Whether you’re ambitiously aiming for that promotion at your current job, or breaking out of the 9-to-5 grind as a freelance content writer, you need to upskill yourself to make it in the industry. Thankfully, there are many readily available resources you can use to amp up your writing skills. You can find a gold mine of resources that will keep you updated with the most relevant skills in the industry with Kool Kanya’s PowerPass.
Skills like great grammar, an engaging writing style, crisp editing and coming up with compelling blog titles contribute to making you a better writer.
Here are a few corners of the internet that are filled with great resources to help you upskill yourself as a writer:
- CoSchedule
CoSchedule is one platform that is used for organising, planning, and executing all things related to content marketing. Companies can create marketing calenders and schedule blog posts, emails, timelines for website and social media content etc.
Additionally, the app offers free tools to improve your content writing skills such as a Headline Analyzer which analyses your headline’s word count, sentiment, word balance, and clarity. Your article writing skills may be great, but if your headline isn’t compelling enough, the reader won’t click on your article. This app also offers an Email Subject Line Tester and a Social Message Optimizer.
2. The most dangerous writing app
You know when you write an article and you keep hitting the backspace button, you stop and think, write again, backspace, think, write again. In the process of thinking and overthinking, we end up taking a lot more time to write the article than we should.
This app helps you to stop thinking and just write. It makes sure you get into the practice of writing without stopping. Essentially, the app will give you a timer. You have to keep writing till that timer stops, and if you stop typing in between, the software will erase everything you’ve written and you will have to start again.
3. Hemingway app
Some people say, your writing is as good as your editing. Your daily blog writing may be minimalistic and simple, but editing that article can make a huge difference. The Hemingway app makes sure you don't get lost in your own writing and shows you how your article looks to a reader.
It gives you recommendations like simplifying complex sentences, shortening lengthy sentences, using alternate phrases to make sentences more understandable and grammatical recommendations to make your writing better. The app highlights specific words and phrases and gives particular feedback on every tiny detail. From using a different adverb to changing the sentence into passive voice, it gives your article a different perspective.
4. Spruce - OneLook
Every writer needs inspiration to spark their creativity. As writers, we need to also inspire others through the different stories we write. Spruce OneLook calls itself the “inspiration search engine”. You can type in sentences from something that you’ve read or written about, and it will show you quotes and lyrics from all over the world related to that topic. This is especially useful for personal blog writing. With personal blogs, it’s easier to put in a few quotes that add sentiment and emotion to touch the reader.
5. Cliche Finder
When you’re writing an article, your capacity to describe something gets saturated over time. We tend to stick to the most common and plain words. However, if you want to grow as a writer, you need to expand your vocabulary. This means avoiding the word ‘delicious’ to describe food and using words like ‘appetising’ or ‘delectable’.
With Cliche Finder, you can copy and paste your text into the box, and it will show you a number of alternatives to words that you have used in your article. Cliche Finder goes beyond a thesaurus with the volume of alternative words it provides.
6. Google Trends
All writers have one common enemy, and that is writer’s block. It can be difficult to constantly come up with new ideas for the blogs and articles that you are writing. Google Trends is one platform that shows you what people are searching for around one topic. You can even analyse when the interest in specific topics has risen and fallen. When you figure out what people are reading about, that will help you in writing blogs about topics that interest and connect to your audience. Google Trends also provides you with the keywords used around those particular topics.
The more you know and are updated about the world, the better you can write and form that connection with your audience.
7. Hubspot Blog Ideas Generator
Another tool that gives you different ideas about blog topics is the Hubspot Blog Ideas Generator. If you are certain about a topic but you cannot frame it in the right way, this app will help you with that. You just need to put in a few nouns related to the topic, and the software will generate a few title examples to help you.
If you think your writing has become mundane and boring, incorporate a few of these tools into your writing, and you will definitely see a change. When you focus on upskilling yourself, you have the ability to #raiseyourpower as a freelance content writer and get paid to write articles to break away from the 9-to-5 job. You can check out the content writing course at Kool Kanya, Content Fast Track 2.0 to kickstart your journey.
