Reviews

I usually do not review products that are not focused on health and wellness but I had to write this piece about this new tool I’ve been using for about a month for blogging. Now I promise I will bring this back to health and happiness so do not go anywhere!

As a blogger, I’ve learned that you have to really focus on taking care of yourself. The best way to do that, is by finding tools that can help you automate as much as possible to free your time. That’s what CoSchedule has done for me. Learn all about it today!

I learned about CoSchedule roughly 6 weeks ago and it has changed my life as a blogger. I’ve increased my efficiency, productivity and gotten major traffic wins for the site. Plus, they have tons of great posts with free advice that I’ve found very helpful. Lets get to it!

What is CoSchedule?

CoSchedule is is an easy drag-and-drop content marketing calendar that allows you to plan, create, and promote your content all in one place. It saves you time and helps you grow your audience through smart marketing plans and efficient team collaboration”.

If you are working as a team of one this is major. One of the challenges I’ve faced as a blogger has been, how do I share my content on social media over time. Short answer the key is CoSchedule!

How Does it Work?

I can show you better than I can tell you. Check out this quick video before I get into my actual calendar.

Awesome Right? If you aren’t doing black flips yet, you are about to my friend.

Using CoSchedule

I used this tool for organizing content, sharing content, and tracking progress. Let me walk you through some of my favorite features.

On the home screen you will see a breakdown of your content with most shares, your upcoming tasks and upcoming blog posts. As you can see I got a lot happening in the next few days. The tasks column is awesome for keeping me on schedule. While I do not use the team piece, you can assign tasks to your team members as well.

Here is my editorial calendar. As you can see I have a diverse set of messages going out every day promoting my content. This is one of the major reasons I love this tool. I can share to every single social media platform except instagram (although they recently announce that is on the way)!

Ever wonder how people create amazing SEO friendly titles? Well you do not need to wonder anymore! CoSchedule has a free tool called headline analyzer that rates your titles based on their SEO optimization. This tool is amazeballs and did I mention is free? They have integrated this with the editing content feature and now you can create awesome titles and see your title history for each post. This is great for promoting.

The Social Template feature alone merits getting this tool. Here You can decide how often you want to promote individual posts. Yes! You can create a template for new posts and share them for the period of time you decide. How freaking awesome is that? See it in action! The best part? CoSchedule will decide for you, when is the best time to share your post. That’s right! Say goodbye to the days when you had to figure out the best posting times for each social media platform!

As a blogger you know analytics are life! CoSchedule integrates with bitly and google analytics great to get a better picture of how your content is performing. They also integrate with evernote but I don’t use that tool.

What has this amazing tool done for me?

It has changed the game! I am much more strategic, my content is consistently promoted and I am saving a lot of time! They aren’t joking. You will get your time back. I’ve been using my extra time to create new content, focus on getting to know my audience better and I even have time to get back to pole dancing. *Que dance music*

As a blogger, I’ve learned that you have to really focus on taking care of yourself. The best way to do that, is by finding tools that can help you automate as much as possible to free your time. That’s what CoSchedule has done for me. Before I was really struggling to promote and keep everything in one place, not anymore! Now I feel so much better about my process and less overwhelmed. CoSchedule has me feeling like Queen B!

CoSchedule offers a variety of plans that you can pick from. You can start a 14-day FREE trial to check it out for yourself! I promise you will not be disappointed! While you are there check out their amazing referral program that can help you get this tool for free! I am not joking!

via GIPHY

Please do not hesitate to send me your questions. I love this tool and I think you will too!

This post was written as part of CoSchedule’s Referral and Review Program, and the links included in this post are affiliate links. All opinions and words, other than the ones quoted, are my own.

As promised I wanted to provide an update on the protein powders from Bob’s Red Mill and announce our giveaway winner!!!

First, let talk about the chocolate and protein flavors. During my previous post, I shared my thoughts on both the vanilla and chai flavors. Since then, I’ve tried both the protein and the chocolate both blended with fruits and only with water and ice. I am not a fan. I do not like the taste at all. The protein flavor has a very weird after taste. I hate after taste!

The chocolate flavor doesn’t blend well either. I did a blend with berries and it had such a chalky taste, I had to add ginger powder to try to make it manageable. I don’t know if I am not blending it with the right fruits, but I feel very strongly against protein powders that are not versatile to handle the fruits that I like or stand alone.

These flavors are a no go for me. Maybe in the future, I will give it another chance, perhaps for baking but not in my smoothies.

WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT

I would like to congratulate @craftyone! Thank you to everyone who entered!

Earlier this month I shared a smoothie powder that is great for travel. Today I am so excited to talk about another great protein powder for my travelistas. Many of us are familiar with Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods.

For those that aren’t, Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods produces more than 400 products, including a full line of certified gluten free products and an extensive line of certified organic products. With a wide variety of whole-grain products—from flours and hot cereals to baking mixes and grains—Bob’s Red Mill has “whole-grain foods for every meal of the day.”

An Employee-Owned company, Bob’s Red Mill is the nation’s leader in stone milling and is dedicated to producing natural foods in the natural way. They stone grind all common and many uncommon grains into flours and meals on over one-hundred- year-old mills.

With all of the sophisticated knowledge of recent times, no machinery has yet been developed that grinds grains into flour as well as these slow-turning, flint-hard quartz millstones of the kind used by millers since ancient times.”

So What’s In the Box?

• 4 Protein Powders (Chocolate, Protein, Chai and Vanilla)
• 1 scoop (1/3 of a cup)
• 1 Fuel Your Awesomeness Bottle with a mixer
• 1 Recipe booklet

I Hear You, But Tell Me About The Taste!

Enjoying a delicious cantaloupe smoothie using the chai protein powder.

I really like these protein powders. Since I received them in the mail, I’ve been on travel ALOT. So I decided to take some servings with me on my recent trips to both Mexico and Panama (posts coming soon). I took both the vanilla, the chai and the water bottle (which is awesome). I mixed the serving with 8 – 12 oz of cold water and enjoyed it for breakfast.

Since the protein powder comes with chia seeds I did not have to pack any extras (great move). The bottle comes with a mixer, the shape is very unique and it gets the job done. I have not tried both the protein and the chocolate, but don’t worry, I will share my thoughts on those flavors later this month so stay tunned.

Would You Buy This Product?

Yes I would. I seem to be on the move a lot these days, so having a protein powder that is tasty and healthy is very important to me. I really like how low maintenance this product is, all you need is cold water and you are all set. I also love that it comes with chia seeds and probiotics.

As I am transitioning to a vegan lifestyle, I like not having to worry about my probiotic intake. They also blend very well with fruits. I tried the chai with cantaloupe and water and it was delicious! If you would like to try this product, you can enter the giveaway below or use this coupon code.

Giveaway Time!

Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself! Our friends from Bob’s Red Mill will send you a full size protein powder (flavor of your choice: Original, Chai, Vanilla or Chocolate). This giveaway is ONLY open to US based winners. Enter below and do not forget to Fuel Your Awesomeness! Don’t forget to connect with us on Twitter and Instagram.