Blogger Essentials – The Best Blogging Tool Ever!
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I love recommending great resources for Christian bloggers! And on the list blogger essentials and “must-have’s” this one tops the list of them all (well, apart from Word Press which I recommend before even starting a blog and goes without saying…I wouldn’t have a blog without Word Press!). It is Tailwind!
Without this tool, my blog would not be where it is today!
And make sure you read until the end to find out about the AMAZING new feature Tailwind has as of September 29, 2020 so you can get in on the BETA!
Blogger Essentials – My Number One Pick
As I said, my number one pick out of tools available for bloggers right now and the tool I consider to be at the top of the list of blogger essentials is Tailwind!
Tailwind is a Pinterest and Instagram scheduling and marketing tool that can help take the work out of getting your pins on Pinterest and automate your pinning so you have more time to work on your content!!
Without Tailwind, I don’t know what I would do! Not only does it save me a ton of time and effort, but it is so effective in how it not only pins MY content, but helps me to share content I find on Pinterest and in Tailwind Tribes.
So why do I feel like Tailwind is a game-changer for me? Well, it started with a stroke.
Blogger Essentials Like Tailwind Can Keep Your Blog Going When You Cannot
Nearly a month ago, at the age of 53, I suffered an Ischemic Stroke.
I was hospitalized for a week and had to focus mainly on recovery when I got home. The damage the stroke did was to the left frontal lobe, which means my right side experiences weakness but it also affected my speech, memory and cognitive functions.
I had to take time off from writing (thankfully my blog was on “vacation” through July anyway) and also promoting my existing content.
So why do I feel like Tailwind is a game-changer for me? Well, it started with a stroke. Share on XBut because I had Tailwind, my pins never stopped pinning! It kept my Pinterest account and promotion of my blog on auto-pilot while I was hospitalized and my traffic only experienced a slight decline (mostly due to me not writing new content which I expected by taking July off anyway).
If it had not been for Tailwind, my traffic would have nose-dived as would some of the income my blog earns and that would have affected my family who was already under stress because of the medical issues and me being out of the home for a week! I did have SEO to fall back on as well but Pinterest still generates a good amount of traffic for me, especially when pins go viral.
I didn’t even HAVE to think of my blog during that time (although I did design some new pins to keep myself busy…I am glad the creative side of my brain was still fine!!) and could focus on recovery.
My ministry is a big part of who I am and thanks to Tailwind it was something I didn’t need to worry about!
Why Tailwind is One of the Blogging Tools For You?
So why do I think Tailwind is one of the blogging tools I KNOW YOU need? You may be quite happy pinning manually or maybe you haven’t taken advantage of Pinterest and all it has to offer you yet.
Well for one, as I mentioned, the unexpected things of life can come about at any time! Our ministries shouldn’t have to come to a screeching halt because we are needing to take a week or two off unexpectedly! Life happens and it could be something as simple as a long-lasting power outage that tanks your numbers.
Some bloggers make an income from their blogs to help support their families so they can work their ministry full time or part time. This can be devastating to a blog (and a family) if they have to lose a couple of week’s income! Tailwind can keep those pins out there pinning to your boards even if you aren’t able to get online!
Another reason is because Tailwind can keep old pins looping through your schedule so that older content stays fresh! After you have been writing for some time you can develop a LOT of content. If you had to keep going back and manually pinning all of those older pins you would have much less time to create new content!
Tailwind not only keeps those posts cycling through your boards but each time it pins for you Pinterest recognizes it as fresh content! Pinterest LOVES fresh content!
It also frees you up to create new pins for old posts so you can experiment and see what works better. Your posts should always have more than one or two pins! Experiment with different styles, fonts, descriptions, hashtags. You can use Tailwind analytics to see which pins are getting the most engagement and then remove those that aren’t working for you over time and go with what does!
Blogger Essentials – Tailwind Features
I consider the different features Tailwind offers to be blogging essentials in and of themselves! The fact that you get all these with one application is amazing!
Some features Tailwind offers are:
- Tailwind Tribes – These are like group boards except in Tailwind. You can leave a pin and then share 1 or 2 pins from the Tribe depending upon Tribe rules. What makes these better than group boards, in my opinion, is that group boards often become “dumping grounds” where people leave their pins but don’t share from the board and the board owner has a difficult time determining who does that and when it is happening. In Tribes however, a Tribe owner can see with a glance how many pins you’ve shared of your own and how many you have then pinned from others in the Tribe. So you can be sure each Tribe member is sharing other people’s content or they will be removed from the Tribe!
- Tailwind Schedule – You can select pins to re-pin from Pinterest or Tribes and add to your schedule to pin at optimum times! Your schedule can tell you when YOUR best times are for pinning based on your audience’s engagement and make sure you are pinning at those peak times! It takes the work away from you and lets you focus on creating content! And now you can use Tailwind for Instagram scheduling as well!
- Tailwind Insights – The analytics in Tailwind are so incredibly valuable. Not only does it allow you to see which pins you have that are performing well and maybe aren’t performing so well, it will also tell you which group boards are getting the most participation. Nowadays, it is recommended you participate only in group boards that are actively sharing content and are not large dumping grounds where pins die a slow death. You can see how a group board is doing by using Tailwind Insights. I find it much more helpful and to be a much better picture of how my site is doing than using Pinterest analytics, which most people find confusing and somewhat inaccurate at times as they make updates.
- Tailwind Membership Options – Tailwind offers you many different options and there is something for nearly every budget! They also allow you to upgrade or boost Tribes and other options when you find you have grown and need more! They also offer a trial membership where you get your first 100 pins for free! So try them out!
- Tailwind Create – See below for info on this great new feature!!
Tailwind is Clearly My Favorite Tool for Bloggers
I feel as though if you are going to invest in ANY tool, I would take a serious look at Tailwind. It can boost your traffic faster and easier than any other tool I know of and THAT can earn you the money (whether by affiliate income, content creation or ads) to invest in other tools to further your blog!
If you're not using Pinterest for your blog and want to learn how, I recommend these resources! Share on XIf it had not been for Tailwind, I would have been stressing about my blog during a time I didn’t need the stress. Instead, I was able to relax and create pins when I FELT like I wanted to, not because I HAD to in order to keep my ministry afloat.
Tailwind Create
In addition to all Tailwind has to offer, they now have a new tool on their platform called Tailwind Create! This tool is going to change how you make and share pins!! You can enter in your images and Tailwind Create will literally create TONS of pins for you AND you can share them to your schedule right from the app! WHAT???
YES! Those of us using Pinterest have a common complaint…it takes a LONG time to constantly create fresh pins! Well, Tailwind solved that issue with Tailwind Create! With Tailwind Create, I can now create, schedule, publish, and analyze my Pins all in one place!
You can generate, personalize, and fine tune Pins to drive traffic to your new and old content. See a pin that isn’t exactly what you want? No problem! You can edit it a bit to make it what you want it to be just by clicking the little edit pencil! But you may not need to! You can literally choose from hundreds of variations and personalize your favorites in just a few seconds!
The best part? It will automatically apply your brand preferences (but you can always switch it up with different styles and fonts).
It all happens in one spit so you never have to download, upload, or organize your files. You can just schedule it out right from there!
This is only available to Tailwind members!
Use my affiliate link to get your free Tailwind trial (full use) and then use the resources they do offer for free. Or click the button below!
AND then fill out the survey for Tailwind Create and where it asks for a code use code CREATEPARTNER2020
I am so sorry to hear about your stoke. I pray that you are doing better now and well on your way to recovery! Life can certainly throw us some curve balls but I have found Tailwind to be a very helpful tool during busy seasons, too. I know I need to make better use of tribes though. Praying for you and your recovery!
Thank you so very much Donna!!
Diane, this post was exactly what I needed. I also have been out of the blogging ministry for sometime now, and was worried about my blog’s growth. You answered many questions for me. I started using Tailwind a few months ago and liked it alot. However, I was not using it to its full ability. Thanks for this post, I know now what I need to do to maximize the use of Tailwind. Praying for your recovery!
I’m so happy it helped you!! It really is an amazing tool! Let me know how it works for you.
I love these kinds of tips for us bloggers. Thanks for sharing; I have never heard of Tailwind until now. And God bless you in your recovery! I didn’t know about your stroke.
Thank you so much!! God is amazing in how He has made my recovery go so quickly!! Oh Tailwind is amazing! You get the free trial so give it a try!!
What a neat tool!
Yes it is!
It’s amazing how God can use all sorts of things! I did a trial of tailwind, but didn’t get fully into it. Instead I’ve kept the free account and use it for easy ways to post to my group boards. So glad it was a help for you!
Yes God is really there in all the small details of life isn’t He? Thanks Rebecca!!