There are more and more content marketing tools being made every day. These are the tools that I use and find the most valuable on a day-to-day basis.
What makes these tools really awesome is that you can use them all for free, too!
1. BuzzSumo: Research popular content to get writing ideas.
BuzzSumo provides in-depth data on published articles that are similar to yours. You can get detailed insights about what type of content people are sharing, how that content is formatted and how you can make it better to get even more shares than the last person.
2. CoSchedule’s blog post headline analyzer: Optimize your headlines to get the most clicks possible.
This is by far my favorite new tool to use on every post I write. Your headline is the first and best reason why people click through to read your content, so you should invest as much as possible into writing a truly great headline. Sites like BuzzFeed have mastered this technique and built a business model that captures a lot of social media traffic by using great headlines and catchy content rather than relying on search engine optimization (SEO).
3. Yoast SEO: Optimize your posts to get ranked in Google.
If you’re investing in content marketing, you need to make sure that you have the proper on-page SEO for every post. Content marketing has a long-term gain of ranking your content and bringing in organic traffic. Without proper real estate SEO optimization, half of your efforts go to waste.
4. Buffer: Schedule your social media posts easily in advance.
Buffer makes scheduling all of your posts via social media easy. Spend an hour setting up posts and have your whole social media schedule done for a week. It’s really simple to use and has a great free plan to help you get started.
5. Trello: Get organized.
Trello is a simple, free, lightweight tool that helps you organize your thoughts in a format somewhat similar to a Pinterest board. It will replace any to-do list you currently use after you try it.
6. Portent’s Content Idea Generator: Come up with ideas for articles and blog posts.
If you’re running low on possible content topics, this is the best idea generator there is. Portent does some really good marketing, and there was a lot of effort put into creating this tool. Add it to your bookmarks and use it the next time your think tank is dry.
7. Followerwonk: Find influencers to help share your content via social media.
Part of creating great content is getting people to read it. Influencers can help bring you a new audience to read your content, but first you need to find them, and that’s what Followerwonk helps you do. It’s free to try and has some huge benefits you can receive without upgrading.
8. ZenPen: Distraction-free writing.
ZenPen is a free tool that lets you write in an elegant format and stay focused. It helps inspire me when I write and I can see the content start to take shape in a beautiful and minimalist format. Write in ZenPen, then copy and paste into your desired format.
9. SumoMe: Utilize an awesome free suite of tools.
SumoMe has tools that will help you do a lot of different things. They have a smart pop-up to help you capture leads, content analytics that help you analyze how much of your content people are reading, and many, many more tools you can use for free. It’s easy to install and definitely worth checking out.
Did we miss any tools that you use for content marketing? Leave a comment below and let us know!
Andrew Gale is the founder of FlyerCo.
