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11 Valuable Tools You Need To Build Your Blogging Toolkit

Ever feel overwhelmed by the endless tools and apps promising to make your blogging life easier? You’re not alone. I feel the same because there are so many tools to choose from. 

Many bloggers start their journey with a simple writing platform, only to realize they need dozens of other tools scattered across their desktops. It’s like trying to cook in a kitchen where the utensils are hidden in random drawers: frustrating ànd time-consuming.

That’s why creating a well-organized blogging toolkit is an essential for bloggers. Think of it as your virtual workspace where everything you need is exactly where you need it. From content creation to social media management, the right toolkit streamlines your workflow and helps you focus on what matters most: creating great content. 

In this guide, we’ll build your perfect blogging toolkit step by step.

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Why Digital Tools Matter

Just like a carpenter needs their tools organized and ready to go, bloggers need their digital tools perfectly arranged. In today’s fast-paced online world, having the right tools at your fingertips isn’t just helpful – it’s essential for success.

A well-organized blogging toolkit helps you work smarter, not harder. Instead of jumping between dozens of scattered apps and platforms, imagine having everything you need in one streamlined system. From writing and editing to social media management and SEO optimization, your toolkit should be your command center.

Core Components

  • Content creation tools for writing and editing
  • Visual design programs for graphics and images
  • SEO and analytics tools for optimization
  • Project management systems for organization

Key Benefits

  • Streamline your workflow to save hours each week
  • Ensure consistent content quality across all platforms
  • Improve your productivity with automated tasks
  • Better the engagement with your audience

A good set-up toolkit should grow with you. You start with the essentials and you’ll add more advanced tools as your blog evolves. The goal isn’t to have every tool available, that would be nuts. It’s to have the right tools that help you create great content efficiently and connect with your readers effectively.

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The Foundation of Your Blogging Toolkit

We start with finding the essential foundation tools. Let’s see which ones will make your blogging journey smoother and more productive.

Content Creation Suite

Writing and Editing

It’s my preference to work out my blog post in a Google Doc. In this doc, I have my keyword research, outline, and draft all together. I write my pin descriptions and the meta description for my blog post, too. I know fellow bloggers who write straight into WordPress. I guess it’s whatever you are used to from the beginning that will make the most sense for you. 

One thing is sure, your writing workspace needs to be organized and efficient.  There are several platforms for blogging, but WordPress remains the most popular platform for bloggers, powering over 43% of all websites. Think of it as your digital home base, where you’ll craft and publish your content.

The Tools

  • Google Docs for drafting and collaboration
  • Grammarly for catching those pesky grammar mistakes
  • Hemingway App for making your writing clear and concise
  • WordPress for hosting your blog posts and website

Visual Content Creation

Every blog post needs images to support the text, to break up your text or to create visual interest that captures your reader’s imagination. They tell a story alongside your words and they will keep your readers engaged. Plus images give the reader a breaking point to absorb the information in the blog post before going on to the next section or paragraph. 

The Tools

  • Canva for creating eye-catching graphics and social media posts
  • Ideogram for creating any image possible with the right prompts
  • Ivory Mix for collections of photos to create a cohesive feel
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Content Management System

Airtable

Looking for a powerful way to organize your blogging workflow? I love Airtable for this. Airtable offers a flexible solution that goes beyond traditional content management. Think of it as a supercharged spreadsheet that can transform into any system you need.

I have Airtable bases for my blog posts, Pinterest pins, blogging checklist, and several more. I also have my business dashboard (or second brain) in there for easy access of all my links from my Facebook group to my freebies and products and from my affiliates to my blogging tools.

Think of Airtable as Your Digital Assistant

  • It handles repetitive tasks automatically (like updating your content calendar when you publish a post)
  • You can easily move things around by dragging and dropping (just like organizing files on your desktop)
  • Everything stays connected (your blog posts, social media plans, and income tracking all talk to each other)
  • You can work with team members in real-time (perfect for collaborating with virtual assistants)
A screenshot of Airtable's dashboard showing multiple color-coded bases for blog management, including sections for blog posts, family hub, and email subscribers - blogging toolkit

Some Practical Examples

Content Planning:

Business Organization:

  • Track expenses and income
  • Store brand partnerships and contact information
  • Manage affiliate links

Social Media:

  • Plan your content calendar
  • Track social shares
  • Organize your Pinterest strategy

Now, you don’t need to use all these features at once. Start with what you need most, and grow into the rest as your blog expands. The free version includes everything most bloggers need to get organized.

With Airtable’s Cobuilder feature, you can quickly create custom applications tailored to your specific blogging needs. Whether you’re tracking post-performance, managing guest contributors, or organizing your digital assets, Airtable adapts to your workflow – not the other way around.

Keep in mind, an effective CMS should reduce complexity, not add to it. Airtable’s intuitive interface means you can focus on creating content rather than managing tools.

Mockup Freebie Blogging Checklist - 11 Valuable Tools You Need To Build Your Blogging Toolkit by Abundantly Blogging

Get my FREE Ultimate Blogging Checklist

There are so many moving parts in creating a well-planned, researched, engaging, and optimized post that it’s easy to forget one or two steps.

But this checklist makes that process a lot easier!

Content Planning Tools

Besides content creation tools like Google Docs, WordPress, and Grammarly, you also want to add a tool for research. For me, Keysearch is the one. I’ve been using it for a couple of years now, and it has all I need. 

Let me break down Keysearch in a way that makes your blogging life easier:

Keysearch

Think of Keysearch as your personal content detective. It helps you:

  • Find topics your readers are actually searching for
  • See how hard it would be to rank for specific topics
  • Discover what’s working for other bloggers in your niche

Finding Blog Post Ideas When you type in a topic you want to write about, Keysearch shows you:

  • The search volume: how many people search for this topic monthly
  • Similar topics you might want to cover
  • Whether the topic is growing or declining in popularity

Making Your Posts Better The Content Assistant is like having a writing coach. It tells you:

  • Which important points to include in your post
  • Questions your readers want answered
  • How to structure your post for better results
A Keysearch dashboard displaying keyword analysis for "blogging toolkit" with search volume trends, competitive metrics, and SERP analysis in a detailed data visualization layout - blogging toolkit

Making It Work For You

Step 1: Research

  • Type in your topic idea
  • Look at the difficulty score (lower numbers are easier to rank for)
  • Check what successful posts are already covering

Step 2: Planning

  • Save your research in your blog posts Airtable base
  • Plan out your content calendar
  • Keep track of which topics perform best

You don’t need to spend hours on keyword research. Even 15 minutes of planning with Keysearch can help make your post more successful.

Content Repurposing Tools

We don’t want to reinvent the wheel every time we create content for different platforms. That’s where repurposing comes into play. So, are you ready to turn one piece of content, like a blog post, into many? Let’s explore some powerful tools that will help you work smarter, not harder.

A dark-themed interface of RightBlogger's Article Writer tool featuring customizable settings for generating blog content, with options for tone, language, and article parameters - blogging toolkit

RightBlogger

RightBlogger offers over 80 AI-powered tools designed specifically for bloggers. The standout feature is its YouTube to Blog Post converter, which automatically transforms video content into well-structured blog articles. This way, RightBlogger helps you create more content without starting from scratch.

It also works the other way around. RightBlogger also has a Blog Post to YouTube Video Script Generator. This feature will help you turn your blog post into a script for a YouTube video. All you need to do is fill in the URL to your blog post, and the generator does it work. 

Another tool within RightBlogger is the List Generator. All you need to do is pop in your keyword or topic and it will create a list with information around that topic. You can use these for social media posts or as ideas for email newsletters. 

Remember, repurposing should be part of your regular workflow. Set it up as a routine task after publishing each blog post to maximize your content’s reach and impact. With a RightBlogger subscription, you can create as much content as you need.

The goal isn’t to create more work – it’s to make your existing content work harder for you.

A clean, organized dashboard view of Perplexity Spaces showing multiple project cards including "Email marketing," "Blog Posts," and "Goal Setting," with privacy indicators and time stamps - blogging toolkit

Perplexity

Perplexity is an AI tool that can help you transform your blog post and create Pinterest pins, Facebook (group) posts, Instagram captions, and so much more. You can also ask it to write YouTube scripts from your blog posts. Basically, it’s the same as RightBlogger, but in Perplexity, you’ll need prompts to do this. 

I think of Perplexity as my virtual assistant and just ask what I want to know or what I need. The best part? Perplexity helps you maintain your unique voice while adapting your content for different platforms. Simply input your blog post, and let the AI help you create platform-specific versions that resonate with your audience. 

It’s an affordable way to maximize your content’s reach without spending hours rewriting everything from scratch. 

A bright Canva homepage interface showcasing design options for various content types, with recent designs displayed below featuring templates for journaling prompts and marketing materials - blogging toolkit

Canva

When you’re looking for a tool to repurpose your images, Canva remains the go-to one for transforming one visual into multiple. From blog graphics to social media posts, you can create professional-looking designs without any design experience. 

Their Resize feature creates different sizes of the same visual for the different platforms you’re using. I use it a lot, and it’s great. Just one click, choose your size, and voilà, you have what you need, ready for downloading and using, although you want to make sure everything looks good, of course.

Want to go a step further? Magic Switch will help you transform your design into other formats like outlines, a document, content marketing ideas, and even song lyrics! What you need to keep in mind, though, is these features are only available in a Pro account, but in my opinion, it’s worth it. 

If you want to learn everything about Canva, my friend Pam is the expert! Check out her Canva-dedicated website and join her free Facebook group. 

Think of all these tools as your content multiplication system. They help you create different content pieces to reach different audiences who consume content in different ways. The key is choosing tools that match your primary content type and target platforms.

Obviously, there are a lot of other options out there. If you are looking for something specific, ask Perplexity or do a Google search. But remember, you don’t need every tool out there. Start with one or two that align with your most important content formats and expand your toolkit as your needs grow.

Implementing Your Blogging Toolkit

Now that you know which tools you wish for your toolbox, let’s put it together.

Getting Started

Start small and build up gradually. Think of your toolkit like building blocks – you don’t need everything at once. Begin with these essential steps:

Foundation Setup

  • Set up WordPress as your content management system
  • Create your content planning base in Airtable
  • Install Grammarly and Hemingway App for writing assistance
  • Set up Canva and Ideogram for visual content

Creating Your Workflow

Research Phase

  • Use Keysearch to find promising topics and keywords
  • Create content briefs in Airtable
  • Use Perplexity for additional research and fact-checking
  • Plan your content calendar

Content Creation Phase

  • Draft content in Google Docs with Grammarly integration
  • Source visuals from Ivory Mix for authentic stock photos
  • Create custom graphics using Canva and Ideogram
  • Polish your writing with Hemingway App

Optimization Phase

  • Use RightBlogger to transform content for different platforms
  • Create social media variations of your content
  • Optimize posts using Keysearch suggestions
  • Format and publish in WordPress

Best Practices

  • Start with essential tools (Google Docs, WordPress, Airtable, Keysearch, Canva)
  • Master these tools before adding another to your workflow
  • Regularly evaluate which tools actually save you time
  • Remove tools that don’t serve your specific needs

The goal isn’t to use every tool available – it’s to create a streamlined system that helps you produce better content efficiently. Focus on tools that save time and improve quality, and don’t hesitate to adjust your workflow as your blog grows.

Mockup Freebie Blogging Checklist - 11 Valuable Tools You Need To Build Your Blogging Toolkit by Abundantly Blogging

Get my FREE Ultimate Blogging Checklist

There are so many moving parts in creating a well-planned, researched, engaging, and optimized post that it’s easy to forget one or two steps.

But this checklist makes that process a lot easier!

My Final Thoughts

Just as we started with the feeling of being overwhelmed by countless blogging tools, we now have a clear strategy for building an organized, efficient toolkit. By selecting the right combination of tools – from writing platforms to content repurposing solutions – you can create a streamlined workflow that lets you focus on what truly matters: sharing your valuable content with the world.

Tools We Covered

Content Creation and Writing

  • Google Docs – Your primary writing platform
  • Grammarly – Grammar and style checker
  • Hemingway App – Readability enhancement tool
  • WordPress – Your main blogging platform

Visual Content Creation

  • Canva – Design and graphics creation
  • Ideogram – AI image generation
  • Ivory Mix – Stock photo resource

Research and Organization

  • Airtable – Content planning and workflow management
  • Keysearch – Keyword research and optimization
  • Perplexity – Research and content enhancement

Content Repurposing

Each of these tools serves a specific purpose in your blogging workflow. Start with the basics – a writing tool, a content management system, and a design platform. Then gradually add more specialized tools as your needs grow. Remember, it’s not about having the most tools, but about having the right ones that make your blogging journey more efficient and enjoyable.

Moving Forward

Whether you already have some tools in your toolkit or you’ve just starting, take a moment to assess your current blogging process. Which areas need the most improvement? Start there. Choose one tool from each category that addresses your biggest challenges and master it before adding more to your toolkit.

Remember, the most successful bloggers aren’t the ones with the most tools – they’re the ones who use their tools most effectively. Your digital toolkit should make blogging easier and more enjoyable, not more complicated.

Ready to get started? Pick your first tool and begin building your streamlined blogging system today. Your future self will thank you for taking the time to set up these foundations properly.

What tool will you try first?

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