5 Great iPad Apps New Bloggers Should Download Right Now

With the book and journalism industries in limbo, more and more writers are turning to the self-publishing world of blogs as an outlet for their creative talents. Since the release of the iPad this year, blog hosts have released apps that make writers’ jobs that much easier. And the intimate setting that comes along with the iPad – being able to curl up with it in the tub, for instance – may mean that lots more people are inspired to take a few moments and record their ideas for all to read.

Tumbleroo
Tumbleroo is Tumblr’s new iPad app, released on Aug. 18. Tumblr has had an incredible year of growth, and it seems that this blog site was made for the iPad. Tumblr specializes in multimedia posts, making it easy to include things like audio clips, pictures and video along with your text. Tumblr is also known for its themes, which help make your blog page look appealing – which plays perfectly into the iPad’s dazzling and enticing touch screen.
Tumbleroo has a built-in browser, liking and reblogging features and the ability to e-mail posts you like to others. The app is also geared towards creators, making the process of writing texts, quoting others and including multimedia elements simple. The app is available for $4.99 at the iTunes store.

LiveJournal
The LiveJournal app, called Journaler, is free with extra features for the price of $2.99. LiveJournal was founded way back in 1999, but the goodies offered on its app are definitely helpful for the modern blogger. For example, Journaler lets you set customized security levels for your posts. The app also has a new feature that filters and organizes your friends’ LiveJournals – that is, you can sort the friends you follow according to communities and other categories.

Why is Journaler particularly nice for the iPad? It’s focus on networking, and organizing your viewed blogs by group and automatically caching friends’ blogs complements the intimate experience of the Apple tablet nicely. That is, you can curl up with your iPad and retreat into the blogosphere while also literally feeling an extensive social network at your fingertips.

BlogPress

BlogPress for the iPad has one star quality: convenience. The BlogPress app is compatible with not only Blogger and WordPress, but also Drupal, Moveable Type and TypePad. For the new blogger who is not yet sold on his or her platform and may be experimenting on the format of his or her blog, BlogPress’s intuitive word-processing system is convenient because it’s relatively universal.

Especially for bloggers who have just gotten their iPads (and let’s face it, all iPad owners are new owners at this point), BlogPress’s familiarity is comforting in contrast with the possible burden of navigating the new iPad technology. So if you can only handle a couple of new options at once, the BlogPress app for the iPad suddenly becomes a supportive friend.

SimpleSense

The SimpleSense app comes in handy for those writers who are interested in not only releasing their thoughts, but also tracking how lucrative they are. SimpleSense gives you the statistics from your Google AdSense account so that you can see the number of people reading and clicking on your blog’s ads. As its iTunes purchasing page states, “SimpleSense is a simple AdSense client.”

An encouraging feature that is appealing for new bloggers is SimpleSense’s security assurances — the developer makes clear that your account is secure with this app. The Google accessories for Blogspot blogs are mainstays now of the blogging world, and so having Google Adsense statistics at the touch of a finger seems like a no-brainer for all bloggers, whether they are trying to cash in a little or a lot — the app is free, so there’s no investment risk here.

TweetDeck

Finally, the next tool new bloggers should have in their arsenal is TweetDeck, a highly mainstream app that has probably earned its status. The app is free on the iTunes store and of course lets you manage all of your Twitter accounts. Though bloggers of old didn’t have Twitter to keep them up-to-date on trending topics, new bloggers will probably find this enormous database of people’s thoughts useful for choosing blog ideas.

And the advantage of using TweetDeck for the iPad is the simple advantage of a previously well-established app — it just works well, like in its elegant transitions from landscape to portrait view modes.

The excuses for not blogging are disappearing. As more people join the ranks of those producing content on the Web, and as gadgets like the iPad make portable access a snap, these apps are plain practical.

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