The 10 Best Blogging Tools For Beginners 2021
Today we’re going to outline the best blogging tools for beginners in 2021. You’re going to want to bookmark this page because no matter what stage you’re at, we’re confident that this will be helpful.
This isn’t some list of promoted companies that are paying us to write this — these are the actual tools we use each day on this blog. We even use these tools on the other blogs we run as well! There are endless blogging tools out there, and like anything, some are great and some are duds.
The good news is that we’ve done the hard work for you, so you can rest assured that this list only touches on the very best. If you’re tired of wasting your time with free trials, unnecessary software and pointless plugins, this list will be your saviour.
To see the tools we use every day, keep reading for a thorough description of each. Every single one is beginner-friendly and can greatly improve the quality of your blog.
Squarespace
Google Analytics
Tailwind
Canva
Google Search Console
Grammarly
Pinterest
Creative Market
Mailchimp
Unsplash
The 10 Best Blogging Tools for Beginners 20201
1.Squarespace
It’s no secret that we love Squarespace. Heck, this blog IS A SQUARESPACE BLOG. That's all the proof you need, right?
Jokes aside, Squarespace is an amazing tool for creating your first blog. Thanks to the easy-to-use backend, well-designed themes, and SEO-friendly settings, Squarespace makes blogging pretty simple: Even if you don’t have the first idea about coding.
Though it may be tempting to go with a slightly cheaper alternative like Wix, I'll tell you now that it’s not worth it. If you want your blog to be something serious, with the potential to monetise, you should fork it out now for Squarespace.
There are a few different pricing options, so depending on what kind of features you envision for your site, you’ll be able to find one that suits you best.
2.Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free tool that you can connect to your website to measure data. Similar to Squarespace's insights, Google Analytics shows detailed information about your site’s visitors and content.
While your site’s built-in analytics can tell you the basics, Google Analytics is much more detailed and can give you a better understanding of your site and audience. It’s pretty easy to set up, and all you need is a google account to do so (such as Gmail.)
3.Tailwind
When we first tried out Tailwind, we weren’t sure we would stick with it.
Sure, we knew that Pinterest was great for bloggers, but we didn’t understand the true value of a scheduling app like Tailwind.
Now, we’re obsessed.
Not only does tailwind schedule pins and post them automatically, but it also offers super-helpful tools to boost your Pinterest to unheard-of levels. Before using tailwind, I was so excited when my pins got a few impressions. Now, they regularly get hundreds (if not thousands) of views.
The best part? Those impressions translate to page views, as there is always a percentage of people who click through to our blog.
In addition to scheduling and posting, Tailwind has a few other features that can enhance your Pinterest presence. With a creative studio, community groups, and “loops” Tailwind has figured out the best ways to get pinners onto your blog.
4.Canva
We don’t even remember when we first started using Canva, but it wasn’t until we began to take blogging seriously that we finally got a pro subscription.
The free version is great, and it offers most of the tools you’ll need for basic graphics social posts. If you’re considering the pro package, though, we’d say go for it. We haven’t once regretted our subscription and find ourselves using Canva’s pro features almost every day.
We use Canva to create graphics for our site, social posts, and even newsletters. Everything just looks better when it's well-designed, and having a good aesthetic plays a huge part in your blog’s success.
5.Google Search Console
Google Search Console is another free tool from Google, but it’s one that we find often goes neglected.
Like Analytics, Search Console displays data about your site. But rather than focusing on your site itself, the focus is how your site performs on Google.
To get new traffic to your site, your posts must be optimised for search engines, and Google Search Console helps you do just this. It can check the health of your entire site, as well as individual pages to show you errors that may be negatively impacting how you perform on Google.
In addition to providing site health insights, Search Console also provides valuable data about what your audience is searching for. Inside Search Console, you can see which search terms bring users to your site. This kind of data is great for bloggers because it highlights your readers’ interests and can inspire future blog posts.
6.Grammarly
Anyone who’s ever taken a marketing class has likely heard the term “content is king.” And it’s true.
If you want your blog to be successful, you need to make sure that your blog posts are well-written, helpful, and valuable to your readers.
While you likely already enjoy writing (if you don’t, maybe choose something other than blogging?) it can be easy to get tripped up with small grammar errors.
We don’t know about you, but when we see a grammatical or spelling mistake from someone who’s supposed to be an “expert”, it makes me question their authority.
Spell-check can be helpful, but it’s not enough. Enter, Grammarly.
It can check for spelling and grammar mistakes, measure the readability of your posts, and advise you on tone and delivery.
Best of all, it’s free!
7.Pinterest
This one is a bit of a cheat because we don’t know if Pinterest is technically a tool. But let’s run with it.
Pinterest is the dark horse of social media when it comes to blogging. It may seem less visible, or less trendy than Instagram, but we promise you it’s way more valuable for blog traffic.
Compared with other social media platforms, Pinterest is more similar to a search engine. This means that you may create a pin today that pops off, and it will keep bringing traffic to your site months into the future.
From a marketing perspective, it's clear why Pinterest is the best choice for bloggers when it comes to social media.
When people are on Pinterest, they’re in the decision stage. They want to visit a helpful site, but they need to find the best one for their needs.
They’re there to look for something specific, so they’ll be much more likely to click through to your blog if it solves their problem.
On a platform like Instagram, this isn’t the case. You can think of Instagram as being a part of the awareness stage. Yes, it can bring you visibility and help you to grow your brand image, but it’s not as likely that people will visit your blog from there.
8. Creative Market
Ever wonder how all of the best bloggers seem to have amazing graphic design skills?
We used to too, but no matter how much time we spent messing around on Illustrator, we could never find the right fonts or master the spacing of all the different graphic elements.
Let’s pause here to remember one thing: People get entire degrees in this stuff!
So while you can try and fake it ‘till you make it, trust us when we say it can be kinda obvious that you don’t know what you’re doing at first. We would guess that you probably want your blog to look pretty and professional, not cheesy and cheap.
How do you create beautiful graphics, though, when you have no design experience? Creative Market!
While it’s not a free resource, Creative Market is an amazing way to find beautiful templates — some of which can be quite cheap. You can find fonts, newsletter templates, social media templates, website themes, and even add-ons for Photoshop and Illustrator.
Plus, many templates are made to work with Canva, so even if you have zero experience with Adobe, you’re all covered.
9.Mailchimp
If you’ve decided that it’s time to start sending newsletters, Mailchimp is the way to go. You can easily import subscribers from Squarespace into Mailchimp and send beautiful newsletters out with very little effort.
We’ve found that Creative Market, Canva, and Mailchimp are the holy trinity in creating stunning newsletters. All you have to do is find a template you like, edit it in Canva, and build it out in Mailchimp.
If you’re just starting, we know that newsletters may seem like an unnecessary marketing strategy.
But actually, having a newsletter is one of the best ways to bring people back to your site. If someone has already given you their email, that means they WANT to see more of your content. So take advantage, and start building a good relationship with your readers.
10.Unsplash
The final tool we’ll mention here is Unsplash. Unsplash is a free stock photo library where photographers post beautiful photos that creatives can use royalty-free. Unlike other free stock photo websites, the images on Unsplash are high-quality and professional.
It’s easy to create a profile, and once you do, you'll be able to save and sort your favourite photos.
Unless your blog needs content specially crafted to match the blog posts, using Unsplash is a great way of saving time while keeping your look cohesive.
On our other blog, we do take the photos ourselves — but for this one, Unsplash is perfect. Nobody wants to see the same photo of MY laptop 100 times over, but on Unsplash I can find a variety of beautiful blogging-inspired images that still fit my aesthetic well.
Is your favourite blogging tool on this list? Let us know what else you use in the comments.
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