Amazing Tools to Guide Writer to Plan 3 Times Faster
As discussed in last week’s article, planning is a critical part of the writing process. Lack of planning will cause the article to have an ambiguous flow and the information cannot be delivered perfectly to the readers. Once the writer has a rough plan inside their mind, it is always better to start drafting or note-taking to prevent slips from the memory. This week, we will reveal writing tools that will assist writers in the planning steps for online articles. We are going to start with the tools for planning SEO keywords and continue with note-taking tools to boost your writing productivity.
The Best Content Idea and Keyword research tools
Nowadays, writers must insert SEO keywords to produce high coverage articles. An SEO keyword is a word or phrase that makes people discover your content through search engines. Google, like a search engine, have tons of article available. Therefore, getting winning traffic for your content becomes the main purpose. One of the best ways to invite traffic is to create articles based on trending questions or topics with targeted keywords. In this section, we will discuss how to find “traffic-crowd” content ideas and followed by tools for SEO keywords.
Google trends
The beginner writer can start by using Google Trends. This helps the writer to study the most frequently search topic and any related topic that is currently popular. Google trends analysis is based on the regional scope and the most exciting part is totally free.
Answer the public
The next writing tool is Answer the public. These tools use mind maps to visualize the common issue or topic that people are curious to find out. The mind map visualization can help the writer to organize their thought and provide diverse points of view. For every topic input on Answer the public, it will provide a mind map based on the question, preposition, comparison, and relation. Let’s use “Financial Freedom” as the topic example.
Answer the Public will show you mind map 5W + 1H question of Financial Freedom question (e.g What is Financial Freedom? Why Financial Freedom is important?),
a mind map of a preposition (e.g is, near, to) + Financial Freedom,
a mind map of comparison word (e.g versus, and, like) + financial freedom,
and the mind map of any phrase that related to financial freedom (e.g financial freedom calculator)
Additionally, Answer the public also shows the list of related topic searches based on alphabetical order. This tool has come with free and paid versions. For the free version, writers can search up to 3 times a day. For the paid version, writers can have unlimited search and use other features such as downloadable documents, comparison data, statistics, and many more.
Answer Socrates
Similar to answering the public, writers also can check for popular topics on a webpage called Answer Socrates. Writers can access these websites for free with no search limitation. By having more than one similar tool, writers can compare the popular topic from each web and then combine the topic that appears on both pages as the discussion of the article.
Semrush
Semrush is another alternative tool aside from what has been mentioned above. This is an all-in-one solution for every content writer. They provide SEO keywords and topic research tools in one platform. Here are some key benefits offered by Semrush:
- Comprehensive and detailed keyword research including search volume, keyword difficulties, and SERP Analysis.
- Perform content audit and tracking to monitor and analyze the performance
- Provide recommendations on how to write SEO articles based on competitor performance
Semrush can become a great helper for writers. However, writers need to upgrade the pro plan to enjoy the complete feature. If you would like to feel the experience of using Semnrush, they do provide 7 Days Free Trial for you to decide whether it is the tools you need.
Top Tools to Organize your digital writing notes
The note-taking process is essential during researching and generating the topics article. In the past, writers usually used a notebook to write down their notes. However, there are moments when ideas suddenly appear in unexpected times and writers don’t bring their notebooks. It can be chaos if writers take a note all over places, which leads to confusion and the greater risk of missing notes. To solve this issue, we will discuss tools that can be used to replace the physical notebook with a more efficient note-taking system.
Mindmeister
After looking at various popular topics, it’s time to generate our mind mapping. The mind map is the best way to figure out what we are going to write. Dumping all the ideas and creating links to each other can help writers to have a great flow for the article. In the old days, creating a mind map is complicated, however, today writers can easily generate a mind map using tools such as Mindmeister. It offers flexibility during the process of making a mind map, writers can edit and rearrange the map with just a simple click. The free version offers up to 3 mind maps, and the paid version allows writers to create unlimited mind maps.
Evernote
Evernote is a software that allows writers to write down their notes anytime and anywhere. Writers can access their notes from their devices, only by simply connecting to their account. Writers also can save their research material and store it in one place, so whenever writers need to look back for a certain resource, they can easily find it.
Apart from that, the writer can share the note with others when working with the team. However, the free version only allows two devices that can access the note at the same time. If writers want to share with unlimited devices, they can select the paid version.
Ideaflip
Every writer has their own style of brainstorming, some prefer using mind mapping, some create a list, while others like to use sticky notes. For those who prefer using sticky notes, you don’t need to stack tons of sticky notes in your monitor or notebook. There comes a digital version of sticky notes called Ideaflip.
Ideaflip replaces the messy sticky note with a virtual sticky note. Compared to Evernote and Mindmeister, this software looks more colorful and fun. In addition, this software allows you to brainstorm together as a team to generate awesome ideas. Lastly, to make your sticky notes easy to read yet fun to look at, Ideaflip provides various templates for you to choose from.
Wrap up: Time to pick the right tools
Writers have various options of writing tools to help them plan their articles. Each tool has its own strengths and serves a different purpose, with the right combination, it will produce a great result. However, the writer should be reminded that these tools have some limitations, and understanding the basic concept of planning articles is still essential to make sure the tools are utilized at an optimum level. If you still find difficulties on how to use the writing tools for achieving the maximum results, feel free to email us jennyandvenny@gmail.com or DM @jennyandvenny, and we are happy to share you with more detailed information or even give a live demo. Remember to click the FOLLOW on our medium to support us produce more insightful content.
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