8 Free Resources to Help You Blog Better

Blogging is a great way to show the personality behind your brand and to connect with your customers online. With added benefits such as increased exposure and search engine optimization, it's crucial to ensure that every blog article is the best it can be. Though blogging can be tricky business, these eight free resources will help make it a breeze!

1. Google Keyword Planner

The first step in blogging is to find out what your audience is actually searching for. Google’s free keyword planner will help you do just that. By entering a list of words, phrases or URLs related to your business, this handy tool is able to provide a range of keyword suggestions which you can then use to make informed decisions about potential topics.

2. Blog Idea Generators

For those times when your creative juices aren’t flowing as freely, blog idea generators will give you some much-needed inspiration. A few of our favourites are those available from HubSpot, Impact, and Portent. Simply enter one or more nouns relating to the topic you’d like to write about, and they will generate a wealth of blog post ideas in a matter of seconds.

3. Grammarly

It goes without saying that your blog posts should be free of any spelling or grammar errors. As the world’s most accurate online grammar checker, Grammarly will catch any spelling or grammar mistakes before you hit publish on a post. This free resource is also available as a browser extension, so you can get helpful suggestions wherever you write online.

4. Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is the number one WordPress SEO plugin and for good reason. This free, user-friendly plugin will help ensure that your individual blog posts are optimized for search engines as well as your readers. This is done through features such as a readability analysis and metadata snippet, where recommendations are provided on where to make improvements.

5. Pixabay

Images are an essential part of every blog. If you’re looking for great quality images that don’t cost a dime, Pixabay is the perfect place to start your search. This resource has over 1 million stock photos and videos which are free for commercial use.

6. Canva

No graphic design skills? No problem! Canva’s drag-and-drop feature will help you create beautiful designs without any hassles. This useful graphic design tool also boasts a wide selection of templates and layouts all ready for you to choose from.

7. Buffer

Spread the word about your latest blog post with the help of Buffer, one of the more popular social media scheduling apps. Their free plan includes three social media accounts and 10 social media posts per month. By scheduling the posts to go off at certain times of the day, you can free up some time to spend focusing on other areas of your business.

8. Google Analytics

Publishing a post is just the beginning. The next important step is to measure its performance. Google Analytics is a fantastic free tool that will give you insight into a plethora of statistics such as the number of page visits and the amount of time spent on a page. Visitor demographics such as age, gender, location, and interests are also available through Google Analytics.