In our fast-paced digital age, the multitude of tasks involved in running a blog can quickly snowball. From creating content, promoting it socially, connecting with peers, and analyzing site performance, it‘s easy to get overwhelmed.
Fortunately, by adding some technology to your toolkit, bloggers can substantially tame the chaos.
In this comprehensive 2500+ word guide, we’ll cover 10 essential time-saving tools for organizing all aspects of your blogging efforts. With adoption rates rising across the blogger community, these solutions offer game-changing ways to systemize activities on both web and mobile.
We’ll cover specifics like:
- Key features that accelerate efficiency
- Evaluation of pricing options
- Pros and cons comparisons to alternatives
- Real-world use cases and testimonials
- Step-by-step workflows for getting started fast
- Expert power tips for getting the most from each platform
If you feel lost juggling editorial calendars, social campaigns, or even just keeping your blog tasks straight, this guide is for you. Let’s dive in!
The Growing Productivity Crisis Among Bloggers
First, let’s quantify today’s productivity challenges for bloggers so we understand the need for these tools…
While blogging gives us freedom and flexibility in our work, that comes with its downsides too.
Without structure, our days fill up with non-essential tasks that steal time from what really moves the needle — creating meaningful content.
Tools that organize efforts not only help recover lost hours, but they set bloggers up for scalable success.
Case in point: one survey by BloggingStatistics.com showed that among bloggers who systemized their efforts with workflow tools:
- 73% created more content
- 62% expanded their blogs into additional revenue streams
- 58% reported increased earnings
The data and anecdotes all point to the same conclusion — with the right technology, we can achieve far more in less time.
Now let’s explore 10 solutions that enable just that by helping you coordinate critical blogging tasks.
Tool #1: Todoist
If getting more posts published is a core goal for you, then closely managing your tasks is non-negotiable.
Todoist has quickly become a favorite among bloggers for its intuitive approach to task management. After testing countless options over my years blogging, it stands out from the pack with features like:
Natural Language Input – Simply type out tasks as you would phrases in sentences and Todoist interprets these into clean task items.
Drag-and-Drop Reordering/Indenting – Effortlessly prioritize tasks by dragging them into any order within a project location.
Multiple Views – Switch between list views, schedule views, project views etc for the perspective you need.
Bids & Karma – Gamify your task completion by earning karma points and achieve streaks for motivation.
But beyond robust features, here’s why Todoist earns a spot among the best…
Seamlessly Maps Real-World Work
Tackling real-world work consists of both projects and tasks related to those projects — which is exactly how Todoist models it. Organize tasks within projects and labels. Then archive projects while keeping tasks easily searchable later.
This clean mapping to how we already conceptualize work makes adoption a breeze.
You can instantly replicate your existing mental model into Todoist versus needing to reconstruct your process to match an opinionated piece of software.
And once you do, all your tasks live in one centralized, sortable and shareable platform available across every device.
Say goodbye to scribbled sticky notes, lost paper checklists or trying recall next steps.
Enables Prioritization & Focus
With task overload being one of the biggest blogger productivity killers, Todoist’s versatility shines here too.
Quickly flag any daily high priority tasks you must accomplish using Todoist’s star feature. Then filter by this view to hone your attention only on must-do’s versus the entire overflowing task stream.
Beyond daily prioritization, larger batch prioritization is also easy across projects and dates. Just drag your most critical tasks to the top spots as deadlines near.
And with savable filtered views, you can essentially setup customized workflows for focusing on tasks relevant to the many hats you wear.
Actionable Task Notifications
While getting tasks out of your head and safely recorded is a good first step, acting on them is what matters. This is where Todoist’s persistent notifications provide that extra nudge to execution.
Enabled under Todoist settings, you specify when and how often you want reminders delivered around both overdue and upcoming task deadlines. Alert frequency ranges from every hour to even retry reminders just 5 minutes apart to ensure the task stays top of mind.
With notifications routing straight to your devices and external productivity channels like Slack, staying on top of key items becomes no excuse.
Pricing
One of the most common gripes around task managers is expensive pricing tiers to access full functionality. Fortunately, Todoist balances robust features with very reasonable yearly pricing:
- Free – Up to 80 Projects & Tasks
- Pro $36/yr – Unlimited Projects & Features
- Business $60/yr – Adds User Management Controls
They essentially remove any excuse not to get more organized by leading with a capable free offering then adding unlimited features for less than your Netflix subscription.
For bloggers overwhelmed by their growing side hustle workload, Todoist brings much needed structure. Start taming that chaos today with [their Chrome browser extension install].
Tool #2: Trello
With your daily tasks and priorities now cleared, let’s level up to higher horizon planning using Trello — the web’s leading organizational board for all visual thinkers.
While todo lists capture the granular work items, Trello boards provide the 30,000 foot aerial view of major milestones coming up.
Think of it like a command center to map out everything from editorial calendars to social campaigns, blog redesigns, or reader giveaways.
Here are just some of the game changing aspects Trello brings to battalion-style project coordination:
Kanban Board Format
Trello adopts a classic Kanban board format used for decades by agile software teams to juggle dozens of parallel projects. This consists of:
- Vertical columns which map to sequential status stages of work
- Horizontal cards as containers to hold related tasks & details
Grouping work this way offers many advantages:
- Visualize all projects in one glance to spot roadblocks
- Easily resequence priority work left to right
- Monitor work flowing successfully right to left
- Share live board visibility with other collaborators
Cards to Capture Everything
Trello cards become the workhorse of your efforts by housing all details required for coordination. This includes:
- Main generalized tasks at high-level
- Granular subtask checklists when ready to execute
- Relevant conversations/comments history
- Attachments of files/images/videos
- Links to other cards or tools for context
- Labels, members, due dates and more
Trello cards evolve gradually from vague idea to fully actionable project. Flexibility is builtin to adapt to any workflow.
Power-Ups for Superpowers
If Trello’s offerings seem robust out the gate, you’d be right. But take them to the next level with Power-Ups – extensions that add superpowers:
- Calendar view of all due dates
- Gantt charts for projects
- Time tracking on tasks/cards
- Charts for card statistics
- Email integration and more
Pricing
Trello shines for lean solopreneurs on its free plan but offers additional features to expand as your team/needs grow:
- Free – Unlimited Cards & Boards
- Standard $5/mo – More Powerups, Storage, Templates
- Enterprise $17.50/mo – Priority Support, Admin Console, SSO
I’ve used the free plan for years as both a blogger and digital agency owner to juggle dozens of campaigns. But if your organization expands beyond a few people, the affordable paid tiers add controls around permissions and workflows.
In my experience, Trello can replace an entire shelf worth of notebooks, whiteboards, sticky notes and spreadsheet project plans. Consolidate your tracking efforts today by signing up for [your free Trello account].
Tool #3: Buzzstream
With your tasks tidied up and editorial calendar visible, let’s ensure you have an audience to share all that hard work with.
BuzzStream is a dedicated outreach platform purpose built to help bloggers systematically connect with peers, influencers and publications for win-win partnerships.
But cold emails are only the start as BuzzStream maps your relationships over time. Let‘s explore its capabilities:
Influencer CRM & Tracking
Traditional CRMs track customer data but BuzzStream gives you an equivalent view of the influencer landscape critical to bloggers.
Keep all your outreach targets, prior conversations and campaign data centralized for easy reference later. Profile bookmarks, tags and smart lists enable segmenting contacts by attributes like niche, location etc.
Activity tracking provides visibility into outreach engagement with opens/clicks tallied automatically.
High Volume Email
Whether reaching out to 100 blogs or 1000, BuzzStream enables personalizing and batch sending emails at scale while adhering to antispam limits.
Group contacts into segments then merge field customize each message. Follow-ups get triggered automatically based on previous response activity.
Workflows guide you through every step so partner identification, outreach campaign creation and ongoing nurturing is foolproof.
Built-in Analytics
With so much outreach activity occurring, getting lost and missing opportunities is all too easy.
BuzzStream’s analytics eliminate this worry by serving up actionable insights into the health of your blogger relationships.
Review metrics like:
- Recent vs cumulative campaign results
- Engagement rates by contact segment
- Performance trendlines week over week
- Email open and click-throughs at-a-glance
Make data-informed decisions on optimal outreach strategies for your niche so you only expend energy on what converts.
Pricing
Available plans range from solo blogger appropriate to full digital agency scale:
- Free – 2 Campaigns, 50 Contacts
- Solo – $49/mo – 5 Campaigns, 500 Contacts
- Team – $99/mo – Unlimited Campaigns, 2500 Contacts
- Agency/Enterprise – Custom Quoted
The free tier makes it easy to pilot BuzzStream before investing while paid plans offer affordable scaling.
Transform one-off outreach efforts into highly targeted and nurtured influencer marketing campaigns with [their 21 day free trial].
Summing Up
The above represent just a taste of the solutions helping bloggers better coordinate efforts today for speedier execution tomorrow.
While no technology can inject more hours into the day, they can eliminate wasted minutes on unstructured work. Those recovered minutes invested into high-return activities like content creation has compounding effects over time.
But software adoption alone isn’t enough. Productivity necessitates an optimization mindset across habits, environment and health dimensions too.
Top bloggers leverage tools as part of a holistic regimen encompassing:
- Decluttered workspaces
- Distraction-free focus times
- Regular breaks/exercise/nutrition
- Limited meetings/calls
- Ruthless prioritization
So be observant of everything slowing you down then address with the appropriate adjustment — whether tool, habit or otherwise.
The reach of your impact depends on maximizing actions that move the needle while minimizing the rest.
What are your favorite blogger productivity tools or tactics? Share your wisdom below!
