Today, technology has tried its best to make life somehow easier for everyone. With the kind of skills we possess, technology has brought in tools that can be used to take our skills to the next level.
Most of these tools have been designed in a way to help reduce some of the challenges that face people when trying to maximize their skills.
Take the example of bloggers - writing is pretty much what they do, but with the assistance of some of these time saving tools, which are mostly available on the Internet for free, their craft is taken to the next level.
TOOLS THAT CAN ASSIST YOU MANAGE YOUR TIME WELL
StayFocusd – it is normal for bloggers to get distracted when writing or researching. However, when this starts to impede you progress, you need to take measures to protect yourself. There are some time-tracking tools in the form of Plug-Ins which are available on browsers that can help you to stay focused. The LeechBlock on Firefox is a perfect example of such a tool.
Quabel - learning about the shortcuts that you can use to send commands on your PC is something that we all admire. It is a simple process that does not need computer science knowledge. For example in word processor, the tool has a number of functions that allows for the formatting of a document. All these shortcuts can be learned, and save you time when writing up your articles.
EssayMama – as an online writing service, the website is dedicated to helping you develop a thesis or any other writing material for that matter. You need not to be a student to access their services. The team at EssayMama will assist you to effectively come up with the right structure for your piece and help you find and include sources to your work. They are experienced enough and will provide you with step by step guidelines from start to finish.
Copyscape – As a blogger, you know that plagiarism is a huge crime on the Internet. Therefore, whenever you are creating your content, it is important to ensure that everything that you come up with is original and unique. Copyscape is an amazing tool that can help you check for plagiarism and prevent you from suffering the penalties associate with copyright infringement.
Write or Die – if you are looking for motivation to write, this is the tool that you need. It keeps you focused and upbeat. Who said that you need a gun on your head to write? With this simple tool, you can pay all your attention to what you are doing until you're done.
TOOLS NEEDED FOR DESIGNING
As a blogger, at times you may need to attach images, tables and charts to your piece. After all, research revealed that visual content gets shared a lot more than ordinary content.
When this is the case, these graphic tools can be used to add that extra flare to content:
Jing – this awesome tool is designed to help the user capture images from a streaming video. Once the image is captured, it is readily made available for use. The tool also makes it possible for you to share the images in a much more simplified manner.
ThingLink - a tool that allows you to easily add notes to images of videos. With over 1.5 million publishers already using this tool, you have no reason to be left behind. The images created can then be shared on social media or used on your blog.
Canva – if you've ever wanted to be a designer, this program will make it possible for you. The tool can be used to add captions to images, or simply customize your image to meet your requirements and share, or download, for your own use.
PicMonkey – with this photo editing tool, the user is given an opportunity to transform their photos into awesome pieces by adding gorgeous effects to them. You can also use the tool to customize your images to match your requirements before using them in your blog.
Piktochart – if your blog will need infographics, you can use this tool to create amazing infographics, presentations, posters and even create reports that will be appealing to your target audience. The tool is simple to use as you only need to point and click in order to create.
TOOLS USED IN FORMATTING
Being able to easily communicate your message is something that freelance copywriters need to achieve. Part of this involves being able to format your document in such a way that it can be appealing to the eyes of your readers.
You need to know how to properly use your fonts so that the readers can remain engaged. These tools can help you achieve this objective:
HTML Link Generator - this tool can be used just before publishing your content to help create a link for your website or other websites. Besides this, you can also use the tool to specify the Link Display Text, the color, text and make any other adjustments.
Firebug – a stunning tool that is used to assist with content development. What the tool does is that it will identify the HTML in your content and try to make adjustments in terms of the style and layout. All this is done in real time.
Notepad++ - is a free source code editing tool which can also be used as a Notepad replacement. The tool supports a number of languages and runs on MS Windows. editors note - I absolutely love Notepad++
Dafont – This is a website that has thousands of free fonts for you to download, which can be used to create impressive designs for your blog post.
Google Fonts – a similar tool to Dafont that helps you to create wonderful fonts for your content, Google Fonts allows you to easily embed custom fonts into your web pages, which lets you customize the fonts used throughout your content - perfect for headlines.
Improving your writing skills should be a top priority as a freelance blogger, and with these tools, you are only a step away from becoming a professional freelance blogger.
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