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16 Free Tools That Make Content Creation Way Easier

16 Free Tools That Make Content Creation Way Easier
Creating content isn't always a walk in the park. (In fact, it can sometimes feel more like a sprint in a swamp.) While other parts of business and marketing are becoming increasingly automated, content creation is still a very manual job. Automation hasn't yet replaced what we do (thank goodness). That being said, there are plenty of tools out there to make creating content much easier. Click here to download our full collection of content creation templates for blog posts, ebooks, infographics, and more. Below, you'll find a list of 28 fantastic tools and resources to help you research, write, edit, and design content more easily. Let's get started. 28 Free Tools & Resources to Make Content Creation Easier For Researchers 1) Google Drive Research Tool Google recently added a tool to Drive that allows you to conduct Google searches without ever leaving your Drive window. 2) Site:search This is a handy Google hack I use every day. 3) Google Webmaster Tools Doing SEO and keyword research? Related:  Content Marketing

WordPress SEO Plugin • Search Engine Optimization Plugin Yoast SEO Premium ensures that your site meets the highest technical SEO standards. It also gives you the tools to optimize your content for SEO and overall readability. Find out how Yoast SEO Premium can help you compete and learn about all of the additional SEO features we add to your site! Are you about to get started with Yoast SEO? What is Yoast SEO? Yoast SEO is a WordPress plugin that helps your site perform better in search engines with a variety of features. How much experience does Yoast SEO have? Yoast SEO has over 10+ years of experience in helping users with their SEO. What benefits will I get from using Yoast SEO? Having your own site is great, but of course, you would like to have visitors that check out your content. What other WordPress/SEO plugins do you offer? Besides Yoast SEO Free and Yoast SEO Premium we offer some more Yoast SEO plugins: Video SEO, Local SEO, News SEO, and WooCommerce SEO. What does Yoast SEO cost? Is there a free trial for Yoast SEO Premium? Yes!

The Epic List of Content Strategy Resources I’ve collected over two hundred of the best content strategy resources below. My goal is to make it easy for you to learn about the field of content strategy, find content strategists and blogs to follow, and, hopefully, start contributing to our community. The people I mention are experts in the field of content strategy—I’m so grateful to them for sharing their ideas and experiences with us. But I’m even more excited for you to join our conversation. Let’s get started! Definition – Books – Journals – Blogs/Websites – Articles – Events – Forums – More lists A Definition of Content Strategy What is “content strategy”? The core components that Brain Traffic considers for every content strategy.Graphic © Brain Traffic Kristina Halvorson (@Halvorson), founder/CEO of Brain Traffic, states in A List Apart that “Content strategy plans for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content.” I think the word plans plays a key role in that definition. Remember: useful and usable.

Creating Compelling App Descriptions for iTunes and the iOS App Stores | rob's blog When you submit an iOS application for review, you’ve got to make sure your ad copy is tight. The app description may be the last thing holding back a tap to buy your app. Apple doesn’t give much guidance on this important chunk of text. “Write your Application Description with a focus on what makes the functionality or design of your app unique.” was a tip from this past June from the App Store Tips blog. We know that 4000 characters is the limit. Since you probably have very specific points you want to get across, and users have a very short attention span, you need to pay attention to how Apple will format what you write. Word Wrap and the Fold Word wrap occurs in app descriptions when enough characters fill up a line. The fold is the point where iTunes, Web Preview or the iPad App Store app decide to make the user click or tap the More… button. All this means is that you must use the space above the fold as effectively as possible. App Description Formatting on iTunes and Web Preview

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING iOS APP STORE MARKETING ARTWORK LICENSE AGREEMENT (“iOS MARKETING AGREEMENT”) CAREFULLY BEFORE DOWNLOADING OR USING THE APPLE ARTWORK (AS DEFINED BELOW). THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CONSTITUTE A LEGAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND APPLE. BY CHECKING THE APPROPRIATE BOX IN THE APP STORE RESOURCE CENTER, YOU REPRESENT THAT YOU ARE AN AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE FOR YOUR DEVELOPER ACCOUNT AND THAT YOU HAVE READ AND AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS iOS MARKETING AGREEMENT. iOS App Store Marketing Artwork License Agreement Whereas, Apple Inc. Whereas, You desire to use certain artwork in connection with marketing Your applications available on the App Store pursuant to the Program Agreement, the Parties agree to enter into this iOS Marketing Agreement effective as of the date clicked through by You. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

Writing iTunes App Store Descriptions When Naim Cesur, developer of the iKamasutra app, contacted me about doing some copywriting I was thrilled. It’s not every day that I am able to involve my girlfriend in “copywriting research.” After a good stretch, however, it was clear that Naim had an issue typical of all mobile developers: how do you write App Store descriptions? Today’s App Store descriptions are not only the marketplace version of an eHarmony profile, they serve as the basis of user reviews and press articles; often they serve as the only user manual a customer will ever read. Your App Store Descriptions shouldn't read like creepy online dating profiles. App store descriptions might be the first words a person reads about your app and—if you do it wrong—it could be the last. For iKamasutra, the stakes were even higher. Triggers an automated Apple warning: A very sexy app! Won’t trigger an automated warning: I wanna sex up your mom, pal! Apple’s views on word choice make for insanely great reading. That’s it.

5 Content Marketing Trends for 2013 You Haven't Heard Yet Mary Gail Pezzimenti | January 25, 2013 | 8 Comments inShare630 Five content marketing trends that speak to the continual drive toward developing quality content on the independent web. OK, in 100 words or less…imagine I'm talking really fast… Yes, social media marketing has arrived. This we have heard, read, and digested. You've heard that authors are becoming publishers and publishers are becoming brands. Authors are forming strategic partnerships with each other. 2013 image on home page via Shutterstock.

75 Resources for Writing Incredible Copy that Converts Writing great copy is one of the most useful skills a marketer can develop. After all, copy is a key element of successful internet marketing across the board, from emails with sky-high open rates to blog posts that get shared hundreds or even thousands of times. Masterful copywriting plays a big part in the difference between a website that converts like crazy and one that simply falls flat, failing to engage potential customers. Case in point: in Conversion Rate Expert’s redesign of the Crazy Egg website, copy had a big role in growing the site’s conversion rate by 363%. This resource guide provides links that will give you a strong foundation for writing great web copy. In order to write effective web copy, it’s necessary to understand the principles of copywriting as a discipline. E-books, Articles, Infographics, and Guides to Get You Started with Web Copywriting 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 7. 9. 10. 11. Must-Read Books on Direct Response Marketing and Copywriting 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

A Complete Content Audit and Spreadsheet Template 1.4K Flares Filament.io 1.4K Flares × The very first Buffer blog post—Want to Tweet While You Sleep?—was published in January 2011. Three-and-a-half years and 595 posts later, we’ve covered a lot of ground, learned a huge number of social media tips, and written a ton of helpful, actionable content. Many others have just as much—probably even more—awesome content sitting in the archives. We ran a content audit on the Buffer blog and came away with several key action items and quick wins that we’re excited to implement. How to run a content audit on your blog Before you get to the takeaways, you first need to grab the data. 1. The free Screaming Frog SEO spider will pull out all the relevant pages that are indexed on your blog. Screaming Frog analyzes each of your pages and returns a host of valuable information on the specifics of each page. URLTitleTitle length (in characters)Meta descriptionMeta description length (in characters)The major H1 and H2 headings on the pageWord count 2. Done!

8 Habits Of Conversion-Focused Copywriters Most people write copy by following their instincts, listening to advice and soaking up conventional wisdom. But this will only get you so far. To get the best results you must test ideas, both conventional and unconventional, and see what works. In this article, you will learn the one word that makes headlines convert, why you should go beyond your comfort zone, and other habits practiced by conversion-focused copywriters. 1. Timing It Right Long before the Web, marketers already had a pretty slick system for measuring response rates. On the Web, things are more complicated. Think about when your audience will be ready to act, and whether you have done enough persuading by then. Highrise holds off on its call to action until you’ve read the copy Sometimes an early call to action works best, especially when readers are already primed to act and when the cost of acting is minimal. 2. You can write copy that’s clever or copy that sells, but rarely both at once. Before After 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

56 Ways to Reuse Content Marketing Started on April 22, 1970 as an educational event, Earth Day teaches us the benefits of reducing, reusing and recycling. In terms of content marketing, recycling is defined as turning old content into new content, often in another format that’s useful. It’s called recycled content because it’s not created from scratch. Recycled content isn’t reusing the same exact content in another location. 56 Ways to recycle content To honor Earth Day, here are 21 forms of content marketing that can be recycled in 56 ways to support your marketing and social media Product information is very specific content that’s useful for search optimization. Use for focus of a blog post. Packaging is the information that appears on the product and related shipping materials. Expand packaging creative to use on shopping bags to reinforce your brand.Incorporate information from packaging on website to expand product descriptions. Product patterns or recipes show consumers how to use your products. Photo credit:

3 reasons list stories work Although there are critics of list stories—those in which the author provides a list of tips on achieving a particular task, etc.—the format is extremely valuable for PR professionals, and we should be taking advantage of them. Resources at print publications are continuing to dwindle, which means that editors today often turn to industry thought leaders to develop content. They're much more likely to accept something brief and to the point, like a numbered tip article, than a lengthy essay about a topic—and readers are much more likely to read it. As you think about how to get your clients' names and companies into the discussion, consider structuring the clients' insights into sound bites so they can be published as a list article. Here are three key reasons why this format works: 1. Neil Vidyarthi of SocialTimes posted an infographic that shows how social media, in the span of a decade, has diminished our attention span from 12 minutes to five minutes. 2. 3.

Coke Revamps Web Site to Tell Its Story The company is, of course, , which plans on Monday to give its site a makeover that executives describe as the most ambitious digital project they have undertaken. To underline the intent to re-present the corporate Web site as an online magazine, it will be called Coca-Cola Journey, after a magazine named Journey that was published for the company’s employees from 1987 to 1997. The reorganized Web site will offer articles on subjects like entertainment, the environment, health and sports, including longer pieces given prominence in the same way that magazines play up cover pieces. The main business-oriented content of the Web site — material like biographies of executives, investor information, job postings and news releases — will remain after the revamping. The Web site draws about 1.2 million unique visitors a month, executives said, a figure they hope will grow substantially with the more consumer-focused philosophy. “The hot thing is to talk about being publishers,” Mr. Mr.

22 Top Blogging Tools Loved by the Pros Do you blog? Looking for exciting new tools to simplify the blogging experience? If so, keep reading. We decided to get the scoop on today’s hottest blogging tools. We asked 22 pros to share their favorite new finds. #1: InboxQ Mitt Ray @MittRay A great blogging tool I discovered a few months ago is InboxQ. InboxQ lets you create campaigns with different keywords. You can work on these questions and come up with better blog topics in your area of specialty. When people type in questions with these keywords, I get an update. Use InboxQ to find the questions people are asking on Twitter. Mitt Ray, founder of Social Marketing Writing, author. #2: Content Idea Generator Rich Brooks @TheRichBrooks The Content Idea Generator (v2) is a Google Doc that will automatically find news and related stories for your blog from a variety of sources… everything from Google News to Reddit, from tweets to public Facebook updates and more. You can get started here. Rich Brooks, president of Flyte New Media. #3: Diigo

10 Ways To Be Referential The web is a referential medium. Bloggers and digitally-savvy journalists understand the concept of linking as a source, and instead of having to re-explain something already fleshed out, we just link as proof. It’s simple and as still as effective as ever, even in a real-time world. Despite the buzz over real-time streams where the links are almost always no-followed, deep content and links as reference are not going away anytime soon and still do act as the lifeblood of the web. And so, being referential remains a powerful position to be in. People and brands that are referential get organic: LinksPressSpeaking opportunitiesInquiriesTrafficFansSubscribersGrowth of authority So today, I’d like to share 10 things you can embrace to start being referential: 1. If you’re not consistent, it’s difficult to be referential, especially if you’re interested in being referenced as something like a leader in a niche. 2. We like to reference those who lead, not who follow. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

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