The Blogging Tools
With blogging, comes organisation and with organisation comes the right tools. To stick to a schedule and ensure I post almost every day, I have to keep on top of myself and having the right stationery, apps, websites to hand, makes it much easier. I'm a bit of a stationery addict and have endless note books, to do list pads, weekly pads, planners, the lot, but they do really help me in my process and deep down, I'm a pen and paper girl. However, there are a few apps out there that I rely on, on a daily basis along with some other blogging essentials.
Macbook Air - This is probably one of the most important tool of them all, I use it to edit my photos on, write my posts on, schedule content, promote posts, interact with others and comment on other posts.
External Hard Drive - Boring, but essential. Having an external hard drive frees up all the space on your laptop and leaves room for more and more photos.
Photoshop - All of my photos are now edited with Photoshop and it's one of the best decision I've made in blogging. It's super easy to use and really makes a difference in how your photos look. I'll be doing a How I Edit My Photos post soon so keep a look out!
iPhone - This is my on the go saviour, all activity on Twitter and Instagram is done from my phone whether it's tweeting throughout the day or taking part in a chat, I find it much easier to do on my phone. The majority of my Instagram photos are also taken on my phone and edit on Snap Seed where I alter the brightness. Once uploaded on Instagram, I may add a filer. Aden and Juno are my two favourites!
Planner - In order to stay organised with your blog, you need a planner. I use mine to jot down what post I'll be doing on each day, post ideas, post deadlines etc. They also make pretty photo backgrounds!
Notebook - If I'm brainstorming blog ideas, this is where it all goes down. Writing lists, content ideas and my actual post process takes place in my Sugar Paper note book as I find it much easier to have it on front of me on pen and paper then on my laptop. I did post on my Blog Process here if you want to see what I do / how I plan!
Evernote - This is an awesome app for drafting posts, keeping up to date with you posts, adding to each, seeing what photos go with each post and you can keep different notebooks and note pads on it to keep everything organised and in place. I add each blog post to Evernote and add a + once I've got the photo, content and it's scheduled so I know where I am at in my process.
Camera - Along with a MAC/laptop, this is the most important tool a blogger could own. Having a camera makes all the difference in your blog photography and the most important thing with a camera, is making sure you know how to use it. It doesn't matter if you've got a simple compact model or a Canon 70D, as long as you can use it, you will have good photos.
Calendar - For a calendar, I like to have mine on my laptop as it's always infant of me then and it syncs with my phone meaning I always have it on me. I add all blog posts to my calendar on the days they'll be posted so I can ensure I don't post two favourites posts in a row or two tutorials in a row.
What are your favourite blogging tools?