Considering that by 2020, customers will manage 85% of their relationships without talking to a human, blogging has become an essential tool in your marketing belt.
But, with global business competition, 10 hour work days and markets moving at the speed of light, finding the time to sit down and actually write can be difficult.
Sure, there are endless excuses. You can’t figure out what to write about. You haven’t got the inspiration. It takes too long. The list goes on and on.
It can be easy to push it to the back of your mind, convincing yourself that it isn’t super important. But it is - it’s your ticket to drawing in your audience! It’s your chance to educate them about your offerings, enticing your buyers into your sales funnel and guiding them towards a purchase.
Marketers who have prioritized blogging are 13x more likely to enjoy positive ROI. And, B2B marketers that use blogs are likely to receive 67% more leads than those that do not.
When you look it that way, how can you afford not to be blogging?
Still, the problem of time remains. But, I’m here to help you fix that.
What if I told you that with some quick and easy to use apps, you can cut your blogging time down dramatically? That you could enhance your productivity, as well as your blog’s effectiveness?
Sound too good to be true? Prepare to have your mind blown.
Here are some time-saving tools that all the big businesses are using to streamline and optimise their blogging.
Grammarly App
How long does it take you to proofread your work? I’d hazard a guess and say that it takes a good chunk out of your time. And, if you’re blogging solo, it can be easy to miss a typo here and there (hey, you’re human).
What’s the solution?
Grammarly is a free application that you can use to spell/grammar check your text. Once the text is in, it rummages through and digs up any spelling or grammatical errors you might have missed. Simply go through and click on the suggestions to change them over!
Hemmingway App
If your lingo is a little more technical in nature or you’ve got a more academic writing style, you can quickly find your blog becoming a little dry or hard to read.
Normally, you should be shooting for around a year 7-8 reading level - but how are you supposed to know what that looks like?
Enter the amazing Hemmingway App.
When you input your text into this free app, it highlights the bits that are hard to read and makes word change suggestions to streamline your blog.
Once you’ve written your blog, I’d strongly recommend whacking it into this app and then doing a secondary edit in there. As you go along and make changes, your blog’s reading level is re-graded - it really is an incredible tool.
HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator
If you’re looking for time savers, this is the big ticket item.
Without a doubt, the hardest part about writing a blog is coming up with a good title.
The title’s what draws in the traffic and clicks - it has to be a knockout!
If you’re having trouble coming up with one, or don’t have the time to sit and brainstorm for half an hour, give HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator a go.
Once you’re on the website, enter in 3 nouns that are related to your blog. Then, sit back and watch as the generator comes up with a list of potential blogs titles. If you’re not 100% on the list, go back and give it another crack - as many times as you like, all free.
Canva
Blogs and eye-catching header graphics go together like a horse and carriage. We’re highly visual people, so having a graphic at the top of your blog and to post out on social media is a must if you’re wanting to up your clicks.
Now, before you panic, it doesn’t mean you have to toil away on Photoshop for 3 hours. Instead, use Canva.
Canva is a free cloud-software app that allows you to quickly and easily create beautiful title images. Drag and drop images in and out, put text over the top, add in filters and shapes - whatever you’d like! Then, simply download it in high resolution and off you go.
Content Management Systems
As an inbound marketer, after I used HubSpot’s legendary Content Management System, I never looked back.
It makes blogging an absolute dream.
By using a CMS like HubSpot, you’re able to input and format your blog beautifully, as well as add images and Calls-To-Action.
You’re also able to optimise your blog for Search Engine Optimisation, adding in image alt tags, meta descriptions and custom URLs.
If you’d like to have a bit more of a look around HubSpot, you can view their feature overview here.
Yes, blogging can be difficult - but it doesn’t have to be. With these 5 blogging tools in your marketing tool belt, you’ll be able to attract, convert, close and delight your target audience better than ever before.
Want to ensure your blogs are kicking goals for your business? Inbound marketing is a surefire way to transform your website into your number 1 sales and marketing tool. Discover what it takes to get it working for your business by downloading our free eBook “The Beginner’s Guide to Inbound Marketing”.
