Top 18 Blogging Tools for Writing Blogs

The pressure to create great blog content is always on. You need to post often – on your blog and social media. But unless you are a creative genius and prolific, you will inevitably hit bottlenecks and dry periods. It’s just the “nature of the beast.” There are ways to tame the “beast,” and here are 18 blogging tools for writing blogs.

18 Blogging Tools for Writing Blogs

Blogging Tools for Writing Blogs

Tools for Topics

Coming up with topics regularly can be tough. You may be able to ease this with these:

  1. Buzzsumo: This tool will do it if you want to know what’s trending in your niche. All you have to do I type in a few keywords, and you’ll have some great data – blog posts that have been written sorted by popularity, for example
  2. Alltop: It’s sort of like having your own news feed based on topics you determine. Set up an account, list your topics, and you will receive what’s new daily.

Tools for Headlines

Recent tests by Upworthy have found that traffic to articles can vary as much as 500%, depending on a headline. You won’t even scan your blog content if you don’t engage your reader with a headline. Here are a couple of tools to help.

  1. Portent Idea Generator: This site will give you both titles and topic ideas. It is very easy to use. Type a keyword into the search bar and click “submit.” You will get lots of potential titles. Please don’t use the title word for word because others have probably used it already. Add your own “flavor.”
  2. Link Bait Generator: I like this one a bit more, but it will give you some racy titles now and then. Not only do you enter a keyword, but you then also select a “tone” – controversial, fun, a list, shocking, etc.
  3. CoSchedule Headline Analyzer: This handy little tool tells you how much appeal your headline has to emotion and/or power. Just enter your headline and wait for your percentages. It will also give you a pretty in-depth analysis, such as the following:

Emotional headlines

You should shoot for anything above 50% on emotion and power. Here’s a good exercise to try: Please type in your old post headlines and see where they stand. This information is good to have so you know what to work on. You will also get lists of words and phrases for emotion and power.

The Writing

Blog content has to be readable and scannable. This means that the reading level has to be correct, the text has to be broken up with headings and bullet points, the grammar and punctuation have to be right, and you should have visuals. But you already know this. However, translating these “rules” into great, creative writing is sometimes tough. If you have concerns about your writing, there is help.

  1. Grammarly is a subscription-based tool that edits your text. You copy and paste your post, and grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and more will be analyzed. Suggestions for fixing the issues are also given.
  2. Hemingway Editor: Ernest Hemingway was known for the simplicity of his writing. And blog content should be simple too. This tool will analyze your writing for “fluff” and complexity and make suggestions. It will show you, for example, where you can eliminate adverbs that do not add to your message. You want simplicity.
  3. Read-Able.com: Reading level is essential. When you use complex sentence structures and sophisticated vocabulary, you lose readers. The goal is to get your reading level to that of about a 13-year-old. You can copy and paste your post and get a reading-level analysis. While it will not tell you how to fix the level, it is free, and over time, you will learn what to eliminate/change.
  4. Top Writers Review: Sometimes, you lack time or skill. There are some great writing services out there that have departments devoted to writing blog post content. You want one with creative writers who can take your topic idea and generate a great title and engaging text. It is one of the best I have found.
  5. Google Docs Research Tool: If you are unfamiliar with Google Docs, you should be. Within this array of functions, you will find a research tool. When you need to back up what you are saying with research or data, this is the perfect and easiest way to do that. You can type in a keyword phrase and immediately get a list of articles—it’s a time saver.

Visuals/Media

No content today will attract readers unless it has visuals. The research is very detailed about this. Visuals include photos, infographics, memes, and drawings. Video has become more and more important. People will view explainer, instructional, and “how-to” videos when they do not read text with the same blog content. There are tools for visuals or video, so you do not have to hire a designer to do this.

  1. Canva: Here is an amazing all-around tool that is as easy as possible. You can create customized images by just clicking buttons and adding text, pictures, shapes, logos, and icons. Start with a blank canvas and start adding. You can change the sizes and positions of anything you add. There is both a free and fee-based version.
  2. Piktochart and Infogram: These tools have great templates for making infographics. Pick your template and add the text or paste it into pictures—super easy. These will not have the great variety you might get from a visual designer, but there are enough templates to satisfy most content.
  3. Skitch: This product was initially designed for Mac, but there is now a download for Windows, too. This tool lets you annotate pictures. You can write a caption, impose some text right on the picture, or create things like arrows to point to important parts of a visual. It’s easy to do.
  4. Thinglink: Engaging readers by participation is always a good idea. You’ve seen interactive infographics before. You click on a picture, and you get more information. Chances are, the author has used Thinglink.
  5. TryInteract: If you have taken any of those quizzes that appear on your Facebook wall, they were probably created with this tool. People cannot resist them and will definitely share them with their communities.
  6. Quickmeme: You’ve seen this, too. They make great posts on Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and Facebook. You can easily create one using their templates and superimpose your text. Part of spreading your brand is being entertaining and humorous. Memes are highly shared, and if you put them into your blog post, the whole thing gets shared.
  7. HaikuDeck: Slides are great ways to offer visual information, statistics, and instructions. It’s actually easier than PowerPoint because you can embed your slideshow right into your blog post (tough to do with PP). You can select an image for each slide and then add your text. The site has a great tutorial that walks you through every step.
  8. WindowsMovieMaker: Smartphones have made it possible to create videos with clear resolution and sound. Try producing some videos for your blog content. And then use Windows Movie Maker to edit them. It is easier than you think.

Millions of pieces of blog content are published every day, some of which are in your niche and created by your competitors. If you intend to stay in the game as far as content is concerned, it has to be creative, engaging, and valuable to your audience. Otherwise, it does not get read/viewed or shared. These 18 blogging tools for writing blogs should help you be more competitive.

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