If you have a website, you probably already know that having quality content is essential for separating yourself from your competition and establishing yourself as an authority to consumers searching for your products or services. The problem, however, is that there’s already a lot of content already out there. No matter how confident you are in your writing, every good writer needs help every now and again.
On top of content research, you also need to actually write the content, develop it, and polish it. In order to create high-quality content that stands out above the rest, you need to have the right tools. Having a visual content marketing checklist helps but below are some of the top tools for 2019.
Hemmingway Editor
Typically, online content needs to have shorter sentences and paragraphs to make it easier to read. This allows website visitors, who often scan pages, to not just read, but understand what you have written. The Hemmingway App is designed to help make your content readable. This free app scans your content for readability. It can detect passive voice and identify sections that are difficult to read. The app provides you with color-coded marks to make editing easier.
HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator
Having consistent, quality content is essential for staying at the forefront of your industry. It can be difficult, however, to come up with new content regularly. HubSpot’s blog topic generator can be very helpful. All you need to do is enter up to 3 keywords and the generator will come up with a long list of topics that can get you started.
Yoast SEO
WordPress is one of the most commonly used content management systems for creating websites. If you use this system, the Yoast plugin is highly recommended. After installation, Yoast rates the readability of your content and determines how SEO-friendly it is. It can also point out specific issues to keep in mind. You can also set a specific keyword for your current post and will help you to optimize your content with a list of objectives.
Keyword Planner
Keywords are essential for content creation and for SEO. Without relevant keywords, it’s harder for search engines to categorize your website. This means that you won’t rank as high and will be more difficult to find. Keyword Planner is Google’s own tool and can fit just about every keyword research need. You enter your content topic, your industry, or something else and you’re provided with an organized list of keywords.
Buzzsumo
Content research can take quite a bit of time and it can be difficult. Buzzsumo simplifies the whole process. It provides you with posts already out there based on keywords. It basically shows you what those in your industry, or around it, are sharing. This can help to give you ideas for content topics. You can also see what consumers are looking for so that you can create the content necessary to meet their needs.
Wridea
Wridea is an idea management service. It gives you brainstorming tools to help generate topics to write about. You can easily create idea entries that can be updated as content ideas strike you later. It prevents your ideas from being forgotten and then allows you to organize and improve them.
Grammarly
You might not be praised for using good grammar, but you sure can be criticized when it’s poor. Even small grammatical errors can impact your content and your credibility. Grammarly is a free browser extension that works a spellchecker and a grammar checker. It also has a paid version that can provide additional assistance by providing word variations and checking the structure of your sentences.
StayFocused
It’s easy to get distracted when trying to write content. These distractions can lengthen the amount of time it takes you to finish your content or cause you to lose focus. StayFocused is a Google Chrome extension that temporarily disables web browsing, keeping you focused on the task at hand. What’s blocked can be customized. For instance, you can block all browsing or you can allow access to certain websites only. It’s also possible to block certain types of content, like games.
Write or Die
Write or Die is another tool to help prevent procrastination. With this tool, you can set a specific amount of time and word goal. You can also choose consequences for what will happen if you stop writing for a set amount of time. There is even a kamikaze mode, which deletes all of your work of you get distracted for too long.
Good content is essential for engaging your clients and providing them with what they need and keep them coming back. However, creating quality content is about more than just stringing together thoughts into a blog post. In order to stand out from your competition, you really need to wow your customers. These tools can help you to do just that and help you to establish yourself in the online world.
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