8 Free Tools I Use for Blogging

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The new year is a perfect time to start blogging or boost your blog strategy if you don't have a formal plan for 2019. But one of the biggest barriers to starting a blog is not wanting to spend the money to get started. If you want to create beautiful content and build a following online, it seems like the only way to do that is by investing a lot up front, even if you can't guarantee the return. 

This is a horrible mindset that can really prevent you from starting your dream job or even side hustle. The Internet is a wonderful place full of absolutely incredible tools that can do just about everything you need to start a blog and run successful social media pages. With these free tools, you'll have everything you need to create your blog and start making $$ so that you can reinvest in your site and upgrade to more complex paid tools. 

So fear not -- if you want to start a blog, here are 8 free resources that I use and you can, too. 

B L O G G E R

Blogger is the platform that I use to host my blog. It is free through Google and so anyone with a Google account can make a blog via Blogger. For right now, I love Blogger because it is easy to use and convenient, but I have also heard good things about Wordpress and might try that out as my blog grows. Blogger also allows you to purchase your own domain name which is a nice feature if that is something you want. I personally haven't bit the bullet on that one yet, but it's something I have in mind for 2019.

G O O G L E   A N A L Y T I C S

Analytics is the best free tool for tracking your website traffic over time. This is also available through Google and can easily connect to any website so that you can see stats such as where your followers are from, which pages get the most views, and how people find your blog (like through Instagram or Google search).

C A N V A

This free photo editor and design tool is like a free version of Adobe Creative Suite. I use this to make posters, graphics, Pinterest images, and more. It's such a great tool and you have so many capabilities through this that it's hard to beat.

L U N A P I C

LunaPic is another great website that I use to remove backgrounds from photos. I have also used their paint bucket, eraser, and color picker tools but the transparency option is my favorite. I always save all the images that I want to use for blog graphics, import them to LunaPic to remove backgrounds, and then save and import them into Canva to finally make the graphics.

V S C O

If you haven't already downloaded VSCO, stop what you are doing right now and get this bad boy onto your phone ASAP! VSCO is unofficially the greatest photo editing app of all time and will take your Insta game from 0 to 100 faster than you can say "Algorithm!" There are lots of great filters to choose from, but you can also edit your photos more simply by just adjusting exposure, white balance, grain, etc. My favorite VSCO feature is the ability to copy and paste your edits from one photo to the next, which helps give your feed an overall consistent mood.

U N U M

Once you've edited your photos with VSCO, download them into UNUM to plan out your feed. Before you ever even post to IG, you can see what all your photos will look like next to each other and schedule them to be posted at certain times. You can also track which posts get the most likes, what times of day you get the most engagement, and if you gain or lose followers.

U N F O L D

Unfold is like VSCO and UNUM combined for Instagram Stories. You can add photos into premade templates, add text, and then import them directly into Instagram Stories so that you have beautifully designed and aesthetically pleasing Instagram Stories daily.  If you care about having really well thought-out Instagram Story posts, this is the app for you!

S H O P S T Y L E

Unlike some other affiliate networks, ShopStyle is free to join and anyone can get started making money from affiliate links. I use this to tag items in my posts, make scrollable widgets featuring different items, or even search for an item through hundreds of retailers if I can't find the perfect "black mesh top" or "high waisted light wash jeans" that I want.