In a world of constant updates and new releases, it can be hard to stay up-to-date on all the amazing tools out there to help you create content.

It can be a challenging sometimes to make good content and even harder to optimize it for SEO. Thankfully you're not the only one who could use a little help when it comes to creation. We've got a wealth of programs at our fingertips, made by and for people exactly like us!

Take a look at these 8 tools that will help you create, market, and promote great content!

Wunderlist

NOTE: Wunderlist is no more! We really liked Wunderlist but take them off this list... and your list. RIP Wunderlist. 😉

Lists are the best but sometimes it can be easy to misplace paper notes. That's why Wunderlist was created. One of many list apps, Wunderlist continues to stay on top of the competition because of it's simple to navigate user-interface.

It can be overwhelming sometimes when you get bombarded with a variety of tasks on a daily basis. Place Wunderlist on your desktop; set reminders, save links, take notes, save photos, and keep track of deadlines.

One of the best parts? You can access it from your phone or tablet, so you can write down that idea no matter where it comes to you. Walking the dog? No problem, pull out your phone, open Wunderlist, jot it down, and read it on your laptop later. It really is wonderful to stay organised.

Google Trends

Coming up with ideas for content can be one of the biggest problems for any creator. Even if you've been creating content for a long time, it's not always easy to come up with good ideas for content. Sometimes when you're stuck a good approach is to find out what's popular at the moment. Google Trends the perfect place to start to get a sense of trending topics on the internet and in the world. Find out the amount of interest in a specific topic before you write about it and even check out what people use for keywords to find that topic.

SEMrush

Another great SEO tool that's actually super easy to learn and use. If you're trying to figure out your competition through competitive keyword analysis or content opportunities - SEMrush. Start by just entering a URL or keyword you're interested in and you instantly get a slew of useful information, including: Top organic keywords, main organic competitors, organic search volume, backlinks, and plenty more.

Feedly

If you need to find articles in your industry, Feedly become one of the best ways to subscribe to RSS feeds. RSS continues to be a great way to keep track of what's happening in your field of interest. Use Feedly's mobile app to browse news and content and save it for later reference. Not only an amazing tool for content creation, Feedly is also a great way to stay in-touch with some of your other interests. Bored? Just take a scroll through and find dozens of interesting articles from around the web.

Grammarly

Nobody spels prefectly, but Grammarly can help you be that spelling bee champion you've always wanted to be. All you have to do is add Grammarly to Google Chrome and it will make sure that anything you write gets spell checked. It may sound pretty minor but it could be the difference of e-mailing your client with the perfect proposal or an indecipherable code. Okay, it wouldn't be that drastic, but spelling mistakes do make content fell less professional, so always remember to spell check!

If you're looking for help with writing content take a look at one of our previous blog posts - The 15 Best Writing Apps You've Never Heard Of.

Plagiarism Checker

Don't forget this nifty little tool made by Small SEO Tools. Paste in your text, 1000 words or less, and check to see if what you're putting out has already been found by the Google spider. Making unique content is a very important part of development. Plagiarized isn't only bad practice but it can get your content blacklisted by Google, harming your SERP (Search Engine Placement Results). Throw your text in and give it a double check, every little thing matters when it comes to SEO! 

Smallseotools.com also has a bunch of other useful tools to help optimize your content for search engines, including a backlink checker, image compression tool, keyword density checker, and plenty more.

Canva

Quality written text is only half the battle, if you're trying to create good web content, you'll also need to make tons of beautiful visuals. If you don't have access to any design programs like InDesign, Photoshop, or Illustrator, this could pose a challenge. 

Luckily for you, Canva is here to give you one of the best free platforms for creating your own graphics and images. It couldn't be any simpler, choose from a vast array of stock images and templates that are totally free, or upload your own photo! Modify them, add text, shapes, emblems, and customize them however you like. What's the best part? You don't need any design experience, just jump in and start creating that content.

PicMonkey

Canva is great but it can't do everything. If you need more of a photo editor and less of design program, you need PicMonkey. This photo editor allows you to resize, touch-up, create collages, and much more. If you're looking to brighten up or edit your own photos, this is the tool for you. Even if you have no design experience, PicMonkey makes it easy for you to make your images look professional.

Bonus: Clipboard Cleaner

Tired of all the underlying formatting that happens when you copy and paste text? Well, ClipBoard Cleaner is your answer. This handy little program cleans your clipboard fast and easy, no frills. Get rid of those pesky spans with no hassle.

However, It's only a Windows program but it's tremendously helpful when you're writing your content in Word. Check it out, it works with many different Windows operating systems and can really save you some time.

There's so many tools out there on the world wide web that can help you create content. Not everything works for everybody so try out different programs and apps until you find ones that work for you and what you're doing. There's no end to the tools out there to help you, take the time and learn something new because it could save you huge amounts of time down the road.

Filed in // Content Development, Search Engine Optimization