Writing high-quality, engaging content consistently is a challenging task. Thankfully, there are some amazing writing tools available today that can help boost a writer‘s productivity and effectiveness. As a blogger or copywriter, having the right set of writing tools in your toolkit can level up your content game.
In this comprehensive guide, we will look at the top 10 writing tools every blogger and copywriter should consider using.
Why Use Writing Tools?
Before jumping into the tools, let‘s first understand why writing tools matter:
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Save time – Automated tools for catching grammar issues, plagiarism, readability, and more can drastically reduce editing and revision time. You speed up publishing.
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Improve quality – Advanced algorithms in writing tools analyze your text on numerous parameters allowing you to pinpoint problem areas. This means higher quality content.
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Enhance creativity – Certain creative writing tools help trigger new ideas or view existing drafts through a fresh lens. No more writer‘s block!
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Increase productivity – By combining the time savings and quality improvements, your overall daily and monthly content output can get a nice boost from using writing tools strategically.
Now let‘s explore the top categories of writing tools worth checking out!
All-in-One Writing Tools
All-in-one writing tools pack in multiple capabilities like grammar checking, plagiarism detection, readability scoring, vocabulary enhancement, and more. They analyze your text on numerous aspects and help polish it for publication.
1. ProWritingAid
ProWritingAid is arguably the most powerful all-in-one writing and editing tool available. Key features:
- Detailed grammar, spelling, punctuation checks
- Readability analysis with various grade levels
- Plagiarism checker against billions of web sources
- Pacing and consistency of vocabulary alerts
- Rich-text editor for manuscript formatting
- Ideal for blog posts, articles, books and other long form content
Pricing starts at $70 per year for the basic plan. If you write long form content, ProWritingAid is well worth it!
2. Grammarly
The ever popular Grammarly requires no introduction! It’s a solid choice covering grammar, spelling, punctuation, and basic style issues. Main features:
- Browser add-on for seamless proofing
- Catch writing mistakes in real-time
- Clear explanations of errors and fixes
- Readability and vocabulary analysis
- Free basic version available
- Best for blog posts, articles, social media
Grammarly pricing is similar to ProWritingAid but the tool itself is lighter and more browser-focused.
Both tools have free trial periods allowing you to evaluate them in depth before subscribing.
Readability Tools
Writing readable, engaging content should be every blogger’s goal. Readability tools help you assess and improve how content flows, complexity of sentences, structure, word choice and more.
3. Hemingway Editor
Hemingway Editor is a legendary readability improvement tool in the writing space. It highlights hard-to-read, complex sentences and proposes edits to simplify text. Other useful capabilities:
- Readability grading based on various analysis models
- Tracks passive voice usage, adverbs, complex phrases
- Clean interface reflecting Hemingway‘s minimalist style philosophy
- Free to use with word count limits
- Ideal for blog posts, landing pages, articles
This innovative tool can help both beginning and advanced writers improve the clarity of their content dramatically. The results are instant and actionable – a huge productivity boost.
Plagiarism Checkers
Publishing plagiarised content can ruin a blogger’s reputation and violate copyrights. Using a plagiarism checker is essential to avoid this scenario.
4. Copyscape
Copyscape allows you to check for copied or spun content by comparing your text against over 30 billion indexed webpages and papers. Robust features include:
- Quickly generate originality report
- Compare two pieces of text easily
- Integrates with WordPress and other platforms
- Flexible pricing by word count package
- Ideal for all longer form content like articles, stories, books
For bloggers producing lots of content, Copyscape is an affordable and reliable plagiarism checker to integrate into your workflow.
5. Plagiarisma
Plagiarisma offers a complimentary approach to check for plagiarism. It searches across various places beyond just websites:
- Checks against over 60 billion webpages
- Compares against scholarly papers and publications
- YouTube video transcripts search
- Social media sites included in analysis
Pricing is based on monthly active scans making it useful for frequent bloggers.
Using both Copyscape and Plagiarisma ensures content originality from different angles.
Proofreading Tools
After writing any piece of text, every blogger must proofread thoroughly before hitting publish. However, mistakes inevitably slip through. Proofreading tools act as extra guards.
6. Ginger
Ginger focuses primarily on grammar, spelling, punctuation errors – critical for nearly all types of content. Useful features include:
- Browser add-on for quick checks
- Contextual corrections and suggestions
- Readability analysis
- Customizable rules
- Free version with limited word count
- Ideal for social media posts, blog articles
If you manage multiple blogs or social media accounts, Ginger can help keep your daily writings clean across platforms.
7. Whitesmoke
Unlike Ginger‘s focus on grammar, Whitesmoke specializes in catching writing style issues using advanced AI:
- Misused phrases and inconsistent terminology alerts
- Overused words and sentences marked for varience
- Tone and formality assessed based on text genres
- Plagiarism checker integrated
- Free trial available
Combining Ginger and Whitesmoke allows you thoroughly proof blog posts and articles with both grammar and style capabilities.
Writing Productivity Tools
For bloggers, writing productivity depends not just on pure writing ability – you need supportive tools to research smartly, manage and format manuscripts, collect ideas visually, and more.
Here are some top picks:
8. Evernote
Evernote enables all types of writers collate research, clip web articles, take contextual notes, scan handwritten text and more in one app. Core features:
- Capture notes, web clips, files across devices
- Tag and organize notebooks
- Searchable text in images and docs
- Templates for structured note-taking
- Affordable premium plans
For copywriters working on multiple long term projects, Evernote helps blend web research, client files, interview notes and outlines seamlessly. It’s an invaluable productivity booster.
9. Milanote
Milanote employs visual organization to manage creative projects using mood boards. Useful for bloggers to ideate topics include:
- Visual sticky notes tocapture ideas
- Upload images, GIFs, videos
- Embed web links and color code
- Move visual boards easily
- Affordable pricing tiers
If you ever felt limited or overwhelmed by blank documents and text for early drafting, try Milanote to boost creativity. It complements writing tools nicely.
10. Ulysses
Ulysses offers a beautiful, minimalist writing environment focused on markdown. Core features:
- Clean interface for distraction-free writing
- Cross-platform app for mobile writing
- Export final drafts to Word, PDF, HTML
- Deep support for markdown formatting
- 14-day free trial
For bloggers preferring plain text/markdown while drafting posts or ebooks, Ulysses provides an ideal hub. Integration with blogging platforms allows rapid publishing too.
Final Takeaways on Writing Tools
With the sheer variety of writing tools available today at different capability and pricing levels, bloggers and copywriters are simply spoiled for choice. Finding the right set of tools to integrate into your personal workflow requires some experimentation.
I recommend starting out with the free versions of tools like Grammarly, Hemingway Editor, Copyscape, and Ginger/Whitesmoke based on your needs. If specific capabilities become critical for daily productivity gains, then upgrading to their premium or paid plans is worthwhile.
The time and energy savings from automating editing tasks using writing tools results in faster production, higher quality drafts, and better creative thinking for bloggers. Finding those key tools to augment your skills at just the right places is vital for writing growth. Hopefully this guide has provided a useful starting framework.
Now quickly plug some gaps in your process and get creating outstanding written content more consistently using technology designed for 21st century writers!
