by Dave Chesson, creator of Kindlepreneur.com
Web content is a big deal. You can’t have a successful website without it, and there are many ways to create great web content.
As someone who has built a thriving niche website, I’ve used a lot of tools to get those jobs done, and I’ve learned a lot along the way.
So today, I’m going to show you five tools that will help you perfect your web content.
Keep in mind that these are paid tools, as I believe that you pay for what you get. That said, these tools will all benefit your content and will be worth it in the long run. If you are strapped for cash, I will make some recommendations on the most important items on this list, should you only have enough to pay for one.
If there are free alternatives, I will point those out as well, but understand that you will not be getting as good of a product.
Let’s dive in.
1. Ahrefs.
Ahrefs is an SEO platform that is essential for good online web content. Now, there are a few alternatives to Ahrefs, including SEMrush, but most are similar in price, come with the same features or are otherwise similar.
You can honestly use any one of them with the same effect, but I use Ahrefs because I find it to be a little more affordable, and does everything that you need it to do .
The main reason that you would want to use Ahrefs, when developing content, is for keyword research.
What I do is look for keywords that my competitors are ranking for, find the ones that have a high volume of traffic, but also a low competition score. These are the posts that I know I can rank for, to get that traffic that I need to start building up a website.
This is the tool that I would probably recommend the most of all the tools on this list. Unfortunately, there are no free alternatives to something like Ahrefs, but there are a few that come closer to an affordable price, such as Ubersuggest.
2. MarketMuse.
Next, we have MarketMuse. MarketMuse is a fantastic content development tool. What it does is help you with keyword research, but unlike Ahrefs, MarketMuse scores your content and gives you suggestions for improvement.
The best part about this software though? How well it works alongside Ahrefs. The two compliment each other perfectly, and when used together in their entirety they will make your website rock solid.
I do recommend using both these tools if at all possible because combining them can give you better results overall. Use Ahrefs to choose the right keywords, and use MarketMuse to optimize that content.
There are a few alternatives to MarketMuse that you may choose to use, such as Clearscope or Surfer SEO, but these will all cost you roughly the same. MarketMuse does have a free plan, however, so you can give it a try and see how you like it.
3. ProWritingAid.
If you aren’t familiar with ProWritingAid, it is essentially a grammar checking tool that will help ensure your content makes sense and looks professional. But it’s a lot more advanced than your typical grammar checker in Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
There are alternatives to ProWritingAid, such as Grammarly, but in this case I genuinely recommend ProWritingAid. It’s by far the cheaper of the two, and it has a lifetime purchase option. Plus it does everything that Grammarly does as well.
However, if you are looking for free alternatives, the Hemingway App might be a good one to look at.
4. NinjaTables.
Adding a lot of content to the page takes work, and should ideally involve more than just text. Tables are one great way to add value to your content, and NinjaTables is my favorite plug-in to make that happen. It’s only available if you use WordPress, but it makes the process of creating tables so much easier.
For example, if you have a need for an advanced table, with sorting and filtering abilities like this one, it’s hard to do it any other way than using a plug-in like NinjaTables. A good free alternative would be Tablepress, but it’s functionalities are limited compared to NinjaTables.
5. Atticus (for book writers).
Lastly, I have a tool specifically for book writers, whether you write nonfiction or fiction. This tool is called Atticus, and it’s a relative newcomer to the world of content creation.
Atticus is a program specifically designed to help you write and format a book for publication. If you want to self publish a book, it can actually be kind of difficult to format it properly.
Atticus helps you do this, making it easy to format a book in under 30 minutes, and the leading competitor is over $100 more, so this really is the cheapest option if you want to write and format a book.
Which Do You Use?
Have you found any tools to improve your web writing? Let us know in the comments. I’ve included a few of my favorites above, but I want to hear about what you use and why it works for you!
Dave Chesson is the creator of Kindlepreneur.com, a website devoted to teaching advanced book marketing. Having worked with such authors as Orson Scott Card, Ted Dekker and more, his tactics help both fiction and nonfiction authors of all levels get their books discovered by the right readers.
