Maintaining a regular blog is a valuable marketing tool that can help businesses connect with their customers and grow their business.
According to a study published by HubSpot, companies with blogs are more successful than those without. These companies receive, on average, 55% more visitors and get 97% more inbound links.
With powerful statistics like these, it makes sense to make blogging a business priority in 2023.
Whether you have been blogging for years or are just now considering adding a blog to your marketing plan, this list covers the best blogging tools to take you through 2023 and beyond.
Blogging Tools for Topic Research
Choosing the right topics can make the difference between a successful blog and one that gets little to no attention. These blogging tools can help guide your topic research.
1. BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo makes it easy to research relevant topics. On the homepage, you can enter either a keyword or domain name to generate content ideas. The results page shows you recent trending topics that include your keyword and how they performed on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Source: https://app.buzzsumo.com/content/web?q=content+marketing+budget
In the example above, you can see the most popular content with the keywords “content marketing budget” has 181 total engagements. It also has an evergreen score of 2. This score is unique to BuzzSumo and represents how popular content is with audiences a month after its release. For the score, the higher the number, the better.
In the Content Analyzer results, you can skim through a few of the most popular topics to see how they approached the topic. You can then customize your topic to fit your target audience and business niche.
BuzzSumo is a free tool. However, it only gives you a limited number of free searches each month. For unlimited searches and more in-depth information, upgrade to a premium account.
2. AnswerThePublic
This unique website offers an innovative way to do topic research. Type your desired topic into the search field, and results are returned as an interactive wheel that shows questions people have asked related to your topic.
Source: https://answerthepublic.com/reports/6de565a6-31bd-4d52-a619-5dc22e36868e
When you point at each question, it changes color based on how frequently people have searched for that phrase.
Beyond the visuals, the search results include alphabeticals, which show related searches that include each letter of the alphabet.
Source: https://answerthepublic.com/reports/6de565a6-31bd-4d52-a619-5dc22e36868e
3. Quora
Quora is a crowdsourced website that answers questions and shares commentary on popular topics. Here you can search for topics related to your industry and see what questions people are asking. If you have valuable insights to share that answer those questions, this could be a great idea for an in-depth blog.
Source: https://www.quora.com/search?q=content%20marketing%20budget
4. Portent Title Maker
In some ways, your blog title can be more important than the blog itself. The title is what attracts people to your blog and convinces them to start reading. Of course, you need quality content to back up your engaging title. Although it won’t matter how good the rest of your content is if your title doesn’t work.
To help you create more creative titles or even give you inspiration for the rest of the blog, try using Portent Idea Generator. Enter your chosen topic into the search field, and it will generate titles for you. You can click “See Another Title” until you find something you love. You can also click on words and phrases within the title. The tool then offers a quick explanation of why it works in the title.
Source: https://www.portent.com/tools/title-maker/?refreshed_idea=content+marketing+budget
5. Twitter Trending Topics
There may be times when the latest news connects with your brand. Check the trending topics section on the Twitter homepage to see what people are talking about. This is a great way to try out newsjacking – tying your brand into the latest viral news story.
Blogging Tools for Organization
Once you have a list of great ideas, you should organize them into a workable content schedule. There are numerous tools available to help you do this.
6. Dropbox
There may be some blog topics that include files, like images, videos, or PDFs. Dropbox makes it easy to store these items and keep them together.
7. Google Calendar
Google Calendar and other calendar tools can be easily transformed into an editorial calendar. For example, if you plan to publish one blog per day, you can record the daily topics as events and reorganize them, as needed. You can also schedule time for writing and any other content creation needs.
8. Evernote
Evernote is a popular note-taking app that helps you organize projects, notes, and schedules. It has a robust tagging system to help you categorize your content in a variety of ways, whether by topic, planning stage, or anything else. Evernote also works with other apps like Google Calendar allowing you to track everything in one place.
9. Todoist
Whether your content team is small or large, Todoist is versatile enough to work with any size team. It is one of the most popular organizational apps. You can be flexible enough to adjust your schedule to be as simple or as complex as you like by breaking down tasks into subtasks and moving tasks into projects.
Blogging Tools for Optimization
An optimized blog is one that fulfills the needs of the searcher. For example, if someone searches for “content marketing budget” and you have written a quality, optimized blog focused on that topic, it has a better chance of appearing near the top of the search results. These tools can help you create the best optimized blogs.
10. Yoast
Yoast is a plugin that works with WordPress. It can help you optimize your content for keywords, in addition to suggesting relevant internal links. It uses red, yellow, and green color codes to show you what you did well and where you need some more work.
11. Keyword Planner
Keyword Planner is a free resource available as part of Google Ads. It can help you research keywords for your search campaigns and discover new keywords that can give your business a boost. To start, try entering some basic keywords and Google will tell you how popular it is along with its search volume.
12. Google Trends
Google Trends is a free, simple tool that can show you how the popularity of keywords changes over time. Simply type in your desired keyword and it will give you a chart showing the interest over time. You can adjust the results based on location, time, category, and type of search.
Source: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=content%20marketing%20budget&geo=US
Beyond the chart, Google Trends includes interest by subregion, related topics, and related queries. Some keywords may not have enough data to incorporate all this information.
Blogging Tools for Better Writing
You could have the greatest trending topic, an excellent title, and optimized keywords. But if your writing isn’t up to snuff, none of these other things will matter. Consider these blogging tools to improve your blog writing.
13. Hemingway App
Blogs should be free of grammatical errors and easy to read. You can copy and paste your blog content into the Hemingway App to discover any issues with your writing. Hemingway highlights words, phrases, and sentences with specific colors to show you potential problems, including passive voice, sentence difficulty, and the use of adverbs. It also gives your content a readability rating based on grade level.
Source: https://hemingwayapp.com/
You decide which editing suggestions you want to take.
14. Scrivener
Scrivener has similar functionality to Microsoft Word. However, it offers more versatility in saving and categorizing your documents. For example, if you are planning multiple blog posts as part of a larger project, you can save multiple documents in one file. Features like this make Scrivener an ideal choice for large projects like blogging, books, and research.
15. Google Docs
As a free online resource, Google Docs is an excellent way to collaborate with others on content creation. You can quickly share documents and get feedback with the “suggestions” and “comments” features. Google Docs also integrates well with many CMS platforms.
16. Grammarly
Publishing error-free, high-quality content is key to establishing your business as a trustworthy expert in your field. Grammarly can help you do that in real time while you write. It works across multiple platforms, including social media and email, to help you edit and proofread your content as you work.
17. Distraction Free Writing
If you struggle to stay on-task while writing, the Distraction Free editor in Word Press is a helpful tool. To turn it on, click on the Toggle Full Screen button. Once you start typing, the toolbars and borders fade out so you can focus exclusively on your writing.
Blogging Tools for Visuals
Along with expertly optimized content, blogs need additional visuals to attract the right audience. Eye-catching images and videos add more appeal to the written word and typically improve the attention span of your readers. Consider these blogging tools for adding visuals to your writing.
18. Canva
While stock images can be useful, there are times when you want or need something unique. Canva makes it easier to make to create appealing visuals with little to no graphic design experience. The platform includes templates with drag-and-drop functionality, making it user-friendly. Choose from a wide range of free templates for documents, presentations, and infographics.
Source: https://www.canva.com/infographics/templates/
19. Vidyard
Whether you are adding a video to a blog or creating standalone video content, you need it to look professional. If you are a B2B brand, Vidyard can help you produce new marketing videos. It offers personalization options along with A/B testing capabilities.
20. Meme Generator
If your brand image is more casual, and you want to have some fun in your blog, try the Meme Generator. Memes can be a great way to connect with your audience while encouraging sharing. You can upload your own image or use preexisting meme designs and add your own words.
Blogging Tools for Distribution
You’ve written an optimized blog, added engaging images, and published it to your website. Now what? These tools will help you promote and distribute your blog and attract the right audience.
21. Facebook Ads
Even with struggles in recent years, Facebook continues to be the most popular social media site in the world. Paying for Facebook ads can promote your blog and target the right audience. Additionally, ads on Facebook are often cheaper than other PPC campaigns. Once your blog gains more visibility, you should gain more organic traffic, and you might be able to skip paying for ads.
22. Buffer
If your brand has a social media presence, Buffer is a great tool for planning and publishing all your social content in one place. Choose from social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even TikTok. You can program and schedule posts unique to each platform. Then you can share the same blog multiple times using different images and headlines.
23. Filament
If you use WordPress for your blogging, Filament can be a useful plugin. One of its features is a social share button called Flare. With this option, your readers can easily share your content to the social media platform of their choice.
24. MailChimp
MailChimp is one of the most popular (and free) email marketing resources available. Through MailChimp, you can set up email campaigns that automatically email your subscribers whenever you publish a new post. Plus, you can use this feature for free if you have fewer than 2,000 contacts in your email list.
25. Click to Tweet
Even with the uncertainty on Twitter right now, it is still a valuable resource for sharing and promoting content. Click to Tweet from CoSchedule is a WordPress plugin that lets you highlight short snippets of your blog for others to share on Twitter with just a click.
Get the Optimized Blogs You Need with Express Writers
Whether you use one or all these blogging tools, they can help you and your content team become better bloggers. However, if you don’t have the time or skills required to make your blogs successful, you can trust the expert writers at Express Writers.
We have a large team of versatile writers with skills and experience in a wide range of industries. We will match the best writer to your needs.
Contact Express Writers today to get started with a new blogging plan.
