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10 free blogging tools that every blogger should have.

Posted by gmoney • 6/09/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: blogging, Free, google, jott.com, tools

Just my take.... hope I help

1. Twitter (twitter.com)
Twitter is a way to build a following online using micro blogging

2. BlogCatalog (blogcatalog.com)
need I say more

3. Google Analytics
If you self publish your blog which I feel that everyone should, google analytics is free and easy to use and gives you more than enough stats

4. Digg (digg.com)
A way to promote your story, look at it as free PR.

5. StumbleUpon (www.stumbleupon.com/)
Promote what you like online.

6. Jott.com (jott.com)
Blog, reminders, email, interact with other online software from your cell phone.

7. Gmail.com (gmail.com)
If you self host your blog, this is the BEST way to manage your email.

8. Your own domain name (only 10.00 a year) (godaddy.com)
Stop with all the I-think-I-want-write.blogspot.com
Be original, your domain name has to be easy to remember not a perfect match. Use your name, come up with some silly, think out of the box, tntwritingskills.com... see I just came up with that and it is available! (tnt=explosive)

9. Google Reader (reader.google.com)
I read more than 5 blogs a day. Just give me the meat and potatoes, probably the best RSS feed reader out there.

10.Your Brain iforgetmybrain.com damn there is a another domain name that is available.

User Comments

6/09/08

Theloniouskrunk

What if u're just doing it for fun. Not really publicity or money yet?

i'll keep my blogspot as long as I can.

[reply]
1. 6/09/08
  
  gmoney
  
  I still only blog for fun. I come up with a idea and I start a blog........ got a new one coming soon, anyway, just for fun can one day be a just for fun blog. I spend about 20 a month for hosting and then register a few domain names a year, but I can write some of it off because it is a business.
2. 6/09/08
  
  timethief
  
  Social networks are not "blogging tools" but joining them can be helpful when it comes to promoting your blog and increasing traffic.
  
  www.blinklist.com/ BlinkList
  secure.del.icio.us/register Del.icio.us
  digg.com/register Digg
  cgi.fark.com/cgi/fark/newuser.pl Fark
  flickr.com/ Flickr
  www.furl.net/user/login.jsp?useFull=1&noTemp=1 Furl
  ma.gnolia.com/join Magnolia
  www.newsvine.com/_tools/new/user Newsvine
  reddit.com/login Reddit
  technorati.com/Technorati
  
  I think the first step is to actually plan a traffic building strategy. That starts with being sure your blog has been registered with search engines so when people search for the key words applicable to your blog that they do find you. IMO one can expend a lot of time and effort in social networking but if the basics of getting search engine attention are not covered then you will not maximize traffic flow to your blog.
  
  onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2008/04/26/ten-traffic-promotion-tips-for-blogger...
  
  Here are some ways to promote your blog and increase your readership.
  (1) Find Technorati on the web. Register and create an account, claim your blog(s), tag them, create a watchlist and register your favorite blogs. You will find that the site has excellent instructions to help you work through all the steps.http://www.technorati.com/
  
  (2) Also be sure to register your blog so you get the attention of search engines. It is said that Google's directory comes straight from the DMOZ Directory so look into getting your blog site listed in it. dmoz.org/about.html The DMOZ, commonly known as the Open Directory Project has strict guidelines as to who is listed. Submission info can be found here. dmoz.org/add.html
  
  "If your site has been accepted into the Open Directory, it may take anywhere from 2 weeks to several months for your site to be listed on partner sites which use the Open Directory data, such as AOL Search, Google, Netscape Search, Yahoo Search, and hundreds of other sites. We make updates of the data available weekly, but each partner has their own update schedule."
  
  You should *not* submit your site to Google, Yahoo, and MSN more than once every 30 days.
  
  Although Google says that manually submitting your pages to their index is unnecessary, they have an interface for you to do so. www.google.com/addurl/ But don't be surprised if it takes months for Google to acknowledge your site's existence. MSN will seldom visit a website unless invited by submission. beta.search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx Yahoo frequents sites more than MSN but less than Google but will dramatically increase visits after submission.http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html
  
  (3) Submit you site to other directories like topsites.blogflux.com/
  
  (4) Submit your latest "pillar" post to a blog carnival
  blogcarnival.com/bc/
  
  (5) Submit your posts to Ezine Articles.
  
  (6) Start leving meaningful comments on other blogs. Most particularly comment on blogs with related subject matter to your own blog.
  
  (7) Trackback and link to other blogs in your blog posts.
3. 6/11/08
  
  gmoney
  
  If your blog is self hosted and has a RSS feed I have seen Google index the site within a matter of hours.
6/09/08

richrf

Let's see, for me:

1) Google Analytics to better understand my traffic
2) Akismet and Spam-Free to keep out spam
3) Feedburner to centralize and keep traffic of feed subscribers
4) Google Trends, to better understand keyword usage
5) Quantcast, to see how well other bloggers and competitive sites are doing
6) I guess Adsense, for some really easy and meaningless revenue
7) SiteUpTime to let me know if my server is down
8) Wordpress for a very stable and flexible blogging platform
9) Estibot.com for some decent free online domain appraisals
10) forums.digitalpoint.com for some up-to-date info on what's happening in the technical webmaster world

[reply]
6/09/08

DrowseyMonkey

All good advice there gmoney. My problem was I was so busy with all that other stuff I didn't have any time to blog. And then I got kinda worn out ... I took about 2 weeks off and when I came back I got rid of a lot of that external stuff and got back to what I enjoy about blogging ... which is blogging. I kept BC but got rid of a lot of other stuff. (I like yahoo mail better than gmail ... but I guess that's just a personal choice).

[reply]
6/09/08

jsinkeywest

comment removed by the community.

[reply]
6/09/08

timethief

jsinkeywest
You're spamming this thread too. Your post is not related to the subject matter in this thread.

[reply]
6/09/08

clioandme

I could live without 4 through 9, though I do use 7---not because i have blogs though.

[reply]
6/11/08

tiggyblog

Google indexed my site very quickly and I get lots of hits from it. It's webmaster tools and sitemap is worth doing!

[reply]
6/11/08

Chrislag

G money, i definitely agree with no. 9. Google reader. It was impossible to manage all my feeds and blogs, that i read, before i used a decent reader.

[reply]
6/11/08

lmcvlove

I agree!

[reply]
6/12/08

shawnlim

I never use gmail, instead I use Yahoo mail more.
Maybe I have used to it, so don't think of changing it.

Shawn
www.themillionairesecrets.net/

[reply]
6/12/08

wandadog13

can you create a google sitemap for a blogger blog? I heard you could so i submitted my blog url - now it just shows status of not-verified. Any help appreciated.

No-ones mentioned Zimbio - i get quite a bit of traffic from that - its short lived but a welcome boost.

[reply]
9/07/08

frank2042

Good article, really appreciate www.garanew.com

[reply]
9/07/08

wehireu

I don't like gmail. I think it is overrated and trendy. Yahoo mail has always been better.

[reply]
9/07/08

cooper

The only think I need absolutely is "akismet" and "bad behavior" and a contact and I'd add to that as almost absolute an "about page".

The reader I need as a blog reader, but not as a blogger. I am now using RSS Owl feed reader much better organization on the feeds.

I use the other stuff rarely, it's never been a part of my routinely blogging and I don't think it is absolutely necessary.I think bloggers these days start off paying way too much attention to that stuff when they'd be better off paying more attention to their blog and not promoting until they have something worth promoting.

[reply]
9/07/08

kaguvkov

Thanks for posting this conversation it helps a lot in promoting your site.

[reply]
9/07/08

Madlabent

Twitter seems like a cool blogging tool, but it just doesn't do much for me. Some things don't work for every blogger.

[reply]
1. 9/07/08
  
  timethief
  
  That's a very good point. I do not use twitter for blogging myself I only use it to chat. Like cooper I use very few blogging tools. IMO the need for this tool or that tool is strictly unique to each blogger's situation. I'm in the less is more group. One can be overwhelmed with using tools and updating so we all have to decide whether or not they are truly helpful or if we can better spend our time on creating quality content and promoting it.
9/07/08

wehireu

I really like Twitter, you can do a lot with it if you want to. I post short twitterku, or haiku on twitter, I post what I read, I post links to sites. It is short and easy. I think in the long run it can be a very effective tool. You have to build an audience, however. People post links to art, events, all kinds of things.

twitter.com/bookcalendar

[reply]
1. 10/08/09
  
  geekchick
  
  I use twitter when I have a catchy post, such as "Mozart vs. Alzheimers, Mozart wins by a knockout" and the URL. Once I started using hashtags my audience built up quite fast.