8 essential apps for bloggers

Over the years as a blogger, and the years of having a smartphone, I've honed down to just 8 apps which I use on a daily basis to promote my blog (and YouTube), none of which are a big surprise, but if you're just starting out you might not realise just how helpful some of these apps can be.  At the end, I'll give a special mention to a couple of other platforms that could really help you too.

BLOGLOVIN'

As much as I really recommend it as a great way to other blogs, it's a great reader and attributes the views to the blog (unlike the old She Said Beauty platform).  I actually prefer the app and the layout to browsing the desktop version - it makes keeping up with blogs and following them really easy.

You can find me on Bloglovin' here.

MOLDIV

This is a great way to 'square up' your rectangular images and create other assortments of images and collages.  I used to use Diptic, but on my old Android it'd crash ALL the time, making it really annoying - I switched to Moldiv and never had that problem again, plus they do some more interesting arrangements of pics and a proper collage.  This is great for creating images to accompany your tweets, or upload to Instagram.

DROPBOX

I'll tell you why this is SO useful.  I take my blog pics with my DSLR, it's not easy getting these pics onto my phone to upload to Instagram.  What I realised recently is that I could create stunning high quality images using my DSLR, and when in Instagram I can select to upload from Dropbox.  So I'd plug the camera into the computer, create folders in Dropbox for those pics, then via Instagram I'd access Dropbox and my high quality images, if that makes sense?  It's not as easy with the iPhone, I still have the Dropbox app but I simply open the images in there, screenshot them and upload that, as in the Instagram iPhone app I can't access my Dropbox directly.

INSTAGRAM

In my opinion, this really is essential.  Yeah ok I share a lot of baby pics on there like any new and proud mummy would, but this is where I share those lovely makeup pics too - pics that are on my blog posts each day and directing traffic to my blog.  What's more, when I share those beauty pics, I tag the brands that are relevant, and if they like the pic (which they often do) it sends a lot more 'likers' my way and increases my following, which in turn sends more people to my blog :)  Plus I like that Instragram (if you use it like this) is a bit of a picture vlog of people's day.

You can find me on Instagram here.

TWITTER

Possibly your biggest asset if you're a blogger is your Twitter account.  Apart from SEO which is where most of my traffic comes from, the next biggest driver of traffic to my blog is Twitter.  Yes you have to be active on there as the half life of a tweet is crazy short, but it really is essential.  Back when I started this blog, it took me 6 months to reach 50 followers on GFC.  Then I discovered Twitter and Twitter chats and hashtags... lets just say that was really when this blog took off.

You can find me on Twitter here.

PINTEREST

Another amazing driver of blog traffic is Pinterest.  I had some great tips recently from Miss Makeup Magpie that I've been following (and slacking on!), but before I slacked on them, I saw real and very quick results.  It was about 2 months ago, I had about 350 followers and asked Gemma for help.  She said what she found to work was pinning regularly every day after about 8pm and then on weekends. Have a look to see what topics are trending and create boards around those, and always pin images from each of your blog posts.  I followed these simple rules and after just a couple of weeks, I had over 1,000 followers.  I still pin regularly, but more like weekly - but pinning daily makes a massive difference and it really does drive traffic to my blog.

You can find me on Pinterest here.

FACEBOOK

Yes Facebook might be massively flawed for promoting your blog, thanks to them throttling how many people will see your posts dramatically, but it's still good to have a presence on there and keep it regularly updated.  The Facebook pages app helps you to update when you're on the move and share instant updates to your likers.  I update mine at least once a day, I try to update it more but it's hard staying on top of all this when you have a 5 month old baby :)  I'd also recommend, sharing your blog posts in different Facebook blogging groups :)
You can find my Facebook page here.

YOUTUBE

Ok so this one is really for people who have a YouTube channel as well but the app is great at quickly being able to check views, get URLs of your vids to share, and if you have some down time, catch up on other people's videos :)

You can find me on YouTube here.

They're my top 8 apps for managing your blog and promoting it - there's a couple of other tools that I use day in day out that I just had to mention. As much as I have Photoshop and I'm more than competant in using it, I tend to use PicMonkey as it's quicker and simpler to use - almost all my image editing is done on that.  I also schedule tweets using Hootsuite if I know I'm going to have a busy day or I'm feeling productive - I'll also schedule Facebook posts on there too :)

Are there any other sites or apps you use to manage your blog?

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How to grow your blog

I thought long and hard about writing this post, but you know what? In the 2.5 years I've been blogging, and since set up a second blog (www.mummy-pixie.com) I've learned a lot, I've seen what works and what doesn't, so I thought I'd share my tips with you.  This isn't an exhaustive list of everything you could do, but it's a list of pretty much everything I do.

TWITTER

This is a biggie.  For me, my blog didn't really grow until I took to Twitter.  It took me 6 months to get to 50 followers, it was about then I discovered how amazing Twitter is.  It's great for discovering new blogs, making blogger friends, and sharing your content.

Take part in the chats like #bbloggers (8-9pm Weds and Sun) and engage with other bloggers, share links to your posts on there using different hashtags like #bbloggeres & #fblchat.

FACEBOOK

I'm hoping you have a Facebook page set up for your blog?  If you don't, I'd recommend it.  Yep Facebook throttles how many of your 'likes' will see each of your status', but Facebook is great for social signals in SEO, just like Twitter and G+ etc.  So set up a page, update it every time you publish a new blog post, and engage your readers by asking them what they're up to, or sharing little snippits from your life.  Don't be afraid to share your recent posts with different Facebook groups like #Bbloggers, FBL Chat and others.

GOOGLE PLUS

Another great platform that a lot of people don't understand yet.  Personally, after publishing each post, I hit the G+ share button at the bottom of the post, write up something about it, and share it publicly. Don't be afraid to go on there at +1 other bloggers posts too, they might return the favour :)

INSTAGRAM

As much as this isn't a massive one, it's great to have an Instagram account - you can add your blog URL into your profile, and share images from your blog posts, as well as images from your day.  These days, I'm probably spending more time on Instagram than I am Facebook, it's a lovely way to engage with people.  Don't forget to add hashtags to blog related pictures too like #bbloggers etc.

PINTEREST

As an early adopter of Pinterest (I managed to get in on the Beta) I'm a big fan.  I try to pin at least one image from every blog post onto a relevant board I've created, as well as spending the odd hour or two pinning things from around the web or pinterest onto my boards, even if it's just for inspiration.  It may not send tonnes of traffic my way, but it's an accumulative effect, if you do all these things you should see a decent uplift in your page views :)

STUMPLEUPON

Again, I was an early adopter of this, I've been 'stumbling' for about 8+ years now (great way to discover some of the most random sites on the web!).  Just log in to your account, and on the right hand side (far right) there is a down arrow, press that and 'Add a page' - you can only do about 7 pages a day, so get in the habit of doing it every day, or once a week.  This will get your page indexed so that other 'stumblers' might stumble upon it.

COMMENTING

This is something I don't have nearly enough time for, but that is one of the most effective ways to grow your blog.  If you're not sure where to start, either head on to Twitter, search the #bbloggers tag and start clicking on some blog links, or head to a popular blog who gets lots of comments like Makeup Magpie, and start clicking on the blog links of all her commenters, and from each blog you visits, all their commenters.  If you like the blog, give it a follow.  Don't be afraid to leave a link back to your blog when you leave a comment, but be reasonable and don't leave giveaway links, and certainly no 'follow me and I'll follow you' comments - make sure they're genuine.  If you don't like the blog, close the tab and head on to the next :)

But just remember, when they return the favour and come back to your blog to comment, keep going back and chatting with them, you never know, you might make some friends along the way :)

ADVERTISING

If you want to expand your reach further, taking out a sidebar banner with another blogger can be effective.  If you're not sure who to advertise with, don't be afraid to ask a blogger for their stats, i.e. how many visits they get a month etc, or have a look and see who's advertising with them, and ask how many referrals they've had.  Back when I used to advertise with Sprinkle of Glitter, I'd get between 200-300 visits from her blog.  With The Black Pearl Blog, about 150-200 (but I'd be paying £10 instead of the £25 sprinkle of glitter was charging).  Other blogs didn't really send me any traffic, so it's a bit of a learning curve.  But even if people don't click on the link to visit, they may remember your blog name and click on a Twitter link or Facebook link another time as it'll be familiar to them.

BLOG SERIES

Doing a short blog series is useful too.  A couple weeks ago I did my 'Summer Series' - I had a big uplift in traffic that week.  People like a theme and like to get involved, just make sure the series doesn't go on too long.  It doesn't have to be every day, but could be one post a week on a theme for a couple of months.

HOOTSUITE

Last but by no means least, scheduling tweets and Facebook posts is a must.  I trialled it for a week to see if it worked, and I had a big uplift in my traffic.  Remember that you'll have readers from all over the world, where their day is our night, so even just scheduling tweets throughout the night will help. Don't be afraid to tweet out some of your older but more popular content throughout the day too.  I tend to tweet my 'SEO tips' and Google analytics posts, they're always popular, what you'd call an 'ever green' posts, in that it doesn't really age.  Yes I keep them updated with current trends and changes, but the essentials are still the same.

Sorry about the lack of images in this post, here's a couple of cute kittens to make up for it :)

*The middle one is our cat Matilda when she was 8 weeks old, on the day we got her :)

 

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