Essential Tools Every Blogger Should Have

Posted Monday, January 22nd, 2007 by Terry Ng
(Jack Bauer finds time to blog in between saving the U.S. from terrorists)

You’ve started your blog and you’re up and running, but do you have the essential tools necessary to be a blogging pro? Here’s a list of tools I personally use that will improve your blogging experience and productivity. Being well equipped will make you a better blogger, and being a better blogger means gaining the respect and affection among your weird and fuzzy blogging peers and readers.

Adobe Photoshop CS2 - Photoshop is the most powerful graphic editing program on the market. Take the time to learn it, and it’ll make the difference between a crappy MySpace looking blog and one that’s worthy to grace the galleries of Stylegala. Notable: Fireworks

Adobe Dreamweaver - This handy HTML and CSS editor will immensely shorten the time needed to design and edit your blog. The built-in FTP capability is also handy for transferring files to and from your web server.

Wordpress - The ultimate open-source blogging platform is about to get better with the release of version 2.1. With hundreds of plug-ins available to expand the capability of Wordpress, there’s nothing this beast can’t do.
Notable: Moveable Type, Typepad, Blogger

Akon - Keep your blog easy on the eyes by using this clean and simple theme created by yours truly.

Mint - If you’re serious about increasing your readership, a stats utility is a must. Mint does a great job of keeping track of where visitors are coming from, and what they’re doing while surfing your blog. Great way to really zone in on your target audience and niche.
Notable: Google Analytics, Crazy Egg

Firefox - This award-winning Web browser is fast, secure and fully customizable.
Google Reader - Although I still prefer reading blogs directly, there’s no doubt that a RSS reader helps manage all the news happening around the blogosphere. If you want to stay on top of the game, it’s an essential tool in your blogging arsenal.
Notable: Bloglines

Thunderbird - Thunderbird really delivers as a desktop POP3 and IMAP e-mail client. Enjoy spam-free e-mail with Mozilla’s intelligent filters.
Notable: Gmail