170+ Must-Have Tools For The Beginning Blogger
Ok, so you’re a startup blogger. You want to establish yourself in the online world and hopefully make a little money in the process. Well, if you’re like me, it is quite a difficult and intimidating task to just “start.” Maybe you are a website designer, a logo designer, maybe you specialize in banner design, business card design, blog design, or you work with coding like CSS and xHTML. No matter what it is you are doing, we all must start somewhere.
So I’m here today to hopefully give you some pointers and some resources that will help get your blogging career jumpstarted and get you rolling on the road to fame.
Let’s start with the basics: Getting your website. It is generally accepted that having your own domain name will not only help you in the long run, but also make you appear more serious about your blog and what you are writing. So to get a domain, there are a number of options you can choose from.
Registrars
1. GoDaddy.com - Buy your domain name starting at $9.99 per year and lower.
2. Register.com - $10/year services on domain name registration.
3. 1&1.com - $2.99 Domain name registration.
Ok, so maybe you chose one of the above websites or you found your own services. Now you’re ready to host that domain. By ‘hosting’ I mean to get it officially up on the internet for everyone to see.
Here are some hosts I have found that seem to be pretty good:
Hosts
1.HostICan
2.BlueHost
3.HostMonster
4.HostGator
5.AptHost
6.WebHostingBuzz
7.HostingZoom
Out of those seven companies, you are bound to find one plan or service you like. Personally, I am hosted with HostICan. You can read my in-depth review of them Here.
Alright, so you’ve got your website, you’ve got it hosted, now onto designing it. Since we’re blogging here, you need to find some good CMS (Content Management Systems) to help you maintain your site. Here are some of my favorites.
CMS
1.Wordpress (Is installed on my website) - Extremely large and widely recognized CMS platform.
2.Blogger - I believe this is Google’s solution to blogging.
3.SquareSpace - Another way to create your blog online.
4.TypePad - Paid CMS services.
Good job. You’ve made it this far, and you’re that much closer to establishing your online presence.
So the next step you must take is, of course, making your blog look nice.
If you are either a coder or designer, check out any of these websites to get some helpful hints and tips, along with some free templates, about how to design your blog.
Designs
1. CSSVault - CSS and design resources updated daily.
2. SoloStream - Lots of inexpensive blogging templates
3. WPThemesFree - Huge compilation of free Wordpress themes available for download.
4. WPSkins - Browse the latest and greatest blog templates and get access to tons of free designs.
5. Real-Time HTML Editor - Enter your code and preview it to make sure everything is working just right.
6. CSS - Find lots of information and several different tools all related to CSS.
Great. Now let’s go ahead and get your website advertised. Here are some forums/sites that you can visit to boost your traffic.
Advertise
1. NamePros - Discuss domain names and design. Great section for advertising.
2. SitePoint - Find lots of design discussion and lots of ongoing contests to bring out your inner designer.
3. TalkFreelance - Advertise your site, sell your designs, and talk freelance.
4. DigitalPoint - Discuss domain names and sell your designs. Find new business here too.
5. Entrecard - Free advertising. Sign up and watch the instructional video to learn more.
6. BlugRush - Advertising service via widgets and credits.
7. Bittbox - Great design forum with lots of freebies.
8. Elance - General freelancing website.
9. Guru - Advertise your designs and get jobs.
Well, if you’ve done your work, hopefully you have a few visitors now. The next step is to get in touch with your readers.
RSS
Here are some great RSS readers and resources.
1. FeedBurner
2. RSSReader
3. FeedReader
4. RSSFeedReader
5. Sharpreader
6. JetBrains
7. RocketInfo
8. Pluck
9. RSSOwl
10. YeahReader
11. Rojo
Communication Tools
1. Gmail
2. Yahoo
3. Hotmail
4. AIM
5. GTalk
6. MSN
7. Yahoo Messenger
8. Skype
9. Twitter
10. ICQ
11. LiveJournal
12. Jabber
13. Bonjour
14. Adium
15. Meebo
Excellent.
Resources
Now let’s go ahead and get some great resources to make your blog more aesthetically appealing (look better).
These links include vector images, brushes, logos, icons, fonts, etc.
1. FamFamFam - Free icons
2. Brusheezy - Free brushes
3. Vecteezy - Free vector images
4. KollerMedia - Free pattern downloads
5. SquidFingers - Free pattern downloads
6. k10k - Pixel patterns
7. Fresheezy - Free themes
8. IconBase - Icon source
9. IconFinder - Another icon resource
10. NDesign-Studio - Icons
11. ConvertIcon - Icon resources
12. Sweetie - More icons
13. IconFactory - More icons
14. WebsiteIcons - More icons
15. Dafont - Free fonts.
16. 1001FreeFonts - Free fonts.
17. Free-Fonts - Free fonts.
18. UrbanFonts - Free fonts.
19. GetFreeFonts - Free fonts.
20. TheFreeSite - Free fonts.
21. DezignUs - Just found! Incredible source for free vector shapes, icons, and pictures.
Inspiration
We all have writer’s block and artist’s block, so check out these sites and get some inspiration that will hopefully get you back on track.
1. FuzzyFuture
2. IconPond
3. SmashingMagazine
4. JohnChow
5. ShoeMoney
6. Adii
7. Blogtrepreneur
8. StylishLabs
9. CSSBeauty
10. WebCreme
11. DynamicDrive
12. StyleBoost
13. CSSInsert
Tutorials
We all need some help once in a while. So whether you are writing, designing, coding, or whatever else, check out these sites to find some great tutorials and tips.
1.Good-Tutorials - Vast resource of photoshop, CSS, PHP, Ruby, and photography tutorials.
2.PSD Tuts - Mix between a blog and Photoshop tutorials. Great website!
3.Photoshop Star - Extremely high quality tutorials on every topic imaginable.
4.Stock Vault - Thousands of stock images as well as links to tutorials, textures, and other great designing resources.
5.Templates Feed - Great inspiration site with some tutorials and resources on the side.
6.Tutorial Vault - Massive collection of tutorials.
7.Tutorialized - Literally thousands of tutorials, over 7,000 of them devoted entirely to photoshop.
8. CSSTutorial - Great CSS collection of tutorials and help.
9. Tizag - More resources regarding CSS
10. KillerSites - Inspiration and CSS help.
11. PageTutor - Everything you want to know about coding.
12. OSWD - One of the largest collections of CSS related material out there.
13. BlankCSS - Yet another CSS help site.
14. CSSFly - Some more CSS tutorials and tips compiled into one website.
Blogs
Here is a selection of top-notch blogs that can give you advice, tips, tutorials, and of course, inspiration. These blogs are about several topics from making money to designing.
1.JohnChow - One of the most successful bloggers out there with massive amounts of information regarding making money.
2.ShoeMoney - Another one of the most successful blogs of all time with complete guides to making money.
3.Adii - Great web designer with awesome personality and a lot of talent.
4.Blogtrepreneur - Teenage blogger with an established presence in the blogging world.
5.PSDTuts - Mix between a tutorial site and a blog. Great for beginners!
6.SmashingMagazine - A fabulous blog based around web design. Includes lots of tutorials and help.
7.FreelanceSwitch - Website owner’s guides and tutorials. Post on their job board and get clients and business.
8.WebDesignersWall - One of the coolest looking blogs, with some incredible content.
9.WebAppers - Huge compilation of online resources essential to website creation and blogging.
10.ProBlogger - Great money-making website.
11.CarloCab - Learn from a thirteen year old how to make money online.
12.EarnersForum - Community of money-makers and blog owners.
13.WakeUpLater - Freelancing and money-making.
Making Money
So you’ve read so much information, you have your website going, hopefully you have a small reader base, now it’s time to finally start rolling in the dough. Here are a bunch of advertising and money-making services available on the web for you to use.
1. Google Adsense
2. Text Link Ads
3. This is a post from John Chow’s blog with 150+ advertising websites. By posting all the links on here, it would be too cluttered and hard to work with. So go to this post and you will hopefully find the 1 service that is just right for you.
Tools
Here are some really great tools that will make your life a whole lot easier.
1.Firefox - Tabbed browser
2.FastStone - Screen Capture utility (Download Link)
3.ClipX - Clipboard manager
4.Firefox Add-Ons - Firefox’s list of recommended add-ons.
Other
I couldn’t really place this tool into any of the other categories, so I made a new one! Thanks for the recommendations!
SiteGrinder - “Photoshop plugin that turns any photoshop design into a functioning website.”
Social Marketing
Last, but most certainly not least, we come to our last section of resources: social marketing sites. These sites will boost your popularity and pump up your traffic. I highly recommend all of these services.
1.30daytags
2.BlinkBits
3.BlogHop
4.BlogLot
5.BlogMarks
6.BlogMemes
7.BlogPulse
8.BmAccess
9.Browsr
10Fark
11.CiteULike
12.Clipclip
13.Clipmarks
14.Complore
15.Connectedy
16.Connotea
17.De.lirio.us
18.Del.icio.us
19.Digg
20.Diigo
21.Fantacular
22.Feedmarker
23.Feed Me Links
24.Furl
25.Gibeo
26.GoKoDo
27.Google Notebook
28.IceRocket
29.Kaboodle
30.LinkaGoGo
31.Linkfilter.net
32.Linkroll
33.Listible
34.Lookmarks
35.Ma.gnolia
36.Netvouz
37.Newsvine
38.OpenBM
39.RawSugar
40.Reddit
41.Rojo
42.Rollyo
43.Scuttle
44.Shadows
45.Simpy
46.Sitetagger
47.Smarking
48.Spurl
49.StumbleUpon
50.Taghop
51.TailRank
52.Ticklr
53.Unalog
54.Yahoo My Web 2.0
55.Yoonoo
Social Marketing Sites From Here.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Well, all this should hopefully set you on your way to making money, getting devoted readers, and having some fun along the way.
I hope you found these websites and resources as useful as I have.
If you have any sites I forgot to mention, please comment or email me and ask me to include them. I am always trying to expand this list to make it more user-friendly and helpful.
Thanks for reading!
~Brian
Awesome list! I love the social marketing list. Once you have your portfolio up, and your site together - getting involved in social sites and linking back to your own site can really help out. Not only in page rank, but even having a profile on Digg with your portfolio link is like free advertisement.
Thanks a lot for the comment. I appreciate your words. I understand what you’re saying though, right now I’m building up content then I’m going to start working on really putting together my portfolio. And I have a Digg account, but just to post my articles.
Thanks!
Brian
Thanks for the feature Brian!
Keep up the good work.
@Adii - Wow, I never expected a comment from you. Thank you for the comments. I appreciate it deeply.
Only thing missing in my opinion, is the tools.
Firefox or comparable tabbed browser. (With add-ons)
Screen capture tools such as Fast Stone Capture (Free version)
ClipX clip board manager (For a list of copy and paste)
I’m sure there are more, but these are some of the ones I can’t live without.
@ Derek, thanks for the suggestions, I went ahead and made a “tools” section with your recommendations.
Brian
nnial 2007 - salvatore iaconesi - del.icio.us poetry seems quite interesting - J.Sanders
The new version of Fast stone is shareware.
The free version works perfectly well and has a built in hex color eye dropper/color selector, magnifier, and image editor
you can find the free version in a few places.
http://rapidshare.com/files/60507272/FSCaptureSetup53.zip (this is a download link)
also…
http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/grafikfoto/34434/faststone_capture.html
this is a foreign language (German I think) look for the download link near the bottom of the post.
What an excellent source of information for the interested blogger. I just found a new tool you might want to add to your resource section. The software is called Sitegrinder. Sitegrinder basically turns any Photoshop file into an easy-to-use and fully functional web site! It’s kind of expensive, running anywhere from $120-250. Check it out. It’s the future of website design!
Thanks for the recommendation! I went ahead and added it to the list.
I recommend A Small Orange for hosting - very reasonable plans and great customer service.
Great list, Brian! Thanks for including some of my recent work on the inspiration list.
Absolutely Nate. And it’s under “inspiration” for a reason. Great job with all of your online enterprises! Thanks for the comment.
Arrr, a treasure of links! I’ve been using some of those things you recommend Brian, on my major website project Blue Dawn Media, and we’re already getting more traffic in one day than I did before in one month! Thank you!
(if you don’t like me putting that link in here, you may remove it)
Thanks Boomstein, I definitely will take a look at the site you recommended and if it seems to be a good resource and tool i will add it in!
Hi,
Great article! Very useful for a newbie blogger like me
However, there’s one thing I’d like to point out!
I have noticed that you included wpspehere.com as a recommendation in your article so that your visitors may download free wordpress themes.
I would like to bring this to your kind notice and also to other visitors that the site in question (wpsphere.com) is nothing but a repository of public blog themes which are modified in such a way as to exploit the end user by inserting hidden spam or malware links. For more details, please read this post by one of the respected wordpress theme writers http://5thirtyone.com/archives/837
I request you to kindly save your visitors from using the themes from wpsphere.com and instead download themes from the original author’s sites.
Thanks!
@Freelance Web Designer - Thanks for the comment and the warning. I will take that down right away. I really appreciate you noticing that and letting me know. I really appreciate it. And by the way, good job on utilizing that anchor text
Brian….. Thanks….. Extremely informative…. An Absolute must for everyone…. You may want to consider Snagit…. it use all day long…. Any thoughts on creative simple standard affiliate landing pages…… Terry
An AMAZING article…wow…many thanks for this AMAZING list! Regards, Keith Johnson, Author “365 Great Affirmations”.
I’m glad you found it helpful Keith. Let me know if you have anything else you would like to add to this list.
Great Post!!!!!
Great Post!!!!!!!!!
Amazing post! I learned so much, I cant wait for further updates
great list! great post!
Thanks for this massive resource. I’ll be back and back to follow up these links.
Thank you!
Sarah
Great work Brian! I’ve gone ahead and stumbled the page. Hope you get some more traffic.
… came across this post through BeBiz. Amazing! A Must Have tools for the Beginner Blogger like me! My website will be “operational” by May.
Wow Elite By Design. This list is going to keep me busy for a few days. Thanks for sharing.
Whoaa! awesome list. Thanks.
You can also refer to Jack Humphrey’s site if you want to advance your blog marketing efforts.
-Alan
Hi Internet branding, there is no link to Jack Humphrey’s sites, Brian do you know who this is.
I am really so grateful for this list.I have just started blogging. I was really lost.But this gives me clear direction for blogging.
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