Are you planning to start your blog? Have you ever done it before? If you haven’t, there’s no reason to worry or panic. You are not the first, nor will you be the last. You won’t need to reinvent the wheel to make a successful start.
The number of bloggers in the United States is estimated at nearly 32 million. If you are one of them, or if you are planning to join their ranks, we are going to make it easier for you. Below is a list of the best tools you can use to make the writing process more practical, efficient, and fun.
Google Docs
Google Docs has made the lives of writers so much easier by eliminating the risk of losing content or keeping track of multiple revisions and changes. It is particularly helpful if there are several people working on the same blog, sharing comments and edits. They no longer have to send documents as attachments, losing time on downloading, revising, and returning them by email again.
With Google Docs, it all happens concurrently. Owners of documents can set different access levels, depending on whom they want to just view, comment on, or edit their work. Add plug-ins and retrieve any of the previous versions to track revisions and edits. Once you start using it, you’ll never want to switch to anything else.
Grammarly
If you’re into blogging for the long haul, Grammarly is your most reliable friend. This is one of the most trusted online grammar checkers, which is updated regularly. Whether you are a local news writer, marketing specialist, or fiction writer, it is an absolute must to make your blogs error-free.
Grammarly makes it so much easier by suggesting the correct or alternative versions of words or phrases as you write. Even its free version is capable enough to help identify and address the most embarrassing mistakes you wouldn’t want your readers to spot in your blogs. The paid version is totally worth your subscription. It analyzes texts for grammar, punctuation, and style. You can also run them to detect plagiarism.
Google Trends
This is a free service from Google. It is a great tool to gauge popular interest in a term, phrase, or concept by running them through the site’s search engine. The result is a better understanding of the search volume for those words and ideas.
You can use Google Trends strategically to write about topics that have a higher likelihood of piquing reader interest and engagement. The metrics are divided by regions, countries, and languages, so you can plan your audience targeting actions accordingly.
Sumo
Sumo is one of the more popular blogging tools among both starting and experienced bloggers. It has a number of extremely handy features, such as the List Builder, Smart Bar, and Heat Map. What’s more, you can use it on WordPress websites. Sumo allows you to increase your email list by transforming casual visitors into loyal and regular readers. With Sumo, you can develop attractive pop-ups that people won’t help clicking.
If you go for the paid version, you will get access to an even larger pool of tools and features. This is particularly helpful for those involved in digital marketing and content creation. Customers enjoy the versatility of this email capture tool, as well as the analytics it generates for evidence-based assessments.
Canva
Canva is another trusted resource for bloggers. Blogging is not just about writing. Great images can do wonders for enhancing the visual and emotional impact on your readers. You can use images to illustrate your points. More often than not, people tend to be more susceptible to buying into arguments through visual and pictorial representations.
Canva is a real trove of tools and resources when it comes to images. Whether it is infographics, graphic images, and templates, Canva has it all.
Finishing Touches
Blogging is a form of creative writing, and it requires advanced skills set to succeed. Whether a novice or a renowned blogger with a large following, you need to keep the bar high at all times. Slippage, errors, and rambling are not your options.
Keep honing your skills to ensure continuous learning and improvements. Make the most of the recommended tools to stay ahead of the curve, push the envelope, and act as a role model for other bloggers.
Author
Carl Hill is a popular writer and educator. He has been blogging for over a decade, covering a broad range of academic and non-academic subjects. Carl has also been helping hundreds of students hone their writing skills using online tools, apps, and best practices in academic and popular writing.
