Web Design Resources & Tutorials to help you design the best website!
SherifAbdou.com is a web design blog that we created with goal of provoking inspiration to other designers & webmasters all over the internet
Best of all everything here is free , so the real crime would be doing nothing to improve your blog.Content-Management-Systems
The wonderful part about using a CMS such as Wordpress , Joomla or Drupal is that they make blogging & posting so easy a drunk monkey could do it. Not that I am saying that you should get a monkey drunk typing on your computer.
Check out the following Free CMS’ to get started on making your life easy & hassle free.
1.
Wordpress is arguably one of the best & most versatile platform to Blog on. If you don’t believe me then check out all the plugins Wordpress’s repository has to offer.
One of the personal things I love about Wordpress is the amount of support there is for the CMS. It also has an insane amount of free templates to offer too. All these reasons combined is why I rank it at #1.
2. 
Joomla is another widely known Blogging Platform that promotes open-source. It’s free and like Wordpress , It does not charge money for usage.
It also has an extensive amount of free plugins. BUT be forewarned there are plugins can only be bought at high prices. This is why I rank Joomla at #2.
3. 
Drupal is yet another great functional CMS that can make blogging a breeze. It also has free extensions similar to Wordpress.
I haven’t seen any plugins that are being sold like Joomla’s System. The reason why Drupal is ranked at #3 is because the learning curve can be real tough for newbies.
It took me a good 2 days before I was somewhat comfortable to use it.
4. 
LifeType is another open-source blogging platform that is free to use.
I have not personally used it but have heard only positive things from the users. it may be a better alternative to the big 3 as it may be more simpler for day-to-day blogging.
MovableType is another free Blogging Platform that can help you start blogging effortlessly & fast.
Linkwithin is a great widget that is added to the bottom of each of your articles and suggests similair & popular articles for your readers.
Wowizio offers a great widget that uses flash , it basically updates every time a visitor comes to your website and also shows where they came. This may not sound very exciting but the second effect of this widget is that it will most definitely improve your web traffic.
MyBlogLog is a Yahoo blog network service that shows recent visitors from the MyBlogLog network. The more sites you visit within the network , the more visitors you will receive. It’s a really great way to get more exposure for yourself & every little bit helps.
For those of you who like to “tweet” , now you have the oppertunity to post a tweet widget on your site to show your readers what your up to. It’s simple and easy to customize.
Polldaddy is one of the easiest and simplest ways to add a custom poll. Check it out !
If you’re a heavy user of Digg then you can add this sidebar widget that shows your readers your latest dugg article.
Disqus is an advanced commenting system that can be added to your blog for free.
It has a multitude of features including the use of gravatars, threaded comments , rss feeds as well as voting on comments. In case you were wondering , the comments are seo-friendly.
IntenseDebate is very similar to Disqus. But after comparing the two I decided that IntenseDebate was more appealing to the eyes.
Being a blogger is literally a 24/7 job. Not only are you the Designer , Webmaster but you also have to be able to keep track of statistics. You shouldn’t underestimate how powerful traffic information can be.
The difference between a mediocre blog and a great blog is that the owner knows where their web traffic is coming from. and can see what visitors are tryin to search for.
These small bits of information can help you improve your content and cater to your overall audience. These free trackers will be able to track user behaviors and see where they go. These tools will also be able to tell you which articles get the most hits.
14. Piwik
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15. W3 Countery
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16. Re-Invigorate
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17. Yahoo Analytics
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18. Woopra
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19. FireStats
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20. 50+ Website Promotion Tips : The Guide to increase Web Traffic
21. Promote Your Webblog Using Unorthodox Techniques To Increase Traffic
23. Seo Toolbox
24. Term Target
25. Linkscape
26. Popular Searches
27. Trifecta

Copyright ®2008 - SherifAbdou – The Design Blog
13 Responses to 30+ Must Have Blog Tools for Bloggers
Sarah
March 7th, 2009 at 10:19 am
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sarah
http://www.craigslistdecoded.info
rohin
March 9th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
thanks sarah I appreciate it !
Jason Barone
March 9th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Great list! I LOVE Disqus and am a big fan. Any reason you chose intensedebate over Disqus for your blog?
Also how's Yahoo analytics? Never tried them as I've been a Google analytics fan for awhile now.
Anyways, great article!
sanjay
March 27th, 2009 at 6:43 am
HI great list…
truly i ilke that…
Clarityx
April 6th, 2009 at 10:45 am
thank you for great overview
golfman_story
April 16th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
This is quite impressive, I am pleased to read this post, keep posts like this
coming, you totally rock!
sain-web.com
daniel
April 27th, 2009 at 10:22 am
that is one great share! thx alot
Cin
May 8th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
I have to agree with you. Wordpress is the best so far with lots of free plugins and professional themes! Very user friendly too.
kayapouck
May 22nd, 2009 at 5:53 pm
nice! i’m gonna make my own journal
seo tips
June 5th, 2009 at 10:17 am
For analytical traffic it was good to add google analytics tool because is the most complex tracking tool.
David Lee
July 24th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
awesome information ! thank you, i am going to add some of your ideas to my site at :
DavidALee’s.Com Blogging University
San francisco Website Design
January 6th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
As a graphic web designer , I’m glad to find that someone thought to post this topic.
Many people out there don’t grasp the concept of what all is involved in this industry, and I think also we are many times underrated
or taken for granted. Never the less I’m glad to see that you may feel the same way I do , thanks so much for your blog!
airvine
April 11th, 2010 at 3:20 am
wow! thank you for the useful information.