Google’s Helpful Content Guidelines state that the algorithm aims to reward content that is original, helpful, written by people, and written for people.
So its clear quality content reigns supreme.
But, let’s face it: not everyone is an amazing writer. In fact, most people don’t even consider themselves “good” writers.
While it helps to have some experience, you don’t need to be an incredible writer to publish quality content.
Review our content marketing toolbox, a list of content marketing software to help ease the pains of the writing process and create content that ranks well.
Building Your Plan
Construction workers never break ground without a plan. In marketing, we call this a content assignment or a content brief.
Unfortunately, there is no formula for a perfect blog. However, a content assignment can help you nail down all the elements you need to include.
Whether you’re writing content or you’re assigning it to a writer, use these content marketing tools to create the content you’re envisioning.
Google Docs: Create the Structure
Google Docs is a go-to solution for many professionals, not just marketers. The best part is, it’s free—yes, you read that correctly. All you need is a Gmail account, and you’re all set.
Similar to Microsoft Word, Google Docs also has pre-built templates for you to choose from. You can create your own unique template for a content assignment and save the document to your template library.
Unlike a Microsoft Word Document, Google Docs offers real-time collaboration. This setting allows an entire team to work on the same document at the same time. Not only does this speed up work, but it also auto-saves your projects.
One of the defining features of Google Docs is its ability to let you access your documents from anywhere with an internet connection. Prepare beforehand and download your documents from the cloud to make them available offline. Then, your edits will automatically sync when you reconnect.
Finally, you can track all edits made by looking at the document history to find out who made what changes and when they were made.
Pricing: Free
SEMRush: Locate Keywords
As you probably know, keywords are essential in marketing. Keyword research helps you identify which terms to target and provides essential information about the top search results.
SEMRush is a must-have content marketing software, offering an all-in-one suite to help you improve your online visibility. The size of its SEO database will give you all the information you need to create an in-depth content assignment.
- Keyword Research: SEMRush offers accurate keyword tracking to inform your research. The Keyword Overview tool serves key metrics, including search volume, keyword difficulty, CPC (cost-per-click), and more.
- SERP Tracker: Look into the top SERP results for any keyword. Here, you can gain valuable information and note valuable features included in the highest ranking pieces of content.
- Topic Research: Use this feature to find topic ideas your target audience is interested in. SEMRush has four different ways to display popular topics, revealing the most shared headlines, popular questions, and topics your competitors are ranking for.
Pricing: Tiered pricing plans
- Pro for $119 per month for newbies and small teams
- Guru for $229 per month for agencies and mid-size businesses
- Business for $449 per month for large agencies and enterprises
BuzzSumo: Competitor Research
BuzzSumo will help you analyze competitor content. Use advanced operators and date ranges to help you discover content that resonates with your target audience.
Before you create your content brief, you’ll want to do some research. BuzzSumo helps you monitor your competitors, any brand mentions and important industry updates.
One of our favorite features at Ignite is BuzzSumo’s content discovery tool. Use it to browse topics, trends, and forums. This content marketing tool will also give you tips for distribution to help you get higher engagement rates.
Pricing: Tiered Pricing Plans
Once you create a free BuzzSumo account, you have 10 searches a month. If you love this content marketing tool, BuzzSumo offers tiered pricing and the option to create a custom plan as well.
- Pro: $99 per month for small start-ups and freelancers
- Plus: $179 per month for small agencies and growing businesses
- Large: $299 per month for agencies and marketing teams
Copy.ai: Brainstorm Titles
Every writer struggles when it comes to writing titles. We get stuck on phrasing it correctly, keeping it short, and making sure it really describes the content.
Copy.ai is here to help. This AI-powered copywriter helps you. Copy.ai: Brainstorm Titles create catchy, SEO-optimized blog post titles.
First, enter the blog topic and the main takeaway for your reader.
Then, click “Create Copy,” and the free version of the blog title generator will create five blog headlines based on your input and predetermined formulas.
The premium version of this tool also allows you to select a tone of voice to match your brand’s writing style and generates even more titles.
Pricing: Flat Rate
- Free: $0 per month for 1 user with 2,000-word count
- Pro: Offers 5 seats, and pricing varies based on word count
MarketMuse: Model Your Content
This content marketing software finds its success through AI. Here at Ignite, we build our own content assignments for every blog, but MarketMuse can help you get started.
The dashboard will inform your strategy in the best way possible. MarketMuse’s content briefs will analyze thousands of pages to build topic models.
You can create sections of the content assignment with suggested subheadings, popular questions your target audience has, and other related topics.
Finally, MarketMuse relies on AI to analyze your piece and ensure that it includes natural language, titles, subtopics, target word counts and more.
Pricing: Tiered Pricing Plan
- Free: For 1 user with 15 queries per month
- Standard: $7,200 per year for 1 user (option to pay to add more) with 100 queries per month
- Premium: $12,000 per year for teams of all sizes with unlimited queries per month
Stock Your Toolbox
Just like a construction worker, it is essential to make sure you have all the tools you need before you start heavy demolition or a rebuild.
Once the first draft of your piece is in your hands, use these content marketing tools to edit like a pro.
Hemingway Editor
Ready to make your writing bold and clear? This free content marketing software offers a desktop version and an app.
Use Hemingway Editor anywhere, with no internet connection required.
The app highlights lengthy, complex sentences, dense and complicated sentences, adverbs and weakening phrases, and uses of passive voice, all in different colors.
Hemingway Editor also offers a unique perspective on readability. The app offers you average readability based on the reading levels that are taught in schools.
Make sure this reading level matches your brand: if you’re talking to novices, use more basic language that will achieve you a grade 6 reading level; if your audience comprises pros, you can use language that drives the readability towards grade 10.
Pricing: One-Time Fee
- Free: Hemingwayapp.com offers a free version of the editor
- Download: A one-time fee of $19.99 allows you to download the app directly to your Mac or PC
ProWritingAid
Another great editing tool is ProWritingAid. Upload any written content into the tool’s dashboard and receive recommendations to improve the clarity of your writing.
Use this content marketing software to review grammar, curb plagiarism, and edit your style in one place. Keep track of your use of transitions, sentence length and variety and more.
Finally, ProWritingAid offers a unique array of integrations to save you time and money, including Microsoft Word and Outlook, Google Docs, Google Chrome, Gmail, Facebook, and more.
Pricing: Tiered Pricing Plan
- Free: $0 per year with 19 writing reports in total
- ProWritingAidPremium: $120 per year with no word limits
- ProWritingAidPremium+: $130 per year with plagiarism checks
Grammarly
Another well-known editing tool is Grammarly. Grammarly has integrations that allow you to edit the same document across multiple platforms, including emails, messages, documents, projects, and social media.
Grammarly works for your marketing content, sales materials and customer support situations.
This web editor offers a business account, allowing your entire company to access the tool simultaneously.
- Create a shared library of words, terms, and phrases specific to your organization.
- Use your brand voice to build a unique tone.
- Get continuous feedback and make adjustments easily
Pricing: Tiered Pricing Plan
- Free: Grammar, spelling, punctuation, conciseness, tone detection
- Premium: Everything in the Free version, full-sentence rewrites, word choice, tone suggestions, plagiarism
- Business: Everything in the Premium version, style guides, brand tones, analytics background and more
OneLook
OneLook is a great tool if you need to vary your word choice. This content marketing tool functions similarly to Google, showing you the top results that match your search query.
This thesaurus is a great tool to use while editing. If your writer is repetitive in their word choice, enter a word, phrase, or description to find synonyms, related words and more.
Pricing: Free
Manage Your Tasks
Any time you’re building something, it’s essential to track the progress of your projects, no matter how small. Use these content marketing tools to help you keep track of who’s working on what and when they are working on it.
Monday.com
Monday.com uses a visual grid approach to help you stay organized. This content marketing software is an excellent tool for tracking the status of various projects without a hierarchy.
Focused on processes, Monday.com allows your team to create workflows that work seamlessly for your organization. Walk all your team members through setting up an account, then show them the unique workflow process for your team.
You have the option to select from various dashboards to customize your own view of projects. Add in due dates, related tasks, group files together, and more.
Pricing: Tiered Pricing Plans
- Basic: $8 a seat per month
- Standard: $10 a seat monthly
- Pro: $16 a seat monthly
- Plans start at $8 a seat per month for the Basic plan, $10 per seat for the Standard plan, and $16 per seat for the Pro plan. Bigger organizations can opt for an Enterprise Plan for access to all features with unlimited seats.
Basecamp
Basecamp is another tool to help you build a collaborative team. Use it to track multiple projects, group and individual tasks, and store documents that the entire team can access.
This content collaboration tool does not support budget planning, invoicing, or time tracking.
But what you will see are message boards, to-do lists, and the opportunity to schedule and integrate Google or Outlook calendars to stay in touch with others.
The activity view opens up a single space where you can see everything that is going on. Stay on top of overdue tasks, who’s working on what, and more.
Pricing: Flat Fee
- Basecamp Personal: A free program that is ideal for personal projects and freelancers.
- Basecamp Business: The best option for anyone running a business. This plan includes every feature offered, with unlimited projects and users.
Putting the Tools Away
So there you have it. All the tools you need to create a successful marketing assignment, edit your content, and keep track of your progress.
Creating quality content can be difficult, but the right content marketing tools and software can make your job easier.
