Let’s face it: we all want to grow our blog without spending money. While I do think that some investments are actually worth it, I also know there are so many free blogging tools available out there that can tremendously help you. Hell, if you’re just here for fun and want to start a blog with no money, I’m here to tell you that YOU CAN and you SHOULD GO FOR IT!
With the magic of the internet and of amazing people out there, you can enjoy your blogging adventure without worrying about investing, AT ALL. I thought that today, I’d compile a little list of my some essential tools I use, recommend and love to blog. I can safely say that, without these, my journey would be REALLY different.
I’ll try not to go into too much detail, but if there is anything you’d like to hear more about, feel free to shout in comments!
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Free Blogging Tools To Grow Your Blog
Organization Tools To Boost Your Productivity
Blog planning
Let’s be honest for a second here: I would be completely lost without my plan. I need to know where I’m headed, what I I am doing next, what blog posts I need to write. I need to organize my thoughts and endless ideas somewhere, otherwise they’ll just bother me in the middle of the night, again.
Here’s a little list of organization tools you can use to plan your blog:
- Notion
- Trello
- The Google Workspace (Docs, Spreadsheets…)
- Evernote
- Airtable
- If you want to go old school (here for it, to be honest), a good old notebook is great!
Personally, I’m a big, big fan of Notion. It’s an excellent tool that allows me to have EVERYTHING in the same place. When I say everything, it’s… well, everything. I keep on my Notion:
- My blog’s calendar,
- Some content ideas,
- A list of my favorite blogs to read,
- My list of blogs post to save to read later and/or to share,
- My ARCs tracker list…
It’s a life-saver. While it takes a bit of time to get the hang of it, once you do, it’s sooooo worth it. If you’d like a tour of my Notion in another blog post, let me know!
☂️ You might also be interested in my blog post on how to plan your blog’s content.
Social Media Planning
We all know that, now, social media is a gigantic part of blogging and, if you’re not on it, you might as well be invisible, aerm. While it can be a little bit overwhelming to be on it at all times, thankfully, some platforms help you plan and schedule your social media in the blink of an eye, freely.
Here are some tools you can use for Twitter, Instagram and lots of other social media:
☂️ I loved reading Kal’s guide on how to schedule tweets via Hootsuite, if you’re looking for some guidance.
Designing and Branding Tools To Make Your Blog Beautiful
I’m really, really far from being a graphic designer. If you ask me to draw a tree, I’ll draw a stick and that’s it.
That being said, I truly believe that the design of your blog matters. It’s terrible to say, but we all judge a book by its cover -yes, even the most ardent bookworms- and we also judge a blog by its look.
☂️ Read on: What Makes Me Want to Read A Blog.
Because we’re not all artists, we can always use some little tools to help us make our blog look amazing without spending money. Here are a couple of websites I’ve used in the past to inspire me and/or to create some of my blog’s graphics, add beautiful images to my blog posts and more:
- Canva is my life-saver. I’ve worked a lot on in in the past years to create my blog’s graphics and you can do ANYTHING with it. Really. AND it’s free.
- Pixlr also works wonders if you’re looking to edit pictures online. It’s free and pretty easy to use.
- In that area, you can also try Picmonkey!
- To find the right color palette for your blog, I find Coolors super fun to use.
- I love Unsplash to find free stock images for my blog, I always find the most beautiful pictures on this website.
Before you ask: my design is from 17th Avenue Designs, combined with Kat @ Novels & Waffles‘ talent for illustrations. That being said, I know there are thousandth of WordPress Themes you can use to make your blog stand out and a LOT of things you can do without, like I did, spending a bit of money. Check out those tools above and let your creativity take hold!
☂️ Looking for some great blog designs? Check out the shop’s page!
Tools To Engage, Interact and Create a Community Around Your Blog
One of the best things about blogging is the people you’ll meet. Some are forever engraved in my heart and close friends I wouldn’t exchange for the world.
Another great thing about this? It’s a 100% free way to grow your blog. I know I personally wouldn’t have grown without the incredibly warm welcome and interaction from the people reading this. So, if you’re reading this, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU.
Okay, I’ll quit being a marshmallow and get to business, I promise. Creating a community around your blog matters so much and it’s SO easy to do, too. Here are some really simple tools to get you started:
- Blogs! All you need to engage and interact are blogs, your own and others. Don’t forget to acknowledge, answer to your comments (have a commenting box! This matters! People won’t come talking to you if you don’t let them comment), visit other blogs and share your thoughts with them in comments, too. It’s free, it might take some time, but oh, it’s so rewarding and wonderful.
- Social media! Instagram, Twitter, hell even TikTok if you’re into it. They’re free to subscribe and you will find a community there. A community that you can exchange with freely, that you can get to know and that can get to know you on your blog, too.
- Newsletter! I’m not too regular with my newsletter just yet (you can subscribe down below!), but I feel like it’s such a fun way to get up close and personal with your audience. To share some extras (I try and do that! Behind the scenes and giveaways and such) and just, to grow closer to your audience. Then again, to grow your blog. Then again: this is FREE! I personally use Converkit, but you can use so many different email providers.
☂️ Read on for more tips on how to interact with bloggers to grow your blog.
Essential Tools To Grow Your Blog
To gain pageviews and control your growth
- Google Analytics is a must if you have a self-hosted blog. I’m not going to lie: it might make you feel different about blogging, in a bad way. It might make you obsess about statistics a little too much. But it’s also a great free tool to grow your blog. You can see what works, what drives traffic, what you have to work on, etc.
To write great, SEO-friendly blog posts
There are some great free plugins and websites you can check out to help you improve your SEO and therefore, your traffic and your blog. I can get into SEO a little deeper if you wish to, but here I won’t because this post will be a thousand words too long. Please let me know if you’d like a blog post about it!
- Ubersuggest
- Answer the Public
- Yoast SEO (WordPress Plugin)
- Rank Math (WordPress Plugin)
☂️ To get you started, you can read Kat @ Novels & Waffles’ blog post on SEO.
BONUS: Blogging Tools To Invest In That Are Worth A Shot
While I do believe that there are some excellent free tools to blog out there, I also know that, if you’re serious about blogging, some things are definitely worth a shot, especially:
- Self-hosting: if you have the budget to and are serious about it, you should give self-hosting a try. Your blogging experience expands a thousand, million times when you do so with SO MANY incredible possibilities of growth and of falling in love with your blog, all over again.
I’m with the team at Lyrical Host and they’re incredible. Feel free to ask if you have any questions and use the promo code DRIZZLETOOLS for a 10% OFF on any plan you’d like!
☂️ You can read more about my experience with self-hosting my blog.
- To make the reviewing process easier if you’re a book blogger, Noze Graze’s Ultimate Book Blogger Plugin is truly amazing.
- If you want something a little more sophisticated for your blog’s design, I have many recommendations in my shop’s page. I truly love 17th Avenue Designs, they’re my favorite!
📌 Pin 10+ Essential And Free Blogging Tools For Your Blog on Pinterest!
☂️ You might also be interested in: How To Make Your Blog Stand Out: 5 Ways To Be Memorable
What are some free tools you use for your blog? Any recommendations for me?
Is there anything in this post you’d like to hear more about, in details? Let me know in comments, I’d love to hear from you!
Twitter ☂️ Bookstagram ☂️Goodreads ☂️ Bloglovin’ ☂️ Support the blog
I’d never hear about Unsplash before and I’m definitely going to start using it! Thank you for all of these tips 😀
You’re so welcome, so happy this could be helpful! 🙂
This was great! I love Preview for Instagram. For planning ‘m not exactly most organised person. I prefer old school but I do sometimes forget to note down things so that’s something I need to improve. I use All in SEO free version that i got with my hosting plan and now I’m used to it so I don’t want to use Yost. I also use headline studio for title analyser.
Thank you so much, so happy you enjoyed it!! 🙂
What a great post, you definitely went into great detail! I would love to read a post about SEO if you decide to write it! In the meantime, I’m definitely going to use some of your tips 😊
Also, your blog design is gorgeous. Canva is totally a super useful tool that I’m still trying to use as best I can, but the design part of blogging does take a while to get used to (at least for me)
Thank you so much, Maria, and I’m keeping that idea in the corner of my mind then, thank you! 😀
I understand that, designing can be so tricky, especially when you don’t know much. You’ll get there! <3
I would love a post on touring Notion. I’ve tried Trello, I don’t really understand it, LOL. It’s probably easy but my brain says “nope!” LOL
I get it, Trello can be a bit… complicated 😂😂 I’ll do my best to work on a post about Notion when I can!
Thanks for this great post 🤩🤩
I’m planning to go self hosted next year and have been trying to figure out how to make the move. I am really excited though and I can’t wait to try out some of tools that you’ve mentioned 😊
So happy you enjoyed the post, thank you so much! And please feel free to ask if you have any questions about self-hosting! 🙂
CANVA SUPREMACY
RIGHT?!
Thanks for this. I think I will have a go at a Rank Math.
Happy to help! 😀
I’m taking your advice to grow my blog. It was a lovely read! I’m looking forward to more of your newsletters!
Oh thank you so much, this means so much!! <3
This was such a helpful post, Marie! ❤ I also use Notion for my Blog Planner/Schedule and it works so well for me! I organize all my reading/blogging life there and it’s fantastic! I’d love to see a Notion Tour 🥰 Canva is such a big part of my blog too! I love how much you can do with it and there are so many free graphics and vectors to use 😊
Oh thank you Caro, so happy to hear it <3 I'm glad you use the same tools, they're fantastic. I don't know what I'd do without them ahah <3
CANVA is everything! I’ve been considering using a social media planner for my posts on IG, but I honestly don’t post on there as much anymore 🙁 I enjoy using Notion, but its great to know there’s lots of alternatives too. What a great list of tools Marie, thanks for putting it together! 💕
Right? It’s SO useful and so wonderful, too. Thank you, so, so happy you enjoyed this post! <3
i love this!! so many of these resources i’ve been using for years or use for other projects. also, love the brooklyn 99 gif, i finally started watching that show, and i can’t believe i waited so long to do so haha
Thank you so much, Macey! <3 And yay for watching brooklyn 99, I love that show so much!!
I would definitely be interested in a blog post of your Notion and another on SEO. According to when I write my posts, I’m doing a good job on the SEO front, but would like to know more. I also have a Notion account and track a lot of stuff on there, but I’m a complete newbie and need more tips on it.
Genesis @ Whispering Chapters
Oh thank you so much! I’ll try my best to work on these kind of posts soon, then! 🙂
ahh…. what an amazing post and it is set out perfectly!! I really love how you have set it out in sections because frankly I’m easily overwhelmed. Honestly such a helpful resource and thank you for sharing it !! I do love Canva, sometimes I genuinely can’t believe it is free !! Thank YOU for this post 💕
Ahh thank you so, so much, Sophie! I’m so glad this could be helpful <3
Great post, Marie! I am bookmarking it so when I get back into the swing of things with my blog again I can reference back to this post! <3
Thank you so, so much Ashley! <3
Such a helpful post! I use Notion for academic purposes but I’d love to see how you use it to organise your blog/socials :).
Thank you so, so much! I’ll do my best to work on a blog post about it sometime soon 🙂
Ahhh, this was such a wonderful post! And, if you’re looking for post ideas, I would LOVE read posts on a Notion tour, SEO content and how you use Google Analytics. 👀 (But, you know I’ll read any post you write!!!)
Oh thank you so, so much Nicole, this means a lot! I’ll do my best to work on these posts! <3