Ok so you have started your blog and you are up and running like a champ, but do you have the tools necessary to be blogging like a pro? Here is a list of tools I use that can improve your readers blogging experience; as well as, your own productivity. Being equipped to make your blog the best it can be, while being a better blogger simply means gaining the respect and loyalty among your blogging comrades and readers.
This is an essential list for every blogger. While these are my top picks to get the job done, their are many other ways to do the same things. It is really about what you are most comfortable with in the end after all.
Software
Adobe Photoshop CS3: Any blogger doing their own graphic design will be better off to own or use a demo of this software. Recognized industry wide as the standard in its field. Photoshop in the past was for nerdy folks and photo guru’s. Now over the years of optimization and simplification anyone can spend a few minutes a day and create stellar eye catching graphics for your site. While the pricetag may cause shock trust me it is worth every penny and then some. Their are often times used copies on amazon or ebay of previous versions which will allow you to upgrade to a current version for much less. All of the graphics for my site were created by myself and this nifty little program.
Adobe Dreamweaver: For those of us not yet comfortable editing html or php in notepad I would suggest you pick up a copy or demo of this. It’s the all in wonder of editing visually or manually with options to have your code checked for errors and check placement of your images. This program can also work for transferring files to and from your web host.
WordPress: Their are many options for blog platforms; however, I choose wordpress for the obvious reasons that it seems to work out the best for my needs and ease of access. As you can tell Wordpress holds a major share of the market at this point, so if your looking for high levels of customization this is your platform of choice as no other offers the plug ins or widgets which this one can. Hands down the best in my opinion.
FeedBurner: If you are serious about your blogs then at some point you will become concerned in one way or another about your rss subscription numbers; as well as, a few other nifty options which include monetization of your rss feeds, feed reader statistics and types. The list is rather immense and needless to say this is the only real option for your rss tracking and syndication needs.
FireFox: This award-winning Web browser is fast, secure and fully customizable. Also the ability to add plug ins such as SEO firefox, alexa toolbar, the google toolbar and your favorite stumble upon bar will make this a bloggers easiest choice while preparing for success.
Communication
Instant Messaging: Aim, !Y, MSN, ICQ, Skype, !Googletalk are all a very important means of contact. Not everyone will use the same and different communities will endorse different brands. I highly recommend you have accounts with all that are easy to remember and go hand in hand with your post name or brand. Skype is super valuable tool to any marketer, or blogger. The ability to talk directly with anyone in the world who also has it for free is great for networking. It also offers video chat /voice; as well as, just a normal chat option. I can not stress enough if you are going to be a serious blogger that you put yourself out there for everyone. By not having an active account with one you may turn off a potential lead, or reader who wants to get in touch with you directly. Also make sure to offer your domain level email address via a contact form and one other non domain level in case something happens. I use my hotmail and gmail accounts as backups. For the record I do not use but three different clients Skype, GoogleTalk, and Trillian which can load as many Aim, Y!, MSN, and ICQ accounts as you want. It will also do IRC for you as well.
Plug-ins and other accesories
I tend to keep my list of active plug ins very small as to keep memory usage down and site-wide speed up. Depending on your hosting package or your need for more than the essentials these are definate must haves as far as plug ins go.
Adsense Target – This plugin will make sure that your adsense stays true to your posted content instead of anything else. As some of my older viewers will know I had a problem with this until I installed this plug in. I highly recommend it either way as to maximize your adsense earnings.
Akismet - What can I say in the way of spam control this works perfectly and fits the bill for me. I will be honest I have not tried any others yet as I have had absolutely no need to. If you do not have an anti spam filter for your comments yet I say download this one.
Comment Luv – This is another essential for any blog which you wish to encourage commentation on. This in combination with another I will reveal shortly will help to produce an environment which people comment and share their thoughts while also in a backwards way promoting their own last blog post. Highly effective.
Contact Form – An all in one does it all contact form plugin that has a very small footprint and is very easy to use. Again their are many options for these but this was the first one I tried out of the gate and it fits the bill.
FeedBurner FeedSmith – This is one of a couple of plug ins which will help keep your rss number accurate to what is true. It essentially sends all of your rss subscriptions to one place on your feedburner account whether it is email or a feedreader. I highly recommend this.
Google XML maps – This may be a new concept to many but if you want your site indexed daily and quickly after new content is posted this is the best way in tangent with a google webmaster tools account. It essentially makes an index in xml of your entire site and sends it to google; as well as, the other search engines. This means more organic traffic.
OIO Publisher Direct Pro – The only blog monetization tool you will ever need. This plugin is what every serious blogger uses to automate their blog monetization and keep the middle man out of your transactions.
Random Posts – I use this under the Featured Post section as a way to display content from the archives which most new viewers or people who do not want to manually search my archives to get a taste of what Big Ben Patton’s Place is all about. It’s great to offer old content as well as your current posts as I have so people have the best idea of the content your offering with as little work as possible.
SezWho – This plug in helps to raise user loyalty and establish a larger sense of community amongst your peers and commentators. It is highly customizable and allows users to rate threads and if you allow comments as well. The avatar system can replace your stock one and also links to posts or comments that the author of your post or comments has made recently as to get a better feel for your reader.
Subscribe to comments – Another must have for any blogger wishing to promote serious commentaion and establishing a real blog community. This way between rss, bookmarks and comment subscriptions you are able to notify your dedicated reader of anything new the moment it happens.
Top Commentators Widget – This is by far the most useful tool in the bloggers arsenal to raise blog commentation and loyalty. For instance having a free back link to your blog because you participate in conversation helps you network with other bloggers and again promotes a 2 way discussion instead of just your posts on a page.
Word Press Database Backup- This is needed no matter what kind of blog you run you always want to hold your db as it is sacred. If lost you may lose valuable information which controls your blog and keeps it glued together at the seams. I have one saved on the server daily, mailed to my web host email and mailed to gmail as a precaution against anything undesirable happening to it. All I can say is be prepared.
Wp Super Cache – While some blogs may not need this I still recommend it for everyone. You know the saying Digg proof? These guys invented it. Essentially what it is doing for you is caching the php from your wordpress blog which happens to be rather CPU intensive when many many people are accessing your website at once and instead turns it into html which is not. This can mean the difference in a fast load time and a very slow one if your hosting is not up to par. It can also mean the difference on some hosts between being suspended for over cpu usage, or even causing your entire shared server to crash. All in all this plugging is quite valuable and very customizable. I have my cache times set for every ten minutes. It also automatically reaches after every comment or content update so your site is still live. I only cache my top landing page once you navigate into a post or another page your reading the php again. You can change this under options but for me the traffic I am concerned about is all top level. One note about this plug in if you use OIO Publisher it is a php script you will want to change to the ad server option and insert it into your code manually. Java Scripts load every time the html loads so all of this will stay live and rotate etc as you had setup with the php.
Micro Blogging
First blogging and now micro blogging? OK this is simple its a great way to send a couple of lines to many people. Twitter is at the forefront of the field at the moment. It seems at least in this niche that it is required you add this to your tool box and participate. Trust me it is no chore and before long you will be as addicted as everyone else. This is one of the bloggers best networking tools. Sign up and add me.
Networking
MyBlogLog – This while maybe not as powerful and serious as it once was is still one of the best networking tools to help people find you. It also gives credit to those that view your site in the form of a picture and a link to them. It also allows you to build a community and mail them messages at large. This can be great linked with social aspects of promotion.
BlogCatalog – This is the new mybloglog. This is a very serious site with some very on the level folks. I find traffic I get from this networking tool often sticks around and even subscribes or commentates. If you went through the trouble to put mybloglog up I hope you take the time to add this as well. Everything about BlogCatalog is gold. The only downfall is that you must be accepted before you are able to participate. While I was rejected my first time a week later after a round of site updates and continued polishing I was accepted.
Blog Load Time Testing
http://tools.pingdom.com/ this is essentially the best tool in my opinion for before and after testing of your blog load times. With the posts I have already put into the archives for this and the super cache plugin you should be able to knock out 50% of your full page load times. You do not want to lose a potential rss subscriber or commentator because your page is sluggish and unresponsive.
http://www.iwebtool.com/speed_test This is also a great before and after test for load times. A big thanks to JK Swopes for his submission of this link into the bloggers toolbox.
http://site24×7.com/web-page-analyzer.html And I thought that the site I discovered would be the end all be all to site load time testers. Between these three you will definitely know what is going on with your blog’s load times. Give this one a try. A big thanks to Arun for sharing this with us.
Blog Affiliate Advertising
Market Leverage – By far my most favorite amongst all of the cpa networks out there. Most of my network ads are in fact via them.
PepperJam – Normally almost a tie with Market Leverage but lately has lacked biz-op type short leads or commission based advertising friendly to my blog’s niche. However they are by far the easiest to setup and use and still have some very stellar offers for your readers. Especially if your not blogging about blogging or Internet Marketing. Sign up today and check out what they can do for you.
Adtoll – While I have retired them recently they do offer a great selection of ad’s for Im and blogging type blogs. I am just more attracted to short lead or cpa type of monetization. I recommend checking these guys out to see if they can help out your blog monetization.
Adsense – While referrals are gone this is still the most basic form of monetization for your blog. I oringaly deployed this site with three different sets of adsense on every page. As you can see the site is only left with the adsense for content text links across the top. I find this a highly effective method. One thing to consider about adsense is that this will be harder to cash in on than say five years ago many people who often times would click innocently on these links thinking they were intra-site have now learned what in fact it is all about. This should not discourage you from using it, but I warn you depending on your target audience and niche these can be very different things for you.
Private Sponsor Ad’s – These will help you network and give you leverage for advertising on other blogs. I like to keep them clear of other types of advertising normally speaking to give a chance for other blogs to gain fruitful advertising space. Remember not to overcharge as you will sit empty without sponsors otherwise.
CJ - This while no longer the premier cpa network still has some pretty amazing offers for your readers. I highly suggesting keeping a regular lookout on this network for items you can offer to your readership.
Peel Ad’s – Please do not use these. They slow your load times, and generally just aggravate readers to no end. A lot of this has to do with where you got your script, or if your using it via an ad network. The only time I would recommend using this is for your own product you want to promote. Outside of that I really see it as the best way to shoot yourself in the foot with your readers. Unless of course your one of those die hard make money online bloggers like John Chow that generally never really reveals how to do it, but instead tells you how much he is making off you wondering how much he makes. 
Blog Themes
This is more of a personal preference. I edited an existing one to my liking and then gutted its original functionality so that I had control of it. This is not a newbies task by any means. If you have a little experience with php and html you should be ok with the help of google search. I would however look into custom blog themes as they can be very affordable with the cut throat competition. What will cost you for the most part will be your logo/mascot design. As you can tell I did my own, while it is not the best by any means it suits my style and the blog itself quite well. I would avoid the cookie cutter themes while I do not want to discredit anyone’s work you know which blogs use them and how bad some of them look. Whichever you end up using no matter the cost make sure to pour your heart into it or people will be able to tell that you do not care as much as you might ought to, which can reflect in how easy or hard it is to attract new reader to your blog. This is by no means the only reason or variable in this matter but they are going to spend a great deal of time looking at it why not make it as enjoyable as possible.
EntreCard and SiteHoppin
These two go together like pea’s and carrots. Ok maybe not and I apologize for the Forrest Gump reference. These two can be very powerful when used properly to drive in new traffic. Be forewarned though that your bounce rate will go up. An acceptable Bounce rate for a start up blog is generally 40-80% usually the more you promote yourself the higher it will go. I know that sounds strange but we will get in to that in the next section. Make sure you are cruising other peoples sites and dropping cards and rating the overall appeal of them. This will give you credits to spend on advertising for your favorite ec blogs or drive traffic to your site from the network itself. This will give back generally what you put into it. Some say its exit card time, but I will remain a firm believer as long as I see rss subs going up.
Social Networks, bookmarks and communities
Your best bets for making the social round, and trust me as a start up or veteran alike you will want to occasionally push your premier content to the masses. Understand that this means your page views and unique visitors will be inflated. But the benefit of this is you are bound to get exposure, network and retain a percentage depending on the quality of your content, interest of your readers and the general well being of your site.
Stumble Upon – I like stumblers they generally stay awhile poke around and see whats what. This is a great social network but be weary of submitting your own content and try to stumble as little as possible as their algorithm will detect this and put less weight to your post.
Digg – By far the most popular in the blogosphere at large; however not very blog advice, internet marketing friendly. While I hope they offer up categorizes for us soon this network is generally considered the big kid on the block. For me though It is more of a why not when including this than why I should. If you can gain one rss subscription for a year from this it was worth the thirty seconds it took to submit. I have heard and it generally makes sense that if you submit your own links you can eventually be banned although I am not 100% sure about this. I do know it can lower your power for front page ability.
Reddit – This is my second favorite social outlet as it has driven the most traffic per article for me compared to any other. I would limit its use to your very best stuff no matter what your niche. These readers are the cream for the most part that you will pickup from these types of ordeals. I have limited my posts for reddit to mostly my news coverage type posts.
Mixx – This is an upcoming network that is sort of a cross between all of the above. It allows you much more control in an intuitive way. It truly puts you in touch with people who really are interested in your category or sub category of content. Highly effective when used correctly; however, not very effective if used like digg to build friendship rings and trade diggs for front page time. This is a much more serious network at the moment.
Delicious – Yea I know that is missing the funky periods in it but you know what it is. This is the most powerful social bookmark site I have ever used, and really seems to be the leader as far as that goes. I will say though that this is more effective for searches than bringing you live traffic as the previous others. A good thing to make use of for every post to gain you long tail keywords 
Technorati – This seems to be the premier way to see how you mesh up against many other blogs. By no means is it the definitive rank for your blog. It also doubles as a way to search for blogs by content , keywords etc. You definitely do not want to neglect your site in regards to technorati rank and content submission. Having people favorite you also does not hurt.
Analytics
Along with all the other blog metrics available you will want to keep tabs at the very least occasionally on what type of traffic you are bringing in and where it is coming from and where it might be going to. These are the only two analytics programs I would ever concern yourself with as at the moment both are free and very powerful.
Google Anayltics – This is an easy straightforward analytics program which anyone can easily maximize its potential to report. Loading this to your site is as easy a pasting a line of code with a java script in it. This is argue to be the best of the best. I still run this just for the fact that it is free and powerful.
Woopra – I was lucky enough to get into the beta for this. While I think they have slowed or even stopped the handing out of beta keys recently this is definately something you should stop by and take a look at. If you find yourself still wondering why this might be better or even just different than google analytics then check out my review of it.
Other
This is the catch all as is may not merit its own section. Basically some other key elements of your blog will be a sophisticated about page. If you need to have someone write one for you it will be well worth it. Make sure to include how to get in touch with you or in my case a full blown contact page. Also if you wish to monetize in a serious manner make sure to include an advertising page including all your important stats, pictures do wonders here. Some where on your site you will want to include your rss subscription count for others to see. I think the latest craze which I recommend you to jump on with is the disclosure. It seems google may eventually stop indexing blogs that do not disclose or at the very least not page rank them. I’m not sure if this will see the light of day but to let your readers know what you are getting and how it influences your content is just good business in my opinion.
Check back here often for updates and changes or amendments. If you would like to submit something to the Bloggers Toolbox use my contact page to let me know. Untill then Happy Blogging.
