{Blogger Support} Top Five (5) Apps

Starting out on a whim as a new blogger was tough, I started out on blogger and now have both blogger and wordpress dot org. I thought that was the only tools available to me to use for blogging, I thought I just had to log into google navigate to blogger and that was that. As I mentioned in Starting Out networking helped me learn a lot about blogging and over the last 18 months I have realised there are so many apps out there to make blogging easy as well as networking and promoting your posts. Today I wanted to share 5 apps that I used daily for blogging which have made my life easier. I have two phones (Iphone for work, HTC personal) and on those these phones Apps act differently, at least for me.

Blogger & Wordpress Apps - These are my little haven Apps, when I get an idea and do not want to jot it down I use these two Apps to write the posts. Sometimes the ideas are short and sometimes it's a complete post written at the spur of the moment. What I love about both Apps is even when I am traveling on the train underground and I do not have internet connect the post is saved as a draft local copy - this means that if I logged onto the computer and fired up Blogger or Wordpress these posts will not yet be on there because they are local copies but this is easily fixed by going back into the mobile version, refresh and save (provided you have 3G or wi fi) and it syncs up. Once you refresh the site on the computer it will show up. Of the two operating systems I have (Apple and Android) for Blogger and Wordpress Apps I prefer to use them on Apple as they are more user friendly and are easier to use than on my Android, this could be just on my HTC and not Android in general.

Facebook App - This is a no brainer, I am sure everyone with a smartphone has the facebook App especially bloggers. I had mentioned in Starting Out post the importance of utilising facebook as a tool to promote your blog and content. It is not easy to start out but once you find blogger groups which support blog interactions you're good. My facebook group the Lovely Bloggers is just starting out but it is a platform I have opened for fellow bloggers so we can grow together. I prefer to use the Facebook App on my iphone than HTC as for some reason facebook links do not work.

Twitter & G+ - There are so many bloggers out there who underestimate the power of twitter and google plus groups. Over the last 18 months my twitter stats have rocketed and my G+ stats are making there way.  When I started my twitter account I had 5 friends who are real life friends and that was it, I followed a few brands I like and few youtubers I was aware of and that was it nothing more. When I started blogging I was not sure about posting on twitter until I so one of the bloggers I followed posted a post on twitter which got interaction that made my resolve for using twitter and same applies with G+ they are very important in building up your blog and getting  interaction. Other experienced bloggers can explain the impact of a twitter tree I have tweets that have an outreach of over 12k you can imagine it is a lot. Supporting each other as bloggers, retweeting, favoriting all this leads to such outreach and even great interaction on posts, tweets and blogs in general

Bloglovin - When I want inspiration or have long journey ahead of me this is where you will find me. I follow over a thousand blogs on bloglovin and I have no idea how many I check out, one time I made it my business to comment on over a 100 blog posts from bloglovin when I was traveling on my 4-hour journey. I managed to do it plus more, what I saw was not what I was expecting I got back interaction on my posts that week my website visits rocketed and I was amazed. I was doing this to show support and not to get support back, I was doing what I call the blogging deal of the day - do something for fellow blogger without requesting anything in return.

Hootsuite - I love this App especially if I have lots of posts scheduled in advance and I want to schedule tweets, facebook posts and even G+ posts to go out when I want them to. I will say I do not always use it but when I do I love it. I am currently using the free version of it but you can always upgrade to get more features. I am happy with the features I am using it for now, but in the future for example when I will be really busy and want to schedule posts for my new blogger facebook support group then I will upgrade it but for now I am good.

Instagram - Not many people realise the power that Instagram harbours, as a blogger or just people who love instagram you post a lot of pictures of what you like, could be your kids or foods or places you visit etc. One thing you should use instagram for is blogging, you can share the main picture in your post and add the blog post link in the comments or better yet in the profile. This I have seen has helped to drive traffic to my sites and my blog in general so definitely recommending to all.

What are some of your favourite blogging Apps? Do you use any of the above mentioned?

If you have not yet joined our facebook group, click HERE.

{Blogger Support} Starting out

Starting out as a new blogger can be tough and at times daunting, everything is so new, the language is weird and for most! none of your friends are bloggers so you do not yet have someone to talk to about it all. Your decision to start a blog could have stemmed from a number of reasons, mine was honestly boredom and loneliness. Others it could be they have been reading blogs for a long time and are ready to start one or as an outlet for your everyday life or the creative streak in you. Whatever the reason you have (or had) started, now what is next after starting your blog or blogs? How do you go abouts getting the content you've spent maybe a few minutes, or even a couple of hours researching and writing to the outside world? Press publish of course (insert smiley of choice), but it does not end there.

One thing non-bloggers or those not familiar with the work that goes into running a blog don't know is just because I have published the post does not mean my work ends there, unfortunately it doesn't that is just the beginning of it all. Once you have published your post you need to share it on the monster web and even then you're not guaranteed that people will see it and come visit and comment on your blog. Those who see it will just look and go, some will love it enough to comment, some will love it but not comment. I have friends who read my blogs: A July Dreamer and The Myrabev Life and tell me offline how much they loved the post, this will happen plenty. I want them to comment and some say they are not comfortable commenting online and some will say I do not know what to say. This is common do not get discouraged be happy someone is reading.

Though I am not and do not claim to be an expert in the blogging world I know what has been working for my blogs so far. I am everyday learning and picking up tips on how to blog, how to promote my content etc and the most common one I see is supporting one another as bloggers. With this in mind I embarked on doing one thing that I know has worked for me and I know works for other bloggers too and that is joining a facebook groups and because I know most facebook group owners require you get permission before talking about their group (which is very understandable) I created my own face group sharing group called Lovely Bloggers and I am inviting you all to join and support each other grow.

In the  Lovely Bloggers group I will be putting up threads where you can share posts you want comments on (reciprocate two above your own), Facebook like & comment threads where you share facebook links you want liking and comments on and also Follow threads which will either be daily or weekly. I have started this group with a sole purpose of supporting other bloggers and helping each other grow because without each other our growth is limited. You're welcome to share this group link with fellow bloggers so we can grow and support one another. 

Over the last 18 months I have developed a routine that I practice almost every morning, I shared Bloggers, Events & Friends post on A July dreamer. This post I shared how I developed my routine and with insomnia being my best friend I find myself with more time which surprisingly I use to read other blogs than blogging. I have created this group that I am taking full responsibility for and hoping to discover more blogs to add to my routine. And because I travel a lot I am always looking for new blogs to read, I love blogs of all niches as I do not want to limit myself. I believe supporting one another, promoting and helping out fellow bloggers is the best way to grow as a blogger.

Come join this new facebook group where your blog will definitely get support from me be it a comment or sharing on my social media. I hope to see you all there and thanks for joining a Lovely Bloggers  facebook group.