Today I thought I’d share some of the tools and resources that I use when I’m working on my blog and my yoga business. I love hearing what other bloggers and business owners are using to make things a bit easier, so I thought I’d share what I use too. Read on to find out about some of my favorite blogging resources.
I’ve divided the resources up into several categories: photos/graphics, social media, and organization. If you’re looking for something in particular it’s easy to find a tool that could help that way.
Photos/graphics
Unfold
I use Unfold for creating Instagram stories that are consistent. I think it gives the photos I share a more tied together look for Instagram where I find it can be a bit disjointed if you’re not careful.
Unfold is free to use for with it’s basic features, though they do have additional templates, stickers, and fonts that you can buy. I’ve been using it for a few months now. It was easy to figure out when I first started using it so within a day or two I felt pretty comfortable with the app.
Canva
I’ve been using Canva for years new, since at least 2015. Before then I used Pic Monkey, but I’ve found that Canva is easier to use and more versatile than Pic Monkey when it comes to making graphics for my blog and social media.
It definitely took some time to to figure out how Canva worked and how to make the graphics look like what I had in my head, but I’m so glad that I stuck with it because it’s definitely been worth it. If you’re new to Canva there are a ton of tutorials online, including on YouTube. Videos were great for me to learn from because I would pause it and then do what I was just shown in Canva and then go back to the video.
Haute Stock
I used to buy stock photos on Canva until I discovered Haute Stock. Haute Stock provides stock photos for bloggers, social media influencers, and female entrepreneurs. Rachel has some amazing photography skills and posts new collections every Monday.
Most of the graphics that I’ve created and use on Get Fit Fiona have stock photography from Haute Stock. Rachel has all the photos organized really well so you can find whatever you’re looking for on Haute Stock – from photos of workspaces to fitness to seasonal stuff, she has just about everything that you could want.
Social Media
Facebook page
Just like most bloggers, I also have a Facebook page to go along with my blog. I haven’t always been great at keeping the Facebook page for Get Fit Fiona updated, but I’ve definitely gotten better at it once I started scheduling my posts.
Previously I used other schedulers (Coschedule or Buffer) to post content on Facebook, but now that it has introduced it’s own native scheduler right from my Get Fit Fiona page. It’s super easy to plan my posts for the week on Facebook and get them done ahead of time.
Planoly
Just like with Facebook, I think most bloggers these days have Instagram accounts too. I first heard about Planoly (affiliate link) back in June, and after trying out their free trial I decided that it made life so much more easier then it came to posting to Instagram consistently.
I pay $10 USD per month (it’s really affordable) and I can post and schedule as many Instagram posts to my feed as I want. Right now I have lots of content scheduled to the end of the year.
As for stories, I can also upload and schedule them, thought when it’s time for them to post Planoly (affiliate link) will send me a notification on my phone and I’ll have to manually do it. I’m able to schedule the time, upload the photo, and any text ahead of time though, so it’s super quick and easy to be able to post them when it’s time.
Instagram was probably the one social media channel that I was stressed out the most with and that I spent the most time on. Since starting to use Planoly (affiliate link) it’s helped cut down on my stress and time on the app.
Organization
Spreadsheets
I’m a type A person all the way so I’m one of those people who is always organized. I’m the same way when it comes to my blog. I have all of my blog related content – from blog posts to social media posts – organized and planned out in an editorial calendar.
Staring at a blank page trying to come up with an idea to write about for the next day is the worst. There’s nothing worse. Some people can come up with ideas with no problem, but that’s definitely not me. I make sure to put the ideas in my editorial calendar when I think of them so that they’re there when I need them. I use Excel for my spreadsheets, but Google Sheets would work just as good.
Word docs
Speaking of being super organized, on Sundays I always create a Word doc with all the blog and business things that I want to accomplish during the week. It keeps me on track throughout the week and ensures that I don’t forget anything. Once again, I use Word but Google doc would work just as well.
Asana
I also use Asana to schedule my tasks for each day, week, month, and quarter. You can set tasks to repeat at different intervals like I mentioned above. I don’t have to worry about missing a deadline every quarter because it will show up in Asana every 3 months.
It also feels really good to check things off throughout the day as I accomplish them. It seems like such a little things but it definitely feels good to do it.
Google calendar
I plan out my days with Google Calendar. It’s super easy to plan out my day and have it accessible on my desktop, laptop, and phone. It automatically syncs to all my devices. I don’t have to worry about any of them being out of date.
I prefer planning out my days digitally. My schedule always ends up changing and my paper planner ends up being a mess. It’s just easier to do it digitally and have it much more neater.
Dropbox
To keep the above documents available on all of my devices, I store everything in Dropbox. It’s a huge lifesaver and allows me to work seamlessly from my desktop, laptop, or phone. It really does make things so much easier for me. It feels really good to know that my documents are safe and sound on the cloud instead of on a computer that could stop working or even have a computer stolen again like what happened to me a few years ago.
Are you a blogger? What blogging tools do you use? Anything at work that you use to keep yourself organized?
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