[ad#posts]
It is my pleasure today to introduce you, for many for the first time, to Microsoft Windows Live Writer. Live Writer is an offline blog authoring program and is part of Windows Live, which also includes Live Spaces, Messenger, SkyDrive, PhotoGallery, and Mail.These programs were designed by Microsoft to combine your Online world with your Windows Desktop offline world.

Before using Windows Live Writer, I would type all of my posts inside of Microsoft Word, so that I could use that I could take advantage of the powerful tools that Word has. I would then copy and paste the post inside of WordPress. From there, I would use WordPress’s limited picture capabilities to add a picture, and then post my entry.

Now within Live Writer, I can create my post, use the editing tools, and insert pictures, tables, maps, videos, and much more. Not only that, but Live Writer also downloads my CSS files for a true WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) experience. Once I am finished with my post, I can publish it, all from Live Writer. I believe that the true power of Live Writer is in it’s flexibility. The program offers a host of Plug-ins and at the time of this posting, there were 84 available. Lastly with Live Writer you can access any previous post, make changes, and then republish your post.

The only shortcoming of this program is that you can not, as far as I know, take advantage of your WordPress Plugins. Also SEO is very limited. Still I would recommend you give it a try by going to http://get.live.com!