As a professional blogger and freelance writer, it is essential to have a reliable arsenal of tools that allow you to promote your blog and manage your business. You need tools for branding and marketing your business, promoting your content, managing your finances, and keeping your tasks organized.
If you are interested to know what I consider the most essential tools in my toolkit, be sure to visit my list on BestVendor titled 50 Essential Tools I Use for Blogging and Freelance Writing.
Included within some of my product descriptions are tips on how I use them to help with my blogging and my freelance writing business.
While you are there…
- Create a free account on BestVendor.
- Like my list, if you really like it of course.
- Leave a comment about your favorite tools.
Also, create a list of your own this month to enter the List-A-Thon contest – the creator of the best list wins a $1,500 gift card from Amazon. Second place gets an iPhone 5 and third place gets a $100 credit towards vendors listed on BestVendor.
And if you need any printing services, don’t miss full color brochure printing offered by PrintRunner.
About Kristi Hines
Kikolani covers blog marketing and blogging tips for personal, professional, and business bloggers to succeed in search and social media marketing. Kristi Hines is a 
Kristi
I’m a big fan of google reader and elegant themes, I use both of them especially google reader, I use it to drive alot of traffic through commenting
Kenny Fabre recently posted Local Affiliate Marketing Lesson
That’s a great way to use it Kenny!
I do like Google reader and Thesis theme, used it many times before. But instead Gimp I prefer Photoshop
Vit recently posted How To Become A Millionaire Investing Money In Profitable Websites
Hi Kristi, I saw your post the other day on elegant themes and I’ve pretty much decided to get a prefabricated WordPress blog next time with all the plug ins so I’ll be sure to check that out. My blog is a personal one however so I’m not sure if I could swallow the price tag but perhaps they have some free or low cost ones, they looked good to the eye.
Roz Bennetts recently posted Toastmasters Public Speaking Group Post #3
There are some good free themes out there – I’ve had bad experiences so I tend to steer away from them, plus once you buy a few premium theme packages you really don’t need anything more. For personal blogs, a free theme isn’t a bad thing at all.
GIMP has been a fantastic find for me. I used to spend so much on Photoshop so I could have really advanced editing tools, but then I discovered GIMP and that all changed.
Sure, it’s not *quite* as powerful but considering the price tag it is a FANTASTIC program every webmaster should have.
Garrett recently posted Trading with Range Bars – What They Are and Why You Should Be Using Them
GIMP is good for people who just need to do simple things with images. I’ve seen some people who just needed something to resize and crop images buy the expensive programs and get frustrated because of their complexity. GIMP makes simple just that – simple.
I’d add Evernote to the list. I find it very useful to keep track of my article ideas. I have it installed on my phone, my tablet and my laptop so everything’s synced.
Mike Lopez recently posted Did Social Media Kill SEO?
I really should try Evernote… everyone keeps recommending it.
Great list Kristi! And thanks for letting us know about the List-A-Thon too! I agree with Mike above, would definitely add Evernote to the list. And what about Dropbox?! (Or did I miss it?)
Mike Dawson recently posted How to Conduct a Technical SEO Audit: An In-depth Guide
You’re welcome! I actually don’t send many files (large ones at least) to people – documents and images work just fine via email. If I had anything larger, I’d definitely try Dropbox, but so far I haven’t had the need just yet.
I reckon my favourite apps are KISSinsights and Buffer. Awesome tools for customer feedback and customer engagement!
Shameer Shah recently posted Ways to make your Linkedin profile a social media powerhouse
Those are both great tools indeed! I couldn’t live without Buffer personally.
I love Google Reader and WordPress. According to me, these two important tools are essential for any bloggers.
Swamykant recently posted 101 Best Free Android Games 2012
WordPress especially – I always suggest bloggers use their platform. Preferably self hosted, but at the least the .com version so you can transfer easily later.
These are great tools for any blogger. Thanks for this detailed list.
Robert Koenig recently posted Lindsay Lohan Appalled-Wants Attack Investigation Reopened
You’re welcome Robert!
Hi Kristi,
Yes – Glad you made mention of “arsenal” as one needs a whole arsenal and not just one or two tools to exploit and expose your blog and or website to all the various communities (social and other web 2.0 channels) and various search engines. Not to mention being able to respond and monitor different profiles and tools easily and a lot more time efficiently.
For simplicity purposes, I wish I only had a few tools, but for results, you really need a wide variety as they cover a lot of different aspects of managing your blog and your business.
Great list Kristi, i love Google reader but i think its only meant for the big guys blog. My blog is a personal one and i find it difficult including it on Google reader.
Cyracks recently posted How to Make your Blog post go viral on StumbleUpon
I use Google Reader for organization purposes more than trying to get traffic through RSS. If you use it as a way to keep up with bloggers to comment on their posts, it could eventually lead to traffic.
Thanks so much for the wonderful list Kristi. I wish you all the best for winning the Amazon gift card; yes cloth diapers ARE expensive. How long for the little one to land on planet earth?
Jane recently posted Author Rank: Dominate The Search Engines And Become An Authority In Your Niche
She’s got another two and a quarter months to go which sounds like awhile, but time is moving pretty quickly.
Hi Kristi, It took me a while to learn Gimp, but well worth it. I was so frustrated waiting for graphic designers.
Then of course, where would we be without a great email management software. Aweber is my email choice. And for those of us who produce info products I like Vervante Publishing.
There are so many great tools!
Glen Andrews recently posted Add Your Photo To Google Search
Thanks for the tip on Vervante Glen.
If you’ve got plans to do any photo editing of graphics creation, gimp is the GREATEST tool on the web. It has much of the capabilities of photoshop, minus the several hundred dollar price tag. Making custom banners and images and designs for your site can really, really enhance its appeal, and gimp is a fantastic, FREE, resource to do it. I love it.
Glad to hear you’re a GIMP fan too! I’ve done lots with it – and it’s a huge value since it’s free.
Excellent list, Kristi. Good luck with the contest
.
Devesh recently posted How to add Twitter @Anywhere Hovercard in WordPress
Thanks Devesh!
Great list Kristi.
I do like almost every tool on the list. But, among them i mostly use the social networks and i always find my time spending with WordPress combined with studiopress. I’m a big fan of StudioPress.
Thanks for sharing the great list of tools.
AjayUdayagiri recently posted Increase Organic Search Traffic From Google|Get Organic Traffic Instantly
Glad to hear that Ajay!
As a tech geek I love lists like this. Will definitely check it out. A good alternative to Remember The milk is Toodledo, which is more powerful and more convenient in everyday use. I am also a big fan of Buffer and recently started using it in combination with Tweriod (a great service despite its weird name).
Tom recently posted Overpowering the Sun
Thanks for the suggestion Tom!
Kristi,
As Kenny mentioned, I’m also a huge fan of yours, and I swear by the Thesis Theme! That’s the best thing that’s every happened to the world of blog design. I particularly love the OpenHook customization area of that theme!
Very nice list Kikolani! I used some of the tools you mentioned but other are completely new to me and I didn’t know that they can help me. Thanks for the share. By the way, I’m using buffer for several weeks now, how do you know that it somehow contributed in traffic?
Jeff recently posted Naruto 605 Spoiler and Prediction: Why did Kakashi Killed Rin?!
To be frank, being a kind of amateur I am hearing 30% of the items you listed for the first time. But, being a Google fan I have used most of their products. ANd, I prefer Photoshop over Gimp though I am an Open source enthusiast
Jakes recently posted Defining Success in Blogging
Like others have mentioned Gimp is a great free imaging program. I have been using it for several years now. I have tried photoshop in the past, but it was just too confusing and pricey. Gimp does everything I need. Another tool or resource I like to use occasionally is screen-cast-o-matic for making video captures. Jing is decent, but the free version limits you to .swf format, which I don’t think you can upload to YouTube, and I don’t know if you will find a converter that actually works for converting .swf to .avi, .mpg, etc., but for screen grabs it is excellent.
Ray recently posted Usage Share of Web Browsers
First of all, thank you Kristi for this list. I am a huge fan of Google reader, but one thing I miss here in your list is Genesis theme. I will include it into our list.
Best Regards!
Shadab recently posted 5 Free Premium WordPress Themes for 2012
These tools are the bomb!
I totally always use Buffer and it is one of the best tools on the web!
Also, I use the Google reader as a tool in my blog commenting strategy
Samuel recently posted How To Promote Your Blog!
Thanks for sharing. I already use Authority Labs to keep a watchful eye and history of my company’s search engine results positions (SERPs). Its an invaluable tool for making sure that we keep tabs on where our keywords and phrases are being found hopefully at the top of the search engine results.
Spencer Stern recently posted The Best Internet Marketing Tips To Help You Build Your Brand
Great list, Kristi, and I so hope you win; that would be a huge help with your expected arrival.
And thanks for steering me to Best Vendor; looks like a neat tool.
Ana Hoffman recently posted How Empower Network Cut My Income in Half
Awesome list Kristi! I definitely love buffer and their service really works for me.
Arwin Adriano recently posted Using Social Media to Promote Your Event
Hi Kristi,
The list is too good. Hats off to your efforts in making this list. All most all the tools look to help bloggers and free lancers. Thanks a lot for sharing this valuable information.
Amit Shaw recently posted Google Penguin Update: You are seeing the Tips of the Iceberg
Hello Kristi,
Awesome!! you present nice tools for bloggers, I was using few but here I find more,
50 is not a less, nice research I appreciate for it..
thanks for collection of nice tools..
Brainpulse recently posted Pace Up Your Reseller Web Hosting Services