Is Microsoft the only game in town?
If yes, you should be familiar with it.
Microsoft’s productivity tools will help you save time.
Why waste time on blogging chores when you could be spending that time blogging?
Let Microsoft help you while you help your readers.
Do you know all that Microsoft has to offer and how the company’s tools can help you with your blogging?
This post will explain how bloggers can take advantage of Microsoft’s technology to help them blog more efficiently.
While I admit not all of Microsoft’s components are free, this post will offer free comparable solutions.
Also, bloggers who are already paying for Microsoft’s Office Suite may not be aware of all the technology can help them with to reduce time on their blogging tasks.
This article will explain the choices available to you whether or not you already have a Microsoft account.
The History of Microsoft
Bill Gates and his partner Paul Allen built Microsoft, the largest software company in history.
The answer to my opening question is “no”. Microsoft is not the only game in town.
Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, was accused of having a monopoly in the computer industry. Having a monopoly in any industry is illegal. As a result of the decision, consumers have more than one choice.
This article explains why Microsoft is a valuable choice for bloggers.
What Microsoft Can Do For Bloggers
Click the 9 box icon in the upper left-hand corner to see your choices.
This will bring up a menu.
- Mail – Many bloggers are inundated with Emails cluttering up their inboxes. Microsoft has an Email service, Outlook.com. The Email has a Clutter Folder which helps organize by prioritizing your Emails. You can make folders organizing your Emails as well.
- Calendar – You can use Microsoft to make an editorial calendar to plan your blog posts. Double click on the date and a cursor will appear. You will be able to type your blog post ideas.
- People – Your contacts are kept here.
- Tasks – Keep your blogging “To Do List” here.
- Sway – This is Microsoft’s new presentation program.
- Newsfeed – This is similar to your Facebook news feed.
- OneDrive You can store your blog photos and screenshots in your OneDrive for later use. Do you have drafts of blog posts written in Word documents? Store them in your One Drive. You can store anything in your One Drive even PowerPoint Presentations and Excel Spreadsheets.
- Microsoft Word is a popular word processor. Bloggers can pen guest posts and mail them to the host blogger as an attachment to an Email. Many hosts prefer this to Google Docs since they don’t need a Gmail account. Also, Microsoft Word is more “printer friendly” than other tools. For example, you have to download Adobe in order to print in some cases with Google Docs. Also, Word interfaces with Grammarly, a Chrome browser extension that corrects your grammar for you.
- Excel Spreadsheets – Bloggers can use spreadsheets for a variety of reasons. I know bloggers who use them to organize their linky party schedules.
- PowerPoint helps bloggers. There are many reasons for having slides in your blog posts. For example, visual readers will understand your content better. Also, your bounce rate will improve since visitors will stay on your site longer looking at your slides. Today, many bloggers use SlideShare, but PowerPoint Presentations are still used.
- OneNote According to Microsoft, you can easily share documents between your OneNote files and your Evernote data. However, blogger Davida Chazan explains she prefers using OneNote to keeping her blogging notes instead of Evernote. “I never could get the gist of Evernote. I like the Office program OneNote much better.”
- Class Notebook is a notebook teachers and students can set up.
- Microsoft’s Yammer is a collaboration tool. Bloggers frequently collaborate. They collaborate with other bloggers and virtual assistants, for example.
- Microsoft Planner enables you and your team members to collaborate on plans. Many bloggers share a blog, and this tool could help them coordinate.
- Microsoft Forms allows teachers to assess students with quizzes. It is still under development and one day may have a more widespread use for bloggers.
- Microsoft Edge is a web browser bloggers could use to surf the Internet.
- Microsoft Mix is a free add-on bloggers could use with PowerPoint.
- These tools will result in increased blog traffic. Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn will result in users of both having access to each other. Therefore, Microsoft users can access LinkedIn’s audience and vice versa.
- Microsoft has a browser extension for Google Chrome. Using it will enable you to view, edit, and share Office files.
- Microsoft has many Online Applications.
- Go to http://www.onenote.com/.
- If you are on your phone, Bottom left click “Get the OneDrive App”.
- Go to your OneDrive. At the bottom left-hand corner, you will find the word “Install”. Click it.
You can install apps individually or on your phone. These applications can be installed on up to five devices.
You can create digital notebooks you could use to keep your blogging notes in if you have the OneNote application.
When the apps are closed, click the nine boxes in the upper left-hand part of the screen, and you will be able to access your applications. (Note: You can see the 9 boxes in Screenshot #1.)
Advantages of Using Microsoft One Drive
Today, there are many forms of storage. Microsoft OneDrive has advantages the other storage tools don’t have.
- Many bloggers use Dropbox for storage, but Dropbox charges for additional memory.
- You can save your data on a flash drive, but with Microsoft OneDrive, a flash drive isn’t necessary, so you have one less device to keep track of.
- Microsoft OneDrive is free with your Microsoft account. You have to pay for other forms of storage like a flash drive or Dropbox storage.
- You can send what you’ve stored in your OneDrive with other people. Blogger Melinda Mitchell is reviewing my ebook. Since the book hasn’t been uploaded to Amazon yet, she sent me her review directly. I received the review she put in her OneDrive in my email.
- If you store different files in different locations, you can open them anywhere you have internet access. For example, if I have data at work and at home, I can access the files anywhere.
- Since your local file is saved in the Cloud, you will never lose your information.
- Data files made with Microsoft’s tools like Word and Excel are already integrated with Microsoft.
- You can open PowerPoint in your OneDrive even if PowerPoint isn’t installed.
- OneDrive syncs to your computer where you can make and save folders.
- Since OneDrive syncs to your computer, your files are always backed up.
Testimonial
Gary Soderstrom, the Instructional Technician who is in charge of all the computers at my school, recommends using Microsoft and its components. He explained sharing your documents you save in Microsoft’s OneDrive is easy.
According to Soderstrom, OneNote is your personal digital notebook. You can use it to create content, organize your work, and collaborate with others.
Pricing
Many of these components are part of Microsoft Office Suite which is commercially licensed. Pricing for Microsoft Office starts around $120.00.
However, OpenOffice.org, which has many components of Microsoft Office, has no charge. Therefore, you can still get the benefits of Microsoft Office Suite without the price.
For bloggers concerned about the price of Office Suite, it is important to remember that some components are free. For example, Outlook.com is Microsoft’s free Email. The OneNote app is also free.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Microsoft clearly is giving Google some competition. Microsoft may not be the only game in town, but now, thanks to Microsoft, neither is Google.
By using these tools, you will be a more productive blogger. Your increased efficiency will enable you to blog faster.
Although several of these components are set up for classroom teachers, many other parts can be adapted to use by bloggers.
Many of the tools in this post require you buy a site license for Microsoft’s Office Suite. Would you like to pay zero for 89 additional blogging tools?
Click here to get your own downloadable PDF of my free blogging tools list.
Readers, please share, so other bloggers know about the parts of Microsoft Office Suite that can help them blog more efficiently.
Which components of Microsoft are you currently using? Would you recommend them for other bloggers? Why? What are your experiences? Which blogging tools are your favorites? I look forward to your views in the comments section.
Related Posts:
25 Ways Google Docs Will Make You a Better Blogger
How to Be Found On Google Today, 19 Powerful Tools
6 Ways You Can Save Time Blogging, Technology You Should
19 Free Ways to Fire Up Your Productivity– Evernote
The Most Effective Solution for Blogging Crises
Sources:
The United States vs. Microsoft
