I was looking over the various services and products I use for blogging, and realized most if not all are 100% free. If you take pride in free blog tools and low overhead business operations, you will truly appreciate this list.

1. Firefox – no stranger to web warriors and blog deal seekers. Firefox is a top notch web browser with global community support and a large directory of free useful add-ons. Many articles exist exclaiming the top add-ons for Firefox, just do a quick Google search and you’ll be greeted with hundreds of results. Everything from SEO to social bookmarking, Firefox has it and for free.

2. Google Alerts – one of the most under rated free blog tools on the web. This service from Google can be used to source stories for your blog. Let’s say you need to write an article on recycling. Create a Google alert for this term and you’ll have your pick of the litter from all over, including other blog sites. The best thing about this service is it’s timely, the most recent result will show up when you do a query for your term. Great for timely blog article writing, and a must have in your blogging arsenal.

3. Feedburner – another Google service, this freebie covers your blogs RSS feed. It’s good for tracking how many RSS subscribers you have, which articles they read most, and more. You can also enable several options on Feedburner which expands its functionality, such as Socialize, Feed Count, Smart Feed, Feed Flare and even email subscriptions. Each component adds dimension to your blog site, and provides a useful service in its own right. A powerful blog tool offered for free from Google.

4. Digital Product Delivery – DPD is an online delivery service for digital goods, such as your ebooks, music, guides, manuals, and so on. To feature one product, it’s 100% free and is what I use to deliver my ebook over at Blog Flipping Bee. They provide a shopping cart, Paypal integration, stats, digital delivery and are quite easy to use. If later you decide to add more than one product, the fee is only five dollars a month. Still a good bargain. But for just one product, there’s no fee at all.

5. Twitter – we don’t really need to introduce Twitter do we? If you’ve not heard of the 140 character max streaming service by now, you’ve been in a coma or under a rock for the last two years. I don’t know of a single blogger who doesn’t use Twitter to gather a following and promote his or her articles and or site. One of the best low cost marketing tools out there for online marketers, including bloggers. Sign-up for free, add friends, tweet and reap the rewards.

6. Facebook – another important social media tool which has no cost. Usually those who have a Twitter account, have a Facebook account as well. Or vice versa. What is Facebook good for? It’s great for staying in touch with your audience, whomever they are. With more than half the population on Facebook and heavy daily use, it can’t be ignored anymore. For business use, try a Facebook Fan Page.

7. Sexy Bookmarks – this was the only plugin to make it to this list because it’s just plain cute. But wait! It’s more than a pretty face, it’s also quite useful in that it helps you get the word out about your article, via social bookmarking. You can view and test it out right here on this blog, if you scroll down a bit to the bottom of this article. Do you see where it says “Sharing is Sexy” in red letters? That’s it. That’s Sexy Bookmarks, the free WordPress plugin.

8. Google Adsense – one of the easiest ways to monetize a blog (any blog) is via the Google Adsense program. When you place the ad code on your blog and someone clicks on the ad you get paid a few cents. The ads are based on the content on your site, and are automatically served up and updated. You do nothing to maintain it, Google does this for you. Unless you’re in a high paying niche and become Adsense savvy, don’t expect to make too much money with this program. But you should be able to make a few dollars a day, if you pick a concentrated niche and cater to it well. Google Adsense is free to use.

9. Website Magazine – this monthly magazine is aimed at those who own a website, and a blog most definitely fits the bill. To get a free subscription, go here and fill out the form. This cool magazine is filled with lots of useful tips and tidbits on how to create, manage and market your site more effectively. Always a good read and 100% free!

10. Picnik – need to edit a photo online on the fly? You will love Picnik, the free online photo editing service. You can crop, edit, add text, re-size, and so much more with this easy to use web-based image editor. If you register a free account, you will be able to save your edited photos, otherwise you can just use whenever you need it without registering.

11. Animoto – how about a free photo to video service? Animoto to the rescue. Clever tool to create blog videos from images for your articles. Simply submit up to 10 photos, add music or text, and watch the magic unfold before your very eyes.

12. Supalogo – this  free blog tool will enable you to create text based logos. There are several font styles and sizes to choose from. Want to see what you can do with this service? Take a look at this site, which sports a text header banner made with Supalogo. 100% free.

13. Digital Point Forums – the undisputed heavyweight for low cost services and providers. The best section on this forum is the Buy and Sell area; particularly the contests, services and content threads. Need a writer for a short term project, or maybe someone to help out once in a awhile? Try the services section and hire someone at rock bottom prices. It’s free to register an account and free to use, but of course; should you hire someone, you will have to pony up.

14. Warrior Forum – Although there are a few paid sections on this forum, most areas are free to use and browse. The best area is the internet marketing discussion thread at the very top, join the forum and become an active member to get the most out of it.

15. Clicknewz Blog – the only blog on the list and for good reason. It’s my DAILY go to blog for anything related to net marketing and specifically affiliate marketing. The site is run by Lynn Terry, a seasoned blogger and affiliate marketer. To learn about SEO, backlinks, article marketing, WordPress tips and more add this blog to your bookmark or follow Lynn on Twitter.

16. Twhirl – this free Twitter client was number one till TweetDeck came along and knocked it off its perch. But I think you will like it’s simplicity and ease of use. It works with Adobe Air, not sure what that means. lol. But what I like about it is that it acts as an IM window and sits on your task bar till you call upon it for a tweet or to chat with your followers. In other words, no need to open another dreaded window or tab to access or use Twitter. Just pop open Twhirl and you’re good to go, quickly and easily.

Disagree with my top picks? Let me have it in the comment area.

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Missy Diaz

Cool Stuff for Bloggers is run by Missy Diaz otherwise known as Super Blogga on the web. This site is all about stuff that blog owners are interested in such as cool office gear, sexy gadgets, the latest work at home tech and of course – software, apps and online tools.

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