Top 10 Android Apps for Bloggers and Writers

Posted: 03 Dec 2012 02:09 AM PST

As a blogger you need to stay connected and updated regarding the latest trends in the blogosphere and inside your own niche.

These days this doesn’t mean browsing through websites on your desktop, though. We are mobile now, but luckily we carry a computer with us anywhere we go (the smartphone). If you are an Android user I want to share with you 10 applications that will make your life as a blogger easier. Check them out:

Here’s I’m going to list of top 10 useful Android apps for bloggers to help you maintain your blog using a mobile device and get things done when you’re away from your computer.

1. WordPress App for Android

No doubt that WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms on the Internet. You can make use of this app to directly get access to your WordPress admin panel and publish blog posts. It allows you to perform many essential tasks like moderating comments, editing, adding photos and videos and managing your blog straight from your smartphone.

2. Blogger App for Android

Blogger is the second most used blogging platform, and if you’re using Blogger as your blogging platform than this app is for you. It can help your blog in the go and enjoy the tremendous experience. Cheers to Google for creating such a remarkable application which can be accessed to through your Android smartphone.

3. Hootsuite App for Android

Hootsuite is a social media Android apps that allows you send updates to Twitter and Facebook. Plus it also allows you to schedule updates on your social networks and view the click-through rates. You can manage your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare on the go with Hootsuite for Android

4. Google Reader App for Android:

Google reader is one of my favorite app because it helps me in getting the updates from my favorite blogs, including Daily Blog Tips, all at once place. It could be a time consuming process to check the updates from all blogs and websites and to get everything in systematic order in once place, Google reader app for Android is perfect solution.

5. Google Analytics App for Android

This is the most useful app for bloggers who love to crunch over the numbers. This app makes it easy to check your blog stats, number of pageviews, visitors location, traffic sources and lots of other things through Google Analytics on your mobile device.

6. Paypal App for Android

You can use this app to manage your Paypal account on the go. Make use of this app and shop for the things you love, send money to anyone, transfer money to collaborators and lots more. This app can help you check your balance from anywhere at anytime even if you are not cool with banking on any kind with phones.

7. Gmail App for Android

Gmail is one of the most desirable email clients, and pretty much every blogger out there use it. Through the app you can easily connect your different custom domain email addresses. Gmail app for Android helps you keep your conversations going on everywhere you go. I know you are probably already using it, but hey I needed to include it to make a true top 10 list.

8. Facebook App for Android

Facebook App for Android helps you stay connected and share status updates, review your upcoming events, chat with friends, share links and checkout your news feed all from your home screen. In my opinion the app is also better than the mobile site experience, so check it out.

9. Twidroyd App for Android

Twidroys app for Android is the only Twitter application that works great in your Android smartphone. It has a free and paid version, but the paid version is very nice and worth few bucks. It let’s you do everything like see websites and view photos next to tweets. A must have for Twitter power users.

10. Writer App for Android:

It is a basic notebook app that can help you write your drafts and copy-paste them later with Writer even if you don’t have an Internet connection. Whenever you feel you’re in writing mood, open this app and it allows you to focus on nothing but writing.

Conclusion:

Overall, with the variety of applications available in the Google Play store blogging with a mobile device is really easy and fun.

If you believe that is any app missing from the list make sure to suggest it with a comment below.

Ehsan Ullah is 18 years old young guy who runs the Guide and News community and wrote an eBook on Starting a Blog 101 complete guide. Make sure to check out his website and join the community.

Original Post: Top 10 Android Apps for Bloggers and Writers

ProBlogger: Prepare Your Blog For the Festive Season: a Step-by-step Guide

Prepare Your Blog For the Festive Season: a Step-by-step Guide

Posted: 02 Dec 2012 06:05 AM PST

Over the weekend, we ran a short series of interviews with bloggers of different types, to get a feel for how they’re preparing for the festive season.

Image courtesy stock.xchng user danyba

We spoke to the owners of:

If that series made you realize how underprepared you are for the coming weeks, don’t worry. Today’s post is a checklist for getting ready.

1. Have you worked out when you’ll take a break?

The first thing to do is get out the calendar. Work out when you won’t want to be blogging, and block those days (or weeks!) out.

Now you know how much time you have to work with.

2. Do you know what you want to get out of this period?

The benefits of setting some goals up front are two-fold.

First, goals will help you set your priorities for the next few weeks. Second, they’ll help you assess your efforts when you come back to your blog in 2013. They might even help you improve on your work when the festive season rolls around again in a year’s time.

Set a few goals. They might be as simple as maintaining regular posting and social media schedules, or as detailed as setting expectations for sales and tracking the sources of traffic that converts.

3. Do you know what you need to do to get there?

List the tasks you’ll need to achieve your goals.

If you want to maintain a twice-a-week positing schedule, how much writing time will you need? How much editing time? Will you work any affiliate promotions into those posts? Which ones, and when will they run? When’s the best time to promote those posts?

Make a list of all the things you need to do. Then, schedule them. Think a long time in advance, and get right into the details. Don’t just make a note to curate ten tweets to autopublish over the festive period. Schedule the time you’ll need to find quality content to include in those tweets.

Without taking your plans to this level of granularity, you’ll run the risk of underestimating the time and energy you’ll need to do everything on your list. Which leads me to…

4. Have you prioritized your priorities?

This is an extra step, but one you may well end up doing. You may already have found that your eyes were bigger than your stomach, so to speak, when you set your goals for the period. If you can’t fit everything in, check your top priorities and consider whether you’d be happy if you just achieved those.

This should help you focus as the inevitable distractions and schedule-changes come up in the coming weeks … and you run out of time!

Tip: Consider making your own checklist for every one of the tasks you need to do, so that you can avoid waking up in a panic because you forgot to find images for a post, or to encode your affiliate links in that email you’re autosending.

5. Have you got things ready for your return in 2013?

Getting ready for the festive season isn’t just about getting through to January 1, 2013. It’s also about hitting the ground running when you get back to your desk.

The lead-up to the break, at a time when you’ve just set all these goals, is to write a to-do list for Day 1, 2013. Include:

checking emails, stats, and social listening to find out what you missed while you were offline (assuming you were offline!)
goal-setting for the new year (if you haven’t done that during the break)
reconnecting with others who you can help—and can be helped by—in the coming 12 months.

This is the basic checklist I use to make sure I’m on track through the festive season and beyond. What about you? Share your tips and advice for keeping your blog going through the silly season below.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger