There’s one thing with blogging that always gets me: I feel like starting a new one on a regular basis. If you are actively reading and writing online, there are always those mini-site ideas floating around. You either see a cool monetization idea or just feel instantly inspired about the topic. Either way, you rush registering a new domain name right away.
But how manage that all? How to productively manage and promote a new niche blog?
Niche Blog Productivity Tools
Do want to up your productivity, or just make life a little easier? We all do, and the more popular your site becomes, the more desperate you will be for efficiency, and the more you will need to cut out steps in the process. Otherwise, you will forever be working.
To keep your blogging empire going, you need a few productivity tricks and tools.
There are literally hundreds of amazing tools out there, and different people will swear by them.
When it comes to my own list, these are the five I would never want to go without.
1. Evernote
The big app on campus for snatching and saving content is usually Evernote. Allowing you to sync up your desktop, mobile phone and tablet, you can organize your entire life using this program.
But it is especially useful for creating notes, saving content, and easily searching that content for later use. The interface is unique and attractive, which is what I enjoy most about it. But there are plenty of reasons to check it out.
There are multiple free productivity tools out there, so you may want to check some alternatives now in case you need a free option.
2. Google Alerts
Reputation management and keeping up with current events in your industry are both important parts of blogging. Both can be handled using Google Alerts, as can several other tasks like watching competition, seeking out guest blogging opportunities, monitoring the most popular blogs, and more.
If you aren’t using Google Alerts, you are crazy. It is the most diverse tool on this list, hands down.
3. Flickr
This is still one of the greatest places on the web to find images to include in a blog. Full of creative commons photos that can be shared with nothing more than credit and a link back to the original source. But it is also a place to share your own work and manage galleries, which can work as a form of social marketing with your users.
There are other cool image sources you may want to check out for the sake of variety:
4. Google Drive
Another fantastic tool from Google, this one is great for editorial calendars, especially if you have multiple staff members to keep track of, who need to see deadlines and when articles are going to be published.
Create text files, spreadsheets and anything else you might need, then share it out with whoever needs it.
5. Cyfe
There are a lot of pieces to niche bloggers: You may need to have separate social media networks for each, separate writing schedule, separate rank tracking and analytics accounts. How to keep everything together?
Cyfe is your answer. Create a separate niche blog dashboard to monitor and manage everything from one place. From Google Analytics and Search Console to social media posting widgets: Each dashboard will give you a birds-eye view of everything that’s going on with each of your niche mini-sites.
Niche Blog Management and Writing Tools
The earliest writers created masterpieces with rustic paper and a supply of quill pens. Lucky for you, the modern writer can save time and avoid those pesky ink spots by using a few electronic tools to make the writing process a little bit easier.
If you’re missing even one of these useful items, you might as well be writing by candlelight!
6. ManageWP
For multi-blog management, ManageWP is a must-have. It works by allowing you to connect multiple accounts from different blogging platforms. You can then update them from a single dashboard, without having to log in to your dashboard.
Switch easily between blogs, drag and drop parts of a page, get crash recovery, auto detect music and much more. They even have powerful collaboration features too.
7. HaveALook
Each niche website needs to have a unique brand and memorable brand identity. It also needs to be properly optimized for conversions and ad clicks.
Sounds expensive? Good news is it all can be achieved on the cheap with a HaveALook that can your web design ready fast. The designs are responsive and optimized for conversions.
8. Copyscape
No writer who’s worth their fountain pen wants to copy another person’s work, even if it is by accident.
Copyscape prevents accidental plagiarism by scanning the Internet for similar pieces of text. In addition to preventing duplication, it’s a great way to keep your voice fresh.
9. Dragon Naturally Speaking
This tool teaches your computer to listen to you! Instead of typing, the writer speaks as the computer takes dictation. Not only will your written word flow more naturally, it will save time and spare your fingers.
Anyone with a carpal tunnel diagnosis can definitely benefit from Dragon Naturally Speaking!
10. CoSchedule
Editorial planning is important! I’ve been saying that for ages. My friend does not share this sentiment, or at least she didn’t until recently. For years she has said that she does better when she is footloose and fancy free, able to spontaneously post whatever she wants, when she wants.
Over time when she began to increase her brand, her site growth slowed. She started feeling burnt out and failing to write regularly. Her SEO efforts suffered and her organic traffic started to decline. It really hit her hard. What was she doing wrong?
What was wrong was that she wasn’t organized and she didn’t have a plan. It took some convincing but by the time she had lost about 30% of her average monthly unique visitors, she desperately jumped on board and created a solid monthly posting plan and an editorial calendar. Not only that, but she managed to score some guest posts by planning that, as well.
CoSchedule is an excellent tool to use to get your niche blogging schedule planned and organized, avoid feeling stressed and stuck and keep yourself always inspired.
A few niche blogs to get inspired:
- Comet Camper: Aiming at people who prefer living a minimalistic lifestyle and making a positive impact on the environment with their daily consumption habits, this blog features absolutely awesome content
- Law Listings: Featuring regular infographics and surveys, this one is a new blog that has a unique style
- The Friendship Bread Kitchen is a resource for all things Amish Friendship Bread with tips, tutorials, FAQs, etc.
- Paws Buzz GO: It’s all about dogs! How to take care of them, travel with them and even dress them up for Halloween. The blog with its unique vibe is known for its fabulous blogger, Jessica
Once you try a few of these tools, your blogging productivity will skyrocket and you’ll be able to add new and new niche blogs to your digital empire!
Do you know of any other niche blogging tools out there? I will bet you do. Let us know about them in the comments.