45 Free Content Writing Tools to Love [for Writing, Editing & Content Creation]

Creating content material is not at all times a stroll within the park. (In actual fact, it could actually typically really feel extra like making an attempt to swim towards the present.)

Whereas different components of enterprise and advertising and marketing have gotten more and more automated, content material creation continues to be a really guide job.

That being mentioned, there are many instruments on the market to make creating content material a lot simpler.

Beneath, you may discover a checklist of 36 incredible instruments and sources that can assist you analysis, write, edit, and design content material extra simply. (You will discover there are lots of design instruments in right here — that is as a result of visible content material is commonly the a part of the content material creation course of the place folks get essentially the most nervous and annoyed. So don’t fret, we have got a ton in there for you.)

Let’s get began.

36 Free Instruments & Assets to Make Content material Creation Simpler

For Researchers

1) Google Drive Analysis Software

Google not too long ago added a instrument to Drive that permits you to conduct Google searches with out ever leaving your Drive window. All you need to do is click on “Instruments” from the menu bar and select “Analysis” from the dropdown menu.

2) Web site:search

This can be a helpful Google hack I take advantage of on daily basis. Mainly, it permits you to do a Google search that is restricted to a selected web site.

For instance, if I needed to look HubSpot’s weblog for advertising and marketing sources so I can cite one in all our outdated weblog posts, I would do a website:seek for weblog.hubspot.com with the search time period advertising and marketing sources. The system for website search is website:samplewebsite.com [search query]. So my instance could be website:weblog.hubspot.com advertising and marketing sources.

3) Google Webmaster Instruments

Doing search engine optimisation and key phrase analysis? Your advertising and marketing software program ought to have the ability to assist. But when it could actually’t (otherwise you’d like to reinforce your information), Google’s Webmaster Instruments is usually a nice assist. You may verify issues just like the variety of listed pages in your web site, submit your website to Google so that you’re getting crawled and listed, and even disavow unhealthy inbound hyperlinks. It additionally can provide you data on search queries which have a big quantity of impressions however low clickthrough charge.

Inside Google Webmaster Instruments, go to “Your website on the net” and select “Search queries.” You will see a desk displaying a search question, impressions, clicks, and clickthrough charge (CTR). Evaluating this information to your different analytics information may help uncover some alternatives.

4) Share Change Calculator

I am unable to even start to let you know how helpful this little calculator is when in search of and analyzing information. Ever wish to know the proportion change of two values with out having to recollect the system? Merely enter the 2 values into this calculator, and it will spit out the proportion change. Belief me, you may wish to bookmark this one.

Listed here are a number of different helpful calculators:

• 3-Manner Share Calculator – Calculates solutions to those questions: What’s X% of Y? X is what % of Y? X is Y% of what?
• Conversion Fee Calculator – Spits out a conversion charge if you enter the overall customer depend throughout a selected time-frame and the variety of instances throughout that time-frame these guests took a selected motion.
• A/B Check Calculator – Works for a fundamental state of affairs with two teams of individuals (A & B) who get to see one model of your web site and for whom you monitor the variety of conversions or objectives (purchases, downloads, clickthroughs, and many others.).
• ROI Calculator – Analyzes your web site’s month-to-month gross sales and lead technology efforts to find out methods by which advertising and marketing efforts will be optimized.

5) Atlas

Atlas is Quartz’s information middle, and it is chock-full of graphs, charts, and information visualizations. You may seek for nearly any matter or key phrase, and Atlas can have a graphic based mostly on latest analysis information for you. This can be a useful gizmo to get background data on a subject you are researching, or to search out recent information to make use of in a venture you are engaged on. Here is a chart based mostly on information from early 2016:

Supply: Atlas

6) Search in a Giphy

You already know that coworker who at all times appears to search out the proper animated GIFs in your social posts or inside chat consumer? With the free Giphy Chrome extension, you can discover nice GIFs simply as shortly.

To make use of the instrument, all you need to do is open the extension in Chrome, search, select a GIF, and drag and drop. Thus far, the instrument works in Gmail, Twitter, Fb, and extra — and so they’re continually increasing help.

For Writers

7) Evernote

I take advantage of the free model of Evernote each single day. From to-do lists and analysis notes to writing complete chunks of articles, it is confirmed useful at each step of the writing and modifying course of.

One nice characteristic? Its cellular, desktop, and internet apps sync mechanically so long as you may have an web connection. (And for those who work offline, it will sync the subsequent time you may have web.) Plus — and that is tremendous vital for content material creators like us — it is continually saving and syncing your work mechanically, making it a protected place to put in writing and retailer concepts.

Use it to maintain a working checklist of concepts, take notes, retailer inspiring articles or ebooks, or plan your editorial and social media publishing calendars.

8) Word2CleanHTML

For those who like drafting weblog posts in applications like Microsoft Phrase, Evernote, or Google Drive as a substitute of your content material administration system (CMS), then this straightforward instrument will be your finest buddy. Why? As a result of if you copy a doc from Microsoft Workplace and paste it into your CMS, plenty of little, bizarre formatting points can crop up in your HTML.

Word2CleanHTML applies filters to repair all these issues added into the HTML, leading to well-formatted HTML you may paste straight into an internet web page CMS. Merely paste in your draft, click on one button, after which copy the ensuing HTML straight from the instrument. While you paste that into your CMS (most can have buttons studying “HTML” or “</>” of their instrument bar above your draft), it should seem good and clear. No hair-pulling or swimming by code required.

9) WordCounter

There is no such thing as a “proper reply” for a way lengthy a weblog submit ought to be. So long as it serves its objective — whether or not that is thought management, driving leads, explaining a brand new idea, or one thing else — size would not matter. However though we do not suggest writing weblog posts with a phrase depend in thoughts, typically phrase depend can come in useful. WordCounter works precisely the way in which you suppose it does: Paste in your content material and it will spit out precisely what number of phrases you may have.

10) Cofftivity

In keeping with a examine out of the College of Chicago, “A average degree of ambient noise is conducive to artistic cognition.” In different phrases, being the tiniest bit distracted truly helps you be extra artistic. That is why for many individuals, myself included, white noise helps promote focus.

There are lots of white noise mills on the market, however my favourite is Cofftivity. This specific one gives continuous café background sounds at various intensities, from “Morning Murmur” and “College Undertones” to “Lunchtime Lounge” and “Brazil Bistro.” It is obtainable on the net and as an app on iOS and Android.

11) & 12) Zerys & eLance

Want to start out creating content material however do not have the bandwidth? We hear about this roadblock rather a lot. One approach to get round it’s by hiring freelancers from respected marketplaces like Zerys or eLance. These sources offer you entry to expert freelance writers who can write weblog posts, ebooks, whitepapers, and different items of written content material for you.

13) HTML Hacks for Entrepreneurs

Whereas this is not strictly a writing useful resource, fundamental coding data is shortly changing into vital ability for the fashionable marketer — bloggers and written content material creators included. However studying from scratch will be daunting. The place on earth do you begin?

For those who’re a complete newbie, begin with HTML Hacks for Entrepreneurs, which my colleagues at HubSpot created with Codeacademy. It will train you fast however helpful hacks anybody — no matter coding data — can use of their advertising and marketing. For instance, you may discover ways to make small adjustments to HTML like altering headers and spacing, creating textual content in block-quote type, and inserting social share hyperlinks. My private favourite is the hack to alter font colours.

As soon as you’ve got mastered these fundamental HTML expertise, transfer on to Codeacademy’s free interactive programs. They discovered a approach to make studying HTML and CSS truly enjoyable — and you’ll undergo every lesson at your personal tempo.

14) Weblog Subject Generator

If you must get to writing weblog posts however aren’t certain of an angle or title to get your creativity shifting, HubSpot’s Weblog Subject Generator can do the be just right for you. Merely enter a number of key phrases that your weblog focuses on, and the Weblog Subject Generator will produce per week’s value of titles and matter concepts for you. It won’t produce the ultimate title of your weblog submit, however it helps get you occupied with artistic new angles for subjects you’ve got written about earlier than.

Listed here are the weblog submit titles I acquired once I entered “content material,” “inbound advertising and marketing,” and “running a blog”:

15) Weblog Publish Templates

All weblog posts aren’t created equal, however we have discovered that there are steps you may take to make your posts complete and shareable. With these weblog submit templates, we’ll stroll you thru a top level view to put in writing profitable how-to, listicle, newsjack, and curation weblog posts. As an alternative of ranging from scratch, you may save time and, hopefully, nail your weblog objectives.

For Content material Editors

16) Editorial Calendar Template

Making a balanced editorial calendar will be robust, particularly if you do not have one centralized calendar that you just and your workforce can check with. To save lots of you time and headache, we have created editorial calendar templates for Google Calendar, Google Sheets, and Excel which you can fill in and share together with your workforce to start out the subsequent month or 12 months off on the proper foot.

17) & 18) Grammarly & Correctica

Whereas human editors will have the ability to catch most grammatical errors, modifying instruments like Grammarly and Correctica are nice instruments for triple-checking earlier than you press “publish” or “ship.” Each free instruments verify for grammatical errors — and Grammarly even checks for plagiarism.

19) Hemingway App

Ernest Hemingway, admired for his succinct writing fashion, is the namesake for this helpful modifying app. Need to make your written content material simpler to learn? Paste your content material into this free internet app, and it will assess your writing and establish alternatives to make it easier.

My favourite options embody figuring out passive voice and hard-to-read sentences. Take a look at the right-hand facet of the screenshot beneath, the place the instrument has summed up how readable my writing is with a grade. (Some room for enchancment right here.) Their suggestion to enhance readability general? Shoot for decrease than a tenth grade studying degree.

20) Headline Analyzer

Here is a scary stat for you: Solely 60% of people that click on into an article find yourself studying previous the headline. That makes your headline each the primary and presumably the one probability so that you can compel readers to maintain studying — so it’s very value it to spend the additional jiffy developing with a very good one.

What does a very good headline seem like? The free instrument Headline Analyzer by CoSchedule can let you know. It scores your headline high quality and charges its skill to drive social shares, visitors, and search engine optimisation worth. In my expertise, its power helps you strengthen particular parts of your title. For instance, it stories on perceived sentiment and commonality of phrase sorts. It will even present you the way it will seem in search outcomes.

So though you need to take these scores and grades with a grain of salt, you should utilize this to provide your headlines a “once-over.” (And browse this weblog submit to be taught extra about writing superior headlines.)

For Designers

21) Nimbus Screenshot

That is one other instrument I take advantage of on daily basis. Certain, you may seize a screenshot of your complete display or a part of your display utilizing the outdated keyboard shortcut technique. However what if you would like your screenshot to incorporate stuff that is not seen in your display?

Nimbus Screenshot helps you to seize the seen a part of an internet web page, a particular space, a particular scroll (my private favourite), the whole web page, or the whole browser window — together with every part beneath the fold.

As soon as you’ve got taken the screenshot, you may crop, edit (like including notes and callouts), and select to print or save to your desktop or Google Drive.

22) Canva

For those who like creating lovely visible content material in a very quick period of time, you may love Canva. The time and sources it takes to be taught design, pay for design property, and/or get impressed to create magnificence from scratch will be actually tough if you’re observing a protracted checklist of to-dos — however Canva gives an enormous library of pre-made templates and property which you can manipulate whereas additionally including your personal imagery.

Better of all, they’ve so many property and graphics obtainable at no cost that you just will not must pay a cent for those who do not wish to. If you wish to use extra “premium” property and graphics discovered by their picture search, they will cost you $1 for every. However there’s loads of worth at no cost.

Here is an instance of one thing you can make:

23) ThingLink

Ever needed to make a picture (or infographic) clickable? ThingLink helps you to add a picture and add little icons to it that seem when an individual hovers their cursor over the picture. These icons enable customers to go to hyperlinks, watch movies, or learn messages you’ve got written. Plus, it is easy to share: Customers can simply embed ThingLink photos. (Click on right here for step-by-step directions.)

Beneath is a part of a a clickable infographic from Thinglink my colleague Ginny Mineo created for an additional submit: