Bloggers wear many hats. On any given day, you’re a writer, photographer, videographer, social media manager and salesperson. It can very difficult to keep all of the plates spinning, especially if you don’t have the budget to splash out on software platforms and tools.
Luckily, there are a lot of free tools on the market or freemium versions of paid ones. They won’t have all of the features of the paid-for versions, but they will help your keep your blog running well.
Accounting software
If you make any money from blogging at all, you are legally obliged to declare it. But a full-blown accounting package might not be right for you. In that case, a free version such as Crunch Accounting can work well. It lets you easily track your expenses and sales so that you can accurately fill in your tax return.
WordPress
Over 455 million websites use WordPress. Once you have your hosting, WordPress is a free platform that has a number of great free templates to get you started. It is well documented, so you should be able to find the answers to anything that you’re looking for.
WordPress also integrates with a lot of other social media and CRM tools. If you intend to develop an app in the future, then a mobile application development agency can use WordPress integration features to take data from your site.
Graphic design
In just a few short years, Canva has cornered the graphic design market for non-professionals. Its free version is packed with professional-looking templates and features that can really raise the quality of your content.
Social media
Social media management is important to any successful blog. The amount of free schedulers has decreased in recent years, as the platforms try and move towards a paid model. A few good freemium versions are still around, including PostoPlan and Later. Former blogger favourite Hootsuite has recently reduced the number of posts you can schedule dramatically.
Search Engine Optimisation
There are some very powerful SEO platforms out there, but they cost a lot of money. There are some great free tools out there, but you’ll probably need a few of them to get a clear picture of your SEO. The Google Webmaster Tools and Keyword planner are a good place to start. The Moz Toolbar is also a popular one among bloggers. More recently, Diib has released a free version of its SEO platform.
Video Editing
Unlike other software platforms, the video editing market has a lot of great free versions out there. Unless you want to start producing extremely complex videos, then you will be able to find a free version to suit your needs. Lightworks and HitFilm Express are both highly rated. If you have bought a Mac, then it will come preinstalled with iMovie.
Conclusion
You don’t have to spend a lot of money on great tools to run your blog. If you know where to look, there are so many great platforms out there that you can use until you’re ready to take the next step.