Originally published at hipb2b.com on December 1, 2017. Authored by Gerry Nason (loyal HIP staffer who has since passed) and updated in December 2019.
You can’t just sit down at your keyboard, armed with creativity, inspiration, a fresh idea, and grit anymore. Today, technology wants you to believe that you are passé if you don’t bend your will to the digital revolution and get yourself a couple of “toys” to improve your writing.
Personally, I like to believe that you can be successful without a “digital crutch.” However, realistically, these tools save valuable time and act as a digital check on your work. Here are a couple of my favorite digital tools to use in my writing process.
1. Buzzsumo
This tool helps you analyze what content performs best for any topic or competitor. Find the key influencers to promote your content. BuzzSumo gives you insight into what content is working and the influencers who are amplifying it.
BuzzSumo takes content discovery to a new level using social search. There is no shortage of content on the web; the key is finding the content that:
- Resonates with audiences
- Content that is currently trending
- Content about to trend
A BuzzSumo search reveals the most shared content across all the main social networks.
2. Copyscape
With a simple keyboard command, anyone can copy your content and republish it on their website. What is the result?
Fewer visitors and, in turn, less revenue. Copyscape’s Copysentry tool scans the web daily for copies of your content, emailing you when new copies are found.
3. CoSchedule Headline Analyzer
The Headline Analyzer is an awesome tool to optimize an attention-grabbing blog post headline. The tool checks your headline for common, uncommon, emotional, and power words. It then compares your mix of these words to an ideal ratio.
The Headline Analyzer works directly in WordPress. It’s available in all new CoSchedule calendar plans.
4. CoSchedule Marketing Calendar
Get everything organized in one place, so you (and your team) can focus on the important stuff. Organize your strategy. See your entire marketing schedule at a glance. Create a unified workflow for every project with CoSchedule’s drag and drop calendar. Sync your teams inside a collaborative, cross-functional calendar for social, content, email, events, and more.
5. Grammarly
Grammarly makes sure everything you type is easy to read, effective, and mistake-free. It instantly fixes over 250 types of errors, many of which aren’t caught by programs like Microsoft Word.
Grammarly also suggests better word choices depending on the reasons and audience you are writing for. Grammarly also analyzes your most common issues and helps you avoid them next time.
6. Keyword Tool
Using Google’s Autocomplete, the Keyword Tool allows you to see keyword trends to refine your SEO and ensures your content remains relevant. How would your business benefit if you could customize your website to meet your customers needs?
Keyword Tool suggests hundreds of new long-tail keywords on any topic. Keyword Tool is extremely reliable. You can use Keyword Tool free, even without even creating an account. These keyword suggestions are presented in the domain and language of your choice.
7.Portent’s Content Idea Generator
Simply go to the site and enter your subject matter into the space provided and click the button. The Portent’s Content Idea Generator automatically generates a title for you. How easy is that?
Use it to come up with a veritable buffet of titles for your next blog post or video. Some are funny. Some are shocking. All useful.
Caution: It’s addictive.
Famous Last Words
“Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.” – Steve Jobs
