5 Awesome Chrome Extensions for Bloggers

Whether you’re on a Chromebook, a Macbook or a Windows PC, chances are that Google Chrome is your web browser of choice. I’m not here to sell you on the browser choice if you don’t already use it, nor am I here to say that it’s the best desktop browser on the planet. I know it has its faults and shortcomings, but it’s still what I use day in and day out for my everyday work. And part of that is because of what I can do with Chrome extensions. 

If you’re a blogger like me — and chances are that you are if you are reading this blog — then you may want to know about these awesome Google Chrome extensions, including several that you may not have even heard about! They’re great for resource management, productivity, and other aspects related to the business of blogging. Let’s take a look. 

OneTab

Do you tend to have a lot of browser tabs open at the same time? You’ve got one with your email, another with your to-do list, several social media platforms, your SEO toolbox, YouTube, several articles you want to read, a keyword tool… the list goes on and on and on. Particularly in the case of a Chromebook, this can be a serious drag on your system resources.

You don’t want to close all those tabs, nor do you necessarily want to save them to some online bookmark, so what can you do? That’s where OneTab comes to the rescue. First, it can clear up all that tab clutter so you can really focus on whatever it is that you need to do. Second, this frees up to 95% of the memory that these tabs are hogging. 

Simply click the OneTab icon, and all your active tabs will collapse into a list. When you need to get at any of these webpages again, you can restore them all or you can restore them individually. This is a great way to stay organized and productive, all while managing your system resources more effectively. 

Screencastify

There are any number of reasons why you may want to record what’s on your screen. Maybe you’re working on an online course, maybe you’re collaborating on a mastermind, or maybe you’re putting together a tutorial or walkthrough for a YouTube video. What’s great is that you don’t need to deal with complicated software to complete the task. 

One of the best options here is Screencastify. You can choose to record your whole screen or just a window, you can include audio, you can embed the webcam feed, and more. Simply click record and off you go. Once you’re done, the video can be saved automatically to Google Drive too. 

For my part, when I’m on my Windows desktop, I’ll still use OBS. It’s still more versatile with more granular controls, especially as I play around with different layouts and such. But, when I’m on my Chromebook, Screencastify is perfectly simple and simply perfect.

Infinite Dashboard

Want to elevate your “new tab” game to another level? Take a look at Infinite Dashboard. You have so many options for how you want to configure a new tab in Google Chrome.

Basically, instead of a “new tab” screen, you should think about this more like a “start” page. While it starts out with just a wallpaper and a search bar, you can customize it to suit your specific needs and preferences. Add bookmarks for your most frequently used websites, pin apps like messengers (and games), add a to-do list, keep notes and memos, and even suspend and restore sessions.

MultCloud

Especially if you’re on a Chromebook, there’s a good chance that much of your digital life (and digital business) exists in the cloud. But, what if you have files scattered across different cloud services? It can be frustrating and time-consuming to download and upload files and folders across all these services. 

With MultCloud, you can easily move your files around on Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Amazon Cloud Drive, Amazon S3, SugarSync, Box and other similar services. This means you can transfer, migrate, backup and sync across these services too, all from within your web browser. It’ll work with FTP and WebDav too. You can automate data transfers between services too, making it easy to have redundant backups.

StayFocusd

Do you get distracted easily? Hey look! A squirrel! A shiny object! You’re not alone. Yes, as much as technology and the Internet can be our best friends, they can also be our worst enemies, especially when paired with diminishing self-control. Believe me, I’ve been there. 

Zero in on the task at hand with StayFocusd. The name pretty much says it all. When you can’t rely on yourself to stay off of Facebook and YouTube, StayFocusd lets you set specific time limits for how long you’re allowed to be on the sites that you specify. Once your time’s up for the day, that’s it for the day.

You can choose to block whole sites, specific subdomains, and even down to specific pages and in-page content. Of course, you can always work around your own restrictions, but this adds an extra layer beyond your own self-control. 

Do you have any favorite Chrome extensions?