I don’t know about you, but I spend more than half of my blogging time on my iPhone. Yes, this probably means that my hands are cramped and my eyes are strained a large portion of my day. At the same time, this is also the best way for me to be productive when I’m away from my home broadband.
I’ve discovered though that with the right apps, I really don’t need any other tool but my cell phone for blog productivity. And in this day and age, that is a wonderful thing.
BlogPress – Writing Your Posts
First, we need the right tool to write those posts. While it isn’t without problems, the BlogPress app is the best choice for turning those ideas into content for your blog. The app allows you to link up multiple blogs on any variety of platforms. I’ve tried this using both WordPress.org and Blogger (at the same time) and both work very well with this app.
The only problem I’ve come across is for Blogger platform users, because if you ever need to go back and edit the post, it tends to ruin any type of formatting. So, just keep that in mind.
PS Express – Photo Editing
So you took a photo for your blog, but it’s in the wrong direction. Or just something about it you want to fix up, maybe add a fancy border. This photo editing app is your best bet for those little fixes. It’s a clean layout, easy to navigate, and it’s just as quick to download the photo when you’re done.
HootSuite – Scheduling Your Blog Promotion Messages
HootSuite is the household name of scheduling tweets, Facebook messages, etc. You link up your favorite accounts and you can schedule as many messages as you need to, on multiple platforms, all at the same time. My only wish for this app would be to see all the posts you have scheduled out (so you can edit or delete as needed).
Skyfire – A Decent Browser as an Alternative to Your Default
We all know about Safari, but sometimes you just need to access something that doesn’t automatically assume that you are on your mobile phone. Skyfire is my favorite browser for the small things in life – getting the embed code on YouTube when I need a video, getting to the main site for a webpage that refuses to acknowledge my request for the full site – things like that. It isn’t a free app, but it’s worth the purchase. Any blogger who works via mobile needs an alternative and this should be the one.
Pulse – A News Site that Gives You Stuff to Talk About
There are days when I have absolutely nothing to write about, yet I don’t want my blog to just sit there without new content. Pulse is a customizable news app that actually provides interesting and provoking articles that will either give you something newsy to respond to on your blog or give you an idea of your own.
Facebook Pages App/Twitter/Pinterest/StumbleUpon
Access Your Blog’s Social Network Accounts
These four need no introduction. Any blogger needs to be on these four social networks, whether you are a passive blogger or it’s your business. These apps aren’t perfect, but they are ideal for reaching your audience (especially for the ones you can’t schedule, such as Pinterest and StumbleUpon).
On a side note, while you may not be able to “stumble” your posts in the StumbleUpon app, this is another tool you can use to get blog post ideas.
N+otes – Ideas/To Do List – All Organized into your own folders
This particular app captured my interested with its organized design and the ability to create folders. With multiple blogs, and multiple writing outlets, I must organize my ideas. Not to mention all those names and passwords I can never seem to remember. This is the best tool for me to use and not as slow and clumsy as the Evernote app.
Alien Blue – Reddit Promotion
Last but not least – Reddit. Reddit is one of those iffy social networking account services that is a “crap shoot”. If you regularly use this network to share your posts (and disregard the downvotes that link sharers do tend to get), this is the best app to use. It’s organized and very simple to find and subscribe to your most important subreddits that you want to go back to later.
With these 11 apps downloaded, I never have to look up from my iPhone while conducting blog duties, which may be a problem all on its own. But that’s for a different post.
