The 6 Best Tools to Use On Your Business Blog

The 6 Best Tools to Supercharge Your Business Blog (and How to Use Them Like a Pro)

In today’s digital age, a business blog is no longer an afterthought – it’s a strategic powerhouse. It’s your platform to establish yourself as an industry thought leader, build trust with your audience, and ultimately, convert website visitors into loyal customers.

But consistently churning out high-quality, informative content can feel like scaling a mountain, especially for busy entrepreneurs and marketing teams.

This is where business blogging tools come in. These powerhouses can streamline your workflow, elevate your content, and propel you towards achieving your blogging goals.

From sparking creative ideas to analyzing the impact of your content, here are the 6 best tools to supercharge your business blog, along with actionable tips on how to leverage them effectively:

1. Content Ideation and Planning: Spark a Content Bonfire

• Evernote (Free & Paid Plans): Think of Evernote as your digital brain on steroids. It lets you capture ideas in any format imaginable – text, audio recordings, web clippings, even handwritten notes through the mobile app. Organize your captured gems using notebooks and tags, making it easy to revisit inspiration later.

Pro Tip: Embrace Serendipity: While brainstorming specific blog post topics is important, don’t underestimate the power of capturing random ideas that spark your interest. Did you stumble upon an interesting industry statistic while browsing online?

Clip it into Evernote! Overheard a customer question at your store? Jot it down! These seemingly random ideas can morph into valuable blog content down the line.

• Answer the Public (Free): This freemium tool is a goldmine for uncovering trending search queries and long-tail keywords related to your industry. Simply type in a seed keyword, and Answer the Public generates a visual map displaying questions, comparisons, prepositions, and alphabetical searches people are making. This data is invaluable for understanding your audience’s pain points and crafting content that directly addresses them.

Pro Tip: Go Beyond the Basics: Answer the Public provides a free limited version, but consider the paid plans if you want to unlock even more search queries and export your results for easy reference.

2. Content Creation: Craft Content That Captivates

• Grammarly (Free & Paid Plans): Grammarly is more than just a glorified spellchecker; it’s your grammar guardian angel. It goes beyond catching typos, identifying awkward sentence structures, suggesting improvements for clarity and tone, and even ensuring your writing style aligns with your target audience.

Pro Tip: Level Up Your Writing: The free version of Grammarly provides a solid foundation, but the paid plans offer advanced features like genre-specific writing style checks (perfect for crafting a formal business tone or a more casual conversational style), and plagiarism detection across a wider range of sources.

• Hemingway Editor (Free): Hemingway Editor is a minimalist writing tool that helps you achieve clear and concise prose. It highlights overly complex sentences, passive voice usage, and adverbs that can weaken your writing.

Pro Tip: Aim for Readability: Strive for shorter sentences and clear language. Hemingway Editor assigns your writing a grade level, aiming for a score around 6th to 8th grade for easy readability. This ensures your blog posts are accessible to a wider audience and keep readers engaged.

3. Content Optimization: Fine-Tuning for Search Engine Success

• Yoast SEO (Free & Paid Plans): Yoast SEO is a WordPress plugin that simplifies Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for bloggers. It analyzes your content for readability, keyword usage, and on-page SEO factors, providing actionable suggestions to improve your search ranking.

Pro Tip: Go Beyond On-Page SEO: While Yoast excels at on-page SEO optimization, remember that SEO is a multifaceted strategy. Consider building high-quality backlinks to your blog posts from reputable websites. You can also leverage social media promotion and influencer outreach to further enhance your content’s discoverability.

• Ahrefs (Paid Plans): If you’re serious about SEO and competitor analysis, Ahrefs is an industry-leading tool. It offers a comprehensive suite of features, including keyword research, competitor backlink analysis, and detailed website audits that identify technical SEO issues.

Pro Tip: Invest Strategically: Ahrefs comes at a paid subscription cost, so it’s best suited for businesses with a dedicated SEO budget. However, the insights it provides can be invaluable for optimizing your content for higher search rankings and driving organic traffic to your blog.

4. Visual Content Creation: Captivate with Eye-Catching Graphics

• Canva (Free & Paid Plans): Canva is a graphic design platform that empowers anyone to create professional-looking visuals, even with no design experience. Its user-friendly interface offers a library of pre-designed templates, stock photos, and design elements for you to create stunning social media graphics, presentations, infographics, and even blog post banners. With the free plan, you can create basic visuals, while paid plans offer access to a wider range of premium templates and stock photos.

Pro Tip: Design for Impact: Visuals are powerful tools for grabbing attention and enhancing audience engagement. Use high-quality images and graphics that complement your blog post content. Canva offers a “magic resize” feature, allowing you to easily repurpose your designs for different social media platforms.

• Unsplash (Free): Struggling to find high-quality, free stock photos for your blog posts and visuals? Unsplash is a treasure trove of stunning, royalty-free images on various themes.

Pro Tip: Search Strategically: Use relevant keywords when searching for images on Unsplash. This ensures your chosen visuals directly relate to your blog post content and resonate with your audience.

5. Content Promotion and Scheduling: Spread the Word Like Wildfire

• Buffer (Free & Paid Plans): Buffer is a social media management tool that lets you schedule your blog posts across various social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. This saves you time and ensures consistent promotion of your content. Buffer also provides analytics to track the performance of your social media posts, helping you refine your strategy. The free plan allows you to connect a limited number of social media accounts, while paid plans offer advanced features like analytics and post suggestions.

Pro Tip: Schedule for Success: Don’t just dump your blog post on social media and hope for the best. Utilize Buffer’s scheduling feature to strategically publish your content throughout the week at times when your audience is most active.

• BuzzSumo (Paid Plans): BuzzSumo helps you identify high-performing content within your industry. Simply enter a keyword or topic, and BuzzSumo reveals the most shared content on social media platforms. Analyze this data to understand what kind of content resonates most with your target audience and tailor your promotion strategy accordingly.

Pro Tip: Go Beyond Inspiration: Don’t just blindly copy what others are doing. Use BuzzSumo’s insights as a springboard for creating unique and valuable content that stands out within your niche.

6. Content Analytics and Performance Tracking: Measure What Matters

• Google Analytics (Free): Google Analytics is a must-have tool for any website owner. It provides comprehensive data on your blog traffic, including source, demographics, and user behavior. By analyzing these insights, you can understand what content resonates with your audience, identify areas for improvement, and track the return on investment (ROI) of your blogging efforts.

Pro Tip: Dive Deeper: Google Analytics offers a wide range of data points and customizable reports. Don’t be afraid to experiment and explore different metrics to gain a more nuanced understanding of your blog’s performance.

• Hotjar (Free & Paid Plans): Hotjar goes beyond basic website traffic data. It offers features like heatmaps, session recordings, and form analytics, allowing you to visualize user behavior on your blog posts. You can see where users are clicking, how far they scroll, and identify any potential drop-off points where they might be abandoning your content.

Pro Tip: Take Action on Insights: Use Hotjar’s insights to identify areas where your blog posts might be confusing or lacking engagement. For example, if heatmaps show users dropping off halfway through a post, consider breaking it down into smaller sections or adding captivating visuals to improve readability.

Bonus Tip: Content Collaboration and Workflow Management – Stay Organized and Streamlined

• Trello (Free & Paid Plans): Trello is a visual project management tool that helps teams collaborate and manage their workflow. It uses a board-and-card system, where you can create boards for different content projects (e.g., “Blog Post Ideas,” “Content Calendar”). Add cards for individual tasks like writing a blog post or creating visuals, assign them to team members, and track progress within the board. Trello facilitates communication and keeps everyone on the same page, ensuring smooth content creation and publishing.

Pro Tip: Leverage Team Power: If you have a content marketing team, utilize Trello to streamline collaboration and communication. Assign tasks, set deadlines, and track progress visually within the boards, keeping everyone accountable and ensuring projects move forward efficiently.

Beyond the Tools: Building a Successful Business Blog

While these tools provide a powerful arsenal for creating a successful business blog, remember, they are just that – tools. Here are some additional key considerations to keep your blog thriving:

• Content Consistency is King: Don’t publish sporadically. Develop a consistent publishing schedule and stick to it. This helps build audience anticipation and establishes your blog as a reliable source of information.

• Embrace Content Repurposing: Don’t let your valuable blog content gather dust. Break down your posts into smaller, bite-sized pieces for social media. Use Canva to create infographics or social media graphics based on key takeaways from your blog.

• Quality Over Quantity: Focus on creating high-quality, informative content that provides value to your audience. Don’t churn out low-quality blog posts just to meet a publishing deadline. Invest time in research, writing, and editing to ensure your content is engaging and establishes you as a thought leader.

• The Power of Storytelling: People connect with stories. Weave compelling narratives into your blog posts to capture reader attention and make your content more memorable. Use case studies, customer testimonials, or even industry anecdotes to illustrate your points and add a human touch.

• Become a Community Builder: Don’t just broadcast information; foster a community around your blog. Encourage reader engagement by responding to comments, hosting Q&A sessions, or inviting guest bloggers to contribute diverse perspectives.

• SEO Optimization is an Ongoing Process: Search engine algorithms are constantly evolving. Stay updated on the latest SEO best practices and regularly audit your blog posts for optimization opportunities. Utilize tools like Yoast SEO and Ahrefs (if within your budget) to stay ahead of the curve.

• Embrace Analytics and Adapt: Don’t just publish content and hope for the best. Regularly analyze your blog’s performance using Google Analytics and Hotjar. See what content resonates with your audience, identify areas for improvement, and adapt your strategy accordingly.

Final Word: Building a Thriving Business Blog

By leveraging the right tools, prioritizing high-quality content, and fostering audience engagement, you can transform your business blog into a powerful asset that attracts leads, converts customers, and establishes your brand as an industry leader.

Remember, success doesn’t happen overnight. Be patient, experiment, and continuously refine your approach to create a thriving business blog that delivers exceptional value to your audience.