Written by: Alex Brooks
When you’re writing blog posts, it is not uncommon to hit a bump in the road and feel stuck with where to go next.
Whether it be that your blog post needs an extra push to help gain traction and standout, or that you need some help focusing, we have found five of the most important tools to utilize when these issues occur.
1. Write an Attention-Grabbing Blog Headline
Arguably the most important part of your blog post is the headline, because without an attention-grabbing and exciting headline, it is unlikely that many people will take the time to click through your blog post and read it. Our favorite headline analyzer is by CoSchedule.
They use a unique approach to help you figure out what is effective and what is not when creating a headline. Headline Analyzer by CoScheduler uses a rating system to help you analyze your headline, and the analyzer score will tell you the quality of your headline, as well as the likelihood of it resulting in other shares online or an increase in traffic – basically the post’s SEO value.
2. Find Image Resources For your Blog
Another important aspect of each blog post is how eye-catching it is. Having current and relevant images and/ or GIFS embedded in your blog posts will engage readers, and overall increase your click-through rate. CANVA is a website that allows you to create your own images to add to blog posts and other relevant social media platforms. CANVA uses a graphic design software to let you become the creator of your own images, they offer thousands of photos at no charge, and let you add text to the images in various ways to make it unique to your blog post. It is incredibly easy to use (we use it all the time at Twenty Over Ten) and you can create images in minutes!
3. Keep Your Blog Ideas and Information Centralized
If you find yourself writing a blog post on your laptop, but during your lunch break come across an interesting article you want to include later in that post on on your smartphone, it can become difficult to keep track of all the information that pertains to your specific blog post. Evernote , an application that you can download on your smartphone and your computer, allows you to save all your ideas in one place and also has the ability for you to pick them up on a different platform.
So, say you saved that article to Evernote on your smartphone, if you open up Evernote on your computer, it will be saved and bookmarked right there as well. It’s a really great tool for super fast idea collecting. Evernote helps you stay organized, and it helps keep all of your ideas centralized. You can also share any individual Evernote with others – so if you are collaborating on a list of blog post ideas for instance, you can easily share and work together with colleagues.
4. Smarter Blog Editing
If you are anything like our team, editing your blog posts might be the most time consuming part of writing them. That is why we are obsessed with the AtomicWriter tool from Atomic Reach. The Atomic Writer tool has not only helps you find and correct grammatical errors in your blog posts, but it also helps you write more specifically for your audience (or niche market). You can use the tool directly with wordpress, or simply copy and paste in your work (even pre-existing blog posts can be edited). The application allows you to choose who your audience is, and it helps you write more effectively by knowing your niche markets’ behaviors and interests. Along with being helpful when writing to your specific niche, it also helps correct grammatical and spelling errors. AtomicWriter truly is an all-in-one.
5. Stay Focused While Writing Your Blog Posts
While you may have lots to say when writing your blog posts, staying focused and on task may be the hardest thing to do if you have other things on your mind or going on in the office. There are simple tools available to help cut down on the distractions, and they’re right at your fingertips. Using “Distraction-free editor” in WordPress allows for only the text box and simple editing tools to be present.
Other tools such as “Full Screen Mode” in Microsoft Word allows for nothing but your document to be visible on your computer screen, which also helps cut down on distractions around you.
Utilizing these tools can and will help the effectiveness of your blog posts, SEO, and your click through ratings. When writing your blog posts, be sure to stay focused, and utilize the tools that are easily available to you.