Writing regular, top-quality content for your blog is a mighty task. It takes a lot of discipline and dedication to keep the flow of fresh information going. Luckily, there are tools out there that can make your life a lot easier!
In this article I share my top 7 free blogging tools to help you supercharge your content.
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. This means, I get a commission if you purchase through my links, at no cost to you.
Free tools to level up your blog
Blogging is a long-term strategy for business growth. Creating regular, high-quality blog content takes time!
Luckily, there are some tools that you can use to make creating awesome content easier. And best of all, they don’t cost a dime! These are the free blogging tools I use on a regular bases:
Tool 1: Yoast SEO
In brief: The SEO plugin for WordPress
Price: Free
Yoast SEO is one of the most popular WordPress plugins and it’s easy to see why!
Yoast boasts that it is “SEO for everyone”, and it delivers. Yoast helps you set meta descriptions, manage sitemaps, optimise your content for keywords, and also does technical stuff in the background.
Why is this important for your content?
Having a plugin like Yoast gives you the technical foundation upon which you can build an effective SEO strategy. It helps you get all of your SEO ducks in a row, which will help you out in the search engine and give your content more chances of being found.
New to SEO? Read this article.
Tool 2: Google analytics
In brief: See who’s looking through your digital shop window
Price: Free
If you’re not measuring your traffic you’re not optimising for it. Hopefully you already have Analytics up and running, but if not, then you should set it ASAP.
Here’s a step-by-step tutorial from Google explaining how to do this.
If you are using WordPress, you should also check out Monster Insights. This is a free plugin that makes it super easy to see your data. I use it on my own site and find it super useful!
Why is this important for your content?
Analytics will tell you things like who is visiting your site, what country they are in, what content visitors to your site like the most, and much more. This is all precious intel you can use to improve your content strategy.
If you want to learn the basics, head over to the Tube and watch the Analytics Academy beginner series.
Tool 3: Answer the Public
In brief: Get instant, search insights, direct from the minds of your customers.
Price: Free (limited searches available every day)
Answer the Public delivers search insights that help you understand the questions people are asking on any given topic. Throw in a seed keyword and ATP will return the who, what, where, and more for that search.
For example, this is an example of the ideas that you get when you select “Graphic Design” in New Zealand. Very insightful!
Why is this important for your content?
Answer the Public is, as they say, a window into a goldmine of content ideas.
Tool 4: Zen Pen
In brief: “A minimalist writing zone, where you can block out all distractions and get to what’s important. The writing!”
Price: Free!
Zen Pen is simply a website that acts as a text editor. If you’re writing blogs or drafting up other copy, Zen Pen will help you not check Instagram every 5 minutes.
Make it full screen and hide all your tabs. You can save, set a word count, and invert the colours (white text on black).
Why is this important for your content?
Writing 1,000 word blog posts can seem like an almighty task! Finding ways to stay focused can make a huge difference, keep you on track for longer, and help you get more words down.
Tool 5: Canva
In brief: The design platform for everyone.
Price: Free (you pay to go pro)
If you’re just getting started on building your brand, you need imagery. Canva is an incredibly easy to use and intuitive design platform to help you get started. It’s drag and drop with thousands of free images, shapes, fonts and filters.
If you haven’t used Canva before, you’ll be amazed at how intuitive this platform is. You don’t need to be a design wizard to create stunning images.
New to Canva? Read this!
Why is this important for your content?
You can use Canva to transform your blog posts into social media images, making content repurposing a breeze! Create eye-catching imagery to promote new posts and get more eyes on your content. You can also easily put together infographics and other imagery to take your blogs posts to the next level.
Tool 6: Elementor
In brief: Unbelievably intuitive website builder
Price: FREE! (US$49 per year to go Pro)
No list covering free blogging tools would be complete without a website builder. Whether you have a website up and running, or you’re just about to build, the Elementor plugin for WordPress is an excellent option. This frontend page builder uses a drag and drop interface that makes customizing your site a breeze.
Elementor is considered by many to be the fastest, most intuitive editor in WordPress, and it’s easy to see why. The design features seem limitless and the template library is vast, allowing you to quickly install a homepage or blog and design to your heart’s content.
I use Elementor for my own website and it is fair to say that I would be lost without it!
Why is this important for your content?
Being able to quickly update your website is crucial. Having to contact a web developer every time you need to tweak a meta description or upload a blog post is not ideal. Elementor is an indispensable tool for solopreneurs and small businesses.
Tool 7: Grammarly
In brief: Online grammar checker and writing assistant
Price: Free to check spelling, grammar and punctuation (Premium $29.95 per month)
In an ideal world, you would have someone else check over your content before it is published. But it is not an ideal world, and sometimes this is just not possible for solopreneurs!
This is where Grammarly comes to the rescue. Install their browser extension and get grammatical issues highlighted as you write. If you want to take things one step further, upgrade to the premium version and get suggestions to make your text easier to read and understand.
Why is this important for your content goals?
Spelling and grammatical mistakes make your content seem low quality and unprofessional. Get in the habit to run a spell check through your text to polish your content before you hit “publish.”
Conclusion: free tools to level up your blog
So, there you have it, my top 7 free toolset supercharge your blog posts. There are heaps out there for the DIY content marketer, the key is finding the ones that work for you.
GET A STEP-BY-STEP SYSTEM TO WRITE BLOG POSTS LIKE A PRO
Want more blogging tips and resources? Read these articles:
Latest blog posts
