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5 Tools That Changed How I Blog

December 4, 2015 by A Savory Feast 16 Comments

Make blogging easier with the right tools. These are 5 tools I discovered in my second year of blogging. Each one has been a game changer for me!

5 Tools That Changed How I Blog

This post contains affiliate links. All the products and services listed below are ones I actually use and highly recommend. By using these links to make a purchase, you will be supporting A Savory Feast.

Last week I celebrated my 2nd blogiversary! This year was a big one for A Savory Feast. I learned a lot and grew from around 12k pageviews per month to over 40k. I had a lot of fun opportunities to work with big companies and even travel.

This past year I learned that some expenses are well worth the investment when it comes to growing and maintaining a blog, especially when you want to make money.

[Tweet “”Some expenses are well worth the investment when it comes to growing and maintaining a blog, especially when you want to make money.” – @aSavoryFeast”]


CoSchedule: The Editorial Calendar For WordPress

CoSchedule

This service is 100% worth the investment! CoSchedule connects to WordPress to help me schedule social media posts as I’m writing a blog post. I also use the Chrome plugin to easily add social media shares from other blogs and web-sites. You can read my full review here.

logo-1024x274

Tailwind

I did a lot of experimenting with services that allow you to schedule pins this year, and Tailwind is by far my favorite! You can use it to schedule your own posts to go up on all of your group boards at a set interval of time. It’s also helpful to schedule pins to go up during peak Pinterest hours, even if you can’t be actively pinning at those times.

Lightroom-CC-logo1

Lightroom

Last year I started to really focus on improving my food photography. Because Pinterest is my #1 referrer, I need beautiful images to attract attention. I started using Lightroom and it has made such a difference! I pay $9.99 a month for the Creative Cloud. It takes a bit of time to learn how to use, but it’s definitely worth it!

skimlinks-affiliate-platform-logo

Skimlinks

I recently read Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers by Tasha from Designer Trapped in a Lawyer’s Body. I learned so much from it and have been putting her ideas and tips into practice over the past couple of months.

One of the programs she talks about in the book is Skimlinks. It’s a service that helps you create affiliate links for thousands of different websites! Instead of being an affiliate for a bunch of different sites, just sign up for Skimlinks and you can create links for any of their partners.

Chrome Extensions

Chrome Extensions

Google Chrome is my favorite browser for many reasons, but the biggest reason is extensions. These handy buttons make it easier to schedule social media shares, get affiliate links with Skimlinks, stumble a page and much more.

What are some of your favorite blogging tools?

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Filed Under: Blogging Resources

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jaelan @ Making Mrs. M says

    December 4, 2015 at 9:32 am

    SO many great resources in here. I haven’t heard of Skimlinks, but I’m signing up right now!

    Reply
    • Jenna Owens (@aSavoryFeast) says

      December 4, 2015 at 10:20 am

      Skimlinks is the bomb! Be sure to install the Chrome plugin. If you have any questions, let me know!

      Reply
  2. Tiffany {A Touch of Grace} says

    December 4, 2015 at 10:15 am

    Well Skimlinks sounds awesome. I’ll check it out! And love Tailwind. Such a great resource!

    Reply
  3. Paige Allison says

    December 4, 2015 at 11:19 am

    I haven’t heard of Slimlinks! Affiliate marketing is something I want to work on in the new year… Making $5/mo is getting old, you know?! And yes to pinterest schedulers! I like to use both tailwind and board booster because you can campaign with boardbooster but there’s different analytics in tailwind. Great roundup!

    Reply
    • Jenna Owens (@aSavoryFeast) says

      December 4, 2015 at 3:45 pm

      I’m hoping to grow my affiliate marketing game in the new year as well. You should totally read the book I mentioned. It gave me a lot of ideas to try.

      Reply
  4. Mandy says

    December 4, 2015 at 11:34 am

    This is a great list! I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of what Lightroom can do but I’ve loved trying to figure it out. And I’ve read Tasha’s affiliate book as well – it’s a great resource!

    Reply
    • Jenna Owens (@aSavoryFeast) says

      December 4, 2015 at 3:45 pm

      I feel you, I definitely need to figure out how to use Lightroom better. I know it’s capable of so much more! If you find any good books or tutorials let me know.

      Reply
  5. Laura Jean Gilleland says

    December 4, 2015 at 12:50 pm

    These are great resources. I feel like it has been the year of scheduling and planning ahead for bloggers which I am all about! Happy 2 years!!

    Reply
    • Jenna Owens (@aSavoryFeast) says

      December 4, 2015 at 3:46 pm

      Thanks, Laura! I am all about scheduling. I used Tailwind to schedule pins while I was off for my wedding and honeymoon. I also used Coschedule to schedule tweets and FB posts. It really helped keep things going while I was away.

      Reply
  6. Amanda | Life With Grace says

    December 4, 2015 at 1:27 pm

    These are great! I really want to look into skimlinks and tailwinds. I love coschedule though, its so handy! And I’m still trying to figure out lighroom. I always end up getting frustrated and going back to picmonkey haha

    Reply
    • Jenna Owens (@aSavoryFeast) says

      December 4, 2015 at 3:49 pm

      I bet you could do well with Skimlinks! I used it for my Foodie Gift Guide and my Thanksgiving Entertaining Essentials posts. Before I was just an Amazon affiliate, but Skimlinks opens up almost every website! I feel you on Lightroom, too. I have my basic couple things I do for each picture, but I feel like I could do so much more. This next year one of my goals is to take a class or something to help me use it better.

      Reply
      • Amanda | Life With Grace says

        December 4, 2015 at 9:06 pm

        I want to take a class as well. I was going to look into a class at the community college because I think it would be easier to learn in person with someone.

        Reply
        • Jenna Owens (@aSavoryFeast) says

          December 7, 2015 at 11:00 am

          That’s true! Let me know if you find anything.

          Reply
  7. Emily says

    December 4, 2015 at 4:43 pm

    I love Tailwind! It has been quite the lifesaver for me! Some of these others I need to check out 🙂

    Reply
    • Jenna Owens (@aSavoryFeast) says

      December 7, 2015 at 11:00 am

      I started using Tailwind when I wanted to schedule pins during my time off for my wedding and honeymoon. It is awesome! After that I decided it was definitely worth the subscription.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 2015: A Year in Review says:
    December 31, 2015 at 7:01 am

    […] year I celebrated my 2nd blogiversary. It was a big year for the blog! A Savory Feast grew by followers and pageviews into a full-time […]

    Reply

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