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10 blogging tools I can't live without

Posted by Ben on March 18, 2009 | Permalink | Hits: 1170 

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A quick post for today - here are 10 tools and services that help me with my blogging:

1. Todoist - this is to keep track of your to-do list, but it's also great for planning posts. I write the title of a post, then I put down as many points as I can think of. If I can't get to 10 items, I'll save the list for later. Todoist is also what I use for keeping track of upcoming changes for Injader, and it's a good way to manage incomplete posts across multiple blogs. I find it much easier to work on my drafts in one place, rather than having to hop between each of my blogs, find the post I want to work on, then get distracted by some comments...
2. Google Reader - this isn't just good for keeping up with the latest posts on other blogs, it's a good way to set aside your favourite posts for a weekly round-up. Did you see my post from last November - 10 reasons for using Google Reader?
3. FeedBurner - while I'm not ecstatic about this one, it serves a purpose. Feed subscribers are very valuable, and FeedBurner gives us some idea of how many we've got.
4. Google Analytics - we all need a stats package. Analytics is a great choice. That reminds me - I need to get my four part tutorial for Google Analytics back online.
5. Flickr: Creative Commons - an essential resource for any blogger looking to add an image to their posts. Make sure you read the usage conditions before using an image from here. It helps to know what to look for - some searches produce very little, whereas others will uncover some real gems.
6. TweetDeck - while I've had some great conversations and met some awesome people on Twitter, I didn't get into it fully until I used TweetDeck. Without TweetDeck, I'd still be using Plurk. But as a lot of people seem to have moved from Plurk to Twitter (and here's why), it's probably pretty quiet over there now. For me, TweetDeck is the way to use Twitter.
7. Paint.NET - I tried to like GIMP, but just didn't get along with it. The interface seemed to make even the simplest things really complicated to do, even when I'd done them a few dozen times. When I tried Paint.NET, I immediately realised this was the image editor I'd been looking for. Photoshop is overkill for someone who is not a photographer and doesn't do anything advanced with an image editor. I do very little except for cropping and resizing images. Even doing this in GIMP was, frankly, a bit of a nightmare. I'm sure others disagree with me, but I know this is the right package for me.
8. Thunderbird - when I first used the Internet in 1998, Outlook Express was my email package. Later, I went to Mozilla Mail, and then to Thunderbird. In 2007 I moved to Gmail, but after a couple of years I found the interface had become horribly cumbersome. Things seemed to take a nosedive when they released the "new" interface, which looked pretty much the same but had loads of extra AJAX stuff. Suddenly, a service that had served me very well for 2 years became an exercise in patience. Some people argue that you can't really complain about a free service, but I think this is complete nonsense - a free service that prevents me from using it is no use to me whatsoever. Needless to say, I gave up on Gmail and went back to Thunderbird. Now, managing my email is a joy, not a headache. Here's a longer version of why I ditched Gmail for Thunderbird.
9. The CMF Forums - the friendliest, most welcoming, helpful, useful and interesting blogging community on the web. The CMF Forums are the central meeting point for bloggers and members of CMF Ads. You don't have to use CMF Ads to use the forums, but there are so many reasons for using CMF Ads, why wouldn't you?
10. Injader - when I launched Top Ten Blog Tips last November, several readers asked why I was using WordPress. The honest answer is I wanted to run a blog where I wasn't constantly thinking of things I'd like to change within the software - my to-do list is long enough as it is! This gave me the opportunity to use my existing sites as a way of furthering Injader, while gaining a much better understanding of the pros and cons associated with WordPress. Prior to installing WordPress, I had several reservations that turned out to be incorrect. I do think it's a good system, but I don't believe it should be the only option to consider when starting a new blog or website. Over the last few months, Injader has progressed in leaps and bounds, with a new theme system, ways to combat comment spam, making the CAPTCHA optional (so many people complained about this at benbarden.com, I had to do something), proper SEO links, and numerous other improvements. In the near future, I am planning to migrate Top Ten Blog Tips to Injader so I can prove to you all that it's up to the job of running a semi-popular blog, while removing the need to rely on multiple plugins for functionality that I believe should be in the core system. This migration will also mean a new look for Top Ten Blog Tips. Unlike some people, I'm not going to set a date for this migration - it'll happen when I'm ready. So, stay tuned and prepare for TTBT - The second coming!! (I'll continue to write new posts in the meantime, obviously.)

What are your favourite blogging tools?

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