I wanted to write a post sharing free blogging tools and resources that fellow bloggers might find handy. I have arranged them into sections such as photography, social media, and other topics you might find useful.
Photography (desktop)
+ Picmonkey. A fantastic free, photo editing tool that allows you to add fonts, stickers and edit photos.
+ Pixlr. A little more complex than Picmonkey but also a great editing tool and fantastic for collages!
+ Pixabay. I use all my own photos when it comes to blogging but if you don’t have the time pixababy is an online library full to the brim of free photos available to use.
+ Canva. I have only recently discovered Canva, it is a super aesthetically pleasing desktop editing tool!
Photography (mobile apps)
+ Afterlight. I love Afterlight, it is perfecting for brightening up pictures from my phone camera.
+ VSCO. I love VSCO for adding filters, and having a serious selection of editing tools right from my iPhone!
+ Snapseed. Snapseed is an extremely powerful image editing app but it has a super easy interface to use!
Free fonts
+ Dafont. I love finding free fonts on Dafont, and previewing them before I use them, there’s tons to choose from.
+ 1001 free fonts. Another fantastic font website offering lots of fonts free for personal use.
+ What the font! A fantastic online tool that lets you upload a screenshot of some text and it will help find it for you!
Tech stuff.
+ Google analytics. Available for mobile and desktop, great for tracking stats and page views, you need this installed.
+ Buffer. Schedule tweets ahead of time from your phone or laptop, you can also change the links from bit.ly to your personal links.
+ Trello. Trello is such a lovely highly visual way to keep yourself organised. It’s like an online mood board… You can drag and drop lists, have colour coordinated notes, to-do lists and tasks.
+ Goodtime Podoro Timer. If you are a procrastinator like me, then you need this app on your phone asap! Its basic and very easy to use, but really effective. You set the timer for 25 minutes of work and then have a 5 minute break.
+ Revive old post plugin. This is a plugin for WordPress users, if you haven’t got the time or can’t be bothered to schedule a ton of old content tweets, this plugin does it for you!
Blog designs and themes.
+ Theme Forest. Has tons of great themes available for WordPress users.
+ Etsy. There are lots of beautiful blog designs, headers and themes available for WordPress and Blogger users on Etsy!
+ Studiopress. Also offer beautiful themes and designs for WordPress users.
Photography equipment.
+ A tripod. You can buy one for around £15.00 of Amazon, much easier than trying to balance your camera on a pile of books or god knows what!
+ Stickyback. I bought adhesive marble print stickyback to switch up my backgrounds a little! You can get it in many prints such as wood, cute floral designs or tiles, whatever you fancy really!
+ Remote. You can buy one on eBay or Amazon for around £5.00 so handy for taking outfit photos or flat-lays! Much easier than trying to use the self-timer button!
I hope these free blogging tools and resources will help you if you’re a blogger, old or new! If you have something you think I should add such as an app or a desktop programme that you love and use then please let me know in the comments.
Thank you for sharing these tips with us! Lovely post 🙂
Emma x
https://www.emmauty.blogspot.com
I love pixlr! But it is hard to get used to in the beginning, I still dont know what I’m doing whenever I use it. Great post xx
http://www.marlinde.co.uk
Try Picmonkey it’s a little more user friendly i think 🙂 xx
You are welcome 🙂 thanks for reading! x
Thanks for taking the time to read emma x
Thank you so much for this amazing and truly kind-hearted post Becky! I shall most certainly be having a look into some of these amazing gadgets. One day I very much hope my blog can be as beautiful and successful as your gorgeous one <3 Xx
Aw thank you ellie such a kind comment 🙂 xx
These are all such good tips! I don’t know where I’d be without VSCO!
Jess x
hellojess.net
I loveeee VSCO!
Thanks for sharing! I love canva it’s such a great resource 🙂
Lotte | http://www.lottebeautybox.blogspot.co.uk
im a huge fan xx
This is sooo useful. I cannot imagine not having my remote, I would be in a deep … problematic situation today if I didn’t have it 😀
I will have a look on layouts, thank you for sharing with us!
This is such an amazing list of tools! I am so happy I came across this 🙂 I just started using Buffer and love it!
Buffer is fantastic xx
My favourites at the moment are Pic Monkey and VSCO! Pic Monkey is perfect for when I want to add overlays to photos for any favourites posts, it has some really great fonts to use. VSCO is just my absolute favourite app to edit photos for my Instagram, there’s so many beautiful filters to choose from.
Kayleigh | anenthusiasmfor.blogspot.co.uk
Great tips. Thanks!
Thanks for this post! There are some programs I need to get ASAP and for all the years I’ve been taking photos I’ve never invested in a remote…I think the time is now! x
http://www.insearchofsheila.com
This is great, i’ve just started my blog and haven’t heard of most of these before ! Thank you
I never thought to look on Etsy for designs! Thanks 🙂
Ella xx
http://www.ellaryder.com/
This is such a useful post! As a new blogger I had to work it all out for myself and this would have been so handy.
Lisabeth
Really great suggestions. I have been using most of these for a while now and they truly make my life as a blogger a lot easier. Thanks for sharing! I learnt about a couple I had no idea they even existed so I will make sure to check them out. What really caught my attention is Trello – it seems like an amazing app that would make someone’s life more organised without having to use boring methods.
As a reasonably new blogger I love this type of helpful posts. Snapseed is my life saver, so many things that you can do on it!
Kathleen xox
I use dafont to find new fonts for my pics, it’s such a good website with so many different fonts! x
Ariadna || RAWR BOWS
I already use quite a few of these 😀 Another resource I love is Creative Market, especially their weekly freebies! -Audrey | Brunch at Audrey’s
Thanks for these tips! I really need to get my hands on a camera remote…been putting it off for ages!
Great tips! I’ve already been looking on Etsy for some themes, such a great place for them x
I love it when bloggers share their tips with us, so thank you!
Btw- gimp is a very good replacement for Photoshop, for those who would like to start editing their pictures in a little more advanced way, but don’t want to spend their money on Adobe software. X
Great post!! Thanks for sharing
Great post, pipdig is also really good for blog themes, it’s not free but I invested in a theme (which was still really cheap- around £30), once I started making money form the blog and wanted to step things up a notch!
I’m going to check out the fonts now!
Have a lovely weekend,
Farah x
http://www.vatkinary.com
I love these tips, a few things there I already use but I’m definitely going to look into a few of the other ideas!
Emma x
emmasjoys.wordpress.com
This is so good to know! Thank you for sharing 🙂
-Lor
acozyspace.org
This post is sooo handy! Thanks so much Becky 😀 X
https://victorialouisekblogs.blogspot.co.uk
These were very helpful! Thanks for sharing!x
chapter-fifty-nine.blogspot.co.uk
Besides all these useful tips and apps, I’d be so grateful of You could whisper to me, where can I get that lovely pink starbucks cup? I haven’t seen one like that in my city 🙁
Such lovely tips, it’s great to see what you use to create your lovely blog! Will definitely try some of these to make my blog better!
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