How to Conquer With Blog Teams: List of Top Cheap Apps You Need

July 31, 2015

Software Systems Help Bloggers Build Distance Teams 

Developers continuously improve amazing software systems, and many integrate every app you can imagine, everything from cloud systems to social media.  Through weeks of testing, use, and research, I have discovered the systems and apps that a blogger can use to expand operations using global blogging teams to dominate and innovate in media and content.

I will explain in this post the meaning of global blogger, leader, and  innovator. I conclude with the steps and technological tools to begin your journey. The background helps you decide whether to be a blog team leader or a blogger. If you choose to gain the power of a leader, be a good one. Kind leaders change the world.

A Blogger’s Job Title and Description

If you are a long-time blogger, you are brave, possess a strong work ethic, and probably are alone much of the time. This has usually been the case in blogging until recently: if you are a blogger, you are a loner.

You have also struggled with and found a solution to the home/office conundrum. You can sympathize with my home office struggle.

What idiot had the idea of working from home blogging to be with the family more?

My four screaming kids running in and out all day long in the summer is a challenge.  My joy in being with them does nothing for productivity. You probably struggle to define yourself as an employed blogger when you look in the mirror each morning. Admit it, you haven’t showered for a day or two, and you only slept four hours last night. Or is that just me?

A new kind of blogging is emerging that reconnects bloggers with real people and empowers you to work in teams with colleagues. The idea of collaboration is thrilling for many in the blogging world. The job description of an independent pro-blogger is complicated, but I suggest that adding the descriptors “team” or “business” leader do not have to add a huge weight, if you follow my path for innovation and expansion with new technology.

Pro-bloggers accomplish a lot because a solid wok ethic. The people I describe blog as a primary source of revenue streams. So, they make money. Bloggers generate income through creative content and a variety of revenue streams, from e-commerce to freelance writing. Rather than making money with one method, pro-bloggers have to diversify.

Many refer to this complicated job as content management. The job title  “content manager” better represents the scope of the many interconnected responsibilities they have:

• Web content and blog posts
  
• Research and curation
  
• Photo design and manipulation
  
• Graphic and web design
  
• Auxiliary resources (white papers, ebooks, presentations, etc.)
  
• Interactive infographics and charts
  
• Testimonials, case studies, press releases, and copywriting
  
• Video and audio content
  
• Teaching mini classes, online courses, and products
  
• Social media materials and interaction
  
• Client management
  
• Finances and workflows
  
• Content management

Content managers accomplish all this and more.  Moving from a content manager to a leader that manages innovative content blogging teams shifts your job description to something more like a CEO. Now, you may be asking if blogging has to be that intense.

Blogging can be as simple as you like. You can blog for free and with minimal effort. These bloggers are awesome.

But, I am speaking to bloggers, pro-bloggers, and content managers who are prepared to expand and grow. Many hit a turning point when growth makes sense, for whatever motive. And, if you are there, you can accomplish it, growing as huge as you can imagine.

Blogging itself is currently at a key tipping point, where technology is available to help you expand to a global level. Even though technology is in place, you definitely have to ask yourself before you start, “Do I want to become a blog team leader instead of a blogger?”

I believe you possess the skills of an innovative entrepreneur. I will help you to ask the right questions and point you in the direction of growth. Ultimately, you design where you head.

Think about the experiences you have in life. As an advanced content manager, you have the skills, connections, and technological tools to lead and motivate masses of bloggers, on mega websites that you create.

Do you connect with this big vision blogging? Are you a leader, a follower, or a loner? Meditate on it, and if you decide that the answer is yes, then start today. I will point you help you start.

Orchestrating a Global Blogging Team

You have been a blogger, but if you expand, you’ll be doing more orchestrating than writing.  Most recently the catch phrases referring to online leadership are “tribes” (meaning communities) and tribe leaders (managers). What does it take to be a tribe leader?

Tribe leaders are intelligent, ambitious, and innovative, with charisma that inspires everyone they contact. Early in their careers, they created a moral compass that guides specific actions and long-term strategies, a secular value system independent of religion. They are creative and innovative, not bound by traditions or the past, as in religion, and the great leaders focus on the utilitarian values of empathy, altruism, and kindness.

Leaders are beyond the cutting-edge, taking risks, disrupting and innovating, and they embrace and create new technology, evolving ahead of tribes, teams, and masses. Culture, for innovative leaders, is not stable or stagnant, but organic and changeable.

Moving from Pieces of Tech to the “Internet of Things”

When I began blogging, I had writing skills and academic knowledge, but I was naive and ignorant in most online areas. I was in no way prepared to innovate or lead because the technology evolved rapidly under my feet as I was walking forward with my learning. I stumbled and I failed many times. But, I continued blogging, evolving, and learning, and I nurtured my website, blogging multiple posts a day.

I became an expert blogging learner and researcher so that I could look into the future and see where innovations are heading. Just three years ago, technology was not advanced enough to create and guide global blogging teams. The problem was the lack of integration and interconnection between all of the “things” required in a functioning organization.

The problems only became worse with the crushing flow of  essential tech tools, software systems, and apps to help small businesses perform isolated tasks. Technology companies were generating a ton of new things with these apps but little interconnection.

However, the newest generation of software begins to orchestrate the working world, people, and parts, in real time, with instant operations, communications, and processes that enable collaboration.

To create the vision of global blogging teams, I needed these new platforms to function as virtual assistants – software systems providing me instant access to all my clouds,  social media, workspaces, bloggers, collaborative writing, communication, feedback, and thousands of super powerful apps.

With this work on my mind, I sat late at my computer few nights ago. I was reading and responding to blogs, and I encountered “The Internet of Processes is Here” on the TECHeGo Blog (not an affiliate). Seth Helgeson, the company’s Founding CEO, anticipated the need for complex processes to guide all of the technological things and harness the power of the internet. You can locate that engaging article and my response at the link above.

The Demand for Distant Blogging Teams Who Work Together to Create

We are now at the point where distance blogging teams are possible, right now. You can build teams and businesses, starting with just a powerful computer and strong access to the Internet. I can share the vision with you and point you in a useful direction toward growth and innovation.

The new generation of managerial software that is uber-connected, organized, and efficient, that integrates thousands of different work-related tasks, collaboration, and timing. The main divisions that designers talk about are: CMS (Content Management Systems), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). Of course, other systems are involved as well. The main idea is that these are managerial level software systems, not just more apps.

Now, many of the platforms are expanding to synthesize more tools and people, integrating systems in many different categories of software so that you are able to do more with each software system. The platforms communicate on many levels between apps, technologies, customers, clients, including finances and human resources.

Right now, the time is ripe for bloggers who want to create innovative, disruptive organizations that accomplish work in a way that has never been done before, in millions of years of human evolution. You can unite people across the globe in an organization that manipulates these tools to create magic – communication and blogging for and with the world.

I mention a few of the key pieces below, but the industry is flourishing, expanding exponentially and now is the time to to the extraordinary.

Basement Headquarters for the Leader and Teams of Bloggers

In my research and testing, I came across Podio, a workspace application really worked for me, creating spaces within for organizations, teams, and individuals to function and providing the ability to connect broadly. Podio is a complex yet easy to use workspace, like the main office of a newspaper publisher. Think of all the things, individuals, teams, departments, and divisions that are housed in such a headquarters. Podio provides a similar kind of virtual workspace.

Podio allows you to design the spaces, interconnected rooms and offices for your headquarters. You drag and drop pieces to organize the structure of your office building, and you can design and redesign until you get it just right.

Your virtual office space stores and integrates many of your tools, people, and resources. So far I’m impressed me with the infrastructure of Podio, and customer service is great.

Shopping for Awesome Tools in a Store with Too Many Options

Now that you have a headquarters, imagine building before a startup moves in and ramps up. You will need more tools and people to function, and these add-ons, extensions, and tools require the most research. So many choices!

I lay out some basics below critical to success. I focus on essential tools to create distance blogging teams that work together as a live organization. The list is not comprehensive, but a starting point for your own unique vision.

I chose Google as my main provider because of the massive infrastructure. Every tool below is available in the Chrome Webstore, and nearly all are smoothly integrated with your Google Drive (important). Connected in the office space you create with Podio, the following are foundational:

• Chrome Browser – Wow, yes I am going to bring up web browsers just to cause arguments. Chrome is best for me because it’s made to work smooth with everything Google. Chrome has the extensions, add-ons, security, and tools I need to run my business.
  
• Google Drive – This is another essential hub of my operations, and my business couldn’t function without it. Google Drive is amazing for the other Google apps that use it natively and so well, and the Chrome WebStore provides integrations  between hundreds of third party apps and the Drive. This quality is so important because you can get just about any technical tool you could imagine there, and most are free or offer trials. The diversity of products that the Webstore houses is simply amazing, and I spend hours just looking through it for apps I need and want. I can’t possibly list all of the ones I use, but I am certain I use over a hundred Chrome Drive integrated apps. All my teams can collaborate in Google Drive, and almost every tool I use has another means of collaboration and communication – essential to distance global blogging teams.
  
• Drive by Jolicloud – You might not think of this one immediately, but I needed a quick easy way to keep track of my cloud storage, Google Drive and everything else. Jolicloud’s Drive site manages all of the massive data that I love to use from different providers: Google, Dropbox, Box, MediaFire, OneDrive, CloudApp, Droplr, Copy, and others. All my cloud platforms in one central location, easy to access, and  Drive has some other cool features you’ll have to check out.
  
• Google Apps Suite – I go with the native Google Apps like Docs , and I have found that they take good care of my needs, integrate perfectly with Google Drive, and have add-ons that allow me to do the work of a major corporation with all sorts of talented people. And really, the versatile communication tool in Google Hangouts makes regular collaboration with teams of people, documents, and tools easy.
  
• Less Annoying CRM – In order to manage your teams, clients, projects, and processes, you need to bundle the communications, project planning, communication, and workflow with a CRM that is inexpensive and easy to use. After much trial and error, I found Less Annoying CRM, and the name is telling. As the leader of blogging teams, whether the members live near you or across the globe, your quick and direct communication with everyone is essential. I think of Less Annoying CRM as my communication hub that I use to communicate and organize: projects, contacts, leads, tasks, calendars, employees, clients – basically a virtual office assistant along with the telecom setup. The software also provides an organization and workspace for you, and it is super easy and intuitive to use.
  
• Collavate  – These are high power collaboration apps, and you may not need both, but I do, Collavate allows you to use all of Google Drive and adds useful features and tools to the documents that you collaborate on. In real time, you can work together or individually on project or divide them up into parts, using the space to comment the work of other, helping, teaching, mentoring, producing, and blogging as a unit. I am simply amazed by how this tool makes it same like you are working in the same room with people as distant as India.
  
• Concept Board – Concept Board has some of the same things, but also provides live chat, video collaboration, and a teaching environment. You work together on a canvas as big as you need (seriously) so that you can: layout one document or many, images, and videos (throw down basically any kind of document on the canvas). You zoom in and out to make movement and navigation around the canvas functional and a small map guides and moves you to the spaces where different documents are laid out. You can comment on, markup, move around, draw shapes (or free draw anything), argue about, and decide upon almost anything you want, all at the same time with your team.
  
• FullContact – This amazing app sits in your gmail inbox, contacts, and calendars, 24 hours a day with the sole purpose of finding and organizing every contact you have and new contacts that come in with emails. This intelligent app grabs information from all of your emails and the web to find and record all essential data you could need on every contact, lead, and employee. I’m serious that this app is a private detective to collect, order, and record data from phone numbers to social media accounts, with links provided.
  
• Zapier, IFTTT, and Buffer – These tools integrate and connect hundreds of apps and about every tool you might own, and they handle your social media campaigns almost without effort. They automate processes and tasks that you would otherwise have to do manually.

Seriously incredible tools like these disrupt the media environment, and you can use them to create a niche for your company. Complex tools always come with problems but are a troubleshooter and problem solver.

The scene constantly changes, so a blog leader has to keep informed to stay ahead of the curve. You must endure if you want to build this kind of innovative networked bloggers.

Risks and Potential for the Innovative Blogger Team Leader

A potential problem waits on the horizon for bloggers who use this model.  Teams of distance bloggers rely so heavily on so many interconnected apps that they become vulnerable to increased monthly fees for each service.

The thousands of apps and the hierarchy of platforms are essential tools, and we cannot work without them. Also the difficulty in monetizing websites always looms. Still, with strong teams supporting you and the infrastructure in place, you can seize this moment of opportunity to live your dream.

Success always comes with risks and failures, but the glory of your blog team depends on your strength to rise, evolve, and renew.

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