recently did – thanks to a YouTube video), every one of us has followed some kind of a guide at some point.

Now imagine having followed that guide without using any visual aids at all. Imagine how confusing those directions would be.

This is where the use of visual aids becomes so important. Just like organized content helps to push your reader straight through a problem from beginning to end, using visuals makes it even easier for them.

That’s exactly why you notice so many screenshots and step-by-step instructions in my blog posts. I would not want to see the difficulty you’d have trying to set up your first website, changing DNS records, and rerouting URLs, without some sort of screenshot or video to help you through it.

Seriously, that just sounds like a nightmare.

Just remember one thing when it comes to using visuals: they don’t have to be A+ quality.

While I do so highly believe in quality in everything related to blogging, you don’t have to be a professional designer to create these. A few free tools, and a minimal amount of practice using them, and your home free.

Intelligently Promoted

If you write the most epic blog post in the world, but nobody sees it, does it really exist?

Does it even matter?

If nobody sees your content, frankly, it doesn’t matter how good it is.

That’s why promoting your content is so crucial.

This point doesn’t really need to be explained too thoroughly, I’m sure. But just know this: promoting your blog post does not require an advanced degree in digital marketing.

It’s really not that hard. With a few easy tools, you can quickly get your blog post out to potentially thousands of eyes, which will continue to drive traffic for you in the future.

The Most Important Thing in Blogging

There are – quite literally – thousands of tools and tips and bits of advice you could use for growing your blog.

Seriously, you could easily spend years trying to sift through all the information and never even have time to start your blog in the first place.

It’s even easier to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information available to you.

That’s why, above all else, I believe you should focus first and foremost on the most important aspect of your blog: creating quality content.

I highly doubt I’ve written a single post on this site that doesn’t mention the importance of quality content somewhere within it.

It’s that important.

If your content isn’t high-quality, useful, and valuable to your audience, there’s no reason to create it.

So, as you’re sifting through the plethora of tools available to you, including this list itself, focus on what will have the biggest impact on the quality of your content, and put all the rest to the side until a later date.

If it seems overwhelming to you to set up an email list, opt-in forms, and lead magnets right from the start of your blog, that’s fine. Skip that for now, and come back to it once you’re settled in and have some content created.

Quality should always be your first goal. Everything else can come later.

Time-Saving Tools for Every Blogger

Time for the meat and potatoes of this post. The whole reason you’re here to begin with.

I’ve tried to break down the tools in this list into several sections, offering a few options for each.

Just remember, as you’re going through this list, not everything here needs to be added to your process right this moment.

As I said earlier, focus on quality first, and you can build upon your repertoire of tools as you grow.

In the meantime, let’s start with the tools you will use from the very beginning of the writing process:

Blogging Tools for Brainstorming Ideas

#1 Quora

Quora is one of the top question-and-answer sites on the internet, and it’s a treasure trove of content ideas for your blog.

Literally, all you have to do is search for a topic around your blog, and you’ll come up with a long list of questions that actual people are asking.

I tend to believe that if 1 person asks a question, thousands of others are asking that same question. Or some variation of it.

Therefore, if you see a question pop up on Quora, you can use that as inspiration to write a post on that subject knowing that actual users are asking the question.

For instance, since I write a ton about blogging on this site, here’s the first question that comes up when I search just “blog” in Quora:

This question – “How do I drive traffic to my blog for free?” – would be a killer blog post.

Everyone that has a blog, wants to drive traffic, right? Scratch that, needs to drive traffic, right?

And beginning bloggers may not have the budget or expertise to invest in ads.

So they go looking for free methods of driving traffic.

A post like “7 Easy Ways to Drive Blog Traffic For Free” would be a great piece of content.

There you go, in 30 seconds I’ve just come up with a blog post that I already know a ton of my readers are looking for.

It doesn’t get much easier.

Pro Tip: Bookmark the link to the question that inspires your post, then go back and answer the question with content from your post. You can then link back to your website (but do it naturally, don’t spam) and potentially drive traffic back to your blog post in the future.

Remember, these Quora questions don’t expire. So you could drive traffic to your site from a question you answered years earlier. Talk about bonus points 😉

#2 Answer The Public and Answer Socrates

Answer The Public is another site that offers a ton of information on what your audience is asking.

I don’t need to explain what ATP does, here’s a direct line from the site’s homepage:

I’ve talked about ATP in the past, and it’s one of my favorite tools to come up with content ideas.

Like Quora, simply search for a broad term related to your niche, and let the tool do its work.

Here are just some of the results that come up when I search “Blogging” in ATP:

And a few of the results that immediately stick out:

• how bloggers make money
• how blogging helps your business
• what blogging platform should I use
• what blogging tools (hey, this sounds familiar 😉)
• what blog niches are most profitable

That’s just from a first glance. There are a ton more suggestions I could sift through.

And again, this is just from 1 broad search. You could narrow it down as you please.

The only downside to ATP is that it has a daily limit for the number of searches you can do.

And that’s where Answer Socrates comes in.

Answer Socrates does essentially the same thing as ATP, except it’s free.

There’s really nothing more to say about it. If you know how to use ATP to your advantage, Socrates is the same.

Personally, I tend to find Socrates’ suggestions no more, or less, helpful than ATP.

It really comes down to a matter of preference.

But, since you can use both for free, you really don’t have to choose between one or the other.

Both ATP and Socrates are excellent resources for brainstorming content ideas based on the actual search engine data from users.

The fact that it doesn’t have to cost you anything is just the cherry on top.

#3 Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is a keyword tool owned by the digital marketing legend Neil Patel (fun fact, Neil purchased Answer The Public not long before I wrote this article as well).

Years ago, Ubersuggest was a free tool. Now, it’s transitioned into a freemium model.

That’s fine. We can still get a ton of use out of it.

Like most other keyword tools, Ubersuggest not only offers ideas based around search terms, but you can also look at the data on sites related to yours to find their most popular pages.

This is a great way to find topics within your niche that actually drive traffic.

Let’s say I’m running a personal finance blog, and I want to look at the most popular pages on a similar site: The Penny Hoarder.

This is the initial screen I see when I search the site in Ubersuggest:

As you can see, some results are limited because I’m on the free plan.

That’s fine. We’ll work with what we have.

On the left, I can easily look deeper into the site based on its keywords, backlinks, or – like I mentioned earlier – the top pages on the site.

This is what I come up with:

Limited to 10 results, that sucks. But I can still get a lot out of it.

Now I can select the dropdown next to the Estimated Visits on each post, and get a few keyword ideas for that post:

Again, limited. But let’s keep going.

Using the example page Find Remote Jobs at These 41 Work-From-Home Companies I can quickly and easily come up with a series of post ideas right off the top of my head related to this topic.

I could do a similar post on specific work-from-home companies.

I could do a post about how to succeed in a work-from-home job.

How to get noticed as an effective employee when working from home.

How to set up a home space dedicated to working.

etc.

This way, I can create a large selection of posts on my site dedicated to this one topic, which I know a ton of people are looking for information on.

Furthermore, I can use this broad topic – work from home – and I can search for it in ATP or Socrates and come up with more ideas.

This way, my stack of tools is building upon itself.

And we’re just getting started on the list 😁

While Ubersuggest is highly limited by its daily usage counts, it’s still a great tool to at least come up with broad topics to explore further.

Of course, if it’s in your budget, you could always become a paid member of Ubersuggest and get a ton more use out of it.

But that’s up to you and your individual budget.

#4 Portent Title Maker

The Portent Title Maker is kind of a 2-for-1 deal, and that’s why I love it.

Not only does Portent’s tool give you ideas for blog posts based on a topic that you enter, but it also helps to teach you how to create winning headlines.

Using the same “blogging” example that we’ve been using, here’s what Portent comes up with:

This is a great post idea.

This can become a general post where we explore the benefits of blogging.

This would be a great post to use in a sales funnel that leads up to, say, a course on starting a blog.

Or maybe a guide on how to set up your first blog that includes affiliate links.

Something like that.

But there’s another benefit to Portent’s tool: headline breakdowns.

If I click on a section of this topic, Portent gives me a pop-up that explains why that phrasing was used.

This allows me to learn how to structure blog post titles in the future.

It’s a great way to passively learn how to build better headlines when you’re starting out.

Now, let’s be clear: Portent’s tool isn’t perfect.

Because it works from a general list of pre-determined phrasing and ideas it sometimes gets a little wacky.

Or downright laughable.

Or…

So, no, not every title suggestion from Portent works out. But it’s still a great way to brainstorm ideas.

From my first example: “Why Blogging is More Tempting Than a Cinnabon” I can come up with a series of post ideas.

I can make a list of the benefits of blogging.

I can create a timeline that shows how blogging has grown over the years.

I could even make a post about the downsides of blogging, to show both sides of the equation.

So each suggestion that comes from Portent can quickly build off one another and create a series of posts, rather than just a singular idea.

This is why I like using Portent’s Title Maker.

Although I don’t use it as much as I did when I started, it’s still a handy tool to keep in my back pocket.

Tools to Help Bloggers Become More Organized

#1 Trello

Trello is a Kanban-style project management software meant to help you organize your tasks and build efficient workflows for you and your entire team.

It’s a great tool to build out effective To-do lists, task lists, and schedules for your blog.

I use it extensively and, over time, have built out entire lists of tasks and workflows for each of my blog posts.

While Trello is a free tool, and you can use it exclusively on the free level, I do think it’s worth eventually upgrading to a paid plan.

I currently spend a whopping $10/month for the Premium plan.

But given the – literal – hundreds of hours that it saves me every month through automation and organization, I’d say it’s worth it.

Again, though, you don’t need the paid plans in the beginning.

Use Trello to create workflows and to-do lists for each of your blog posts so nothing falls between the cracks.

#2 Evernote

I’ve often said that if I could monetize every idea written in my Evernote account over the years, I’d be a billionaire overnight.

Seriously, I think Evernote will be the most-used app on my phone until the day I die.

It’s the best note-taking app I’ve ever used, and it comes in handy in more ways than I could ever fully explain.

Whether I need to brain-dump my ideas, create to-do lists (both personal and work-related), save an article to read later, or even plan out my blog posts, Evernote is my go-to choice.

When it comes to blogging, I use Evernote both to keep track of my general ideas, and for outlining my blog posts.

In fact, every blog post I write starts off in Evernote.

I’ll build the outline, save some links/notes from my research, and jot down ideas all within the app before moving the post into my writing workflow.

Evernote has a ton of features that I don’t even use so who knows, it could expand your workflow in ways that I haven’t even thought of.

Either way, it’s a tool I used long before I began blogging and I’m 100% convinced that if I ever lost access to my account/notes, I’d die.

Kidding.

Seriously though, Evernote is awesome. If you’re not using it, start.

If you prefer another note-taking app, start using it to jot down and organize your ideas as they come to you.

Preferably, try to find something that has both a mobile app and desktop access.

The fact that I can so easily jot down notes on my phone while out and about and have access to them when I’m sitting in front of the computer working is part of the allure of Evernote. At least for me.

Create a separate notebook inside Evernote that’s dedicated to your blog, and try to keep your notes as organized as possible.

When it comes to planning your blog, create a new note to house the outline and research for your post.

Then, when you begin writing in your chosen writing environment (you could write directly in Evernote, but I prefer not to), keep your notes up on the screen.

This makes it easier to reference your ideas and helps to improve your workflow.

Writing Tools for Bloggers

#1 Grammarly

Grammarly is one of the most useful writing tools any blogger could utilize.

Great content is important, and Grammarly makes it easy to improve the quality of your writing.

I am by no means a literary expert.

I barely speak English, and it’s my first language.

So writing properly, with proper grammar, punctuation, and the like can be time-consuming.

See what I mean?

That literally was not on purpose.

Without Grammarly, I don’t think my writing would be atrocious, but it certainly wouldn’t have the same quality that it does.

And given that writing is literally my entire livelihood, that’s kind of a big deal.

What makes it even better is that not only is Grammarly free (there’s a paid option if the features would benefit you, but I haven’t needed it so far) but it kind of runs in the background.

I don’t really have to interact with Grammarly at all, it just kind of does its thing and lets me know when there’s an error in my writing. Honestly, it’s a no-brainer to install even if your writing is amazing.

Grammarly is free, runs in the background, and improves your writing.

What do you have to lose?

#2 Dictation/Speech-to-Text

This one is a bit hit or miss depending on your personal style, but dictation – or speech-to-text – can be a great way to improve your writing efficiency.

A Stanford study found that using speech recognition was 3x faster than typing, and results in fewer errors.

Using speech-to-text software can be incredibly powerful for your writing goals.

But, there’s a downside: it’s not for everyone.

Speaking personally, I don’t use dictation for my writing. I can’t.

Or, I shouldn’t say I can’t, but it just doesn’t work out for me.

No matter how many times I try – and I do still attempt it occasionally – I just can’t seem to work faster with dictation than typing manually.

For me, the ideas just seem to flow faster and more fluidly when I type them out.

I don’t know why, that’s just how it works for me.

Although dictation may or may not work out for you, a 3x boost in your writing is definitely worth giving a try.

And you don’t have to buy any equipment to get started.

Most phones have speech-to-text software built into them, and they obviously already have microphones attached, so you have everything you need already.

The next time you go to write a blog post – or when you’re taking notes for your next post – try using speech-to-text in Evernote and see how it works for you.

It may take some practice, and if it doesn’t work out that’s fine, but it’s worth trying.

As I said, I still attempt it occasionally because the potential of that boost to my writing efficiency would be a true game-changer.

#3 Jasper AI

Here’s one that may – or may not – be a bit controversial.

Jasper is a writing assistant that works using AI to produce written content.

It’s a powerful tool and was a central part of my writing process when I first started blogging until I found my voice.

In fact, at the time of this writing, I still use the Jasper document editor as my main writing environment. Here’s proof:

Although this blog is entirely hand-written, some of my other blogs have a mix of AI-driven content, and that’s why I use Jasper’s editor even for this website.

A consistent workflow is key, in my opinion.

When you first start writing, it can be difficult to find your voice and become comfortable with putting your thoughts down on (digital) paper.

That’s where Jasper comes in.

Jasper is meant to be a writing assistant.

I emphasize this because the biggest downside to Jasper – and AI writing tools in general – is that sometimes people forget this “assistant” portion of the equation, and they’ll use Jasper or other tools to completely write 100% (or even 80-90%) of their content through AI, then publish it as their own.

I simply don’t like this.

I feel like it’s lying to your readers and, as a blogger, your readers are your customers.

Don’t lie to your customers. Don’t position yourself as an expert or an authority when you’re not.

Okay, I’m going to get off my soapbox now.

Jasper is a great tool for writers. And what makes it even better is that the team behind Jasper has done an amazing job at creating templates, workflows, recipes, documentation, training, and a ton of content to help you get the most out of Jasper.

Again, sometimes they can kind of lean towards that Jasper-writes-it-all-for-you aspect, but there is still a ton of value to be gained from what’s available and included within Jasper.

I also love how engaged the team is with the Jasper community.

If you hop into their Facebook group, you’ll quickly see just how often the developers are posting content, commenting on posts, offering advice, taking ideas under advisement, and just generally being engaged with the community.

Jasper is an amazing tool to use when you’re first starting out – and continues to bring value to me now, even if it’s as simple as re-writing a particular statement for clarity or helping to drill down on a more concise headline.

Just know one thing: using Jasper is a learned skill.

It will take a little practice before you really get the full value out of it but if you put in the effort, it can pay off big time.

Give Jasper a chance with a free trial and get 10,000 free bonus credits when you sign up, more than enough to give you some play time to see if Jasper is right for you.

Tools for Bloggers to Create Better Visuals

#1 Canva

As a blogger, it’s important to have visually appealing images for your content.

As the quintessential Photoshop alternative, Canva can provide the perfect solution for creating stunning graphics without any design experience.

One of the best features of Canva is its pre-made templates.

Whether you’re designing a Pinterest graphic or a Facebook cover photo, simply choose the appropriate template and customize it with your own text and images.

This saves time and ensures that your graphics are the proper size and dimensions for each platform.

Canva comes included with a huge library of free stock images to use in your designs as well.

Finding high-quality, free images can be difficult, but Canva makes it easy with a huge selection to choose from.

Plus, you’re not limited to their selection. You can easily upload your own photos for even more customization options.

The drag-and-drop interface is user-friendly and allows anyone to create professional designs in minutes.

If you have any doubts, just know that almost every edit on any photo or image you see on this blog is done inside Canva. I’m not a graphic designer and I’ve never used Photoshop, but Canva allows me to create what I need without much effort or experience.

#2 Meme Generator

In the age of social media, memes have become an integral part of our online communication.

They can add humor and cultural references to a blog post, making it more relatable and entertaining for readers.

But memes can also be used as a way to communicate complex ideas or arguments in an easily digestible format. By using a popular meme as a visual aid, bloggers can make abstract concepts more concrete and understandable for their audience.

Memes often go viral on social media platforms, and sharing a meme related to your topic can potentially attract new readers to your blog.

The Meme Generator by imgflip is one of the easier ways to create memes on your own.

Working from a ton of different templates and popular memes, the Meme Generator makes it as simple as choosing your template, entering your text, and downloading your meme.

Honestly, it couldn’t get any easier.

Just one word of caution: use memes sparingly.

Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing, and memes are no different.

#3 Royalty-Free Image Sites

I’m going to combine a couple of tools into this section because it’s just easier.

“Royalty-Free” refers to images that can be used without having to pay for them directly. These images are often referred to as stock images. Many times, these stock images are completely free for you to use in something like a blog or a video.

However, it’s important to understand the licenses of each site you use for your royalty-free images.

Some sites allow you to use the images without mentioning the photographer or artist that created them, some require you to give credit to the artist.

Some may limit how and where you can use the images, while others may not have any restrictions at all.

Be sure to fully read and understand the license before using any image in your project.

In addition to understanding licensing agreements, it’s also important to remember that just because an image is labeled as “royalty-free” does not mean it’s free from copyright altogether.

It’s always best practice to only use images that have been labeled as “public domain” or “creative commons,” which typically means they are free from any copyright restrictions and can be used freely by anyone.

To find royalty-free images, there are countless websites and search engines available online. Here are a few that I always keep bookmarked for my image needs:

• Pixabay
• Pexels
• Unsplash

This is an example of a stock image from Pexels (view the original here – shoutout to the photographer, Misael Garcia).

I didn’t pick this image for any specific reason other than it showed it up on my homepage.

But it does demonstrate some of the quality images that can be found on these websites.

These images can be great for social media content, featured blog images, Pinterest Pins, and basically anything else you can think of.

Again, just remember to take a quick peek at the license agreements on the websites.

Don’t land yourself in hot water over stock images. It’s just not worth it.

#4 Envato Elements

Envato is one of the few paid products that I feel is worth considering when it comes to creating visuals for your blog.

Envato has everything from stock photos, stock videos, unique fonts, WordPress themes and plugins, royalty-free music, and the list goes on.

And the best part is that with a membership, you have unlimited use of every single asset available on their marketplace.

Envato is worth checking out if you require a lot more than just simple, one-off stock images.

If you’re looking for presentation templates, slideshows, stock videos or music for your videos, or any other creative asset along those lines, Envato may be the way to go.

Marketing and Promotion Tools for Bloggers to Get The Word Out

#1 Medium

Medium is an open publishing platform where virtually anybody can publish blog posts, and share stories, ideas, and insights.

Medium is a massive, wildly popular site and can be a key part of gathering traffic for your blog, especially when you’re just starting out.

As a new blogger, one of the biggest challenges is getting people to actually read your content.

Sure, you can promote your blog on social media and hope for the best, but having a platform like Medium that already has a huge audience can make a big difference in boosting traffic to your own blog.

One aspect that sets Medium apart from other publishing platforms is its emphasis on quality content.

In order to be recommended by Medium’s algorithm and featured in popular collections, your articles need to be well-written and engaging. This encourages users to put more effort into their writing, resulting in a higher level of content for readers.

One of the coolest things about Medium is that you can publish the same content from your existing blog onto Medium to help cross-promote your site.

This allows you to take advantage of the popularity and search engine power of Medium to help grow your own blog.

Neil Patel has an extremely useful guide on how to grow your blog through Medium and how to do it correctly.

#2 Flipboard

Flipboard is a news/article aggregation site that pulls in articles from all over the internet, across all kinds of different categories, and creates a feed for users based on their interests.

Funny thing, I’ve actually used Flipboard for personal reading and learning for over 10 years.

It was one of those built-in bloat apps on an old cell phone many years ago, and once I started using it, I just never stopped.

Now, it’s consistently one of the most used apps on my phone and I read several articles from the app each day.

But as a blogger, you can use Flipboard yourself to cater to people just like me – and the other 140+ million users.

Flipboard makes it easy for you as a blogger to publish content to their feeds so that your articles will begin to pop up when users show an interest in your chosen blog topic.

It really doesn’t matter what you write about, there’s an interest for it somewhere on Flipboard.

Almost every major blog website can be found somewhere on Flipboard – whether they manually submit to the site or if the articles are aggregated in another way – and if they’re benefiting from it, you can too.

#3 ConvertKit

ConvertKit is an email marketing platform that allows you to grow your email list and build an ongoing relationship with your audience.

Although there are many services that offer email autoresponders such as this, I like ConvertKit because it’s geared more toward creators – like us.

Not only is it one of the cheaper options – which can be a huge barrier for those of us just starting out – but it also makes it easy to scale in a way that bloggers and other content creators typically do.

Whether you begin to sell digital products, promote other products, or even create paid newsletters and email campaigns, ConvertKit is built with that in mind.

And this is exactly why, as a blogger and content creator, I’ve used ConvertKit so extensively in my blogs.

Email marketing as a whole can be an intricate and very deep rabbit hole for you to jump down, but it doesn’t have to be when you’re first starting out.

Use ConvertKit to create easy opt-in forms, and quickly and easily write and create email campaigns to begin growing your audience.

As you get more involved, you can always expand your knowledge.

ConvertKit’s own blog can be a valuable resource in this area as well.

#4 Thrive Leads

Thrive Leads – also included in the bigger Thrive Suite – is a powerful list-building tool to add to your email marketing arsenal.

Thrive Leads offers a ton of value in its package, including a ton of different opt-in forms, pre-made templates to work from, advanced targeting and rules for showing specific opt-ins in specific locations throughout your site, and a ton of marketing-related functions like A/B testing, reporting, and the like.

I’m a big fan of the overall Thrive Suite package, and the Leads plugin is one of my favorites.

And guess what? Thrive Leads even integrates with ConvertKit from above!

So between the 2, you will have all the options and customization features you could ever desire to create an email campaign that builds your blog and your relationship on autopilot.

Can’t beat that, can you?

#5 Tailwind

I’m a big fan of using Pinterest to grow a blog.

Especially when you’re just starting out and need to start generating traffic from nothing.

And that’s exactly what Tailwind helps you do.

Although Tailwind is available for both Instagram and Pinterest, I personally use it exclusively for Pinterest so I can’t really speak on its efficiency as an Instagram tool.

Tailwind acts as an automation and scheduling tool for Pinterest, and it makes life a lot easier.

Honestly, with the amount of content that I post to Pinterest, I don’t think I’d ever be able to keep up with it and still create content for my sites if it wasn’t for Tailwind.

With Tailwind’s scheduling features, I can literally plan out pins for each of my blog posts months ahead of when they actually go live.

This allows me to batch my work and do everything at once, rather than having to manually jump in and out of Pinterest and post new pins all day every day.

But scheduling isn’t the only thing that gives Tailwind its value.

One of the most powerful features of Tailwind is what they call Communities.

In previous years this feature was called Tribes, but I like the name Communities better.

It just sounds more collaborative, which is the point of the feature.

Communities allow you join a collection of like-minded Pinterest content creators to share and expand your – and their – reach by sharing each others best pins.

If you’ve ever been involved in Pinterest marketing and learned about or used Group boards, Communities is kind of like a private version of that.

Instead of posting to a public group altogether, you’re still sharing others’ pins on your own Pinterest boards, but you find each other using a private group such as this.

Communities are easily the fastest and most efficient way for you to not only grow your own Pinterest following – and therefore blog traffic – but also to find and share amazing, high-value content from other creators to add to your own boards.

This, in turn, makes your boards more popular and helps to further build your following – and, again, blog traffic – on Pinterest.

When used correctly, the Communities feature is easily worth the price of Tailwind by itself.

I love Communities, can you tell?

Just one word of caution: Communities are meant to be a give-and-take relationship.

If you want others to share your content, you have to be willing to share others’ content.

Each Community you join will have its own guidelines – which are usually pretty simple and straightforward – for successfully contributing to the community, but you should also set your own guidelines.

For me, I try to keep a solid ratio of 3:1 for every piece of content I submit to Communities.

This means for every 1 piece of my own content I submit, I try to find and share 3 pieces of other people’s content to share to my audience.

This forces me to continue to work in the best interest of the community as a whole, which is the only way this feature can continue to work.

If the community becomes filled with everyone just sharing their own content, and never sharing others, then the community serves no purpose.

Communities are my favorite “hack” for growing on Pinterest, but always keep in mind the collaboration and willingness to share that is required for it to work.

It’s give-and-take, so give more than you take.

Now It’s Your Turn

As a blogger, the tools you use can either make you or break you.

You can get bogged down in the literal thousands of available options, or you can stick to a select few that work best for your process.

So now I want to hear from you: Are there any tools essential to you that aren’t on this list? If so, share them with other readers.

And what about the tools listed here? Have you used any of them? What are your opinions?

I look forward to hearing your insights in the comments!