12 Must-Have Tools for Any Blogger

Post by David Pierce. Find me on Twitter.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote several posts called "How I Work" that were all about how I get things done. They were about email, GTD, and all the aspects of how I get things done and stay (well, claim to stay) productive using the Web.

I missed one, though, and a few of you let me know about it. As a blogger, I have a bunch of tools I deem totally critical and necessary for me to be productive. Some are writing and creative tools, some are just ways of creating and maintaining a blog that are better than the other solutions out there.

These are the ten tools I find myself using, over and over, as I create and maintain a blog:

Wordpress

Every blog needs software to run it. Wordpress is the blogging software of choice for many major blogs, and for this one. WP is easy to install, has a simple back-end that’s also enormously customizable, and since it’s the closest thing there is to an industry standard, it’s easy to share with other people. The most important thing about a blogging platform is that it works, and Wordpress definitely does. Features are always being upgraded and added, there’s a giant library of plug-ins, and Wordpress definitely takes the cake in my book.

Thesis

In addition to a platform, blogs need a theme to make them pretty and wonderful. In my opinion, themes are a waste of money. I buy one, get bored with it, buy another, regret spending money, don’t eat for a week to make up for it, and then I’m sick. So, themes make you sick. I’m just sayin’.

Thesis, though, is different. It’s a "theme framework," which means instead of controlling every aspect of how your blog looks, it creates a way for you to edit it yourself. Thesis (a steal at $87) is great for anyone, but particularly for the non-coder. It uses a "hooks" system, which makes creating and placing snippets of code and editing everything about Thesis incredibly easy. Since buying Thesis about 8 months ago, I can’t imagine not using it. (Just so you know, if you click the link above and buy Thesis, I make a few bucks through their affiliate program.)

Windows Live Writer

The most important part of a blog, obviously, is the content. Without anything interesting to say, who gives a hoot if you’ve got the prettiest and easiest-to-use blog ever? You’ve got to write something, and Windows Live Writer is the best tool out there. It’s got a great visual editor, can be used offline, and also has access to tons of useful plug-ins, like automatically tweeting when you publish a post.

WLW is better than Word (it doesn’t insert goofy code into your documents), and is more robust than the online editors – it’s free, and is the perfect (and popular) solution for writing and publishing frequently to a blog.

Clicky

Clicky’s how I figure out who’s coming to my blog, what they’re doing, and so much more. It’s a real-time tracking system that provides tons of information about who your visitors are, as well as what they’re reading and where they’re looking. Google Analytics is the standard tool for tracking your stats, but Clicky does it in real-time, and with more information. Winner winner, chicken dinner.

Dreamhost

Similar to the blogging platform, all blogs need a host that works. I don’t need tons of features or customization, I just need my site to be up and functional all the time. Dreamhost is great at that. It’s cheap (and always has great sales going on), and is the best and most reliable hosting service I’ve used. Their support is quick and helpful, and I’ve got no complaints. The fact that I never think about my hosting is to their credit, and I recommend Dreamhost to everyone.

Evernote

I won’t go into more details about what Evernote is, or how exactly I use that; I think I’ve done that to death at this point. For blogging, it’s my repository of stuff: all the administrative things I have to do are within a Notebook called "Blog," and a tag called "Blog-admin." Post ideas go under "Blog-Post Ideas," and can both be added to and accessed from anywhere. I have hundreds of things to write about, and hundreds of things I want to do – I store code bits, ideas, and all sorts of things. Without Evernote, I’d probably have no idea what to do with myself.

Google Reader

One of the fun things about blogging is interacting with other bloggers and blogs – Google Reader’s how I keep up. I read tons of blogs, get great ideas for posts, and am able to share and read interesting stuff with my friends online. Google Reader manages the vast majority of my incoming news and information, and is as good a solution for doing so as exists out there.

Buzzword

As much as I love Windows Live Writer, I don’t always have access to my computer. When I’m blogging from the road or someone else’s computer, I use Buzzword, from Adobe. It’s a gorgeous app that lets you write, edit, and collaborate incredibly easy. I’ve even gone as far as to call it the best online word processor I’ve seen.

Jing

A picture says a thousand words, right? Most of my articles, on this site and elsewhere, use screenshots extensively – they’re great at showing how an application works, what it looks like, and what exactly it’s good for. Jing’s the only tool I need for screenshots. You can take screenshots with only a couple of clicks, add things like comments and arrows, and save them for publishing immediately. It’s a lightweight, free application, and one I use almost every time I write a post.

AreMySitesUp

I love Dreamhost, but as with any hosting provider, it fails me every once in a while. AreMySitesUp is a service that lets me know immediately when that happens. It pings your website every few minutes, and lets you know when it’s not showing up or loading. That means I know, in only a few minutes, when my site’s down, and I can get in touch with Dreamhost (or whoever) to fix it. When the site’s back up, I’m told of that immediately as well. AreMySitesUp means I don’t have to worry about visiting my site frequently to make sure everything’s ship-shape; it does that for me.

Disqus

My favorite part of my blog is the community: people come with great ideas and opinions, and frequently let me know that I’m missing out on the best stuff out there, and what it is. Disqus is a commenting application that plugs right into Wordpress, and manages all the comments on this and other sites. Disqus lets you own you
r comments, and they’re all aggregated on the Disqus site, regardless of where you’re commenting.

It also allows for things like logging in through Twitter, viewing reactions to a post on social media sites, and threaded comments – all great for boosting the conversational aspect of a blog. The readers of this blog are much more important than the content I write, and Disqus helps bring out even more of that.

Gravatar

I like Gravatar for most of the same reasons I love Disqus. Gravatar lets you associate your email addresses with a picture, and then anytime you use that email address on a blog, it shows that picture. Comments feel more real and personal when there’s a face attached to the name, and Gravatar makes that process totally painless. It’s easy to sign up for, and you only have to do it once; your picture follows you around after that.

These tools make creating a blog easier, adding content easier, maintaining the blog easier, and creating and fostering community easier. Easier’s better.

What do you use for your blog? What tools could you not live without?

Photo: JanneM

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