When it comes to cementing your brand, your work might speak for itself, but it helps if you speak for it, too. Well-written content gives you the chance to share the method to your madness, to spread some insights, and demonstrate your expertise. However, writing effective, easy-to-read content isn’t as simple as it might first appear, especially if you have plenty of writing to do. For that reason, here are a few tools that can help make it all the easier to get creative and efficient.
A second pair of eyes
Even if you reread and reread your own content, it’s easy to miss mistakes, especially those that tend to slip past autocorrect functions built into your word processors. Reading aloud is a good tip for testing the “readability” of your pieces but having a second pair of eyes is even better. That’s where proofreading apps like Hemingway and Grammarly can be most effective. Not only can you spot errors and mistakes, but they can point out bits that are functionally correct, but don’t read too well.
Your work zone
The majority of your work is likely to be done in a text editor. However, it can be hard to find those with all of the features that you like. It’s worth taking a look at what is the best text editor for Mac to see which ones have the features to meet your needs. Editors come with all sorts of bell and whistles, including direct integration with content systems like WordPress, a distraction-blocking Zen mode, the ability to leave notes on the text that don’t interfere with the word count, and more. It’s all about choosing which features are a priority for you.
The right snaps
Your content isn’t all about the actual written content, either. Good imagery is essential for making it stand out amongst your blog or the rest of your articles. Furthermore, snaps can be used to illustrate your points and provide context that the text itself goes to expand on. Good sources of stock images are invaluable tools. You will want to have more than a couple at your disposal so you’re not always reusing the same snaps, as well.
A place for your notes
A good text editor will have note functionality that allows you to make observations and keep track of resources you can use for a specific piece of content. However, note-making apps give you a separate place to independently track the different ideas and resources that you use most frequently when writing content in general. These apps make it a lot easier to jot down ideas even when they’re not relevant to the particular piece of content you’re writing right now and to separate notes into different pages and categories that make it all the easier to stop clutter from slowing down your productivity.
Of course, all the tools in the world won’t help unless you have content that’s worth reading. Make sure that you’re always thinking about the value that readers can take from your content, not just what you want to write.
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