Back when I started my first blog in 2013, I was totally overwhelmed by all the things I had to do in order to run it smoothly. Nowadays I have a flow in place! It helps me run my blog without any guesses or overwhelm!
So, today I want to share with you seven awesome tools that can help you run your own blog, like a pro 😎
Trello
When it comes to strategizing and planning for my online blog or business, there is no other tool that offers the flexibility and simpleness as Trello does.
Furthermore, You can integrate Trello with 3rd party software called Power-Ups, and turn it into a power-productivity tool.
How I use Trello
I have created multiple boards associated with Lipstick and Pixels, each of them serves a different purpose. Right now I have:
Big Picture strategy board, which is used for long-term planning, usually divided in Yearly, Quarterly, and Monthly goals.
Weekly board where I have all tasks that need to be done for the current week. Usually, I pick out a few tasks from my Monthly board and copy them to this board.
Editorial Calendar board, which is used for content planning. I like to use the Calendar powerup to be able to see which posts are released each week.
A Business Blueprint board, which contains all important tasks, flows and links associated with Lipstick and Pixels.
Finally, I have a Launch template board where I plan all of my current and future product launches, including any ebooks and courses.
Toggl
Time is money, girl! If you haven't realized that yet, you better start tracking the time you spend on every single task. Planning for a week or a month in advance is great, but do you know which activities actually take the bulk of your time? I use Toggl to track everything I do!
Follow the 80/20 rule!
How I use Toggl
I've integrated Toggl into my Trello boards and so every time I start working on a task, I just hit the little red button so everything is tracked and I have a clear overview at the end of each week, so I can go back and optimize that next week ;)
I also try to do a weekly and monthly overview, where I would go over all the tasks I have completed and all the things I didn't do. Then I would reevaluate my tasks and refine my plan for the next week and months respectively.
Planoly
If you are running a blog or an online business, you must be using Instagram as well. Planning your content on Instagram is just effortless if you use Planoly.
I love their drag-and-drop feature that lets you re-arrange your feed before you schedule your posts!
How I use Planoly
I'm currently scheduling most of my Instagram content a month in advance. Don't make the mistake of taking one picture a day and then tweaking it and posting it on Instagram. This is a waste of time!
Instead, batch your content for weeks in advance, so you can have a piece of mind and now exactly what's going to be posted that month.
Tailwind
As an online business owner, Pinterest is a must of my strategy. In order to plan my content on Pinterest, I use Tailwind. Tailwind is a Pinterest-approved tool, that helps you schedule content for Pinterest and Instagram in advance and then automatically pushes it to those platforms for you. No more time-wasting!
How I use Tailwind
I love discovering new content through the Tribes! I am a member of several tribes and find it a pretty useful feature. You can see all pins from any member in that tribe and add it to your content queue with a few clicks. This saves me a huge amount of time because I don't need to browse Pinterest or surf the web in a search for new content to pin.
P.S. Use my special link to get one your first month FREE.
ConvertKit
Planning on growing your blog? Then you better have an email list. Not only can you stay in touch with your readers, but email marketing also helps you build a relationship.
One of my favorite ConvertKit features are the Sequences and Automations.
How I use ConvertKit
I have set up an automated welcome sequence for each person that joins my email list. In this sequence I welcome them to my email, tell them more about me and what I do and ask them how I can serve them better with my blog. In addition, I let them choose topics of interest and I send them one of my best blog content in a completely automated email sequence.
Canva
Canva has been on my fav tools list for a long time! I am a professional designer myself and have no problem using Photoshop or Illustrator. However, having a tool that saves all of my designs in one place and offers thousands of templates and elements is invaluable.
How I use Canva
I don't only use Canva for myself, but recommend it to all of my clients and students. It is super beginner friendly and easy to use. I suggest you keep your social media templates in Canva, so you can re-use them every time you are planning your Instagram content, like f.e. quotes or you need images for the blog posts that are going to be published next month.
SmarterQueue
Last but not least, you cannot run your blog without having a tool to help you push your content to all of your social media profiles.
Using SmarterQueue , you can recycle your existing content by adding it to an evergreen queue. For example, you can share one blog post every Tuesday and Thursday to your Facebook fans. In order to drive more traffic to old blog posts, all you need to do is add all of your posts to SmarterQueue and then re-queue them automatically after posting. I suggest having at least 12 blog posts before using this though, because otherwise, it may look like you are spamming your readers with the same content.
How I use SmarterQueue
While Smarterqueue does support Pinterest and Instagram, I mainly use it for Facebook. I like cross-posting content from Instagram. It also helps me automate my Facebook groups, by posting daily prompts. I also like curating a list of interesting and useful articles that I can share with my readers.
This is the end of this short list. Remember- you need only the tools that will help YOUR blog thrive. Remove the overwhelm by using these tools and become a blogging pro!