According to Google Analytics, significantly more than half of you reading this are using Mozilla Firefox to navigate here. I don’t blame you, I’ve been using Firefox for a majority of web browsing for a few years now, and rarely do I fire up the old IE – unless there is a specific need for it.

One of the cool things about FF is that there are literally thousands of “addons” that you can download for free and install, which make your internet browsing experience a lot more productive and fun. I’ve only tried a dozen or so different addons, some I liked, some I didn’t, but there are so many more out there to try I doubt I’ll ever get a chance to mess with them all.

No surprise, there are a few great addons out there that are geared towards bloggers, or at least they’re tools that bloggers can find a use for, and I’ll list them below. They’re all free, easy to install, and definitely worth playing with.

1. ScribeFire – Fire Up Your Blogging

ScribeFire is a pretty nifty plugin made especially for bloggers, because it really makes it easier for some people to get their daily blogging done without the hassle of logging in to your account and going through all of the hoops of getting your post setup. After Scribefire is installed, all you have to do is add whatever and however many blogging accounts you have, and with a swift click of the F8 button, Scribefire splits your screen in half, and gives you a full WYSIWG editor with a ton of cool functions. On the top of your screen is your browser, and the bottom half is Scribefire – so if you’re one of those bloggers that blogs about particular topics and you have to navigate through 10 sites to get all your information, Scribefire may come in quite handy for you. Essentially you can just cruise through all of your daily sites, take notes, copy and paste text as you go, and post to whichever blog you’ve added as you please.

ScribeFire is a really handy extension, and I would recommend trying it out at least once. It takes a bit to get used to, but if you do some serious blogging/reporting, then it might make things more efficient for your daily routine. It just so happens that today, May 15th, ScribeFire 2.2 has been released. It has a host of new and improved features, and it’s a perfect time to try it out. To install ScribeFire, head over to this Mozilla Firefox Addons page.

2. Search Status

Search status, while geared towards the internet marketer and the SEO specialist, as opposed to just a regular blogger, has a variety of features that most bloggers can appreciate. Basically installing the Search Status toolbar extension allows you to see the big stats for any site or blog you come across. Meaning, whenever you go to a site or blog, you can immediately see:

• Alexa Rank
• Google PR
• Compete Ranking
• Alexa Incoming Links
• Backward Links From Google, Yahoo, and MSN

and much more…

Not too long ago, I worked as an SEO specialist for a pretty large company, and I dealt with multiple clients each day. Having this toolbar extension gave me a quick overview of what I was dealing with on the surface without having to run external reports and going to different sites to find out what I needed to know quickly.
As a blogger, (and forgive me if I’m wrong), I think we tend to be a bit curious of other bloggers stats and rankings, and having this installed can tell you quickly about the type of blog you’re reading as far as how popular it is. Another cool thing I really like about Search Status is the fact that I can go to any site, and with the click of a button, Search Status will highlight all of the no-follow links on that page. So if another blog or site links to me, I can quickly deduce if they used no-follow or not in the link. I’m all about convenience, and Search Status delivers just that. Download it here.

3. Copy As HTML Link

Ok, for the beginners out there, this extension, which doesn’t have a clever name, rather it’s short and describes exactly what it does, “Copy As HTML Link“. Let’s face it, many bloggers out there are new to blogging and don’t know the ins and outs of how to do things – let alone HTML coding. I still remember back in the day when I had to go look up the html code for making a text link, so I’m quite sure that there are plenty of others in this same situation.

Let’s say that a new blogger is getting ready to make a blog post in whatever platform that they use, and they’re getting ready to link to another blog – but they need to use the html code for linking to said blog. Instead of memorizing it, or copying and pasting the code from somewhere else and then manipulating it, all they have to do with this toolbar extension is right click on the site they’re linking to, and select “Copy As HTML Link” – and viola! Instant HTML code that includes the link to the site you desired.