Use free blogging tools that can make your life as a blogger easier and better

With so many blogging tools available, it's hard to know which ones to try. Some blogging tools are free, others come with price tags, and still others offer free trial periods or limited functionality for free in what's referred to as a "freemium" model. That means to keep using the tool after the trial period or to get access to all of the tool's features, you have to pay for it.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900"] 15 Free Blogging Tools No Blogger Should Live Without[/caption]

Most bloggers make very little money or no money at all from their blogging efforts, so it's important to find useful free blogging tools that make bloggers' lives easier and their blogs better. The following alphabetical list features 15 free blogging tools no blogger should live without (at least, these are the tools I'd rather not live without).

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1. CoffeeCup

CoffeeCup is an easy to use HTML editor that bloggers with limited or no coding skills can use to edit blog themes or templates. Use it to view the source code for your blog in a more formatted manner than the editor tools built into most blogging applications provide.

2. Core FTP

If you ever have the need to upload files to your blog server via FTP, then Core FTP is an easy to use and free tool to help you do it.

3. Feedburner

Feedburner is the most popular tool for creating blog RSS feeds, managing subscriptions, and more. It's very easy to use, and it's owned by Google.

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4. Flickr

Bloggers can use Flickr to upload, access, and share their own images online as well as to find images with Creative Commons licenses that they can use on their own blogs. It's an active community with great features and mobile apps, too.

5. Gmail

Gmail is the best free online email tool. You can use it to access not just email in your Gmail account but also email from all of your other accounts. Since it's online, you can access your email from any computer or mobile device, so it's always easy to communicate or blog via email. It's also a perfect place to receive Google Alerts (see #7 below for more about Google Alerts).

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6. Google AdWords Keyword Tool

If you need to research keywords to better optimize your blog posts for search traffic, then you'll love the free Google AdWords Keyword Tool. Type in a keyword or keyword phrase that you want to write about or that your audience is likely to be interested in, and you'll get a list of similar keywords and keyword phrases along with monthly global and local search volumes. It's a great way to get keyword ideas and to choose the best keywords for blog post search engine optimization purposes.

7. Google Alerts

Use Google Alerts to set up email alerts whenever Google finds new content using the keyword phrases you input. You can set up Google Alerts to arrive in your inbox at the frequency of your choice and you can turn them on or off at anytime. It's a great way to keep up with news in your blog's niche and to find blog post ideas.

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8. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is by far the best free web analytics tool to track your blog's performance on an ongoing basis.

9. Google Bookmarks

You can use Google Bookmarks to privately bookmark web pages for later viewing. It's a great way to collect links to content you want to write about on your blog. When you bookmark web pages using Google Bookmarks, you can add keyword tags to make it easy to find those pages later from any computer or mobile device.

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10. HootSuite

HootSuite is one of the best free social media management tools. You can use it to share links to your blog posts on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and you can build a following and relationships with people that can lead to more exposure for your blog and audience growth.