This is the second blog post in the series ‘Tools for Bloggers’ written for SourceBottle. Often, most of my blog ideas come from a Pinterest board that I am curating at the time, and here is the link. (Essential Apps for Bloggers). After writing for a full 30 days last year on Using a Mobile Device in Business, these are some of the suggestions I came up with to maximise the potential of using a mobile device as a blogger.
It really depends on how you like to take notes for your blog. Personally, I often brainstorm first so I use either Inspiration for iPad or something like Corkulous (just like sticky notes on a board). Then I gather more information and use Evernote for iPad (or on my smartphone). Evernote has the ability to record text, take images, add audio all within the one note (and the best part of this app is it is free to sign up for an account).
If you are someone who likes to dictate (via audio) then I would highly recommend Dragon Dictation for either iPhone or iPad (it’s a slightly different app for Android). This app records your voice and translates it to text (you might have to do some editing). There is also Writepad for the iPad, which is a handwriting to text converter app.
Often there are shortcuts you can take when blogging, perhaps at an event or even at a product launch, where you don’t necessarily have to go back to your laptop.
If your blog is on a Wordpress platform, use the Wordpress App (available for both iOS and Android). Or if you are using Blogger, then there is a specific Blogger app as well.
Here are two other recommendations to help you blog from your mobile device:
Blogsy: Has plenty of platforms and is compatible with WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, TypePad, MovableType, Drupal, Joomla, SquareSpace, MetaWeblog and IBM Connections. It also works beautifully on the iPad and interacts with most social media (but not Twitter).
Posts: Wordpress and Blogger (free) - Supports rich text, multiple blogs and managing your content offline.
Camera +: One of my favourite apps to use with my smartphone (iOS), with lots of extra features to shooting images with your iPhone.
Pro HDR: Great to help brighten photos (though in the new iOS7 app, there is the HDR option).
360 Panorama (Panoramic App):Good for shooting panoramic photos, which can then be stitched together before being used in another application.
In the previous post, we covered fantastic online tools to help you create images for your blog. This time, it’s my favourite apps that I use to create quotes on my mobile device.
These include pQuote and Word Swag. For Android users I would recommend using InstaQuote.
Snapseed: This is a great app for editing photos on either your iPad, iPhone or Android device. There are plenty of filters and amazing tools. A great website entitled iPhone Photography School provides some great tips regarding Snapseed and other tips for shooting with your iPhone.
Diptic: Terrific for creating collages and this can be then integrated with Instagram.
As part of my 30 day blog challenge, last year I dedicated a blog post to 'Creating Videos from your Mobile Devices’. In this blog post I have included apps for shooting video, editing video and then publishing a video. Once the video is created, then often they can be uploaded to YouTube, Vimeo or just your Camera Roll.
Now there are some very keen bloggers out there, which means you need accessories to match. I know that a lot of bloggers just use their smartphones (iPhones or Android) to take all of their images but you should also check out The Photojojo Store - a great website that sells accessories just for your mobile device (especially for photo journalism and bloggers).
What are your favourite apps as a blogger that you use? Share below...
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