10 Content Creation Tools for Bloggers

photo:pinkpot

credit.by: Chaitra

WHY DO WE NEED CONTENT CREATION TOOLS?

From coming up with ideas to presenting them to the reader, creating good-quality content regularly is a long and challenging task. Although creating content is still the work of the mind, there are a few tools that make the process easier. 

Personally for me, these tools have been life changing, as they save me a lot of time by providing easy methods to present my ideas in a clear and appealing way. 

TEXTUAL CONTENT:

1. Text Editors: Any content management system that you may be using like wordpress or blogger, provides you with a rich text editor to write and edit your content in a fuss-free way. Alternatively you can use offline word processors such as Microsoft word (Windows), Apple Pages (Mac), EverNote etc. Editors provide you with a set of features like font & color pickers, spellchecker etc. and formatting tools that help you create error-free and beautiful looking content. This awesome webinar by Regina gives a complete lowdown on using Apple Pages to create digital content.

2. WordtoCleanHTML: If you have tried to copy a blog post that you drafted in Evernote or Microsoft word into your blogging platform editor, you know what a nightmare it is. All the formatting disappears and the beautiful content you created suddenly gets wild and ugly. WordtocleanHTML comes to the rescue by providing an easy way to convert your content into HTML that preserves the formatting of your text.

3. Google keyword planner: Multiple blogs have been written about the importance of having the right words in your content : a match between the keywords that people search for, and the words you use in your post can multiply your audience and reach. Google keyword planner helps you identify the right keywords and generate relevant combinations, so that you can write great content without compromising on your writing style. Here is a great tutorial to get started with Google keywords planner.

4. Font resources: Depending on the content you are creating, you might need different fonts to embellish your text. Google fonts and Dafont are great places to find a variety of fonts that you can easily install and use in your projects.  

5. Google docs: If you are working in a collaborative environment, Google docs is an excellent choice to create, edit and share content within your team in real-time. It provides a web-based word processor that can be accessed by multiple people at the same time thereby making collaborations a lot more fun and easier. 

GRAPHICAL CONTENT:

6. Canva: This is an awesome tool that helps you create beautiful graphics without requiring the skills of a designer. It provides an easy drag-drop interface to integrate text and images into beautiful layouts thereby helping you create all kinds of visuals - blog graphics,  flyers, cover images, etc. in an easy and quick way!

7. Skitch: This app is great for creating annotations and markups for graphics. Taking screenshots and editing them is so much more easier with skitch. 

8. Thinglink: This tool is a recent discovery and it is so darn awesome. With this you can make your graphics interactive by embedding links / icons in them which are activated on hover. This is useful for sharing social media links or embedding short and quick information in graphical content.

9. Infogr.am: Infographics are one of my favorite content forms as they provide a quick and intuitive way of grasping a lot of information in a short time. Infogr.am is a great tool that you can use to create infographics by importing and visualizing data in various forms such as charts, graphs, venn diagrams, etc.

10. Place it: When I was setting up my Etsy shop, I wanted to showcase my designs on real-world devices. Okay, it took me at least 10 cups of coffee and pulling out my hair before I figured that these kind of graphics were called mockups. I finally created these mockups via a time consuming process on Adobe photoshop. A few days ago, I found this tool - Place it which creates fancy mockups of your images on all possible real-world environments that you can think of in just a click - and I was like - ?! 

There are several alternatives to these tools, but these are by far the most easy to use and distraction free in my experience. I would love to hear about your favorite tools for creating content. Happy Sunday! :)

What tools aid your content creation process?

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