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

Creating content material is not all the time a stroll within the park. (In actual fact, it may 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 remains to be a really handbook job.

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

Under, you will discover a record of 45 improbable 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 usually the a part of the content material creation course of the place individuals get essentially the most nervous and annoyed. So don’t be concerned, we have got a ton in there for you.)

Let’s get began.

45 Free Instruments & Assets to Make Content material Creation Simpler

Free Instruments for Content material Analysis

1. Ahrefs free instruments
2. HubSpot Weblog Subject Generator
3. AnswerThePublic
4. Google Developments
5. Google Scholar
6. Google Docs Discover Software
7. Google Search Console
8. Website:Search (Superior Search Operators)
9. Proportion Change Calculator

1) Ahrefs’ Key phrase Generator

Plug in a subject and in seconds Ahrefs’ generator will spit out tons of of associated key phrases. And the record is sorted by search quantity– what number of occasions a key phrase is looked for per 30 days– so you possibly can rapidly gauge how priceless they’re to you.

Or if you happen to’re making movies as a substitute of written content material, try Ahrefs’ YouTube Key phrase Software, too.

2) HubSpot’s Weblog Subject Generator

Now you’ve obtained your key phrases however aren’t positive of an angle or title to get your creativity transferring. HubSpot’s Weblog Subject Generator may help you. Merely enter just a few key phrases that your weblog focuses on, and the Weblog Subject Generator will produce per week’s price of titles and matter concepts for you. It won’t produce the ultimate title of your weblog publish, but it surely helps get you excited about inventive new angles for subjects you’ve got written about earlier than.

Listed below are the weblog publish titles I acquired after I entered “content material,” “inbound advertising and marketing,” and “running a blog”:

3) Reply the Public

After you’ve discovered your key phrases and angle, the following problem is determining what precisely to speak about. Reply the Public is usually a enormous assist with that.

This device is designed to lift extra questions than it solutions. In actual fact, it reveals you all the questions that individuals are asking about your matter. That is extraordinarily helpful for fleshing out the physique of your writing, and should even spark some concepts for model new content material.

4) Google Developments

Take a look at not too long ago trending searches, or see the curiosity in your key phrase over time. Google Developments offers previous and present curiosity information on the subjects you’re writing about.

However the perfect half is the “associated queries” function, which provides you rising and “breakout” key phrases which are getting extra standard. This allows you to get forward of the curve (and your opponents.)

5) Google Scholar

In case you want professional sourcing to again up your writing, Google Scholar is a must have. Its a search engine that offers you entry to tutorial papers, medical journals, scientific reviews, theses, dissertations, and extra.

Plus, it can save you sources to your library, and get alerts about new publications inside your matter.

6) Google Docs Discover Software

Previously referred to as the Google Drive Analysis Software, the Discover device permits you to do internet and picture searches with out ever leaving your doc. It’s also possible to search from your personal Drive account. All you must do is click on the diamond emblem within the backside proper of your window, then kind in a search and hit enter.

7) Website:search (Superior Search Operators)

It is a helpful Google hack I exploit on daily basis. Principally, it permits you to do a Google search that is restricted to a specific web site.

For instance, if I wished to go looking HubSpot’s weblog for advertising and marketing sources so I can cite one among our outdated weblog posts, I would do a web site:seek for weblog.hubspot.com with the search time period advertising and marketing sources. The system for web site search is web site:samplewebsite.com [search query]. So my instance can be web site:weblog.hubspot.com advertising and marketing sources.

8) Google Search Console

Doing search engine optimization and key phrase analysis? Your advertising and marketing software program ought to be capable of assist. But when it may’t (otherwise you’d like to enhance your information), Google Search Console is usually a nice assist. You may test issues just like the variety of listed pages in your web site, submit your web site to Google so that you’re getting crawled and listed, and even disavow dangerous inbound hyperlinks. It additionally can provide you info on search queries which have a big quantity of impressions however a low clickthrough fee.

Inside Google Search Console, go to “Efficiency” and select the “Queries” tab. You will see a desk exhibiting a search question, impressions, clicks, and clickthrough fee (CTR). Evaluating this information to your different analytics information may help uncover some new content material alternatives.

9) Proportion Change Calculator

I can not even start to let you know how helpful this little calculator is when on the lookout for and analyzing information. Ever need to know the share 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 share change. Belief me, you will need to bookmark this one.

Listed below are just a few different helpful calculators:

• 3-Method Proportion Calculator – Calculates solutions to those questions: What’s X% of Y? X is what p.c of Y? X is Y% of what?
• Conversion Charge Calculator – Spits out a conversion fee if you enter the overall customer depend throughout a selected time-frame and the variety of occasions throughout that time-frame these guests took a selected motion.
• A/B Check Calculator – Works for a fundamental situation with two teams of individuals (A & B) who get to see one model of your web site and for whom you observe the variety of conversions or objectives (purchases, downloads, clickthroughs, and so on.).
• ROI Calculator – Analyzes your web site’s month-to-month gross sales and lead technology efforts to find out methods wherein advertising and marketing efforts may be optimized.

Free Content material Writing Instruments

1. Evernote
2. Weblog Put up Templates
3. CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer
4. TitleCase
5. OneLook thesaurus
6. LoseTheVery
7. WordCounter
8. HubSpot Free CMS
9. The Newbie’s Information to HTML and CSS for Entrepreneurs
10. Word2CleanHTML

10) Evernote

I exploit 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 function? Its cell, desktop, and internet apps sync mechanically so long as you might have an web connection. (And if you happen to work offline, it will sync the following time you might have web.) Plus — and that is tremendous essential for content material creators like us — it is continually saving and syncing your work mechanically, making it a secure place to jot down and retailer concepts.

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

11) Weblog Put up Templates

All weblog posts aren’t created equal, however we have discovered that there are steps you possibly can take to make your posts complete and shareable. With these weblog publish templates, we’ll stroll you thru a top level view to jot down profitable how-to, listicle, newsjack, and curation weblog posts. As a substitute of ranging from scratch, you will save time and, hopefully, nail your weblog objectives.

12) CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer

This 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 probably the one probability so that you can compel readers to maintain studying — so it’s very price it to spend the additional jiffy developing with a extremely good one.

What does a extremely good headline appear like? The free device Headline Analyzer by CoSchedule can let you know. It scores your headline high quality and charges its capacity to drive social shares, visitors, and search engine optimization worth. In my expertise, its energy helps you strengthen particular parts of your title. For instance, it reviews on perceived sentiment and commonality of phrase sorts. It’s going to 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 need to use this to offer your headlines a “once-over.” (And skim this weblog publish to be taught extra about writing superior headlines.)

13) TitleCase

Upon getting your excellent title, it’s time to excellent your capitalization. This straightforward device mechanically capitalizes your titles in line with the model you select– together with AP, APA, Chicago, and extra.

You may even set exceptions if your personal styleguide differs from extra conventional guidelines.

14) OneLook Thesaurus

In case you’ve ever struggled to discover a phrase that was proper on the tip of your tongue, you’ll perceive why I geek out over OneLook thesaurus. OneLook describes itself as a “reverse dictionary.”

In case you can’t consider the phrase you want, OneLook permits you to describe it with a phrase or record of phrases. Then it presents tons of of associated phrases, synonyms, and even rhyming phrases.

15) Lose the Very

“[A]void utilizing the phrase ‘very’ as a result of it’s lazy. A person just isn’t very drained, he’s exhausted. Don’t use very unhappy, use morose.”

That is the recommendation Robin Williams gave in Lifeless Poet’s Society, and Lose the Very will provide help to do exactly that. This device isn’t simply very helpful, it’s instrumental.

16) WordCounter

Whereas information can recommend a perfect, there isn’t any one “proper reply” for a way lengthy a weblog publish ought to be. The essential half is that it serves its function — whether or not that is thought management, driving leads, explaining a brand new idea, or one thing else.

However though we do not advocate writing weblog posts with a phrase depend in thoughts, typically phrase depend can come in useful. WordCounter works precisely the best way you assume it does: Paste in your content material and it will spit out precisely what number of phrases you might have. It additionally presents studying stage, studying time, and talking time.

17) HubSpot’s Free CMS

Hear me out earlier than you scroll on by. A CMS isn’t just a spot to jot down your content material. (In actual fact, I favor not to jot down it within the CMS.) HubSpot’s free CMS additionally makes actionable search engine optimization suggestions that may provide help to optimize your writing.

Plus, the drag-and-drop editor implies that your writers can add their very own content material with out having to additionally moonlight as programmers.

Right here at HubSpot, our bloggers add their completed content material on to the CMS. This makes it simple to collaborate on modifying, publishing, and promotion.

Get began with the free CMS

18) The Newbie’s Information to HTML and CSS for Entrepreneurs

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

In case you’re a complete newbie, begin with The Newbie’s Information to HTML and CSS for Entrepreneurs, which my colleagues at HubSpot. It’s going to educate you fast however helpful hacks anybody — no matter coding data — can use of their advertising and marketing.

For instance, you will discover ways to make small modifications 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 technique to make studying HTML and CSS really enjoyable — and you may undergo every lesson at your personal tempo.

19) Word2CleanHTML

In case you like drafting weblog posts in packages like Microsoft Phrase, Evernote, or Google Drive as a substitute of your content material administration system (CMS), then this easy device may be your greatest buddy. Why? As a result of if you copy a doc from Microsoft Workplace and paste it into your CMS, numerous 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 possibly can paste straight into an online web page CMS. Merely paste in your draft, click on one button, after which copy the ensuing HTML straight from the device. While you paste that into your CMS (most may have buttons studying “HTML” or “</>” of their device bar above your draft), it’ll seem good and clear. No hair-pulling or swimming by way of code required.

Free Instruments for Content material Enhancing

1. Grammarly
2. Hemminway App
3. Editorial Calendar Templates
4. HubSpot Advertising Hub
5. WebFX Readability Software
6. StackEdit

20) Grammarly

Whereas human editors will be capable of catch most grammatical errors, modifying instruments like Grammarly are nice for triple-checking earlier than you press “publish” or “ship.”

The free model of Grammarly checks for grammatical errors, readability, and supply. The premium model presents superior recommendation on phrase alternative, readability, and punctuation– and even checks for plagiarism.

21) Hemingway App

Ernest Hemingway, admired for his succinct writing model, is the namesake for this helpful modifying app. Wish 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 aspect of the screenshot beneath, the place the device 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 stage.

22) Editorial Calendar Template

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

23) HubSpot Advertising Hub

An editor’s job is to publish high notch content material, however as you possible know, most editors put on a complete host of different hats. HubSpot’s advertising and marketing instruments are designed that can assist you execute on all of your duties — from planning content material to managing search engine optimization.

What are our favourite options of HubSpot? While you’re making an attempt to develop your readership, including an embedded or popup type may be an effective way to seize the contact info from beforehand nameless guests. This helps develop your mailing lists and consequently construct readership to your weblog properties.

We additionally actually love the power to trace and report on advertising and marketing KPIs for particular person pages. This lets you make data-driven editorial choices to ensure your content material is working.

24) WebFX Readability Check

Until you’re writing furnishings meeting directions, it’s essential that your content material is simple to learn and straightforward to digest.

The WebFX readability take a look at grades your content material in line with 5 completely different tutorial scales, then averages them collectively into one rating. You’ll additionally get statistics about phrase complexity and the density of your sentences.

There are numerous comparable assessments accessible, however I like that WebFX permits you to paste in your textual content, or just enter a URL.

25) StackEdit

StackEdit is a markdown editor. In plain English, meaning it turns your textual content into HTML. Or your HTML into textual content. This one may also render math equations, circulate charts, diagrams, and ASCII characters.

Why would an editor want this? As a result of it can provide you a stay preview of what your content material will appear like as you edit it. That is extraordinarily useful if you happen to occur to jot down about technical subjects or coding.

Free Design Instruments

1. Nimbus Screenshot & Display screen Video Recorder
2. Canva
3. Skitch
4. Infogram
5. Infographic Templates
6. Google Fonts
7. Picture Shade Picker
8. PowerPoint Templates
9. SlideShare Templates
10. Haiku Deck
11. HubSpot’s Free Inventory Pictures
12. PlaceIt
13. LICEcap
14. The Noun Challenge
15. ICONS8

26) Nimbus Screenshot & Display screen Video Recorder

That is one other device I exploit on daily basis. Certain, you possibly can seize a screenshot of your complete display screen or a part of your display screen utilizing the outdated keyboard shortcut methodology. However what if you’d like your screenshot to incorporate stuff that is not seen in your display screen?

Nimbus Screenshot permits you to seize the seen a part of an online web page, a specific space, a specific scroll (my private favourite), all the web page, or all the browser window — together with all the pieces beneath the fold.

The Chrome extension additionally permits you to file video out of your display screen or webcam, then convert it to gif or mp4 format.

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

27) Canva

In case you like creating stunning visible content material in a extremely brief period of time, you will 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 may be actually tough if you’re gazing a protracted record of to-dos — however Canva presents an enormous library of pre-made templates and property that you could manipulate whereas additionally including your personal imagery.

Better of all, they’ve so many property and graphics accessible without spending a dime that you simply will not should pay a cent if you happen to do not need to. If you wish to use extra “premium” property and graphics discovered by way of their picture search, they’re going to cost you $1 for every. However there’s loads of worth without spending a dime.

This is an instance of one thing you might make:

28) Skitch

Skitch is a free app by Evernote that helps you talk extra visually. It permits you to mark up photographs, digital property, PDFs, and different recordsdata with arrows, callout packing containers, textual content, and extra multi function place.

Within the instance beneath, I opened this system on my desktop and used the “Display screen Snap” button to take a screenshot of an online web page — which then opened proper in Skitch for modifying and exporting.

Though it is free, it does require you to open an Evernote account — however that is additionally free (see above).

29) Infogram

Whereas much like Canva, Infogram is a visible content material device that focuses on serving to you create infographics, charts, and information visualization. In case you wish to create charts utilizing Microsoft Excel, you are in luck — it additionally presents compatibility with Excel by way of Infogram Charts. Additionally, their infographics are responsive with cell gadgets.

30) Infographic Templates

As a content material marketer, you may really feel extra comfy creating written content material than visible content material, however that is no excuse to exclude infographics out of your technique. Visible content material is rising in demand out of your viewers, and infographics are notably shareable.

We have created the backbones of 15 completely different templates that you could simply mess around with to customise in your content material and viewers — here is a sneak peek of 1 template, and you may seize the remaining right here.

Supply: 15 Free Infographic Templates in PowerPoint

31) Google Fonts

Wish to spruce up your web site pages, displays, ebooks, and different content material with cool and completely different new fonts? Little-known truth: Google has a listing of 600 free fonts prepared so that you can obtain and use.

Merely discover and choose the fonts you want from their listing, then click on “Use” to get the HTML code you possibly can copy and paste onto your web site. Alternatively, you possibly can obtain the fonts to your desktop and use them when making new advertising and marketing content material by clicking “Add to Assortment.” (Click on right here for step-by-step directions for doing this within the HubSpot software program.)

32) Picture Shade Picker

Do not forget that time you wished to match your call-to-action design to that shade you had been utilizing on all of your occasion swag … however the one one who would know what that shade was did not work at your organization anymore?

Subsequent time that occurs, snag an image of that swag and add it to ImageColorPicker.com, or use any picture URL to do the identical factor. Choose any level of the image, and instantly see its corresponding HEX, RGB, and HSV values.

33) PowerPoint Templates

Is there something extra boring than a PowerPoint presentation that includes black textual content on a white background?

With the assistance of those templates, you’ll put collectively compelling, visually interesting displays. Whether or not you are driving lead technology or reporting in your weblog’s development to your workforce, hold your viewers’s consideration with these eye-catching displays.

34) SlideShare Templates

SlideShare does not have to be daunting. You may simply create shareable, embeddable SlideShare displays in PowerPoint with the assistance of those templates — no want to start out from scratch or rent a freelancer. As soon as you’ve got created your first presentation, try our information to advertising and marketing SlideShares efficiently.

35) Haiku Deck

In case you’ve ever needed to create a PowerPoint or SlideShare presentation in a pinch, you will want you knew about Haiku Deck. This device helps you rapidly discover easy layouts, stunning photographs, and nice fonts. It is accessible for the net and for iPad.

Wish to see what one seems to be like? Under’s an instance I pulled from their record of featured decks. Be aware the simplicity of the design — if you wish to create tremendous detailed slides, this will not be the appropriate device for you.

Snowed In? – Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software program that conjures up

 

36) HubSpot’s Free Inventory Pictures

Trying to find and shopping for inventory imagery is usually a ache within the you-know-what — particularly relating to deciphering legalese for various use circumstances. I’ve a liberal arts diploma, and Nietzsche was simpler to learn than no matter legalese inventory imagery firms tended to offer me. All I wished to know is whether or not to quote or not cite a inventory picture of a laptop computer. Why was it so laborious?

That is why our workforce determined to create a library of 550+ free and royalty-free inventory pictures. Whether or not it is a distinctive picture wanted for an book or that excellent picture you need to add to a weblog publish, that assortment ought to have you ever coated. This is one among our “across the kitchen” inventory pictures — yum.

Supply: The Free Inventory Pictures You have Been Looking For

37) PlaceIt

PlaceIt serves a really particular function: It permits you to add photographs of your web site or product into real-world environments of individuals holding telephones, tablets, and laptops. PlaceIt will mechanically alter the picture to make it seem pure with the angle of the telephone’s display screen — which is able to prevent time studying and/or modifying in additional superior software program to get the angle proper.

You will should pay per picture to get actually giant or high-resolution variations, although I’ve discovered free photographs work simply high quality for weblog posts and product web page content material. The paid downloads additionally take away that PlaceIt watermark from the underside proper.

38) LICEcap

On the lookout for the right GIF to incorporate in your weblog publish? If it does not exist already on Giphy, you can also make one your self utilizing LICEcap. Movie a screenshot and switch it right into a GIF utilizing this helpful, free device — we use LICEcap for our weblog posts, too.

39) & 40) The Noun Challenge & ICONS8

Like with inventory pictures, one other problem content material creators face is discovering elegant icons that resize with out getting all fuzzy. There are just a few sources on the market for excellent, resizable icons.

The Noun Challenge is an intensive library of 1000’s of icons uploaded by contributors. With a free account, you need to use icons so long as you both give credit score to the creator or buy them royalty-free for $1.99 apiece.

Along with free icons, ICONS8 additionally presents inventory pictures, illustrations, and AI-generated faces. Many of those can be found utterly free, supplied you embody attribution and a hyperlink.

To that, we are saying …

Icon by ICONS8

Free Productiveness Instruments

1. Coffivity
2. TomatoTimer
3. Trello
4. OneTab
5. Giphy Search

41) Cofftivity

In keeping with a examine out of the College of Chicago, “[a] reasonable stage of ambient noise is conducive to inventive cognition.” In different phrases, being the tiniest bit distracted really helps you be extra inventive. That is why, for many individuals– myself included– white noise helps promote focus.

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

42) TomatoTimers

In case you’ve by no means heard of the Pomodoro method, your life is likely to be about to alter ceaselessly. Pomodoro is a productiveness hack that consists of working in 25 minute intervals separated by taking brief, common breaks. This cycle helps you to withstand distractions, and makes larger tasks seem to be less-daunting, bite-sized duties.

However remembering the place you’re at in a cycle, and continually re-setting your timer is usually a little bit of a trouble.

Enter the TomatoTimer. This free device is a straightforward, looping timer that retains observe of your Pomodoro cycle for you. So you possibly can spend much less time messing with timers, and extra time being productive.

43) Trello

Trello is a kanban-style challenge administration device, and it’s far more highly effective than you’d count on free software program to be. Their distinctive format of playing cards and lists is well-suited for organizing content material calendars, writing sprints, collaborative tasks, and extra.

Plus, it integrates with tons of of different instruments– together with Slack, Google Drive, Mailchimp, and sure, even HubSpot.

44) OneTab

In case you’re like me, you’ve all the time obtained 100 tabs open, each actually and metaphorically. OneTab is designed to assist out with the literal ones.

This browser extension immediately turns your open tabs into an inventory of URLs that you could save, export, or share. It even retains the record in case your browser crashes otherwise you restart your laptop. Then, if you’re prepared to make use of that tab once more, you possibly can click on it to go proper again to the place you had been.

45) Giphy Search

You understand that coworker who all the time appears to seek out the right animated GIFs in your social posts or inside chat consumer? With the free Giphy Chrome extension, you’ll discover nice GIFs simply as rapidly.

To make use of the device, all you must do is open the extension in Chrome, search, select a GIF, and drag and drop. To date, the device works in Gmail, Twitter, Fb, and extra — they usually’re continually increasing help.

It is Not the Wand, It is the Wizard

The instruments and sources listed above may help you create, but it surely’s finally as much as you to manage the standard of your content material. You continue to have to know your buyer extremely nicely, perceive what challenges they face that your services or products solves, and create content material that helps them tackle these challenges.

The brains and coronary heart behind the content material creator trump the code behind any instruments and know-how — and that is a very good factor for succeeding in advertising and marketing at the moment.

Editor’s Be aware: This publish was initially printed in December 2013 and has been up to date for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

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