5 Productivity Tools for Bloggers

January 8, 2015

As you may remember, I’m jetting off to Miami and then the Bahamas for the next week. Since I have absolutely no idea how much Internet access I will have, I figured trying to stick to a post schedule would be impossible. So that’s when some of my favorite blog gals stepped in and saved the day! 

I have Chaitra of PinkPot here today, and she’s going to share with you some amazing productivity tools for bloggers. It was so funny she sent this over because I had just jotted this down in my calendar as a post to write when I got back! Great minds, and all of that. ;) 

5 Productivity Tools for Bloggers / @pinkpotxo for @hellorigby

5 PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS FOR BLOGGERS

Hello everyone! I am Chaitra from the blog PinkPot. I am really excited to be guest posting on Jenn’s awesome blog today. Hope you enjoy reading it!

Ever felt like you have been in front of the computer all day but haven’t got a single thing done? As bloggers, we spend most of our free time online and it is very difficult to not get distracted by all the exciting things happening on the internet. Twitter, Facebook, blogs, YouTube etc. will suck your time if you let it happen. So here are a few tools to help you be more efficient and productive:

1. StayFocusd: If you are someone who has a hard time concentrating on the task at hand, then this Google Chrome browser extension is going to be your strict monitor and help you concentrate. You just have to add the sites that distract you to your settings, choose a time-limit/ day and after the time-limit, each time you try to open any of those distracting sites, StayFocusd will block the access. No choice now, but to go back to your work. ;) StayFocusd works on Google Chrome, but there is something similar for Firefox called LeechBlock here.

2. Coffitivity: With everything about blogging being pretty much virtual, it can get a bit dull and lonely sometimes. This genius tool gives you the vibe of a coffee shop while working and guess what, this actually helps your creativity. How? Apparently, a certain level of noise around us helps our creative cognition. They have details about a research study that proves this on their website.

3. Buffer: Social media is a part of blogging and there is no way to escape that. Trying to keep up with the social media game can become really exhausting and distract you from your work. Buffer comes to the rescue as it is an excellent tool for scheduling all your social media posts. Just spend some time daily or weekly scheduling your posts and Buffer will take care of the rest for you.

4. To-do-ist: We bloggers really love making to-do lists and for a good reason. They help you prioritize tasks and get things done. I love the To-do-ist app to organize my to-do lists. It is a very easy-to-use, customizable app and is available on all mobile devices. Their Karma points system is truly motivating and will push you to get all your work done.

5. Editorial calendar: Blogging can get a bit stressful if it is not organized properly. Having an editorial calendar helps you stay on top of the game by planning everything in advance and being more consistent. For WordPress users, the Co-Schedule plug-in provides an easy to use, drag and drop editorial calendar and for Blogspot users, the trusted Google Calendar works like a charm.

I really hope these tools help you stay motivated, get more done in less time and make the blogging process more enjoyable.

Thanks to Jenn for this opportunity to guest-post on her wonderful blog. It has been a pleasure!

Find Chaitra over at PinkPot, or via Bloglovin’, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram.

I can’t wait to try out a few of Chaitra’s suggestions like StayFocusd, and Buffer is one of my absolute favorite tools. But I’m dying to know – what productivity tools are your favorites?

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47 Comments

47 thoughts on “5 Productivity Tools for Bloggers”

  1. Sierra

    Just letting you know the links to Pinkpot (pinkpot.com) don’t seem to be correct…it’s a blog with only one post from 2008! Lol. I think I was able to google a correct url (itspinkpot.com) but I’m not sure if that’s the right one. But anyway, that aside, these are great suggestions! :)

    Reply ↓
    1. Jenn Post author

      Eek, good catch! Yep, you got the right one, and it’s all fixed now. Thanks for letting me know and glad you liked the suggestions! :)

      Reply ↓
  2. Mica

    I hope you enjoy your trip! It sounds amazing :)

    Lovely guest post too – I’d only heard of 2 of these things, haha! (buffer and the editorial calendar) I don’t use any of these things, but only because I’m quite lazy with my blog, it’s just a photo a day, nothing fancy :) I think they would come in really useful for bigger bloggers or people who have more varied and interesting blogs :)

    Reply ↓
  4. Bri

    Great tools! Thanks for sharing! I will for sure be using some of these!

    Also, I can’t wait to hear about the Bahamas trip! I’m heading down in March!

    Reply ↓
  7. Autumn Dickens

    These are some really great productivity tools. I had never heard of Coffitivity before…its awesome! And I’ve been using Buffer for a bit and it’s extremely useful. Thanks for the helpful post!

    Reply ↓
  8. Kati Rose

    Stay Focusd is one of the only reasons my posts get done sometimes! I’m so bad at getting distracted and thinking “Oh I’ll just check this for a few minutes to take a break” and then suddenly it’s 2 hours later. Lifesaver.

    Reply ↓
  9. Kathryn

    I’ve just started creating an editorial calendar and it’s been so helpful! It makes everything seem a little bit more streamlined and less stressful about having to come up with an idea every day, on the spur of the moment. I’m still working on getting a good chunk of posts typed up in advance though.

    I’ve heard of some people who have an editorial calendar for the next 6 months … unfortunately I am not that organized. Right now I’m doing it in 1-2 week blocks, and I hope to get up to a month at a time soon.

    xx Kathryn
    http://www.throughthethicket.ca

    P.S. Have a great trip!!

    Reply ↓
  10. Lori Vann

    Thank you for introducing me to coffitivity. I moved departments, from a loud athletics department facility, to a quieter classroom facility. I miss the chaos & noise of the old facility, so this is helping me a lot today! Thank you!

    Reply ↓
  16. Dandelion Blue

    Thanks for the post. I am definitely more creative with a little background noise. There us nothing mire disconcerting than silence. As an architecture student I always used to pop into coffeshops when I had a block. It would get me flowing. I will check out the app you suggested. Thank you again. Xx Dandy I http://www.dandelionblue.co.uk

    Reply ↓
    1. Jenn Post author

      Thanks Lynsey! :)

      I’ve actually never used Hootsuite, I went straight to Buffer. What do you like better about Hootsuite, out of curiousity?

      Reply ↓

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  21. Elizabeth

    Thank you so much for all of these great resources! I’m definitely going to put them into action (I think the website blocking thing on Chrome is genius). Now I just need an app that prevents me from falling asleep on my laptop…. ;)

    Reply ↓
  28. Emily

    What a great post! I just downloaded Buffer earlier today, and I now have Coffitivity bookmarked on my laptop to try out when I do my homework :)

    Emily // ahemitsemme.blogspot.com

    Reply ↓

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