These are my absolute favorite FREE blogging resources, tools, ebooks, and plugins. Check out this must-see list of free tools for bloggers!
I have been overwhelmed lately with online eCourses and eBooks. It seems like every time I turn around, someone is trying to sell me a course or access to a new scheduler or premium plugin. I’m on overload. So, I sat down and decided to share with you my favorite FREE tools for bloggers.
Because, well, sometimes it’s nice to know that not everyone is trying to sell you something.
Photo Editing and Graphic Design
This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.
When it comes to editing photos and making blog graphics, I almost exclusively use PicMonkey and Canva. Both are free, and the learning curve can’t be beat.
I do NOT have fancy photo editing skills. In a perfect world, I would have wizard-like Photoshop skills. In this reality, I use PicMonkey. The basic features are FREE. It’s easy to learn. It does what I need it to do. End of story. UPDATE: Picmonkey used to be free, but now they have a 7 day free trial. You have to pay for their basic service after the 7 days. I totally recommend the paid version, and I use it pretty much every day. Give it a try for the 7 days and if you love it as much as I do, you might consider keeping your subscription.
Canva is LIFE, people! Once again, I do NOT have mad graphic design/photo editing skills. I need programs that are idiot-proof. Like Canva. I use it to make templates for my social media images, as well as all of my free printables.
Yes, I know this is a market – but if you subscribe to their newsletter, you get freebie downloads sent to you. Score!
Email Marketing
I am super skeptical of free webinars or courses, because I always feel like people are trying to sell me something in the end and/or the content is weak. This is NOT the case with this course. You get a daily email and video, assignments, and even support in a private Facebook group.
SEO
Download it. Make the lights turn green. Your SEO will thank you.
OK, but seriously, even if you don’t understand what SEO is or does, install this plugin. You don’t need to understand SEO at all to improve your site’s SEO. Just use this plugin, and make all of the lights turn green on the checklist at the bottom of your post.
PS: I recommend doing a little bit more work than this on SEO, but I know time and energy are always in limited supply. If SEO can’t be at the top of your priority list right now, at least start with the plugin.
This super easy to use app helps you find long tail keywords with low SEO difficulty. After taking an SEO course, I now use this tool when selecting keywords on every single blog post I write. There are premium versions (which I use) but you can do 3 FREE searches per 24 hours. I highly recommend that you take advantage of them!
CoSchedule Headline Analyzer – Write Headlines That Drive Traffic, Shares, And Search Results
Social Media
Tailwind Tribes Yes, Tailwind is a paid service (one that I personally use), but it’s free to use the tribes feature. Much like using group boards, tribes helps you get your content in front of a larger audience, faster.
jQuery Pin It Button for Images
– Because you want to make it as easy as possible for people to share your content on Pinterest, right? Add a “Pin It” button over your images for easy pinning.
Simple Pin Media Ultimate Pinterest Planner – This is a 20-page PDF with monthly tips and checklists to help you improve your Pinterest account. I recently took a free webinar from Simple Pin Media, and they know their stuff! In fact, listening to Kate’s podcast is the first thing I do each Wednesday morning!
Ahalogy Pinterest Editorial Calendar – Know what to pin, when.
The REST of Social Media
I currently use Hootsuite for G+, because I don”t want to waste time on G+ but I know it’s important for SEO. It’s refreshing to have a basic free scheduler available, especially when the cost of multiple schedulers for multiple platforms starts to add up. Pay for what gives you the most return (in my case, Pinterest) and use Hootsuite for the rest.
Blog Branding and Design
You can’t fix it, if you don’t know about it. Walk through this free guide and improve your brand and your site.
I LOVE the book How to Style Your Brand – It’s my favorite book about branding, and it really helped me “get it” as far as branding goes. You can get a condensed version of the workflow in this post.
Plan Your Editorial Calendar
Do you want to become a more organized and productive blogger? Are you using an Editorial Calendar or does your current blog post planning system not work for you? Download this FREE 44-page Editorial Calendar Toolkit to get started!
Since I’m so passionate about Blogging Smarter and Not Harder, I decided to release this toolkit for FREE to you all. Just fill out the form below to claim your own Toolkit. Happy editorial calendar planning!
Great share! Just pinned your SEO Plugin share gave me an idea to search my Square space help and I learned several new tips in addition to your share. Thank you so much :)!