May 2, 2020

Best Content Marketing Software to Improve Your Output

If you're getting started with content marketing, it's easy to succumb to information overload.

There are so many blog posts, so many tools saying they'll help you, and so many ways to approach your strategy.

But, you should keep things simple.

Don't invest in 50 tools you don't need.

It's a waste of money, and no tool guarantees results if you don't have a clear content strategy and plan in the first place.

To help you get started with content marketing, here is, in our opinion, some of the best content marketing software on the market right now.

These tools will help you get started without having to invest thousands. They'll help you do keyword research, write, and manage your content pipeline with ease.

We've kept our recommendations to budget-friendly options (assuming you've hit product-market fit), so they're  ideal for companies getting started on their content marketing journey.

Without further ado, let's jump in.

Best Content Marketing Software to Help You Scale

1. Collaborate on Content with Google Docs

Pricing: Free

You don't need to invest thousands of dollars into content marketing software to see results.

Google Docs is the perfect way to get started with content writing and collaborating on content.

If you outsource your content writing you can easily ask your writers to add their content into a shared doc, and leave feedback using comments.

As you know, you can access it for free or as part of your paid G Suite plan.

Due to the collaborative aspect, it's the perfect platform to write your content and get real-time feedback from your team on it.

If you set up a content calendar using Sheets and do your writing in Docs, you can start your content marketing operations for free and get the same results as companies spending thousands on content management systems that do the same thing at their core.

Features:

  • Free to use or included with paid G Suite accounts
  • Easily share documents with stakeholders
  • Comment and make suggestions
  • Email notifications when suggestions are made
  • Export to multiple formats

2. Conduct Keyword Research with Ahrefs

Pricing: Starts at $99/month

See data on search volume, difficulty, clicks, common questions, and much more.

All content marketers need access to data on keyword volume to help identity what they should be writing about.

Ahrefs is a powerful keyword research tool. We use it pretty much every day at Contentbulb.

You'll be able to quickly identify keywords and topic ideas, explore what your competitors are writing about, and track your rankings in search.

If you don't have the budget for it, consider trying it out using their affordable trial. You'll be surprised just how much value you can get out of it.

Features:

  • Find valuable keywords
  • Find backlink opportunities and track growth
  • Competitor analysis
  • Keyword rank tracker
  • Find trending topics with content explorer

3. Find Keyword Ideas and Optimize Content with SEMrush

Pricing: Starts at $99.95/month

Another great option for keyword and SEO research, SEMrush offers a wide range of tools to help you grow your content marketing operation.

One of the best parts is their integration with Google Docs.

You input your target keyword, and SEMrush will provide suggestions on how to make your content more SEO-friendly.

We never advocate for complete reliance on a tool like that, as you're writing for people, but there's no denying that they're beneficial.

You'll be able to have a measure of how well your content will perform, even before you publish it.

When it comes to workflow, consider checking how SEO-friendly your article is at the end of the process, rather than doing it as you're writing.

Otherwise, it's tempting to follow the instructions to a tee, and you'll end up sounding like a robot and the content won't be engaging to your readers.

Features:

  • Keyword research tool
  • Backlink tracker tool
  • Site health checker
  • Organic traffic analytics
  • Google Docs extension to help make your content SEO-friendly

4. Optimize for Search Intent with Clearscope

Pricing: $350/month

Match your audience's search intent with Clearscope

Clearscope is one of the most powerful content marketing tools out there.

It's an AI-powered platform that helps you understand exactly what you should include in your blog posts to give them the best chance of ranking well.

It provides advice on what you should include in your article and what topics to reference so your final blog posts will match the search intent and deliver the business results you want them to.

If you're a startup that's just beginning to invest in content marketing, then Clearscope may be out of your budget. But, it's worth it if you have the resources.

Features:

  • Keyword resarch tool
  • Search intent optimization
  • Multi-language support
  • Responsive customer support
Grammarly

5. Check Your Grammar with Grammarly

Pricing: Free, or $29.95/month

Review your content before publishing with Grammarly

No blog post on content marketing software would be complete without Grammarly.

We run everything we publish through Grammarly. It shows you where you can improve on:

  • Grammar
  • Spelling
  • Clarity
  • Delivery

If you're regularly publishing new content, you want it to reflect your brand in the best way possible.

A blog post containing typos won't do that.

If you run everything through Grammarly before you hit Publish you can be sure that you're not making silly mistakes that could hurt your brand.

Features:

  • Spell check
  • Grammar checker
  • Clarity checker
  • Free version available
  • Chrome extension

6. Make Text More Readable with Hemingway Editor

Pricing: Free version, or one-time payment of $19.95

Improve your content with Hemingway

Hemingway is another popular tool that helps you proofread blog posts before they go live.

It's easy to get wrapped up in your writing, not realizing that your last sentence went on for the whole paragraph.

Hemingway highlights where your sentences are too hard to read, and makes suggestions on words you can remove or replace to improve clarity.

All of our own content and our client blog posts go through Hemingway before publishing.

It's a simple process and can make sure your content 10x better.

Features:

  • Boost writing clarity
  • Web app or desktop app
  • Word counter
  • Reading level stats

7. Create a Content Calendar with Notion

Pricing: Free, or plans start at $4/month

Create a content calendar with Notion

If you're investing in content creation you need a content calendar.

You can create a content calendar in several ways:

  • Use a spreadsheet
  • Add items to a Google Calendar and stick to it
  • Invest in paid tools

We use Notion. It's an extremely flexible tool, and it allows us to plan our content schedule for our clients with ease.

You can add as much information to it as you need, such as due dates, who it's assigned to, status, and any other details you need.

Notion is affordable and can be used for a range of other use-cases, making it a good investment.

Features:

  • Organize your workflow in databases
  • Calendar
  • Doc functionality for writing
  • Comment on documents for collaboration
  • Assign content to different team members

Scaling Your Blog Writing with Contentbulb

If you need blog content but don't have time to spend hours of your day writing engaging content and optimizing it to rank, Contentbulb can help.

We help SaaS, service, and eCommerce businesses create as much content as they need for an easy fixed price per month.

Our writers are subject matter experts, and our in-house SEO team will review your content to make sure it's going to deliver results in the long run.

We can work with your existing content ideas, or help you create a unique, relevant content calendar that fits your brand.

All your content comes complete with relevant title options, images, and a meta description ready, so all you need to do is hit Publish!

Get in touch to have a chat, or sign up to a plan directly. We look forward to chatting with you!

Wrapping Up

Content marketing can be frightening when you're getting started.

The reality is, if your business is generating revenue, it's affordable and easy to start.

Content marketing software can be affordable, and deliver a huge ROI thanks to the positive impact on your output.

The right tools will streamline your team's workflow and improve the blog content they're creating.

If you're looking to scale up your content creation but don't have the in-house team and systems in place, get in touch with Contentbulb - we'd love to help.

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