I won't lie.
I wish I knew about these
when I started my copywriting business eight years ago.
Keep watching for my list
of eight crazy cool and insanely simple tools
that will make you a better writer.
Hey guys, it's Alex. What's up?
Now, I get a lot of questions from you guys asking me
what software and templates I use to write my copy.
Now, the truth is I am not a big fan
of plug and play software or swipeable templates
because these take the essence out of the craft.
Writing compelling copy or content
isn't about using machine-generated words
or just copying what anyone else is doing.
It's about getting inside the mind of your customer
and helping them solve a problem with a product or service
that you know can deliver them results.
Now, what I am a big fan of, though,
is tools that can elevate my marketing,
optimize my writing and provide useful insights
into what people are looking for right now.
So today, I am sharing The Copy Posse's go-to list
of tools that you should absolutely use
if you're a copywriter or content writer,
looking to take your writing to the next level.
Now trust me, you will wish you got your hands on these
so, so much sooner because I sure did.
And heads up, if you're like me and you often suffer
from writer's block, you do not want
to miss my episode next week because I'll be sharing
my favorite fill in the blank writing exercises
that will help you get those creative juices flowing.
So, if you haven't yet subscribed,
now's the time to join the Posse.
Hit that subscribe button below, and then ring that bell
to be notified when my next video goes live.
Now, here they are, what you came for,
eight copy and content writing tools
that will make you a better writer.
Number one, Sharethrough Headline Analyzer.
If you want your headlines ranked and scored
based on what's vibing on the Internet these days,
this tool provides a quick and easy critique.
This is a free headline analyzer that you can use
to measure your headline's engagement potential.
While Sharethrough is primarily for social media
and content marketing, it is still worth a spin
for your copywriting headlines, too.
Backed by scientific research and content algorithms
across the entirety of the Internet, all you have to do
is enter your headline, and this tool will hit you back
with a headline quality score.
It'll even tell you what your headline's strengths are
and how you can optimize it.
Now, like any automated tool,
this should be taken with a grain of salt
because, yes, it is a robot on the other end, after all.
So, for example, I scored a decent 70
for the headline of this video.
But, according to Sharethrough,
I would have had an 87 if my headline was actually,
"These 8 Stupid Easy Copywriting & Content Writing Tools
Will Make You A Better Writer Because Drake Is Awesome".
So, while Drake is awesome, these tools are not textbooks.
They are meant to tweak and optimize,
not write your headlines for you.
So always, always, always trust your own logic and judgment.
All right, tool number two, Grammarly.
Now I have said this a million times before,
but copywriters and content writers
are often the worst spellers ever,
and it's because we're far more concerned
with those big ideas, and then getting those big ideas
out of our brains and onto paper before they are gone.
Who has time for spelling and grammar
when you're in mad creative flow, right?
So, when a tool like Grammarly comes along and takes the job
of proofreading off our hands, it really saves the day.
Praised worldwide, not just by writers, but really anyone
who has to do any sort of writing to do their job,
even responding to important emails,
Grammarly is that AI assistant that helps you detect,
and correct, spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes.
It also provides real time suggestions
and guidelines on how to best correct them.
It's super simple.
You can even add it as an extension in your Chrome browser.
And what's even more cool about Grammarly now
is that it even knows how to edit for specific genres.
So, you can churn out high converting sales pages by day
and work on that secret romance novel by night (chuckles).
All right, tool number three, my favorite, Hemingway Editor.
So the Hemingway app is your no nonsense editor
who refuses to let you beat around the bush.
He wants you to cut to the chase and the goal, of course,
is copy and content that is clear and concise,
yet bold and relatable.
This tool uses different color codes
to highlight lengthy, complex and difficult sentences
so that you know what needs to be sliced,
simplified and optimized.
It'll also tell you if your vocabulary
is getting a little too academic, verbose or periphrastic,
um, make that wordy, for real folks to relate.
Remember, the average person reads most comfortably
at the seventh-grade level.
Besides, no one likes a long-winded narrative.
This is not "Lord of the Rings,"
so keep your wording powerful and precise.
All right, tool number four,
my very own Feature-2-Benefit Converter.
In sales copy, features are factual statements
about what your product or service has or is.
While useful, they are not
what entice your customers to buy.
Remember that.
Benefits, on the other hand, describe the outcome
that a user will hopefully experience by using your product
or service, therefore fulfilling the most important question
on everyone's mind when making a buying decision online:
What's in it for me?
So yes, one of my favorite copywriting tools
was one I created myself.
My Feature-To-Benefit Converter helps you
turn product features into juicy bennies
using five simple questions.
So you can grab your copy of this handy tool
in the description below.
All right, number five, Answer The Public.
So there are about 3 billion, with a B, searches
on Google alone, every single day,
on every topic and curiosity imaginable.
And many of these inquiries get asked over and over again,
so search engines can actually readily predict
and provide data based on what people
want to find out the most about, and more importantly,
what they want to know, specifically.
Answer The Public taps into the auto-complete data
from search engines like Google
and uses that database to pull up useful phrases
and actual questions that people are asking
around a certain topic or keyword.
As they so aptly put it themselves,
it's practically a goldmine of insights
directly from your customers, so you can produce content,
products and services they actually want.
For example, when I searched the copywriting topic,
take a look at all the super specific
and relatable questions that come up.
These are actual searches from my ideal customers.
That's pretty cool, right?
It even goes deeper into prepositions,
comparisons and more keywords.
Um what? This is amazing.
It is a goldmine that goes far, far
beyond typical keyword research.
And moving on to number six, BlogAbout by IMPACT.
Not sure what to blog about? Yeah, it's not just you.
This tool was born out of that very frustration,
when you've just run out of relevant topics
and unique angles because of writer's fatigue
or just the overwhelming amount of posts and articles
that are already out there.
BlogAbout helps spark inspiration
by providing fill-in-the-blank titles and writing prompts.
It helps you narrow down topic ideas
from those broad subjects to actual headline suggestions.
It's so easy and it's actually a lot of fun to use.
So, for example, if I'm looking for inspiration
on topics related to writing,
I simply pop that in and, voila, I have a bunch
of amazing fill-in-the-blank title ideas.
It even has a really cool little doodle pad for you to use
if you're experiencing any sort of writer's block.
I absolutely love it and I recommend you check it out
and play around with it.
All right, number seven, BuzzSumo.
So, while Sharethrough gives you a headline score,
BuzzSumo actually shows you a list
of the most popular headlines for that topic
that are trending right now,
based on the number of social shares.
This is great if your focus is engagement,
and you want to know what blog topics are getting people
to hit that share button and creating buzz.
BuzzSumo helps identify the most relevant topics
to keep your content fresh, and even identifies
top hashtags, trends and new content
from other players in your niche or industry.
So, for example, when I searched content writing,
these are the top shared blog articles
with that keyword.
BuzzSumo allows you to do a few free searches
before it asks you to upgrade, so use your searches wisely.
And lastly, number eight on my list, Speechnotes.
So this is for my fellow writers
who sometimes just find your fingers frozen on the keyboard
because your brain has just stopped
sending information down that line (chuckles).
So what's the alternative?
Mix it up and let your thoughts
write themselves via dictation.
Speechnotes is a fantastic, speech enabled online notepad
that helps you turn what you think into ink in a blink
by having your thoughts transcribed
on the spot in real time.
For a free software that doesn't even require downloading
or registration, this dictation tool
provides a pretty accurate transcription.
So take a break from typing, lie down on your couch,
have a coffee and let Speechnotes
be your personal transcriber as you create and write.
All right, that brings us to the end of this week's video.
I hope these tools will be as helpful to you
as they have been for me and my team,
for hook inspiration, content ideas and copy finessing.
You can save this video for anytime
you're writing copy or content, and don't forget
to grab your copy of My Feature-to-Benefit Converter below.
You'll also find links to all the other tools
I mentioned there as well.
Thank you so much for watching and subscribing,
and keep those comments coming.
I absolutely love to hear from you,
and I'll see you next week
where I'll be sharing my top writing prompts
to help you snap out of writer's block.
In the meantime, check out my video
on five copywriting exercises you can do
to turn your copy from good to great.
You can watch that right here. I will see you next week.
Until then, I'm Alex. Ciao for now.
(upbeat music)
So search engine, blurp.