Blogging allows you to create engaging and informative content. Blogging is the best way to grow a business online. Having a blog allows you to share your brand and promote it on the Internet. Although blogging is like doing business on social media, blogging involves unique tasks that clear the line between the two. Blogging also makes use of online strategies such as Search Engine Optimization or SEO.
Blogging requires doing work such as creating content, organizing your content, and even promotions to inform people, etc. Some people may think blogging is hard and time-consuming. Although there is some truth to it, blogging can have tremendous rewards for those who do the work.
To help the aspiring content creator, there are many tools readily available that will make content creation much easier. Every rookie content creator or blogger needs to know the following tools that can assist them with their blog, be it for hobby or business.
Take note, even if the article emphasizes “tools for rookies,” a lot of professionals still use the tools mentioned here. In fact, some of these tools are even part of their work as a professional. Here’s a shortlist of blogging tools that can help every newbie while they are still starting out:
WordPress
For a blogger to become successful, they first need to have a blog. While there are a lot of existing blogging platforms nowadays where you can freely place your content, WordPress has been everyone’s favorite. WordPress is a content management tool or system that’s based on PHP or Personal Home Pages and MySQL.
Almost everyone uses WordPress particularly because it is easy to use, offers a simple content editor, a wide selection of themes and blog templates, and has a built-in blogging feature that helps every newbie to familiarize every setting. Even seasoned developers and content creators suggest using WordPress.
CoSchedule
In blogging, headlines are crucial. To write better headlines, you can use CoSchedule Headline Analyzer to gauge your headlines if it’s Search engine friendly. If you’re having a hard time formulating your headlines, CoSchedule has suggestions and word lists that you can use along with your ideas to end up with the best possible headline.
Word Count Tool
One tool you’ll need is a proper character count tool that’ll help you monitor the characters you’re using. Most of the time, there are strict SEO guidelines that blog writers need to follow to get good rankings with Google. One of those factors is the number of characters used in meta descriptions, subheadings, even article titles. With free tools such as Word Count Tool, you won’t have to worry about going over or under those character count requirements.
Grammarly
Since content is important to get your blog noticed, it’s only fitting that we make sure everything is written properly and checked for any grammatical errors. Grammarly is one of the most reliable grammar checkers available.
Grammarly helps writers correct grammar issues by offering suggestions and other information that can help improve writing. Since English is a major language, most countries also have their own slang, spelling, and grammar uses for the language.
Grammarly has settings that can help adjust the way you enter content, just change the setting to American English, British English, Canadian English, or even Australian English and you’re good to go.
Copyscape
To be better optimized with search engines, the content on your blog should always be 100% unique. Search engines such as google, heavily penalizes websites that have plagiarized works by pushing them down further on the results page. When your website gets pushed down, you can expect that most people will find it hard to find your blog.
This is where Copyscape comes in. Copyscape is one of the most reliable plagiarism checkers available online. It’s very simple to use: Just create an account and opt for the premium versions and paste your content in the space provided.
Since there’s almost an unlimited amount of information on the internet, Copyscape also can also compare how much your content matches a source, should it “accidentally” come with plagiarism results.
Moz
Even if you’re just starting out, you’re likely to encounter metrics such as traffic, PA, DA, etc. In choosing references, PA or page authority, and DA or domain authority matters. When citing references, sites that are heavily favored by Google often have the right PA and DA scores.
Using Moz can help you check the scores of a page you’re trying to use a reference. Just download the Moz extension for Google Chrome and register on their website. When you login, you can freely use the MozBar and check for the scores.
Takeaway
Everyone has to start from somewhere and blogging is different. As a rookie, you might face challenges that will work out in your mind to form effective strategies. To make it easier, lots of tools that can help you with your blog are available online. Aside from rookies, seasoned veterans use tools such as Grammarly, Moz, Copyscape, and WordPress to ease their tasks.
