The Best Free Blogging Tools and Resources
Last week I talked about the blogging tools and services that I felt were worth paying for. While it is really helpful for a professional blogger to pay for certain things, don’t despair if you have a limited budget. There are many completely free blogging tools and resources available.
Social Media
Scheduling some of your social media posts is essential for saving time and getting the best exposure for your blog. There are many tools for social media sharing, some totally free, some with free versions.
Hootsuite allows up to three social media profiles. You can use it to schedule and monitor posts from Twitter, Facebook, Google +, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
The free version of Buffer allows you one free profile each for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn, and you can store up to 10 posts each. While they do offer a Pinterest plan, that is not available on the Individual (free) plan.
While Ahalogy is free, you need to apply for membership, which can (at least when I applied) take a month or more. It’s worth the wait though because Ahalogy will schedule your pins to Pinterest with just a click. You can select multiple boards and it will automatically post your pins at key times. Plus Chrome has an extension that makes it even easier.
Photography
Finding quality photographs that require no attribution can be a challenge, but Pixabay offers a solution. Absolutely no fee or attribution is required and they have a large variety of pictures to choose from (over 620,000!).
For photo editing, both Canva and Picmonkey have free versions which are great for resizing, adjusting color and brightness, adding captions, and many other options.
Plugins
There are many great free plugins available. I wrote about my Top 13 Essential Plugins a few weeks ago, so I won’t go in depth again here. The free (or free versions of) plugins I mentioned in that post were Wordfence (Security), Yoast SEO, SumoMe (social sharing & list building), AntiSpam, and a few others.
Education and Support
I have found, after seven years of blogging, that the very best source of blogging information is other bloggers. And the best part is, much of it is absolutely free. From blogs, newsletters, and Facebook groups, it is possible to learn, ask questions and grow as a blogger.
Some of my favorite “blogging” bloggers include the Sits Girls, By Regina, and of course, our Blogger’s Pit Stop crew, Janice from Mostly Blogging, Kathleen from KathleenAhern.com, and Julie from Juleskalpauli.com. There are too many more to list (but I’d love it you’d share your favorite in the comments!).
I have learned so much from other bloggers thanks to the many Facebook groups that I belong to. While some are mostly for social media sharing, there are others that both offer advice and allow you to ask questions of the other members. Here are some of my favorites (and please, share yours in the comments!). All have different rules and requirements, so be sure to check to make sure that the group fits your needs before you request to join.
Support and advice groups:
Bloggers Gonna Blog: From their community guidelines: Bloggers Gonna Blog is a community built to connect inspiring healthy living bloggers so we can discuss blogging, social media, photography, recipes, health, fitness, body image, photography and more.
Glow Your Blog: From their guidelines: This is NOT a self-promo/flash love group. We just help each other learn about the behind the scenes blogging world.
Blogging Boost: From the guidelines: Connect with other bloggers, share your posts, and learn the ins and outs of working online! The group is open to anyone.
Blogging on Your Own Terms: From the guidelines: This group is designed for connection and collaboration, not promotion. Please keep that in mind whenever you are posting in the group. Thanks for being here and making this a great community!!!
Sharing groups: These groups provide daily threads to get the word out about your blog. Some threads include Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. shares, comment on each others’ blogs, follow for follow threads and more.
I also belong to groups that are specific to Pinterest only (it deserves it’s own groups!), my niche (health, fitness, running), some of my ambassadorships. If you’re interested in learning more about those, let me know in the comments or drop me an email.
I would love to hear any of the free blogging tools and resources that you find helpful! What is your favorite?
Now it’s time for the Blogger’s Pit Stop!
Friday, 15th April 2016
Blogger’s Pit Stop #19 – Welcome
Blogger’s Pit Stop is open from 9 pm ET(US Thur) 11 am(AUS Friday) and Closes 3 am Monday ET(US) 5 pm(AUS)
Gordon B. Hinckley
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Our challenge: To learn engagement by visiting and encouraging other bloggers. Blogging continually changes. Right now, blogging and the social media networks all want to see ENGAGEMENT.
This week’s challenge: is to increase this from the average of 1.1 clicks per post
up to two (2) clicks per post.
Congratulations to the Bloggers who have learned the value of engagement.
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The Pit Stop Crew are bloggers who collectively have significant blogging experience. We don’t know it all! We are willing to step out and try new things, to think outside the box. If something does not work we move on to more innovative solutions. All the way we are learning and going forward. Each week you will find constructive posts that relate to Blogging. We hope you will glean information to assist you to re-charge your blogging battery, or to fill up with motivation fuel, help to change a tire, find a higher gear, or reset your GPS.
Bring your posts, they can be on any subject that is family friendly –
Affiliate links within content posts are OK. (Exceptions: No direct sales or shops.) Giveaways must have a content post.
Dear bloggers, you are the reason we are here, and we are super excited to open up to you the benefits of joining the Blogger’s Pit Stop.
Meet Our Pit Stop Crew
Kathleen from Lifestyle Building Blocks: She finds it both humbling and satisfying to write posts and to have bloggers express their appreciation for the help and guidance gleaned from her insight. Kathleen loves the blogger’s lifestyle, thinking outside the box and to keep learning. She is presently studying Professional Editing and Proofreading.
Kathleen/Blog / Facebook /Google+ / Twitter /Pinterest / StumbleUpon /
Janice from Mostly Blogging: Janice loves writing, and meeting people from all over the globe who are like-minded and supportive. The thrill and validation she gets when bloggers tell of how she has helped them with their blogging is unparalleled. Her posts are thorough and beneficial to her many readers who are building their own blogs.
Janice/Blog / Facebook / Google+ /Twitter /Pinterest / StumbleUpon / Instagram /
Debbie from Coach Debbie Runs: Debbie has spent many years blogging, designing, and building social media accounts. With all that valuable experience she felt that she wanted to share her love of blogging as well as her knowledge. Her site offers easy to follow tips and advice to build your own blog and become successful as a blogger.
Debbie / Blog / Facebook / Google+ /Twitter /Pinterest / StumbleUpon /
Julie is the wife of Pauli and the mom of two beautiful children. As a family, they have worked hard for the lifestyle that they now enjoy. They have a successful online business, they are entrepreneurs who teach, train, coach and are mentors of their strategies to make more money more easily. Julie has two blogs, one for online coaching and one for their Niche Travel Hub.
Julie/ Blog1 / Blog2 / Facebook / Google + / Twitter / Pinterest / Stumble Upon / Youtube / Linkedin / Instagram /
Blogger’s Pit Stop uses Inlinkz to make your experience smoother and quicker.
You won’t need a lot of rules, we do have some suggestions for you –
- First time here, it will help you to read the Welcome post in the Linky, which explains the Blogger’s Pitt Stop rationale.
2. Visit some other bloggers, you may want to comment and then leave from another page.
3. Take advantage to follow/like the Pit Stop Crew, they will follow you back. Now when you visit other bloggers why not follow/like them too, if after a week they have not followed back, go and unfollow/unlike them. Take every opportunity to grow.
Put our beautiful banner on your site. If you have been FEATURED take the awesome Featured one too.
Click on the Banner to get your code:-
Welcome to The Blogger’s Pit Stop #18
Let’s practice engagement
Check the Resources
Blogging – Personal Finances – General Health Topics
Make use of these resources at any time 24/7
Could we please have a drum roll to reveal the FEATURES from last week
Grab your awesome FEATURED banner (above)
The Pit Stop Crew chose these FEATURE posts
April Is Distracted Driving Month – Handsfree Is NOT Better By Jody
Stop Reliving the Past Through Your Children By Alicia
What Would You See If You Paid Attention? by Michele
Over 90 posts = 5 FEATURES for the most clicked last week
5 Free SEO Tools to Help You See More Website Traffic by Janice
9 Awesome Blogging Tools and Services I Pay For by Debbie
Why Alexa Ranking is Important by Kathleen | Hate Shopping? You need to read this! by Sue
Everything You Need to Know About Eating Avocados by Jill
time to show us what you have got –
[inlinkz_linkup id=624612 mode=1]
We are excited that you joined the Blogger’s Pit Stop #19
Join us on Friday 22nd April. 2016 to see what we have for you.
Enjoy Pinterest? Go to The Pinterest Game
My weekly linkups! Please stop by and check out all of the great recipes, workouts, and information that all these awesome bloggers share every week!
Sunday Blog Hop with Jenn
Meatless Monday with Sarah and Deborah
Meatless Monday with Annmarie
Inspire Me Monday with Janice
Anything Goes with Marilyn
Bonnie, the Pin Junkie
Tip Tuesday with Debbie in Shape
Wild Workout Wednesday with Annmarie, Michelle, Sarah, and Angelena Marie
Wednesday Wisdom with Nanna’s Wisdom
The Running Coaches’ Corner with Rachel, Suz, Lora Marie, and Me!
The Blogger’s Pit Stop with Kathleen
Let’s Get Real with Karen.
Friday Fitness with Jill
Fitness Friday with Miranda
Such a useful list of resources! I especially love that they’re all free – great for those of us just starting out. I’ve been using Hootsuite and Ahalogy and really like them both. Pinning to keep as a reference thanks so much
Thank you. I love free things even after years of blogging. Why not when they are just as good (or very, very close)?
Awesome list and very helpful information for new bloggers! Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks Cally. I’m glad you find my list helpful.
You don’t happen to know of anyone who can help with mobile ads?
In which way? Most of my ads show up on mobile devices too.
Mine are in the sidebar so on mobile they fall to the bottom. I would like to layer them within my mobile posts. There are plugins that can do this, however, no of them work with my site and my web designer doesn’t know why.
Mine fall to the bottom too. Can you manually place them higher? My header Amazon ad stays at the top, and I think I can place one before the text (after the title) of each post. It’s a good point though. I never thought about it and I usually don’t like ads mid-post, but with so many people reading on mobile devices it’s probably necessary.
You ads on your photos work on my iPad.
Yeah those aren’t the money makers. The ad companies do not like it if your fill rate is not at a certain level and you’re leaving money on the table too. The plugins will allow you to layer them in and they will only show on mobile devices. The ad companies will give you specific codes for them. There’s got to be a blogger somewhere that knows how this works.
Debbie thank you so much for the mention in your very helpful post on the best free blogging tools. You have lots of good information to share here.
Thanks Kathlen. I’m glad to share the expertise of the Pit Stop crew.
Great list – I use several of these. Canva and Buffer are two of my favorites!
Thanks. I’ve never gotten the hang of Canva. I use Picmonkey all the time. I really should at least learn a little mare about Canva though.
This is a great post! I have been trying to decide what to use for better social media scheduling and these suggestions are great. I will definitely be pinning this post and referencing it often! Thank you!
Thanks Christina. I’m happy you find it halpful!
Debbie, simply in a single word, you list was awesome, and you are double awesome, bookmarking this post especially for future reference, thanks for this wonderful article.
this was a cool list, and many of these listing I donno upto now, and I also have many doubts regarding getting traffic for my new blog, and if possible please reply me with your Id, thanks for the listing
Hi, Debbie! Thanks for the references here. I have learned so much from the Blogger’s Pit Stop Crew, too! 🙂 I would love to see more information on the Pinterest groups you mentioned at the end of your post sometime. I will be checking out the support/information groups you mentioned — thanks!
I love the free plugins on WordPress. Thanks for the great list 🙂
Great resources. I think I use most of these. I’m tweeting this post. Happy Monday!
I’m finding pinterest more and more invaluable for blogging promotion and traffic. Great post, had never heard of ahalogy before.
Pinterest only for photo gallery blogs, it cant be applied to all sites, even the listing has many thing that we cant apply to personal blog, likewise we need to filter based on the usage.
I didn’t know Buffer had a free version! Awesome, thanks!
Hi Debbie,
First time I hear about Pixabay . There are times that I’m struggling to find the right photos. I am working on my photography skills but still I need some extra photos for my articles and posts. Thank you for all those tips! 🙂
Zaria
These are some great resources! Next semester I am modifying my Intro to Marketing class – my students will all have to start a blog and monitor their stats (visitors, views, bounce rates, etc.) as their main semester project. Blogging is 80% marketing so it seemed to make sense. Anyway, I am scouring the web looking for free resources my students can use to promote their blog – I figured they have enough financial burdens as it is 🙂
Hey Debbie! Amazing site!
Have you heard about Rawpixel?
You’ve probably seen our images all over the place. We’re the leading stock photo contributor in the world. We’ve just launched our website where we give away the best free design resources out there.
We’d be stoked if you could check us out on http://www.rawpixel.com. Looking forward to you joining our community of creatives.
BE INSPIRED. BE RAW.
Nica
Thank you. That sounds like a great resource. I’ll check it out.
Hey Debbie,
Great list of free resources. I have used most of these and definitely recommend them to bloggers looking for awesome free tools.
Canva is seriously awesome, when I’m on the go, I don’t have photoshop on my chromebook, and Canva always gets the job done.
I’ve helped many bloggers with their SEO, and recently I decided to share a free tool that bloggers can use to improve their SEO. I’m going to look around your site for your email to see if you’d be interested in checking it out.
I’d be elated to hear your feedback! And really excited if you decided to include my free resource here on your list 🙂
Cheers,
Keller