Are you aware that Trello and Trello extensions can organize your life?
This guide will share basic information about Trello and Trello extensions for those of you who are not familiar with this helpful productivity tool.
Wouldn’t having a free tool that helps you work alone or in groups be helpful?
Although this guide is written with bloggers in mind, everyone can benefit from being more productive. Trello organizes your tasks so effectively, you’ll love the increased time and escaping the feeling of overwhelm having too much to do brings.
Hopefully, reading these ideas for how bloggers can use Trello alone or with a team, you’ll be inspired by these uses of Trello boards and Trello extensions to be able to integrate Trello into your life.
By reading this post, you discover the advantages of Trello, how to use Trello alone or with a team, and reviews of free helpful Trello extensions. You’ll also see examples of Trello boards you can make and modify. You also receive links to download the Trello Extensions from the Chrome Store.
All of these tools are free and boost your personal and professional productivity.
Let’s dig in and find out about Trello boards and Trello Extensions.
Benefits of Trello
Trello has saved our team invaluable time and organized our activities.
Trello helps you
- List your needed tasks
- Share boards with your team members
- Arrange your workflow tasks
I have Trello boards for tasks I need to do, tasks I’m in the process of completing, and tasks I’ve finished with. Trello even has browser extensions which make integration easier. For instance, there is a browser extension that integrates Trello with Gmail.
The Working in the Wolfden YouTube Channel recommends Trello to organize your blogging information.
What is Trello?
Trello is a project management tool for teams. However, as this post will explain, you don’t need a team to use Trello. You can use Trello alone for information organization or as project management for teams.
This guide will explain how to use Trello for both purposes.
You can also use Trello for planning. For instance, you can use your Trello boards as to do lists. Easily indicate what tasks you’ve completed.
You create Trello cards on Trello boards. Use Trello for information storage and organization. Lists are on the cards. Stay organized by categorizing the topics and creating columns of information with labels.
Since Trello has an app, you don’t need to be at your computer all the time to stay organized.
To supplement the platform, Trello has add-ons. These are power-ups you search for within the platform. You can also use Trello extensions as add-ons. Your choices for the best Trello extensions are reviewed in this guide.
The LetsTrick blog calls Trello “the best productivity app for entrepreneurs.”
According to 2021 data, Trello has more than 50 million users worldwide.
How to Use Trello in a Group
I joined a Master Mind group that shares resources with its members using Trello boards. What you see listed under Personal Boards in the screenshot are not my boards. I accepted invitations to join them.
New cards populate at the bottom of the boards.
Using Trello in a group is a great way to share resources the group needs.
How to Make Board and Invite Your Team Members
Suppose you want to make a board and invite other people.
How to Use Trello in a Team:
I have a Virtual Assistant. Training her is time-consuming. Naturally, I pay her for the time it takes for me to train her.
Wouldn’t it be great if I had a Trello board with Trello extensions in place so I wouldn’t have to repeat the training if my VA ever leaves? I can just send my new VA the steps she needs to follow on my Trello board.
How to Create a Trello Board
Make an account at Trello if you don’t have one.
Starting a board takes seconds.
Scroll down to My Workspaces and click Create New Board.
Name your board. Click Create Board.
You don’t have to start from scratch. You can use other Trello users’ templates.
Also, if you like your board, you can click Make a Template, which you see on the right side of the screen, so you don’t have to start over with each board you make. When you reuse your templates, click Create From Template.
Notice all the board template categories that populate. Trello has a vast library of choices.
Since I want to train my VA, I will click Project Management. Many board templates populate. You don’t have to recreate the wheel with Trello.
If you find the choices overwhelming, search for the type of board you want. I wanted a board that shows my VA’s workflow, so I searched “Workflow.”
Once you pick, you see a description of the template and a preview of what it will look like to make sure that’s the one you want to use.
Look at the metrics above the board description.
These tell you how popular this board’s template is.
If you’re still not sure if you want to use the board’s template, click View Template which you’ll find under the board preview. When you’re happy with your choice, click Create Board from Template.
You are able to copy the board since the board is public. If other people are on your board, not to worry, they won’t be included once you make the template your own.
You have a choice of making your template visible or “hide from list.”
If you bring in a template, you can keep the current cards or get rid of them.
If you bring in a card and later decide you want to delete it, click Archive.
To label the card, click the 3 dots in the lower right-hand corner.
Hovering over the cards brings up a pencil icon. Click to copy and move the cards. Moving the cards entails simply dragging and dropping where you want the cards.
When you’re done, you can invite your team member either by sharing the board or sending the link to the board.
Do you see the colored bars on the cards? These are labels that show the degree of urgency. You can modify the labels. You can also modify the board’s color, but I chose to keep purple.
Do you see in the top right the words “GMail by Cardbox?” This is not one of the Trello extensions. GMail by Cardbox is a power up you can use to give the board greater functionality.
Suppose the VA emailed me about these tasks. With the power up, the emails would appear here.
Due to the frequent copying and editing of this existing board and these cards, this didn’t take me long to make.
Do you see there are two pictures at the top? You see my VA and I both have access to the board. She can then copy cards and move them to the “In Process” and “Done” columns so I can view her productivity.
How to Use Trello Alone
The boards listed under Your Workspaces are your private boards unless you invite people to work on the board with you or see the contents of your board.
There are many ways you can use Trello if you are a solopreneur without a team.
I use the cards on my Trello board to remind me of tasks I need to complete for my clients.
Also, you can plan your day by turning the cards on your boards into to-do lists.
Next, you can plan ahead. For instance, you can use Trello boards for content planning or social media planning.
If you are a blogger, you can also use a Trello board for blog post planning. For instance, let’s say you are a book blogger. You could keep your ideas about the books along with the covers on the board. The covers and links to where the books can be found on Amazon can be easily brought in with one of the Trello extensions.
You can use Trello extensions if you are a recipe blogger or movie blogger. Keep your notes on the cards on the boards. Use the Trello extensions, supplement the information with images and links.
This board shows the future plans of an entertainment viewer:
This board belongs to Trello developer Jeff Ruberg. The Trello board shows the entertainment he wants to consume. The information is organized in terms of urgency. “Next,” “Soon,” and “Eventually” are the labels for how urgently he wants to view the media or play the games.
How did he get the images to appear on the board? The board maker uses Trello extensions to bring in these images.
Do you see the star ratings on the right cards? These were made possible with a Trello add-on, a power up called Trello Custom Fields.
Wouldn’t these star ratings be perfect for review bloggers?
Let’s look at an example of a DIY (Do it Yourself) blogger’s board:
Trello Extensions
These Trello extensions are free Google Chrome extensions. Download them at the Chrome store.
Web Clipper
Trello has an extension for Chrome.
My VA is also my copywriter. If I bring in an article or an example from the internet I want her to read, I can send it to her here. This saves her time as well. Instead of checking her email and your joint Trello board for information for you, she just has to check your team’s Trello board.
Do you see how Trello boards boost your productivity? All your work information is in one place.
This Trello to Chrome extension brings in information (and images) from the internet to the board. No copy-pasting of images or links is involved. Just click the extension button.
Some ideas for how to use Trello extensions if you are a blogger:
- Book reviewers: You can keep notes on books you are reading along with cover images and links to purchase on the Trello cards.
- Movie reviewers: You can keep your ideas on the films you are viewing along with the movie poster image and links to where viewers can stream or buy the film.
- Food bloggers: Keep your ideas about the recipe and images of the finished meal. Provide links to where readers can purchase the ingredients.
- DIY bloggers: Use a card for tasks needing completion, a card for tasks in progress, and a card for completed tasks.
- Travel bloggers: Keep notes on places you visit. Bring in images so you remember where you visited. By the time your trip is over, you may not remember your ideas for your posts. You won’t forget with your visually attractive and well-organized boards.
- Guest bloggers: Make a Trello board to help you remember who you plan on pitching, who you are currently pitching and waiting for a reply from, and who accepted your pitches. Trello extensions allow you to bring in the live links to the blogs so you don’t need to look them up.
- Affiliate marketers: Since you are providing links to where readers can purchase, you are entitled to affiliate income each time you make a sale.
You will find Web Clipper for Trello here at the Chrome Store.
List Layouts for Trello
This enables you to easily scroll up and down through the lists on your board. Your lists can be displayed vertically or in a grid.
Interested? You can find List Layouts here at the Chrome Store.
FlexyTrello
Make your lists resizable. FlexyTrello allows you to expand your list. You can change the view. For instance, have your lists look like a bookshelf or files lined up.
Controls the appearance of your board.
Interested? You can find FlexyTrello here at the Chrome Store.
GMail-2-Trello Extension
Trigger the extension from your email account, not Trello.
For example: I receive email from Canva. I can add images I want to use later.
If you want Trello Extensions that allow you to attach related emails as a card on your Trello board, go to the Chrome Store. You will find Gmail-2-Trello here.
Plus for Trello
Are you interested in time trackers? Plus for Trello helps you estimate your project team and keep track of the time while you work.
This extension was named the Chrome Store Editor’s Choice.
You can find Plus for Trello here at the Chrome Store.
Capture for Trello
If you ever want to bring in a screen capture or web clipping, consider this as one of the best Trello extensions that are right for you.
You can find it here at the Chrome Store.
GTD: Trello Card Links
This allows you to put a link on the front side of the card. You can make the link the name of the card. This speeds up getting to the link. You can add more than one link to each card.
Interested? You can find it here at the Chrome Store.
Slim Lists for Trello
If scrolling right and left annoys you, consider Slim Lists. Like the name indicates, the Trello extension makes your lists narrower so you can see more at a glance.
Interested? You will find it here at the Chrome Store.
Pomello
Too much going on? Having trouble staying focused?
This is one of the Trello extension that keeps track of how long you spend on each activity.
Interested? You will find it here at the Chrome Store.
Trello vs Slack
Slack is also a team management tool.
Chalene Johnson of Build Your Tribe discourages entrepreneurs from using Slack. Also, she won’t collaborate with people who want to communicate using Slack.
According to Chalene,
“I think it is the dumbest thing. Slack just seems to be a super overly complicated way of text messaging.
I know some people use it to project manage and so you don’t have to disturb people after hours. Maybe that’s the way it was set up initially, but I still see people addicted to their Slack the way some people are addicted to their email… I don’t do Slack.”
Related Reading: Information about WhatsApp blogs can be used to help bloggers send messages to team members.
Trello Extensions Update
Update October 2021
One important note:
When I originally composed the article, I implied the success of using Trello for business hinged on using the extension that allows you to put emails on the Trello boards. My own team would benefit greatly from this function.
However, when I composed this article, I was unable to install the needed extension. I don’t know if it was a glitch on Trello’s end. I look forward to trying again.
Wrapping Up: Trello and Trello Extensions
In closing, this guide was designed to introduce you to Trello and give you a brief overview of a few popular Trello extensions. In fact, this post was an overview of a handful of selected Trello Extensions. There are many more.
This guide just scratched the surface to let you know how Trello boards and Trello Extensions can organize your lives with or without a team.
Although this article explained how bloggers could take advantage of Trello and Trello extensions to organize their blogging tasks, everyone can benefit from the increased organization Trello boards bring.
Readers, please share so people discover the advantages of using Trello and Trello extensions to boost their personal and professional productivity.
Did reading these descriptions of Trello extensions give you ideas for how you can use them in your own online journey? Share your ideas for implementing Trello and Trello extensions in the comments section.
Janice Wald is the founder of MostlyBlogging.com and co-founder of the Mostly Blogging Academy. She is an ebook author, blogger, blogging coach, blogging judge, freelance writer, and speaker. She won the Best Internet Marketer Award and the Best Blogger Award at the 2021 Infinity Blog Awards. Wald was also nominated as 2019 Best Internet Marketer by the Infinity Blog Awards and in 2017 as the Most Informative Blogger by the London Bloggers Bash. She’s been featured on Small Business Trends, the Huffington Post, and Lifehack.
