There have been many changes going on behind the scenes at ProBlogger HQ over the last few months, and we’ve been making some major decisions about how we are going to bring you the best information about creating successful blogs and income online.
To do that, we’ve been experimenting with tools that do everything from making our team communication more streamlined to the ones that help us better communicate with you.
In today’s episode of the ProBlogger podcast, I’ll be discussing the sites and platforms we’ve decided on using that have already returned fantastic results across the board. Many of them we’ve signed up to be affiliates for, so you will find some of the mentions below will be affiliate links. I’ll explain how we came to choose these tools, why I like them, and what kind of results we’ve achieved with them.
I’ve tried a lot of software and tools over the years, and I think this is the best combination yet.
In-Team Communication Tools
Slack – for daily exchanges
Trello – for more detailed information, tasks and checklists
Editorial and Social Tools
CoSchedule – for editorial schedule, assigning tasks, headline score calculator, and scheduling of some social shares
Organization
Evernote – for shared files and folders
Community Communication Tools
Email Optins
SumoMe
OptinMonster
Update: we now use Thrive Leads
Email Provider
Update: we now use Drip
Landing Pages
LeadPages
Update: we no longer use LeadPages but instead use Thrive Architect.
Social
Other Essentials
Google Analytics
Feedblitz
Canva
PicMonkey
Fantastical
Mars Edit
Easy Digital Downloads
E-junkie
I’d love to hear what kinds of tools you use? How did you make the decision to go with the platforms you did?
Further Reading
You’ve already summed 99.99 percent of the tools, Stacey. I’m going to use just a handful from this list like Evernote, Aweber, SumoMe, OptInMonster, Canva and Google Analytics. Will gradually get my hands on the rest of them.
Some additional tools I will use this year are WP Editorial Calendar, Buzzsumo and Quora.
Have an action-packed 2016 :)
Oh you never mentioned Buffer that’s a life saver for me… Also OptimizePress as an alternative to leadpages… Thanks for Sharing :D
Great Tools. Thanks for sharing.
Sumome is my favourite Email opt-in… Thanks for sharing
Great tools! I couldn’t live without Trello myself. Slack is a good adition but If I could only use 1 tool on the communication / To do list, Trello would be the one.
OptinMonster is terrific but I still use a old plugin called OptinSkin.
And for Social you should have Buffer and Crowdfire there ;)
I have just started using SumoMe, it seems to be on all the greatest blogs these days and is proving to be really effective. I see you are using it quite agressively on this blog too.
The welcome mat, smart bar & scroll box is among my favorite tools, I actually installed the smart bar on my friends recipe website and she had more subscribers in 2 days than she did in the whole of the previous month.
Hey Darren, that’s a good list. What Editor you use or Just WordPress editor?
LeadPages is going to be my favorite now. Great tools. Thanks for sharing.
I recommend draw.io and Inkscape for graphics, diagrams and infographics. Free, easy to learn and fast. Great for DIY bloggers on a budget :-)
Definitely mailchimp and google analytics, although I occasionally find analytics a pain to work with. Eventually I may look into an alternative to that. Anyone have a better option? Ideally I want to see clearer information on how people move through a website and just a simpler presentation that just shows me the essentials.
I have used evernote and various list making apps in the past, but recently started working on ctitch, which more fully integrates notes, bookmarks, and lists into one package so I can keep everything grouped together.
I think I need to try a more few of these — sumome looks pretty promising. Thanks for the list.
Thanks for sharing! I will try it!
Love Slack and Trello! Trying to wrap my head around MailChimp to start up a mailing list…I might be over complicating the process, and I keep getting overwhelmed!
Other Essentials Tools Below
Hootsuite
Pocket
similar web
wappalyzer