By Nkem Ndem
With millions of blog posts published every day, there is the need for bloggers to be conscientious in planning and developing engaging content for their unique audiences and business needs. Every blogger in Nigeria understands how difficult it can be to create original, interesting content as unlike it is with ordinary information, content is specifically targeted and the emphasis is usually placed on quality over quantity. Luckily, there are certain tools available for bloggers to sweep their content before publishing, helping to maintain the quality of their posts and reduce chances of plagiarism. Jovago.com, Africa’s largest hotel booking portal lists five of these tools below:
- Grammarly
Perfect for beginner bloggers, Grammarly is a browser and application extension tool that helps check content for grammar and spelling to a far further extent than the default program on your computer or word processor. It can also check your content against 8 billion websites for plagiarism. All you need to do is copy and paste your article into Grammarly’s online grammar checker to how it performs against checks for spelling, sentence structure, punctuation, style, and more. While the full version of this tool is not free at $11.66/month for a yearly contract and go up to $29.95 for just one month, it is very handy as it can be used in Chrome, Outlook or Word.
2. Hemingway
Although a grammar checker continuously compared to the Grammarly tool, Hemingway is slightly different as it creates a way to check content for readability. It checks your content structure, analyses your text for readability, highlighting sentences that are a bit too complex or dense. The Hemingway tool is easy to use; all you need to do is simply copy and paste your content into its window. It is normally free and can be used on its website; however, you can also download the desktop application for Windows or Mac at a cost of $9.99.
3. Headline Analyzer
Most bloggers focus a lot on the body of the blog post, failing to pay attention to the headline. However, the headline is actually what attracts readers to your post and while you spend time on article content checking and correcting grammar, spelling, and overall structure, you need to optimise that headline as well. The CoSchedule Headline Analyzer tool, a free handy online tool helps you analyse your tentative headline, giving you a detailed, graded report on it within seconds. It scores your headline quality and rates its ability to drive social shares, traffic, and SEO value. The report, gives you many practical tips on how you can make your headline the best possible.
4. Portent Content Idea Generator
One of the difficult stages of writing a blog post is the idea generation stage. For most bloggers, coming up with fresh ideas can be an arduous task, especially when they do not have access to external sources. The Portent’s Content Idea Generator tool comes in very handy as it helps the user to generate ideas for blog posts. It is easy-to-use and requires no training whatsoever. All the user has to do is enter the keyword of choice, then hit the “arrow” sign. The tool then comes up with as many titles or topics to blog about as possible.
Ndem Nkem, Travel/Tech Writer, Jovago Nigeria
Skype: live:nkemndemv, Twitter: @ndemv, Instagram: @kem_dem
