50+ Best Free Blogging Tools for Beginner Bloggers

The best free blogging tools for beginner bloggers today include Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Google Keyword Planner, LiveKeyword Chrome extension by BIQ and UpdraftPlus. A lot of bloggers use free photo editing tools like Canva, PicMonkey and ShortPixel to give their websites a solid brand image. 

But that is not all. There is a ton of free blogging plugins, platforms and other software that you can choose from as you take steps to get more productive and reach out to the niche audience that matters to you.

In this post, I will introduce to you a good number of the best free blogging tools for beginner bloggers. 

I will try as much as I can to give you enough tools that cover as many of the critical aspects of the blogging business as possible.

There are blogging departments to consider.

A blog is one whole business venture with multiple branches. Each one of these departments of a blog requires the best blogging tools to be able to take off smoothly and keep flying up into the skies. You know what I mean.

These departments of a blog translate into the major functions the blog owner performs each and every day.

See below some key functions of a professional blogger that require the best free blogging tools I will be mentioning in this article.

• Domain Name Search
• Website Hosting
• Keyword Research, Niche Selection and SEO
• Brand Building and Marketing
• Content Creation and Productivity
• Backup and Security
• Email Marketing
• Images, Design and Photo Editing
• Collaboration and Networking
• Website Monetization
• Online Payment Gateways
• Audio and Video Editing
• Info Product Creation
• WordPress Plugins
• WordPress Themes

What you will learn

My focus will be more on what I have used and what has worked for me.

I will also show you what others I trust have recommended, though I haven’t yet tried them.

Then again, I want us to look at just very simple tools that the typical beginner blogger is looking for.

So you will not find here the names of some popular and more advanced blogging tools.

These are best reserved for bloggers with at least a couple of years of experience behind them. Nevertheless, trust me to give you a few of these based on the fact that their free, simpler versions are of absolute necessity for the beginner blogger.

I’m looking at tools like the UpdraftPlus WordPress plugin and LiveKeyword by BIQ.

Start with the foundation-building blogging tools.

The truth is you always start from zero, then to one, before taking advanced steps,

By the time you get to that stage, you might not even need me to show you what best blogging tools you need to take your maturing blogging business to the next level.

So let’s not try to jump the gun. Make do with this list of the best free blogging tools for a beginner blogger for now. 

They will help you lay a solid foundation for your blogging business. 

And these best free blogging tools for beginner bloggers will build the launchpad you need to soar in a few months from now.

Older websites need these best free blogging tools too.

BTW. Please keep in mind that it is not only beginner bloggers that use the tools I’m about to show you.

Many seasoned bloggers have fallen in love with these same tools and make good use of them all the time.

So if you are somebody who has been in the blogging business for a while now, you can still benefit from these best free blogging tools.

Are you ready to have the best free blogging tools? Then let’s go get them now.

SEO Tools

From choosing the right domain name at the very beginning to producing highly optimized blog articles for search engines, you will need effective SEO tools. Here are some SEO tools many beginner bloggers are using today. 

You can’t afford to wait to find a way to make your blog posts climb their way up the search engine result pages. The earlier, the better.

Jetpack

Jetpack is a popular plugin that has some amazing features as part of its free version. The SEO-related tasks Jetpack can help a beginner accomplish include the following.

• Create sitemaps to help with search engine indexing.
• See site analytics data to allow you to plan and strategize more effectively.
• Immediately share newly-published content on social media.
• Lazy load images for better user experience.
• Get timely alerts anytime your site goes down.

Name.com

As a blogger, your life can get easier with an SEO-friendly domain name and site title.

Free domain name availability tools like Name.com do not only tell you whether your chosen domain name is available or otherwise. 

Name.com, for example, goes further to suggest similar domain names that it believes can help drive traffic your way.

With Name.com, you will know how popular a particular domain extension or TLD can be for a domain name.

You will have all this information for free to help you boost your SEO prospects right from day one.

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is another free tool that any beginner can take advantage of to maximize website performance.

After signing up with Google Search Console, you can go to your dashboard and start seeing details of your blog’s performance.

In addition, there is a monthly report that Google Search Console makes available to all subscribers.

Below are some key areas in the Google Search report you should be interested in.

• Pageviews
• Unique visits
• Average website position
• Best performing posts
• Top search queries
• Devices

LiveKeyword by BIQ

One free keyword research tool I have found to be most dependable is LiveKeyword by BIQ. It is a free Chrome extension that any newbie blogger can use to publish search engine-friendly content.

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Google Autocomplete

The truth is writing in a way that makes search engine bots love your content need not be an expensive undertaking. 

So if you do not have the money to buy expensive SEO/Keyword research tools, simply start typing a keyword idea in your Google search bar. 

And like magic, Google will show you a large number of keywords people are using to search for answers. This is a goldmine of keywords you do not need to pay for.

Neil Patel has a detailed guide on how best to use Google Autocomplete.

Keyword Tool is another keyword research tool similar to Google Auto Suggest.

Here are additional free keyword research and SEO tools you can try. They are among the best free blogging tools I have heard about or used personally.

Google Trends

Google Analytics

Sitemeter

Ubersuggest

Keyword Everywhere

Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin

Google Keyword Planner

Answer the Public

Content Writing and Productivity Tools

Among the best free blogging tools for beginner bloggers are some pretty cool productivity tools.

You can have free blogging tools that will help you get smarter and highly productive at the below blogging tasks.

• Generating effective blog post titles and ideas
• Writing content as fast as possible
• Blog article editing

Here are some awesome productivity tools that beginner bloggers can add to their toolkits.

Google Docs

With Google Docs, you are sure to type your content drafts with one of the most friendly word processors.

Google Docs’ sleek interface coupled with easily accessible editing tools in the taskbar will allow you to write blog posts faster.

And the choice to work online or offline is entirely up to you.

Grammarly

Bloggers are humans too. So we make terrible mistakes as we type our articles and other website content. 

This is where Grammarly, a free grammar-checking app comes in handy. In fact, Grammarly’s free version can make a huge difference in the quality of your work.

It is good at detecting basic but potentially damaging grammatical errors that relate to spelling, tense, concord and so on.

Grammarly then gives suggestions you can select to correct your mistakes where necessary.

Here are a few other free productivity tools to consider as you look for the best free blogging tools to help you start or continue doing what you love most.

• Hemingway Editor. It is like Google Docs and Grammarly combo on steroids.
• Readable
• ChatGTP
• SEOPressor Blog Title Generator
• Link Bait Title Generator
• Egg Timer
• Toggle

Brand-Building, Promotion and Marketing

Building a strong brand for your blog and making sure that it is getting the attention it needs are critical to a blog’s success.

To help you succeed with branding and promotion as a beginner blogger, you need the best free blogging tools.

Let’s take a quick look at some free blog brand-building and marketing tools.

Looka Logo Maker

I personally use Looka to design my business logos and other essentials in my brand kit. Remember, however, that you will need to cough up a couple of dollars to have your Looka logo downloaded either for personal use or for business purposes.

Quora

Quora is a free online question-and-answer forum where you can make your business visible just by providing answers to questions asked on the platform. 

You are free to add links to your expert answers so that readers can visit your website. Definitely, that’s a nice and smart way of gaining free additional traffic to your blog.

You might also want to look at these two.

Ahalogy

Tailwind. For effective social media marketing with Pinterest.

Images, Design and Photo Editing

It is necessary to have the best free stock images to enrich your content. This will increase your blog’s appeal to your website’s visitors.

Here are some popular platforms for any blogger to get the images they want for their work.

• Pixabay
• Unsplash
• Freeimages
• Stockvault
• Browser Shots WordPress Plugin
• Death to the Stock Photo
• Pexels
• Canva
• Picmonkey
• DIY Design
• BeFunky
• ShortPixel

Video and Audio Tools

YouTube

Flickify. You need to be on Ezoic’s platform to use Flickify

Humix. Again you can only use Humix with an Ezoic account.

Anchor.fm. For podcasts and audio lessons.

Audioigniter

TTSFree.com. They have an awesome free text-to-speech software you might be interested in.

InVideo Video Editor

Pexels

Kapwing Video Editor

Info Product Tools

There are free tools waiting for you to access to create, share and sell any PDF document, ebook or online course you want.

Have a look at a list of some of the best free blogging tools that a lot of bloggers are using to produce information products for the benefit of their website visitors.

BestWebSoft PDF and Print

Start using the free version of the BestWebSoft PDF and Print plugin to allow readers to download and print the PDF version of your blog posts direct from the page.

PDF Poster

With the free PDF Poster WordPress plugin, you can showcase the PDF version of any page to your site’s visitors.

Simple Download Monitor

Install and activate Simple Download Monitor on your website via the admin dashboard and start giving free PDF documents to your cherished visitors.

This plugin actually monitors all downloads and provides the admin with vital statistics regarding download numbers, IP addresses, popular downloads and countries.

Download Monitor

The Download Monitor WordPress plugin performs functions that are similar to what Simple Download Monitor does.

Easy Digital Downloads

There is a free version of the Easy Digital Downloads plugin. The plugin’s main function is to help bloggers sell information products with ease.

You will have the ability to receive payments for your hard work via PayPal and other well-known online payment gateways.

See below other free WordPress tools to help you create information products.

These free blogging tools can become your best friends especially if you are an educational blogger.

• Namaste! For e-course creation
• Quiz Maker. For creating quizzes, tests, exercises and full-blown exams
• WatuQuiz. Also for quizzes.
• Quiz Cat. For quizzes

Email Marketing Platforms

You will be advised to start your email marketing activities as soon as possible. And it all starts with the email list.

Aweber

At the time of writing this post, I am using Aweber for all my email list-building and other email marketing tasks. And it works like a charm

Here are some other free email marketing services worth trying.

Mailchimp

Mailmunch

ConvertKit

GetResponse

MailerLite

Sendinblue

More Free WordPress Plugins

Use these free WordPress plugins to scale your blogging business.

Aspose.Word

I persoally use Aspose.Word. It is a free WordPress plugin that will help you to export any blog post as a Word document

Redirection

Redirection is a free and popular plugin for dealing with 301 redirect issues. And it is extremely easy to use.

If you wish to avoid a bad user experience and needless loss of traffic through 404 NOT FOUND errors resulting from changes to your permalinks, I strongly recommend Redirection to you.

Browser Shots

Personally, I use Browser Shots WordPress plugin to capture other websites’ homepage images for illustration purposes in my blog articles.

You can give it a try if ever you need a free blogging tool with such functionality.

WP Bulk Move

Another WordPress plugin I think deserves a mention among the best free blogging tools for beginner bloggers is WP Bulk Move.

All that WP Bulk Move does is transfer your posts from one WordPress category or tag to another.

Other free WordPress plugins to try are:

WP Sweep. For site speed optimization

UpdraftPlus. For backups and security

Loginizer. For protection against brute force logins

Akismet. It helps you fight against spam.

LEAP by Ezoic

LEAP is a free site speed optimization tool offered by Ezoic to all registered publishers on its platform.

With Ezoic’s LEAP properly configured in the Ezoic dashboard, you can forget about most of the site speed optimization WordPress plugins.

Best Free Blogging Platforms

Here are the best free blogging platforms a lot of newbie and hobby bloggers are using right now.

If all you want for now is a place to try your hands on blogging before deciding what to do next, then you can start with any of these free blogging platforms today.

Unlike self-hosted websites that use paid hosting services like Siteground, Bluehost, GoDaddy and WPEngine, you will have all the freedom in the world to blog as much as you want – all for free.

Blogger from Google

WordPress.com

Weebly

Tumblr

Wix

Remember, however, for each of the above, there are premium plans available for you to pay for any time you feel like going into blogging full-time.

Best Free WordPress Themes

Among the most-cited and popular free WordPress themes is Astra.

Astra

I personally use Astra and so far, I’m happy with matters relating to responsiveness, blog design customization, site speed and simplicity.

Astra Pro Pricing Details Compared with Competitors

Other free WordPress themes a lot of bloggers have fallen in love with are:

• GeneratePress
• OceanWP
• Zakra
• Neve
• Hestia

BEST BLOG MONETIZATION PLATFORMS

Best Blog Monetization Platforms

Let’s begin with Ezoic.

Ezoic

Ezoic is a display ad-serving platform powered by Artificial Intelligence.

Most bloggers that have switched over from other ad networks such as AdSense and Monetag have seen amazing improvements in ad revenue.

According to this Ezoic Review, Ezoic has the potential to increase a blog’s income revenue by over 100% within a couple of months!

Ezoic is free to join and, most refreshingly, you do not have to meet any minimum pageview requirements to start earning with Ezoic. 

But you will only know the truth about Ezoic if you step out and sign up with the platform. 

As I said earlier, it is free to join Ezoic and begin earning unprecedented amounts of US dollars or Euros.

AdSense

You cannot miss AdSense if you are a newbie blogger looking for the best free blogging and monetization tools. 

In fact, a sizeable number of high-income blogs today started it all with display ads from AdSense. 

AdSense is a Cost Per Click ad network. So you will earn an income based on the number of clicks on your website. But there are other factors that influence the level of AdSense ad revenue on any given site.

Though some people are quick to tell you it is not easy to get AdSense approval, I can assure you that it only takes a few tweaks here and there for any site to get fast AdSense approval. 

You can check out this blog post to learn how to quickly get AdSense approval.

Impact

This is an affiliate marketing network that boasts tons of partner merchants. Impact compares favourably with popular affiliate marketing platforms such as ClickBank and CJ Affiliate.

See below other blog monetization platforms you can join for free.

Modetag, formerly PropellerAds

AdCash

AdThrive

Mediavine

MonetizeMore

Online Payment Gateways

As a beginner blogger, you must get ready to start earning and receiving payment for your work.

One crucial part of all this is to know how you will get paid and how you will receive your payments when they finally start rolling in.

Here are some popular online payment platforms.

Please note that for a lot of online payment gateways, your location on the globe will determine whether you can use them to receive payments or not.

In my country, Ghana, for example, bloggers find it difficult to conduct their online business transactions via PayPal. For some reason, PayPal has blacklisted Ghana. It’s as simple as that.

So make sure to find out if you can conveniently make and receive payments online through any platform you wish to work with before taking the other steps.

PayPal

Wise

Payoneer

Skrill

Skype

Additional Tools Worth Exploring

From backups in the cloud to site speed and security, there is a lot you can do with the free versions of the below popular blogging tools.

• Zapier 
• GTMetrix
• LastPass

The Best of the Best Free Blogging Tools

It is yourself. No two ways about that. Here is why you are the best of all the free blogging tools available to you.

All the free blogging tools out there will mean nothing to a blogger who is not willing to put in the work. And you will agree with me that you don’t need money to buy personal qualities such as conscientiousness, diligence, determination and persistence. 

Most successful bloggers will tell you that it took them grit, really hard initial work, a willingness to keep learning and a stubborn refusal to give up to get to where they are now.

Final Thoughts

So there you have it. You can now go ahead and select those free blogging tools that you know can help you become more productive, improve your website’s SEO, effectively market your content and products and get the kind of results you want for your digital publishing business.

Get help with SEO writing.

In case you wish to learn how to write blog posts that will rank high on Google and other search engines, I will be more than willing to help you achieve your goal.

I was once finding it difficult to make my articles perform well on Google until I learnt some very simple secrets about how to do this. So if you are in the position I once was in, do not hesitate to contact me for help.