Great bloggers have great ideas. In fact I would say a blogger’s real value is their ideas because even if you are simply reporting the news your insight and understanding can help your readers. So if ideas are your greatest asset, what are you doing to manage them so as to maximize their effectiveness?
There are many note keeping apps available to do this, and I’ve tried most of them. I find that Evernote stands head and shoulders above the rest. When I’m not at my desk but I want to get some work done I use Evernote to record my thoughts and ideas to be used later in my posts.
Evernote for Bloggers
When bloggers think of apps they can use to help them ply their trade they’re often thinking of WordPress or Blogger.
These of course are great apps for managing your blog from a mobile device but since I’ve started using Evernote I rarely open these on my phone. This app is an advanced note keeping and organizational tool.
For the blogger this is a great way to organize ideas at your desk and to make sure that the great ideas that you have while on the go are saved until you have the opportunity to use them. This is more than just a notepad you can scribble on and the more time you put into learning the app the more you are going to be able to get out of it. You can keep all of your ideas in one place using notes, documents, images, as well as audio and video recordings.
Very Customizable and easy to use App
Evernote is very customizable and you can change icons and swap out buttons to access the features you want and hide the features you don’t think you will use. The app also has a widget that can be placed directly on your home screen so you can access certain aspects of the app without having to open it and cycle through menus. This is very convenient when you want to use the dictate function while driving to make a quick note. Push a button and speak your mind and you’re done. This is also great for lists that you need to access or modify frequently because you can place them directly on your home screen.
Evernote has a browser interface so if you want to access your ideas from your desktop it is fast and easy. Since the Evernote app syncs up with your online account anything you have changed or added will immediately be available from anywhere.
Any note or checklists can be recorded via dictation. This is basically speech to text and while initially I thought this would be superfluous because my phone already had a native speech to text function, I found that dictation is the aspect of the app I use most frequently. Once I hit the dictate button I don’t have to keep activating the mic every time I say something. The record function simply remains active until I turn it off. Punctuation can become an issue but it does take certain voice commands similar to other voice to text software offerings such as Dragon. Even with poor punctuation it’s a fantastic way to record a meeting or a quick thought while on the road without having to type anything.
Evernote Skitch
Evernote also offers a “skitch” function. You can use this to draw on images directly as opposed to taking notes that go along with a picture. While I use this function the least, other bloggers may find it useful.
List management
List management is a big part of Evernote. I now use it to keep track of my daily project lists, and the Checklist feature lets me keep track of what I’ve completed. This means I don’t need to make a completely new list each day, just reset the checkmarks and get working.
Blogging, especially if you are publishing on multiple sites, can become difficult to manage. There is a great deal of research that goes into any post as well as remembering from day-to-day where your posting or what you’re posting about. A weekly checklist such as this can keep an author on track.
Image capture
Image capture is called Visual Memories and allows you to take snapshots of whatever you’re interested in from business cards to products or print media. The app uses the native camera to take a picture and stores it as a snapshot. You may then make any notes or comments that you like. You can access the snapshot from the notes section of the dashboard on the app and make any changes that you like. You can tag names and dates and places or any random information and store it with the picture.
Evernote is a free app with a premium option
The premium account comes with:
- No ads
- More upload capacity
- PDF search option
- Note history access
- More sharing options
- Faster image recognition
http://youtu.be/Pjn6YkCY2yA
Payment options are $5.00 per month or $45.00 per year. In my opinion the premium upgrade is well worth the price but if you are not sure buy a month for $5.00. I’m confident you will buy a year after you try the app.
You can create an Evernote account here, and download the Android or iOS app. Evernote for Android is ranked at 4.7 stars out of 5 with 489,000 votes. The iOS app is ranked 4+ but according to the Evernote discussion forum users are having issues with the latest version. Having only used the Android app I must refer users to the forum for more information on this topic.