These are my top favorite blogging tools that have helped me blog more consistently and I really love that most are free. Please note, that I am not getting paid or have any affiliates with the Companies or websites I mention in this post.
Many of you don’t know this, but I have been blogging for a little over 6 years. I haven’t always been consistent with my post which have led to my small readership, but that’s ok. It is through those not-so consistent times that I found my focus for this site and I love the direction we are heading in. During these inconsistent times, I did find a few of my favorite genealogy blogging tools. These are tools that I found very useful in helping me be a better genealogy blogger.
- Canva – (Website) I love Canva! It is simple for me to use and allows me to upload my own images to use in my projects. I use to mainly to make my Pinterest ready images or other graphic needs I have. Like the one used on this post, it was created in Canva. Canva allows a user to create graphics, social media images, ect. And with these offerings, you can change the font, color and transparacy of the items used and it also offers free graphic items for you to use as well. Watch out for an upcoming video tutorial on how to create Pinterest ready images with Canva!
- Photoscape – (Program) Photoscape has been my go to photo editor for a few years now. It started a few years ago, after my husband’s grandmother passed away. We found a ton of her photos. It turns out that my husband’s grandmother went through her photos about 5 to 10 years before she passed away, and wrote all of the information she knew about each photo she had. It included names, dates, and places. About 90% of the photos had information. Well, when I scanned them, I didn’t want that golden nugget of information for each photo to disappear. So I searched for a free photo editing software that had an easy learning curve and I found Photoscape. Photoscape has become a lifesaver to my genealogy photos! I will also post an upcoming tutorial on using Photoscape for your genealogy photos! It is really easy to use. Oh, the link I provide is to download the Photoscape from CNET’s Dowload.com, I always look at download.com first when I have to download something off the net. I trust CNET’s Download.com
- Broken Link Checker – (Plugin) I love this plugin! It is easy, you just install it in your WordPress.org site and if you have a broken link, it will show up on your WordPress dashboard. This is helpful in keeping your readers experience on your blog a positive one. You can go to the link I provided to download it to your computer, or you can search in your WordPress.org’s dashboard, under Plugins>Add New.
- Evernote – (Website, App & WebClipper) I use Evernote for everything! I use it for when I come across an interesting article and I want to clip it to my inbox so that I won’t forget about it. I also use it to draft my blog posts when I am away from my home computer and laptop, and I use it to also store online important documents, just in case I might need them later. I do pay for the premium for Evernote so that I can access from any of my several devices including my ipad mini, however the free version is just as useful but you would only be able to access it from one device. I highly suggest using Evernote for helping with your genealogy blog.
- Passion Planner – (My old-fashioned paper planner) I have tried several different online planners, including using Google Calendar but I’ve always come back to my pen and paper planner and I have found an awesome planner at PassionPlanner.com. Besides trying the online versions, I have also tried other paper planners such as Daytimer and Dayrunner. Of all of the other paper planners I have used in the past, I have always struggled with the provided pages not filling my needs. Then I would try either free planner page templates and even purchased planner pages that are available in the internet, nothing seem to satisfy my still disorganization.
[bctt tweet="My #passionplanner allows me to juggle my busy schedule AND be as creative as I want to be."]
What I really need was a way to include not only my regular 9 to 5 job hours, but also my personal time with my family, my blog maintenance duties, my genealogy research, my household errands, and my volunteering time all in one planner. Everything I tried failed me. I usually would have to add pages to my planner and I ended up creating most of the pages myself. When I found Passion Planner, I was thrilled that it was a small business which started as a kickstarter. (I love shopping small businesses!) So far, I have been able to juggle all of my personal, work, volunteer and blog maintenance duties. Besides being able to juggle everything, the one thing I love about my #passionplanner is that I can be as creative as I want to be with my pages.
I love my passion planner and am looking for when my pre-order 2017 Limited Edition Birds & Bees planner arrives! I can’t wait!!!
So there you have it, my list of favorite genealogy blogging tools. I hope this was useful. Can you add to my list? What are your favorite genealogy blogging tools? Comment and let me know!
As always,
Great post and enjoyed reading. Perhaps you should use the tags of; family history and genealogy. These two tags will put you in touch with many readers that follow these types of blogs.
Hello Mr. Moore. I am glad that you enjoyed reading this post. You are right, I will add the tags of family history and genealogy to this and future posts like this. Thank you so much for reading my blog!
Tricia