10 Great Apps for Blogging

Want to get more organised with your blogging? Apps can come in really handy. So, here are 10 apps that are fantastic for bloggers!

Photography

VSCO Cam

VSCO Cam is definitely my favourite photo editing app. (I've bought all the filter packs.) With an array of different filters on offer, you're never short of creative options to make your photos look great. I generally use this to edit my Instagram photos, but sometimes, if I'm writing a post on my laptop (which doesn't have Photoshop on it) I'll edit my photos through VSCO Cam and Airdrop them back over. You do have to pay for most of the filter packs, but there are some free ones, which are great if you're just starting out.

Afterlight

So, you have to pay 79p to buy Afterlight, but it's a pretty good app to have at hand. It's got an array of features, including basic editing tools and fancy stuff like being able to put different frames around your photos. There are even a selection of filters to use, although some of them do cost extra to download. It's a pretty good app for basic photo editing though, and 79p isn't going to break the bank, is it?

Some people prefer Afterlight to VSCO Cam and vice versa, but it's just a case of finding out what suits you best.

Social Media

Twitter

Twitter's such a great way to let people know about your latest blog posts, and also to find other fantastic bloggers too! I definitely noticed a HUGE increase in the amount of readers to this blog once I started promoting new posts on Twitter. It constantly sits within the top two referral sites to this blog, so I'd say it's definitely worth using it.

There are specific hashtags to promote your blog amongst the blogging community like #bbloggers or #lbloggers (beauty bloggers and lifestyle bloggers), and there are even accounts that'll retweet your posts to their followers, which get you loads more readers too. If you don't use it already, then it's definitely worth trying it!

Snapchat

Every blogger (and her mother) seems to be jumping on the Snapchat bandwagon right now, don't they? Even if you're like me and don't really fully understand it yet. It's a great way of letting your followers know what you're up to and even if you've published a new post.

Even if you struggle to grasp it, Snapchat's one of those apps that's getting bigger and more bloggers and vloggers are using it for promotional purposes. (Incidentally, cheeky plug, but if you want to follow me click here.)

Buffer

Buffer is a great way to pre-schedule your tweets when you've published a new post. It came in really handy for me when I was at Uni and couldn't necessarily whip my phone out and tweet about my new post in a lecture. You do have to sign up for an account, but it's totally free. The desktop version's great too! There are other similar options, if Buffer's not your thing, such as Hootsuite and the desktop-only Tweetdeck.

It even offers you basic analytic information on your tweets, such as their reach and how many people have clicked on your links; which comes in pretty handy if you're trying to work out what's popular and what isn't. 

Followers +

You know when you're on Instagram and someone follows you, so you follow them back out of courtesy and then they unfollow you, just to bump their own follower number up? Bit rude, right? Well, this app is great for tracking which pesky people have unfollowed you, so you don't have to follow them anymore either. 

It's also great for showing you what kind of engagement level you have on your photos. It was completely free, but unfortunately they've updated the app recently, so that you have to pay to unfollow people through the app. (You can easily get round it by looking at their username and typing it into Instagram to unfollow them.) So, all in all, a great app if you're paranoid about those pesky follower/unfollowers.

Organisation

Wunderlist

This is a fantastic to-do-list app. It's highly customisable, and it's also available on iOS and Android. You can even access this on your computer, so that you're never without your precious to-do-list even if you're without your phone. It's a free app too! 

You can use the normal 'Reminders' app on iOS, but I love the fact that I can access Wunderlist on any phone and any computer, just in case. 

Notes

If I don't have any paper and I suddenly get an idea for a post (we've all been there, right?) I tend to pop it in the Notes app on my phone. The app's pretty simplistic and it's not massively aesthetically pleasing, but it does the job of documenting what you want to say. What more can you want? 

Evernote's an alternative if you want something a bit more complex, but I personally prefer Notes because I'm a simpleton. 

iCal

When trying to be more organised, using a calendar app to plan your posts comes in quite handy. I use iCal (Apple's standard calendar app). Mine now has an individual calendar for blog posts, and a shiny new one for YouTube videos too. (Check me out, eh guys?) It makes me feel pretty bad to see a post scheduled on my calendar when I've failed to publish it on time. So, it's a really good motivator to get stuff done.

If you've not got an iPhone, there are plenty of other options like Sunrise Calendar or Google Calendar too!

Sloth - Task Manager

This fantastic little app is great if you're a champion procrastinator like me. You set a time limit for a task you want to complete (like writing a new blog post) and it times you. Basically, it's a fancy stopwatch. The app's quite simplistic, but it's customisable, and comes in really handy if you get easily distracted by Facebook, Twitter, Buzzfeed, Instagram, YouTube etc (the list is endless.) The best part? It's free!

What apps would you recommend? Let me know in the comments!

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