4 Must-Have Tools for Content Writers — People First Content
We here at PFC are big fans of tools for writing content, editing content, optimizing content… you get the idea. I always have tabs pinned with my favorite tools open while I work. Anything to make content more effective and easier to write.
While we’ve already done an article on tools for search engine optimization, we focused on tools like Ubersuggest and Semrush that are more comprehensive and focus on keywords.
But sometimes, a Swiss-army knife isn’t the best tool for the job. Sometimes you need something more specialized when you’re optimizing your content for SEO.
So this is our extended list of tools for content writers and businesses looking to optimize their content.
HubSpot’s Blog Ideas Generator
Sometimes coming up with blog ideas can feel like… uh, you know… um.
Anyway, the point is that consistently coming up with ideas is hard. Even if you have topics, you want to address, finding an angle to approach them can be tricky.
Enter HubSpot. Their blog idea generator takes five nouns and turns them into a “year’s supply” of snappy blog titles that you can download as a spreadsheet.
Price
Free!
Suggestions for use
I put year’s supply in quotes because, as with anything AI-generated, there are some winners and some losers. Some of the titles sound extremely fill-in-the-blank, and some don’t make much sense. You’ll have to spend some time weeding through the list and editing some of the others.
So you’re likely to end up more with a couple of months of blog ideas and some jumping-off points. But that’s more than you started with, so it still ends up being a win.
Yoast’s Real-time Content Analysis
Anyone who has done any SEO knows how many things you have to think about. Almost inevitably, you’re going to forget something. That’s why Yoast’s tool is so handy.
First, it will help you preview how your writing will look on a search engine results page (SERP). Then it goes through a list of what your text is doing right and what it’s doing wrong.
This includes assessments of:
- Word count
- Meta description
- Images
- SEO title
- Reading ease
- And more!
It finishes the assessment with an SEO score, so you can see at a glance how your material is performing.
Price
Yoast’s tool is free! However, if you’re looking for a plugin for WordPress, they offer a plugin for $99/year (though there is a free version).
Suggestions for use
While the tool does work in real-time, it’s generally better to think about the quality of your writing first and then think about SEO. Otherwise, your writing can read like a string of loosely related keywords. Especially since it’s not the most attractive tool, I prefer writing my content elsewhere and then copying it into the editor.
This is a great tool to use as the last step before publication.
PFC’s Word Count and Post Frequency Tool
See a need. Fill a need.
While researching the best way to organize PFC’s blog, like how often to post and how long our posts should be, we ran across my favorite non-answer: it depends. It depends on your industry, how established you are, how many people are in your company, what exactly you want to do with your blog, etc.
So while it’s true that it depends, it’s not the ideal answer, especially when there is so much data and variables to sift through to find out exactly what it depends on.
We did the work for ourselves, and as a word person, I’ll tell you it was a headache.
So that’s why we decided to do the work of blog optimization for you!
We looked through the data, crunched the numbers, and figured out the most relevant factors on which a blog’s success depends. Just input a few pertinent details to get a personalized blog frequency schedule and length.
Price
Totally free!
Suggestions for use
The word count and frequency tool is excellent for content strategy. If your blog is under-performing, or you think it has untapped potential, it’s time to reassess. This tool can help you pinpoint the optimal number of blogs you should be posting a week and how long your posts should be.
You don’t want to post so often that it’s annoying and people don’t have time to read it all, or so infrequently, people forget about you
Also, you want your blogs to match the length of top-performing blogs in your industry.
Copyscape
While Grammarly and other editing tools offer plagiarism detectors, they’re pretty rudimentary. Sometimes you need a specific SEO tool for plagiarism. Copyscape is a plagiarism detection tool that checks for duplicate content on the internet.
This software uses a database of web pages and checks them against the webpage you are currently viewing. The results show how often the web page has been found on the internet, whether or not it’s an exact match, and where it was found.
Duplicate content is not just a problem for SEO. It can also confuse readers and lead to duplicate content penalties from Google.
Price
There is a free version of the program and a premium for more advanced features. You can read more about their pricing guidelines here.
Suggestions for use
Since Copyscape is just checking for duplicate content, you can use it for two purposes:
Most plagiarization tools only see if you’re accidentally plagiarizing, so this dual usage is a huge pro.
It is good to use Copyscape semi-often on the content you’ve published so that people can’t steal your work and pass it off as their own.
Conclusion
A craftsman is only as good as their tools. These four tools for content writers and marketers can help fill in the gaps that other programs leave. Hubspot can help you generate ideas, Yoast can make sure each piece of content you publish is up to snuff, Copyscape can ensure your content’s originality, and we can help your content work smarter, not harder!
Keeping up with content marketing can be a grind, but it doesn’t have to be. PFC can help you write content that will keep your customers engaged and excited about your products. Contact us today to get started!
Originally published at https://www.peoplefirstcontent.com on May 15, 2022.
