Resources & Tools for Bloggers!

Hey Beauties! There are so many websites out there that are really useful to us bloggers, but most people just don't know where to start. I thought it would be fun to put together my list of websites and social media outlets that I use as a blogger and how they have been of use to me. I wanted to include social media outlets in here as well because I really think that some bloggers forget about them and use them only for promotion of there blogs when in fact there are so many other ways that these resources can be used to our advantage. I also wanted to include websites in here that I frequent when I'm looking for things for my blog including fonts, graphics and just plain inspired. I also will be doing a continuation of this post to talk about some of my favorite blogs and bloggers that also incorporate design related posts that could also be a huge help to us bloggers. If I have forgotten anything in this list please make sure you leave it below as I would love to continue to update on this list! I'm always open to trying new websites and new tools and finding bigger and better ways that work for me and could work for other bloggers as well. I hope you enjoy this post and lets begin:

SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLETS! Bloglovin: This is one of my favorite blogger resources for keeping my blog posts all in one area and allowing people to follow me. Bloglovin' is great for linking your Blogpost/Blogger, WordPress or Tumblr blog up to so that people from a wide range of blogging backgrounds can check out your content, favorite your post and ultimately follow your blog. I also love there newest featured of creating 'Collections' which allows me to favorite posts and put them into categories so I can go back and look at older posts to gain inspiration from. Another great feature of Bloglovin' is that you are able to check your 'Activity' which allows you to see what the people you follow are liking. I've found so many great blog and posts through this feature and I think its helps me to connect with other bloggers by bringing me to some of their popular posts and overall their blogs.
Pinterest: I have always used Pinterest for my personal boards and to keep track of things I like but do you know as a blogger there is a community on there just for you as well. There are now boards where you can pin and promote your posts and even boards outlining blogging tips and tricks. Its good to invest some time in Pinterest and learn about it a little bit more and even follow your favorite bloggers on there. While Pinterest isn't my 'cleanest' Social Media account its something that I'm wanting to take time to fix up because beauty blogging and blogging in general is a hobby and I feel like that fits into Pinterest's motto and its a great place for other hobbyists to connect with you and your blog. 
Twitter: One of the best places in my opinion to meet, find and interact with new and old bloggers is Twitter. I follow some amazing girls on there and I'm finding new girls and guys to follow everyday. Its also good for you to participate in Twitter Chat's that happen that fit your blog genre. This not only allows people to find your blog but also allows you to find there and builds relationships. Twitter Chat's is something I'm going to do a whole separate post on because I feel like it needs it. But overall I think Twitter is something that you can be really active on and something that if you use the right keywords and tag's you can attract new followers and viewers really easily. I also think its fun to take hunts through the #bbloggers or #fbloggers tag's once in a while to find brand new blogs to follow and support as well. I use Twitter of course for promoting but more recently I'm using it to engage and support other bloggers in their journey's.
Instagram: If you love photography and that's why you began blogging Instagram is a great app to share even more of your images. I particularly find the best response from Instagram when I post my makeup looks or HQ product photography. While I don't have a large following I find it beneficial to me because I've meet some amazing girls and guys on there and I love supporting the community and being part of the community where I can actually visual see what is happening. Instagram however is not the social media source that I put the most effort into it, but the Instagram Beauty World is growing and its good to be a part of to get yourself out there both in the blogging and professional world.
Tumblr: This is my most used social media outlet when it comes to blogging and finding inspiration. Tumblr is used to share, reblog and post text, links and many other assets that could help you as a blogger. Tumblr does take some time to get used to but everything from your username, theme and posts are completely customizable. There are also millions of people using Tumblr so its a great way to connect with other bloggers and other individuals. Currently I sit with around 4,000 followers and I love to be on there reblogging images and it gives me a great easy place to go if I'm looking to create a new makeup look or blog post but have no idea where to begin.

BLOGGING RESOURCES! Dafont: I've used Dafont previous is my web design experimentation as well as now in my blogging life. Dafont is a website where you can download and install fonts for free. Font's range from everything from bold and bulky, to cursive and fancy and everything in between. Every font that you view on my blog in my graphic's it from Dafont. I love being able to have access to a variety of font's at one time especially when I'm looking to do designs for other people and to help me experiment with my typography and Photoshop skills.
Tweetdeck: I just recently discovered Tweetdeck after another blogger introduced it to me. Basically its a place where you can keep track from any of your favorite tags, followers, followings, homepage, notifications and more. You can then lay these out in 'columns' in a vertical fashion next to each other and see everything that's going on in each all at the same time. I like seeing my homepage, notifications, #bblogger hash-tag and any hash-tags to Twitter Chat's that I involve myself in. This really helps me to start organized and easily flip through previous tweets so I can find new blogs for tweet people back or retweet things as well. This just allows me to have even more interaction on Twitter than I did before.
HootSuite: This is similar to Tweetdeck it its setup in that you can add columns of your social media platforms but you can also add a column to track your scheduled posts. Hootsuite allows bloggers to schedule tweets, google+ posts and facebook posts. This makes it easy to mass promote your blog and not have to be online 24/7 to do so. Sadly Hootsuite only allows three social media platforms to be added for there free members, if you wish to add more you do have to pay for that offer. Hootsuite also only hooks up to certain social media platforms including Twitter, Google+ (Pages only), Facebook (via your personal profile) and a few other options so it does limit you in what you can do, but I mainly use this for Twitter.
PicMonkey: I have personally never used PicMonkey because I've always had Photoshop. But if you are someone who can't find a free version of Photoshop or just want something quick to edit your images this website is a really great one. Meggy from meggygrace on Tumblr loves using PicMonkey for all her photo needs and she does some amazing edits using the website. Of course there are features of PicMonkey that are only available if you pay for them but the free things are still pretty awesome and versatile.
Disqus: If you are looking for a more professional and user friendly way to display your blog comments Disqus is quickly on the rise in the blogging community. Whilst I still use the Blogger Comments feature I to will soon be switching over to Disqus because of how easy it is to use and how many other bloggers are starting to use it as well. I sadly don't know much about this 'tool' but I do know that its something that a lot of people rave about.
Google Analytics: Probably one of the best and most useful blogger is to know how to use or learn how to use Google Analytics. This program allows you to connect it to your blog and see everything from your pageviews, demographics of visitors, SEO, and so many other things. I'm at fault for not using Google Analytics earlier but I'm learning now what everything means and how I can best use it to promote and help grow my blog. I think this is a complicated system to use for some bloggers so I recommend talking to other bloggers about it or finding helpful tutorials online. I did so much Google searching to see tutorials and things on Google Analytic's because there is so much information in there that sometimes it can be overwhelming and hard to find what you're looking for.
Noun Project: This is something I only recently discovered again from talking with others bloggers and getting ready to write this post. Noun Project is a website where you can find icons for everything - this ranges from animals, social media icons, buildings, technology and everything. You name it you can find it on this website. You can then save these icons for you to use in your blogging life. These icons also contain transparent backgrounds or no backgrounds which means you don't have to worry about putting them anywhere because they will just overlap your background and won't have there own white background - if that makes sense. Check it out to see more of what I'm talking about. Grammarly: If you're someone who is looking to improve there writing and grammar skills via blogging there is a cool little extension for Google Chrome users called Grammarly. Basically its like your browser version of spell check. It makes sure that all of your grammar is correctly done and words are spelled right. This has been a life saver for me cause sometimes my proof reading doesn't catch all my mistakes. This does however slow down your Google Chrome Browser quite a bit, so its something I like to use when I write larger more important posts.