Looking for the best productivity tools for blogging? Here are the tools you need.
In the world of blogging, being productive all the time is essential. Things can get hectic when you manage everything manually, from assigning topics to your writers to monitoring your SEO. If you are struggling to keep up with your responsibilities, many online tools can help.
We have compiled an extensive list of tools to help you manage your team’s work hours, set financial goals for your business, better manage your passwords, stay on top of news relevant to your niche, and more.
If you’re a full-time blogger, you may have a team of SEO experts, writers, graphic designers, and web designers. When a team grows, it becomes harder to hold everyone accountable by asking what each one of them did during the day, week, or month. Toggl Track is an excellent tool for tracking the time of your team.
Your team members can keep a note of all the activities they completed during their workday, along with the time each activity took. They can quickly convert that report into an invoice and send it to you at the end of the week or before their next payday.
Then you can look at how they have spent their time in the office. If you look at each activity with its allocated time, you can quickly determine how productive each one is. By doing so, you can distinguish between workaholics and slothful. With it, you can easily assign specific types of work to team members who take less time to complete them.
It also helps your team stay organized and keep track of how efficiently they are doing their work. The fear of being held accountable will surely make your team more productive. Give Toggl Track a try if you don’t use any time tracking tool.
For a blogger, one of the most challenging tasks is to remember the login information for all the various tools they use every day, including keyword research tools, hosting accounts, analytics tools, social platforms, backlinking panels, and so on.
That’s where LastPass comes in. One of the best password managers, it saves all your passwords and protects your login credentials from hacker infiltration. Using the Dark web monitoring feature, you’ll be alerted in advance when your personal information is at risk.
You only need to save the password once; LastPass will store it for centuries. Additionally, you can use its strong password generator while signing up for a new blogging service. Also, it makes it easy for you to share data securely and effortlessly with your newly hired manager when you need to share the login credentials.
The free plan of LastPass can only save data on one device, but you can access it across multiple devices when you subscribe to its premium plan at $3 per month.
Asana is a web-based management system that helps teams across the globe stay organized and improve their workflow. It allows bloggers to keep an eye on how their team is performing and to manage their entire workflow in the same place.
It allows you to set up a simple board interface where your writers can suggest topics for your blog that your editors can quickly approve. Then, you can track how long it took them to finish that topic and when it went live.
Through a simple board interface, you can track how efficiently your SEO team creates new topics, how quickly your editors are approving and editing pitches, and which of your writers are becoming lazy or taking longer than expected to complete tasks.
With Asana, you’ll be amazed at how smooth your workflow can be with so little effort.
A new blogging project starts with some goals and plans. You might set a target for uploading a certain number of articles, earning a certain number of backlinks, or hitting a particular financial goal on your blog. A tool like Lifetick can help you keep everything in check.
Using Lifetick’s intuitive interface, you can define a specific goal and stay organized. As you accomplish subtasks while achieving your main goal, you can document your journey, track which areas need improvement, and at the end of the given period, get a detailed report that shows how well you and your team did.
In addition to allowing you to set your own goals, the software makes it possible to share goals with your entire team. It is possible to make the whole plan in advance and assign different roles to the team members.
In Asana, you can do the same, but Lifetick makes it so much easier to set and achieve goals. Check it out!
Google alerts can be a helpful tool for filtering new content ideas for your audience. This is a simple tool from Google that lets you set up an alert for something. The alert can be about a new gadget coming to the market, a new version of any operating system, or a well-known footballer who is always making headlines.
Simply enter a keyword and add an email address where you want to be notified when news is released concerning that topic. It’s a convenient filter for bloggers who run news-based websites where every second counts.
There are many internal communication tools, and everyone has their preferences, but Slack is one of the best workplace messaging options for small businesses.
You can use it to create channels for each website’s categories, and let your editors make separate chat groups for your writers to share feedback. Your colleagues are all within a single Slack search. Also, just one joining request can help your new hires get settled.
Slack’s new integrations with tools like Asana, Outlook, Twitter, etc., make it easier than ever to manage everything without leaving Slack’s workplace. It eliminates the need to switch from one app to another to stay productive.
Boost Your Blogging Productivity With These Tools
With the tools on the list, you should be able to keep your blog in check and improve your communication with your team. The more efficient your workflow, the faster you can expand your business, which is why the tools listed above can assist you.
Have you ever had a hard time coming up with content ideas? Check out the following article that can streamline your topic research.
With the growing and busy times, productivity is something everyone looks forward to. It doesn’t matter if you are working or in school or just trying to develop a hobby, you can find a way to be productive in multiple ways.
To enhance one’s productivity and skills certain tools have been developed digitally that can not only help plan your day ahead but also keep track of your progress.
If the planning, and organization part of the work can be taken over by these productivity tools, one can truly focus on doing their work and excel in the same.
Slack is a team collaboration tool which facilitates chat and message features. This can help in avoiding the repetition of the same information to different team members over and over again. All the relevant conversations can be found in the same place to save time.It is also compatible with applications that facilitate sharing documents and files which can be really handy for sharing data quickly. Check out our guide on how to use Slack if you want to go in-depth on the tool.
Troop Messenger is a messenger tool that can aid team communication with features that help share files and keep the team informed and updated about the latest occurrences in a project. This application has a wide range of chat supporting features such as Screen Sharing, Video call, Burnout, Workout, Recall, delete etc., to enhance team communication and collaboration.
Troop Messenger’s user interface is quite intuitive and impressive that all its features are self-explanatory for any novice user. Any business user can start the application’s free trial using their email.
Fleep is a messenger application that combines with the email feature to be able to facilitate team communication. It integrates emails, messages, and file sharing at one place for easy access. The communication platform is truly flexible in every way. It is like an open network where users of different teams can communicate. It keeps everything in one place.
Quip is a tool for effective communication across different platforms. It helps to ensure maximum productivity with efficient features to keep you updated with your team at all times. Its key feature is getting everyone on the same page. One can view the document and another can simultaneously edit it, thus, saving time and facilitating efficiency.
GoToMeeting is a video conferencing tool. You can easily organize meetings and share screens in real time. This helps to share and display both the individual and team’s progress. This is perfect to keep everyone updated during scheduled meetings. It is an integration of an online meeting and video conferencing software in one package.
Calendar is an AI-powered time management app that improves how you leverage a digital calendar to schedule, track, and share your time each day, week, month and year. Highly integrative with other digital calendars like Google Calendar, Outlook, and iCal, the Calendar app for desktop and mobile use (Android and iOS) brings all those calendars into one view, offering new ways to see how you can use your time more effectively. Decide who can see what and let the app contact meeting participants to schedule events for you. The Calendar app offers free and paid versions for individuals and teams.
10to8 appointment scheduling software is a booking tool, that makes it easier for businesses to schedule both internal meetings and appointments with clients seamlessly and skip date ping-pong.
The tool is quick and easy to set up, it syncs with iCal, Google and other popular calendars, and integrates with thousands of apps via Zapier.
Time Doctor is a team time tracking application. It helps to keep track of how each individual person is keeping track of their time and hence makes them accountable for their working hours. You can even use alerting and other features to avoid distraction for extra productivity. It includes a desktop software, mobile version and even a chrome app. It even offers a free 14-day trial without the need of a credit card.
Hubstaff can be used to track time for several hundred teams working in distant locations. It has features like randomized screenshots and tracking the mouse movements so that a check can be kept on the workers. You can use the work-time tracker with additional screenshots and time sheets. This can help to analyze where every minute was spent and hence create a sense of accountability. Our Hubstaff review shows all of these features in detail. Go check it out.
Toggl helps to track time along with other added features. With a history of working hours, it can deduce the chargeable hours and track the availability of different employees all at once. This can further be used for invoice generation with the pre-recorded chargeable hours. It is free and can be used to create detailed reports of time spent on various activities.
Check out our Toggl review to have a better look at the tool.
Paymo helps in tracking time along with planning and project management tasks. It also automatically generates invoices according to the number of working hours and assist in carrying out the payments. Additional features include resource planning, charts, reports, and invoices. The combination of these features makes it an excellent overall productivity tool.
Harvest is a business-oriented time tracking software that can work on multiple devices. It helps in creating time specific reports for the employees. This can also be used for generating and sending their due invoices online. It has an efficient mechanism of starting and stopping time as you work. We also have a comprehensive Harvest review so you can see more of its features.
actiTIME is a work management and time tracking solution for teams of any size. It offers a hassle-free way to keep record of work and leave time, allows to track project progress, and provides managers and employees with valuable insights on work results and productivity.
Its cost & billing module helps calculate billable amounts and process payroll, analyze profitability of specific projects, and create professional invoices. The robust reporting module helps analyze the collected data and get actionable results.
actiTIME also offers native mobile apps that simplify time tracking on the go and allow to implement the tool for remote and field service teams.
Celoxis is an award-winning, affordable, all-in-one project management & collaboration solution. Manage projects, tasks, resources, timesheets, expenses, issues, risks & more from one place saving your team license fees & the hassle of jumping through multiple tools. The reporting and dashboards are fantastic. It also has a built-in workflow engine that enables you to automate things you never thought possible.
Monday helps to manage and organize work in a spreadsheet format. It distributes the workload, tracks progress, and conducts project management for the team as a whole. It simplifies and organizes the work for easier and more efficient management. Additional features include the tracking of projects and communication tools.
This is an extremely flexible project management tool. The Kanban Method it uses helps to keep track of the project progress at different stages. It is also an efficient way of organization. Trello is great for businesses as well as educational projects and task management.
Asana is helpful in organizing, tracking and managing projects. It aids the process of communication and collaboration among team members. It also helps to formulate deadlines and create an efficient working environment. Asana provides a free version for use that can accommodate up to 15 people. Other paid versions can be accessed for the addition of more members.
Hive is used to manage the economics, business and collaboration aspects of different projects. It can be helpful in dividing the project into current target lines and serves as a platform for the entire team to be updated with the progress. It provides an SQL type of interface for storage of data in different databases.
Workzone is a project management and collaboration software for teams. It can help to create reminders and prioritized task lists for added productivity. It allows one to access the employee portal from the convenience of any location. The workplace documents can be viewed and updated by any member of the team according to the requirements.
ProofHub is an online project management software that lets you stay in control of your projects, project communications, and project delivery. The software provides scalable features such as Chats, Discussions, Notes, Gantt Charts, Kanban Boards, Timesheets, Reports, etc to match the requirements of any business size from small startups to large enterprise. It also integrates well with popular productivity tools such as Google Drive, OneDrive, Box and Dropbox, thereby enhancing your overall project management experience.
Another key feature that grabs everyone’s attention is ProofHub’s compatibility with various devices and popular operating systems, including iOS, Android, and Windows. Plus, it offers a free trial and exceptional support services before you go for a paid version.
Canva is a designing software apt for creating resumes and other documents in an extremely creative fashion. It offers several templates and options to customize your creations. You can set a tone for how formal or informal you want your document to be. You can get a list of predefined fields for ease in creating your document. These fields can also be edited and customized according to one’s needs.
PicMonkey is a photo editing and designing software. It can be used to edit and format pictures with a series of options available. You can also create a collage and design it in any style. It is, essentially, a platform that encourages visual and creative communication.
Crello is a graphics and animation software. It can be used to edit images as well as create animation designs. There are several templates available for you to choose from, hence making it highly customizable. You can create posts, covers, graphics and other documents.
Design Bold is an online photo editing and design studio. It helps you create resumes, collections, posters, etc. You can choose from the thousands of templates available in order to be able to give your creation a professional look.
Adobe Spark is a graphic designing application which incorporates the creation of videos and graphics. It is a platform which can be used to effectively create and share content including graphics, animated videos, posts for social media and other web stories.
Evernote is an efficient note-taking application which can help you to organize and share notes effectively. The notes can be synced across various devices for ease of access. It also allows the attachment of audio recordings and reference links. It even has a feature that allows you to read digital media like physical documents.
Microsoft OneNote is a note-taking app which allows writing and drawing freely. The app allows audio and video recording with facial recognition features. It also allows you to take side notes along with PDFs or other documents just like you would in real life. Plus, you can use it free with just your email address.
Google Keep is a note taking app for lists, reminders, and checklists. It is compatible with Google Docs. You can sync your notes and even add audio and color codes to them. It is absolutely free of cost. You can attach reminders even in the form of voice notes for future reference. It helps to capture notes together and organize them efficiently.
Apple Notes is the note-taking app for iOS and macOS devices. It allows adding text, photos, videos and other forms of notes and finally synchronizes them with multiple devices. The Notes app is compatible with the Apple Pencil. You can draw a line of varying thickness by pressing the pencil lighter or harder. These variations provide a life-like feel.
Brain.fm is a focus and productivity application based on music. It uses music to stimulate the brain and helps to boost focus. It aims at unlocking the potential of music to assist our cognitive states. You can choose a mental state to get music from that genre. Focus, relaxation, meditation, and sleep are some of the modes that you can enhance. It is designed in a way that noticeable results can be observed in 15 minutes.
Hocus Focus is a focus application for Mac and iOS device which helps reduce the distraction and create an aura of concentration. This can be very efficient in ensuring productivity as people tend to waste a considerable amount of time on their devices without even actively doing something. The tools provide several creative features to encourage the user to concentrate and keep the desktop clutter-free.
It is a focus-based app integrated with a daily planner which helps to enhance productivity and efficiency. It acts as a planner with a focus timer based on the timeboxing technique. This includes boxing several hours of the day to a certain activity. It is basically a way of visualizing the hours of the day.
RescueTime is a time management tool which gives you an analysis of how you are spending your day. It helps minimize wasted time and formulate a strategy for productivity. Its motto is to find an ideal work-life balance. It continuously tracks the time you spend on websites and in other apps to give you an accurate picture of your workday.
This is a focus tool that helps set the light of your computer to match the exact time of the day. When it is night time, your computer screen will look like indoor lights. But, when it’s day time, it will look like sunlight. These light changes will actually help you sleep better at night.
PomoDone App is a productivity and time management ecosystem for all your devices, integrated and synchronized (Windows/Linux/macOS/web, iOS and Android).
Boost, hack and track your workflow using the Pomodoro technique, on top of your current task management system (Asana, Trello, JIRA, Basecamp, Evernote, Slack, etc).
Sharpen your focus by using an interruption shield: block certain websites while you are working, notify your distributed team via Slack and switch it to silent mode by managing its Do Not Disturb. Use your work history log to analyze, report and invoice.
Free version for everyone, paid plans for advanced and team users.
Google Docs is a Google-based word processor. It also makes available other variants like spreadsheets and presentation. You can edit and update the documents in real time. This avoids the trouble of loss of content due to unsaved data. One can access the document from various platforms with the use of the shareable link.
It is a documentation tool that is integrated with an iterative interface which proves to be helpful in creating and sharing professional documents. Real-time uploading and updating can help team members and co-workers to access information as and when it is made available.
Zoho Docs is an online documentation software which enables one to centrally access documents, spreadsheets, presentations, images, etc. You can also share these by a mere link, thus avoiding the hassle of a lot of system space being consumed.
Confluence is a collaboration software which assists in organizing your work and creating professional documents. Its features include being able to update documents online without having to save it separately.
It is a document creation and editing software to design creative work. You can efficiently edit, format and design professional looking documents with absolute ease. It also has features for tasks and to-do lists. It is collaborative and team friendly. You can create, review, revise, manage and organize all project documents. You can even work in offline mode when required. One can read, comment and edit without any Internet connection.
MyFitnessPal is a trusted calorie counting app which helps to lose weight and encourages healthy eating. There are features which can also help to provide tips and ideas on health benefits and fitness techniques. The calorie counting in daily activities can be an interesting way of keeping score and being motivated to lose more weight.
StrongLifts 5×5 is a strength and muscle building application which focuses on primarily five exercises, namely squat, bench press, deadlift, overhead press, and barbell row. The app encourages a three-time workout weekly while focusing on weightlifting techniques. It emphasizes proper sleeping and eating schedules to maintain health along with fitness.
It is a fitness app based on Yoga by Rodney Yee. It provides HD video classes from experts. Videos for different purposes including treatment of posture oriented diseases and other bodily problems are available. You can focus your yoga routine on the results you want to obtain.
It is a gym workout application for training and keeping track of your progress. It helps to focus on different gym sessions for building fitness. You can focus on arm strength, legs or lower body according to your preference. The tool helps you to keep track of previous progress in gym routines to effectively improve performance.
Strava.com is a health application for athletes with features to track and organize their activities. It mainly focuses on a range of athletic activities to enhance the physical features of the body. An organized routine of activities for stipulated periods of time can help to develop the body into an athletic form.
AWeber is an email marketing and auto responding tool to send commercial messages to people via emails. This can be greatly beneficial in attaining a perfect email pitch that markets and advertises your brand positively. AWeber lets you build audience of diverse verticals with its result-oriented email marketing strategies. This can be considered as a perfect tool for small businesses to communicate more effectively and profitably.
SendinBlue is a relationship and marketing tool which helps in a transaction and automated email generation. It provides a wide range of templates to choose for a response or advertising mail. This tool ensures custom marketing workflows to inform, guide and convert customers into loyal clients. The transactional messaging of SendinBlue includes sending emails and SMS to customers.
GetResponse is an email marketing software with features suitable for auto-responding and appealing to business clients. You can give specific instructions to generate emails according to the message you want to convey. This tool lets you build an impressionable and profitable customer base. It has got the highest reachability rate, to make sure that each email gets delivered to the destined inboxes.
MailChimp is a marketing and automation tool which processes advertisements and emails for the purpose of marketing. You can easily attain a professional vibe that is desirable for your brand. MailChimp allows you to create unique campaigns by sending out emails and SMS.
This is an automation and email marketing tool used by professionals and bloggers to generate responses and carry out advertising via email. It has features that bloggers need like newsletter promotions and other professional communication. The drag and drop email builder feature of this tool helps the user to create professional newsletters, instead of using the regular HTML email format.
EmailAnalytics is a unique tool that integrates with Gmail or G Suite and visualizes your employees’ email activity such as emails sent, emails received, top senders, average email response time, and much more. It enables managers to identify imbalances in employee workloads, and identify top performers, while also identifying employees who don’t have enough work to do.
Google Drive is a cloud-based real-time file creation and sharing tool. It makes different types of file styles like documents, spreadsheets, and presentations available. One can directly share the link to the file for easy access without the consumption of any extra space for the storage of the shared file.
Wimi helps to manage and formulate documents and share them on a platform for easy access of all team members. It helps in project management and collaboration as well.
Dropbox is a file hosting and sharing service used to share files by syncing them online directly. Dropbox also offers cloud storage and file synchronization which can be essential in being efficient and productive.
OneDrive is a cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service which helps to share files and documents online. It helps to save the system space and effectively update documents immediately. Team members can access the updated documents from different locations at their ease.
SugarSync is a cloud service platform for the synchronization of files. It provides features for the access, backup, synchronization, and sharing of files and documents across various operating systems. Contrary to other popular file sharing tools, it enables you to generate a backup for the shared documents which can be helpful and beneficial for future references. It is, therefore, an efficient file management and productivity tool.
Evidently, there are a number of different types of tools which can help you achieve your maximum potential, whether it is by and for yourself or for your team at work. However, the onus eventually lies on you to take the initiative and work towards it with the help of these incredible apps, tools, and software programs.
By Md Mohsin Ansari
Md Mohsin Ansari is the Marketing Manager of Troop Messenger – a business messenger that comes with all the requisite features. It is a viable team communication tool that is spreading its wings across all industries by bringing all the internal communication at one place. Connect with me on Linkedin.
