Why would you want to use your smartphone to run a blog?
Not everyone has a laptop or tablet to work on, but over 55 million people in the UK own a smartphone. That’s around 87% of the population!
And whether you want to start your own business, or write as a side-hustle, blogging is one of the best ways to get your work out into the world.
Pros of using a smartphone to run your blog
✔Smartphones are much more portable than tablets and laptops. You can take your blog with you anywhere!
✔You can blog on-the-go during commutes or live from events
✔Have all of your blogging information stored in one place. Your photos, videos, and notes can all be kept on your phone. Much easier than having to constantly send things between devices
✔Blog using purpose-built apps and interfaces, rather than web browsers, easy access
✔Write, tweak or edit posts immediately without having to rush to a computer
How to start and run a blog on my smartphone
The easiest way to kickstart your smartphone blogging career is by taking advantage of the host of apps available.
Here are our top recommendations for the best blogging apps for all your online needs:
WordPress
Free
WordPress is one of the most well-known and popular blogging platforms on the market. It’s extremely flexible and customisable, and has a huge online community behind it.
- Create and design a whole website or blog from your fingertips
- Write and edit blog posts or pages
- Upload photos and videos
- View stats like your monthly views, subscribers, the countries your audience come from, and comments
- Reply to post comments
- Publish your posts on-the-go
- Utilise extral built-in features, like SEO and SMO, to make your blog more visible on Google
Blogger
£2.99
Free
Blogger is another popular blogging app, allowing you to design and publish your content whilst on the move. For Apple users, there isn’t an official Blogger app unfortunately. Instead you’ll have to use Blogg, which acts as a mediator between your iPhone and Google’s Blogger platform.
- Create, view, edit, update, and delete blog posts
- Upload pictures and videos to your blog posts
- View, delete, reply, and add comments
- Schedule a post to publish at a certain time and day, rather than immediately
- You can switch between multiple accounts to manage several blogs or websites at once
- ‘Feed’ tab allows you to share your posts with other users on the app
Squarespace
Free, with in-app purchases
Squarespace is another well-known website builder app that you can use on the go. With a focus on beautiful design, Squarespace is perfect for creating a professional website you can be proud of.
- Build your website, and then create, edit, and publish content whenever you want
- Use the built-in templates and themes to create attractive blogs that your audience will love
- Upload photos directly from your smartphone
- Track your performance using analytics. Keep an eye on key metrics, trends, and audience interaction to tailor your content accordingly
- Add an online shop to your blog! View customer accounts, orders, and messages
- Send email campaigns out to subscribers
- 24/7 help from the Squarespace team
Google Docs
Free
Google Docs is a popular app for writing, editing, and sharing documents amongst groups of people. It’s great if you plan to run a blog with a friend or colleagues.
- Write, edit, copy, and paste drafted blog posts
- Share posts with others, and control their access rights. Give them editing, suggestion, or viewing rights
- Make comments in the form of suggestions and edits
- Take advantage of templates for web design ideas and proper text placement
- Add photos into Google Docs
- Import documents from Microsoft Office
- Track changes in the document’s history to see who changed what, or recover previous versions that you prefer
- You can use Google Docs offline too, so you don’t necessarily need to have an internet connection to work on your blog
- Not limited to one device. With Google docs, you can access your work across multiple devices
Tumblr
Free
Tumblr is a social media platform that allows people to create and share content in a blog-style format. If you don’t want to immediately jump into the deep end, why not try this app first to see if blogging is for you?
- Publish your own content - texts, images, or GIFs
- Like and reblog content from other people you follow
- Follow hashtags to see content you enjoy
- Reply to comments left on your blog posts
- No algorithm to interfere with the consistency of your posts appearing for followers
Canva
Free, with in-app purchases
If you’re running a blog, you’ll need an app to edit your photos on. After all, you’ll want your content to look as amazing as possible. For this, we recommend Canva, as it’s the perfect blend for both beginners and experts.
- Start with a blank page or use one of the 60,000 ready-made designs to help format your photos
- Create social media posts, banners, cards, invitations, brochures, presentations, collages, and more
- Add text to photos. Manipulate the font, size, colour, spacing, and positioning
- Upload photos from your gallery, or use the images from Canva’s library
- Apply filters, visuals, and stickers to photos, as well as alter the brightness and other graphical elements to your taste
- Share designs to other social media platforms, like Instagram and WhatsApp, or send via email
Do’s and Don'ts of Blogging
So, you’ve set up your blog, you’re ready to start designing or creating your first post. But just before you do, here’s our last piece of advice - our do’s and don’ts to running a blog on your phone.
Do
✔Establish your tone of voice and remain consistent - are you a friendly, colloquial blog, or a professional, third-person only blog?
✔Proofread every post before you publish to ensure no one has to read through any errors
✔Engage with your followers or subscribers so they feel connected to you and your work
✔Respond to comments left on your blog
✔Use images, videos, and moving photos to break up big bouts of text and keep your readers engaged
✔Utilise social media platforms to find and communicate with your target audience
✔Use bullet points rather than massive chunks of text
✔Learn about SEO to draw in more visitors through Google
Don’t
✘Copy someone else’s text, images, or brand design
✘Combine too many different font styles in one chunk of text, as this could become overwhelming
✘Use too many colours as this will visually disrupt the reader’s experience
✘Write just for search engines
✘Have massive time gaps between publishing posts. Readers will lose interest if you’re not consistent
✘Be impatient - things take time
Discover more
You may also be interested in reading about the best phones for vlogging (if you’re less of a writer and more into videoing!)
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