Thursday, May 19, 2016

{10 best apps for bloggers}


A person's phone holds all of their deep dark secrets - and for bloggers our phone holds the key to social media and success! I always love discovering the apps that people use to edit photos or their shortcuts to sharing. I go crazy if my phone is unorganized so having apps that make my photo editing and sharing flow smoothly (and not show my anxiety-ridden self) are crucial! You would never know that an entire day of Instagram and tweeting all happened in the first hour of my day ;) Well, now you know... but sharing is caring!

Everyone has the usual Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. so I've narrowed a list down to the 10 best apps. They range from photo editing to a good ole "comes with the phone" app. I hope this helps you bloggers get more organized or just you Instagram loving gals find a new way to make those photos pop!

1 // ColorStory - I've mentioned this app before but I still can't believe how great it is at editing photos. It's the only app where you can edit the "curves" just like in Photoshop. It comes with basic editing features and then tons of free filters where you can control the amount you add on. The best part is that you can save the steps you take and create a new filter to use the next time you edit!





2 // Bitly - Since Twitter only lets you have 140 characters this app is crucial for tweeting out links! It quickly shortens the url into a "bit.ly/" link and you can easily copy and paste into a tweet, instagram, email, etc. All of your bit.ly links get saved in the app so you can go back and copy a previous shortened link if needed - you can also track how many people have clicked the bit.ly link (that's not visible in my photos right now since they were slow to load)!




3 // Diptic - You know how people always have those cute birthday collages for their friends? Or bloggers that will create an instagram with 9 photos of their past outfits for an "insta lately" post? This is the app for that. You can control the borders, frames, create curvy edges, add text, and round out corners. Photos are easily swapped in and out with an added feature to manipulate brightness, saturation and contrast.




4 // Google Drive - After I shoot with a photographer all of my photos are uploaded into Google Drive so that I can download them on to my computer. I like to use the app to access some of the high res photos for Instagram or sharing purposes. I've run out of space on my phone more times than I can count so keeping my favorite photos on here for easy access is key.




5 // PicFX - You know those pretty little white and gold dots that are on some photos? That's with this app... I really only use it for this :) you can even change how strong they show up and which side of the photo they're put on.




6 // Hootsuite - I can never remember to tweet out my post for the day or share a fun giveaway that's happening on my blog so Hootsuite helps me schedule everything in advance. A lot of the time I'll schedule my tweets right when I wake up in the morning and I'm still laying in bed. It's an easy way to make sure I'm promoting my blog and I don't have to remember to do it during the afternoon! (I also use my bit.ly links when I schedule!)




7 // Reward Style - So obviously this app is primarily for bloggers. But being able to link everything I'm wearing in a photo helps the reader out too! I've explained how it works in this post!




8 // Afterlight - Have you ever had the cutest photo but when you put it into square mode it crops off your best friend on the end or your adorable shoes? Or maybe you want your photos to fit perfectly in the Instagram square and don't want to choose the expanded horizontal/vertical size... I use Afterlight primarily for the frames. It has editing capabilities but I like taking a vertical photo and knowing it will fit (with a white border) into the perfect IG square!




9 // Bloglovin' - Confession: I rarely have time to read blogs anymore. Does that make me a bad blogger? Maybe... but when I do get the chance to glance at my phone before I lose service on the metro I love to read my favorite blogs through this app. It's puts them all at my fingertips instantly!




10 // Notes - At this rate, everyone knows how important hashtags are. Tagging a company's slogan or name can result in a like or even a coveted regram! Most people also don't want a long list of # in their photo caption. My solution is to keep a list of my "favorite" hashtags in a note and then copy and paste them into a comment on my photo immediately after posting. Some people will copy in page breaks so that you instantly see an ellipses and not any tags but I just go for it and hope that people will comment on my photo to make them hide ;)




What are your favorite apps to use? Is there one app that you can't live without? Let me know if you have any questions about how something works or a question about an app! My email is always open to you - southernanchors@gmail.com :)

Love Always,

5 comments:

  1. This helps so much! I literally got on my app store while reading this!
    http://beyoutifulbrunette.blogspot.com/

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  2. Great post lady! Hootsuite is so helpful for scheduling out!

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  3. These were so helpful!! I just downloaded a bunch!!

    xx, Elise
    www.sparkleandslippers.blogspot.com

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  4. This was such a helpful post!! I'm going to go download some of these. Thanks :)

    Blessings,
    Edye | Http://gracefulcoffee.wordpress.com

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  5. Hi Jennifer, thank you for sharing. This is a good software is not just for bloggers. I often use ColorStory and https://macphun.com/intensify. I advise everyone to try. I love bloggers who share their tools. It is commendable. It is these people are making the world better. Good luck to you, Jennifer.

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