Last Updated on February 26, 2024
Whether you blog for money or fun, a time will come when you might just feel like quitting. Yes, you may be making enough money to feed your next two generations and may have half the internet reading your blog, but hey, we all have responsibilities. It is normal to think that blogging is all about writing killer posts and placing them on the internet. It is more than that. As you become a more serious blogger, you will almost begin to take blogging as a full-time job. Why? Well, because of the factor called time.
Time management has been an issue and although we have attended workshops and seminars on this, we just haven’t figured out how to slow down all that clock ticking. This must be the reason why time management gurus still grow richer till today. The key to managing time is not trying to slow down the clock or wishing you had 25/8 instead of 24/7 (that would never happen). The key to managing your time and accomplishing more is pretty simple- get lazy.
Okay, don’t shove me away just yet, I’m getting at something. By saying, “get lazy”, I don’t mean lounge about all day. My definition of lazy here is find things or tools that make your work easier and faster. With the usual responsibilities like putting food on the table, walking the dog, feeding the baby, taking the kids shopping or attending a family event, time-saving tools could really come in handy.
Most of these tools will be of great help if you already have a blog; none of them is a website builder.
Now that we are clear on what laziness is, let’s see how you can effectively blog and still be lazy. The internet has created avenues for people (regardless of social status) to be heard, to gain exposure and recognition. It is possible to speed up your blog posting process so that you don’t spend hours researching, organising and branding blog posts. By having the right tools at hand, blogging becomes easier, giving you more time for other endeavours. So, what tools am I referring to? The following are five tools that can make your blogging experience an easy one.
1. Bleezer
This is a desktop based blogging tool and the good thing is that it can run on almost any operating system (Mac, Windows and Linux). This app is especially good for bloggers who don’t make blog posts as much as they write. With Bleezer, you have the ability to compose offline posts and post them whenever you are ready.
Like other word processors, it can spell check and even help you ping your posts when they are finally online. It also has server-based functionalities such as uploading files and FTP abilities. It is quick and efficient for new and advanced bloggers due to the advanced features not common to other similar tools. Bleezer can be used with various blogging services, including blogger. One essential requirement to run bleezer is to have the Java Virtual Machine installed on your system.
2. IrfanView
Adding images to blog posts is an important part of SEO optimization and this tool helps you deal with such images. IrfanView has the ability to resize images (physically and in kilobytes). The software is easy to use and is really obedient, resizing your images to what you want.
As you may know, WordPress is an awesome blogging platform. You can crop and resize images from your dashboard. But what happens when you need to edit the properties of your images? We are not all masters at PhotoShop or CorelDraw, so IrfanView would definitely come in handy. You can resize the images to fit the new frame in which it is being uploaded, just to ensure that your picture looks like you.
3. Google Alerts
Researching on the internet can be tiresome sometimes, especially when you don’t know the right keywords to use. We are not all-knowing and so we can run out of ideas for blog posts. Instead of forcing our brains to produce information it doesn’t have, reading other related blogs would do the trick. With Google Alerts, all the research is done for you and delivered to you. All you need to do is enter the topic you are interested in and Google does all the scanning. You then get the latest happenings and developments into your email, giving you the next idea for that killer post.
4. ScribeFire
If you are a blogger that loves to blog about hot posts you see on other blogs, then ScribeFire should be your best friend. Although it is just an extension for major browsers like Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera and Safari, it saves you the time of logging into your blogging account to make that post. With ScribeFire, you can make a post about a page which you are viewing at that time.
It is a cross-platform extension that supports WordPress, Blogger and LiveJournal blogs. The good thing is it doesn’t leave the page you are viewing but opens a pop-up, automatically logs into your account and you can then write your heart out.
5. NetworkedBlogs
It is because of tools like this that being a Facebook celebrity would be ideal. It syndicates your blog feed with your Facebook account, giving you automatic marketing for your blog right on your timeline. All you have to do is add your blog to their database and you should be getting some Facebook traffic in no time.
NetworkedBlogs has gotten smarter by syndicating your posts with Twitter too. That’s one other source of social media traffic.
These five tools have all you need to get that exposure and recognition you want. They are fun to use and keep up with latest information and technology so you don’t stay in the dark. Get lazy by using these tools, but don’t get too lazy.
Check out our previous articles:
- How to Get 1000 Blog Subscribers
- How to Promote The Visibility of Your Best Blog Content
- Networking As a Blogger
- 5 Reasons why Blogging is better for Your Business than Social Networking
- If You Blog for Fun, Money Will Come
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