When you start blogging for fun – the underlying platform, availability of tools, etc. are the variables you seldom care about. I remember the time when I started off with a blog on blogger.com, 3 years ago. I registered for the service with a random name which I do not remember today! I still cherish those memories when a single comment dropped on to the posts made me happy!

But as you advance, your desires grow symmetrically. Talking about bloggers who write frequent which involve a considerable amount of research,there are a lot of indispensable tools which they can’t afford to miss. This list is endless and depends on the kind of niche one concentrates on. However, I would like to throw light on few tools/applications which shall prove to be a boon to your blogging desk, irrespective of the niche you write for.

Here we go:

Microsoft Windows Live Writer

By far the the best blogging tool one can ever think of! You name a feature and its there. With the addtional support of tailored plugins, this is a must have blogging tool for all you bloggers out there. It is a desktop application which runs on MS Windows platform and makes it easier to compose compelling blog posts using your current blog service. You can configure nearly all blogging platforms on this, giving them a more powerful, intuitive and appealing interface. Some of the key features it incorporates include – WYSIWYG editor, Photo publishing, Map publishing, Writer SDK, etc. Once you start using it, I am sure you’ll never look back! You can download it for free here!  

Zemanta

We’ve already seen this beautiful tool and its features in one of our earlier articles. This Firefox/IE addon understands what you are blogging about and suggests you related pictures, articles, links and tags to make your posts more vibrant. If you believe in rich content, you can’t afford to miss this free-to-use tool!

ScribeFire

Okay, so you are a non-Windows blogger and hence unable to use MS Windows live writer. One of the best alternatives for WLR is Scribefire. This is a Firefox addon which sits within your favorite web browser and allows you to write without closing or minimizing the browser window. You can work on multiple tabs up top without disrupting your text entry section below. It is compatible with Windows and Linux, both. You may add multiple blogs to the panel – just select the blog you wish to write on and there you go. Do try it out!

CoLT

There are a lot of instances when you need to copy-paste a link/URL to your editor from a website. At times you need to selectively copy the text, leaving behind the underlying URL. Or may be you need to copy both the text and the linked URL at the same time. With this magical tool, your right-click options get the veto power! This makes grabbing the URL, text, or both parts of a link fast and simple. This allows you to concentrate on the context rather than your mouse clicks!

Automation of repetitive codes with text replacement

There are tools available for the different Operating Systems which lets you define text substitution hotstrings which, when triggered, help replace the hotstring with a larger piece of text. Just by entering your most commonly-typed snippets of text into the panel, you can save a lot of keystrokes while you write posts. It also helps you write without less spelling mistakes and typos. You may get your tool based on the OS you’re using – Texter for Windows, TextExpander for Mac OS X, or Snippits for Linux.

Google Alerts

Don’ get shocked! This is an amazing tools for people who blog about a articular niche on a daily basis. I’ve been using it since a long time to get a variety of search result inputs from across the world. When it comes to related news and stuff, this is far more exhaustive than your RSS subscription. You can choose to get the relevant search results delivered directly into your inbox either on a daily basis or weekly/monthly digests.

 Filezilla

You’ve got your favorite blogging platform for you and an excellent editor to write on. But when it comes to handling FTP uploads to your host, it sounds to be a painful act for many. With this application, you get a neat interface and a lot of option to get all your FTP nightmares resolved. It is a must have FTP client. All for free!

 SnagIt

You just can’t afford to miss this great screen capture tool which comes with an assorted image editor. The best part is, you can capture  your complete screen or a part of it. This is however not a free tool. It comes with a price tag of 49.95$ for a full license. It works as a replacement to the native Print Screen function with additional features. It is powerful tool with easy-to-use interface, which contains most features needed by technical writers and pro-bloggers alike.

 The Web Developer toolbar

A lot of professional bloggers like to play with the design of their blogs. For that matter, they have to tinker a bit with the CSS code.  The Toolbar lets you alter the CSS – say the colors of the text – and preview your changes while you look at them on the web. Then you save your CSS style sheet and upload it using Filezilla. You can even preview how  changes to somebody else’s site would look. You can verify your code to check that it’s kosher and do much more. It’s indispensable.

These were a few tools which have helped me master the art of blogging. Feel free to pour in your comments and more tools which you think changed the way you used to blog without them!

Stay Tuned!

I have always fancied my chances with tools and widgets which make blogging fun and easy. Bloggers who post regularly on professional blogs wish to concentrate more on the content for its freshness and readability, apart from being informative ofcourse. Based on my personal experience, we tend to spend more time in finding great images, links, tags, etc to support our post and make it more appealing. Had it not been great if your browser could understand what you are blogging about and suggested you pictures, articles, links and tags to make your posts more vibrant?

Be glad! With the advent of this smart firefox-IE-wordpress addon, such an assistance is at your disposal. Think of some valuable suggestions in context with your article you’re writing on the blog’s editor. It would save you a lot of time that is generally spent looking out for related content over the internet. Look out:

To see how Zemanta works with Wordpress, check out this cool screencast.

Apart from helping you write better, Zemanta also has the following salient features:

• Saves your precious time – related and relevant content from around the web is at your disposal in the real time – as you’re typing.
• Gets more traffic – search engines are known to love better tagged content. Moreover, your posts get linked to others having related conversations.
• Flexibility – you can use Zemanta on most of the popular blogging platforms or browsers.
• Re-blogging - This cool feature enables bloggers to easily quote other blogs. An intuitive interface helps you quote the original post with proper reference and publish it on your own blog.

To know more about Zemanta, visit the FAQ section of this great start-up project. Try it out, I’m sure you’ll fall in love with Zemanta.

Well almost anyway. This cool new Firefox Plugin works with several platforms to provide you with an ingenious way of posting your blog content. Not only will it supplement your post with related images, links and more. Ideal for you guys who read Easy WordPress to play around with while posting your blog posts.

Zemanta was only just launched on 26 March this year and is already making waves. The Plugin supports the following platforms:

• WordPress Dot com
• Blogger
• Self hosted WordPress (upwards of version 2.0)
• Typepad

It creates a semantic platform that tries to think while you write and provides you with relevant data that you could use to support your posts.

The guys on Zemanta are also working on adding a function that will allow you to integrate your own links using their Firefox Plugin.

Where are the articles pulled from?

The articles are from over 300 indexed top media sources as well as several blogs within the network.

What about copyright issues?

The content which is provide by Zemanta is cleared by copyright or listed clearly as creative commons material. The images are suggested by sources like Flickr and Wikimedia commons.

Presently the Plugin is only supported for the English speaking community.

The idea behind this software is that it will save you time in trolling the web while looking for relevant links and pictures to add to your blog post. I have yet to test this as I just came across the news now and thought to give you a heads up so you can go and check it out yourself.

Just remember, you’ll need to have Firefox installed on your computer as this is a Firefox Plugin.