According to Hubspot, brands that have published at least 16 blog posts per month have received 3.5 times the traffic than brands that have not published much content. As a content creator, therefore, it is you who has to make the content marketing strategy work in favor of a business.However, content creation requires a constant flow of brilliant ideas and creativity. Sooner or later a content creator comes at a standstill where he or she cannot think of anything more to craft content on.
Staring at a blank screen and not having any idea to what you could write about next sure is frustrating! Unlike a creative writer or an author, a content creator does not enjoy the prerogative of waiting for a muse to come by or an inspiration to strike. Experiencing a writer's block can make you want to tear your hair and punch a wall! But that certainly isn't the solution here.
So what is the solution to this dilemma? If coming up with an idea for a blog post seems to no less than a burden to you, then resort to the biggest boons of today - technology and the internet! There are various tools that can help you unblock your jammed-up creativity and can restore a harmonious workflow.
8 TOOLS FOR CONTENT CREATORS TO STAY PRODUCTIVE AND CREATIVE
Here is a list of my favourite online tools that can help you recover from your block and help you stream your thoughts better so that you can produce some brilliant pieces of content.
Staying at par in the rat race of content creation alongside your competitors can be quite a challenging task. Especially with so much content available on the internet, it becomes near to impossible to be able to have a clear understanding of the type of topics that are working well among the masses. But with BuzzSumo at your discretion, you may not have to worry about that.
With this app, you can now research exactly what kind of content do the netizens want from you. The app also helps you locate the keywords that are relevant to your content so that it gets a better social listing on the social media platforms and the search engines. So if you are at a standstill and cannot come up with a good topic, then BuzzSumo is your messiah.
A tool from the marketing giant Hubspot, Blog Idea Generator can generate endless topics for a particular keyword. All you need to do is insert the keyword and Voila! The tool will give a sheet of relevant topics. Coming up with topics pertaining to one business can be quite an exasperating task. But with this tool, running out of topics to write on should be your last problem.
For example, if you have an online garments business, then you can search for topics using the keyword "women fashion wear" and the tool can provide you with topics ranging from 'How to style a scarf in 6 different ways' to 'Fashion trends to look forward to winter 2018′ and many more. You can just choose a topic and start on it right away! And what's more? This fantastic tool from Hubspot is free so you can use it for inspiration without having to worry about your pocket.
A little different in operation than the above mentioned two tools, StoryBase will let you understand the motive and intention behind people searching for a chosen keyword on the search engines and will help you build your content surrounding the keyword accordingly. It is somewhat like a reverse search engine since the tool lucidly reveals trends and customer behaviours using which you can tailor your content for your users.
Understanding why a particular keyword is searched and by whom is it searched specifically can help you know your audience better and thus can help you create content that is primarily focused at answering the questions that people have while scavenging on a search engine with a keyword. When you produce useful content that serves someone's purpose, you are likely to have a better influence on your audience.
To be honest, churning the same material and dishing it out in different ways cannot be counted as uniqueness. It is the headers that need a little twist to get the clicks and Portent's Content Idea Generator can be your answer in this case. With the help of this tool, you can generate interesting headlines and build your content around the topic.
For example, if you are dealing with an academic help site that offers assignment help to students, then writing on topics like "How to write your essay nicely" can be a repetitive and generic topic.No student is going to benefit from it. However, topics like "How literary devices can help you become a writer" should be able to strike the right chord with students who like to write and aspire to become a writer. You have no idea what wonders can this tool do to your creativity in the most unexpected ways. Expect quite a few eureka moments with this tool at your aid.
Feedly is a great management tool that can help a content creator in handling all the various platforms of content marketing in one place. You can assemble and save all your favourite blogs, YouTube videos and the podcasts you find interesting so that you can go through all of them at one glance when you need a brainwave or an inspiration.
Feedly works almost like an RSS feed that can help you track new content ideas and can give you an insight into what is working at the moment. Moreover, the tool comes with a free as well as a paid version. So you can take the trial and then make the decision.
If you have to deliver content by the end of the day and you have no genius ideas, then you are in a pickle! But not when ContentIdeator is at your service. This tool provides a great content creation solution by providing data-driven insights into what type of content is performing better than others by considering the various content distribution channels.
The tool also can generate catchy headlines for your content alongside giving you ideas on what you could write about. Although the tool comes at a cost, considering the many features that it offers, you won't really mind investing in it.
This is one wonder tool coming from the house of Blog About. If you are facing a creative block and cannot come up with a brilliant idea for your blog, then this tool can be of immense help to you. Impact can generate awesome headlines for your blog posts using the keyword you want to use to write your blog.
The tool is quite simple to use too - all you need to do is add the topic or a relevant keyword and click the "GO" button to get your hands on a lot of catchy titles for your posts. Once you find a proper title, just press the heart icon to save the headings. You can even generate a list of the titles that you like and then send it to your personal email id. And do you know what the best thing about the tool is? There is an option called "writer's block" that is specifically designed to enhance your creative flow by letting you visualize your thoughts.
When it comes to content creation, writing isn't the only thing that is involved. As a content creator, you are also responsible for making the content visually attractive so that users find it informative and appealing at the same time.
Easel.ly does just that and more! The tool has several built-in templates that you can use to create innovative story lines. Since infographics are in trend, you can even use the editor feature of the tool to design infographics for giving a better visual representation of your data to your users. The tool comes in two versions - a free one and a paid one.
In today's competitive business world, it is only the right content mix that can do wonders for your brand and help you take it to the zenith. When there are hundreds of contenders waiting to usurp your position, do you think you can afford to neglect your content productivity due to a creative block?
The answer, of course, is a big NO. So use the above content intelligence solutions for creating content that will help you achieve all the marketing goals instead of merely waiting for a brainwave. Good luck!
Joan Criss is a celebrated content strategist who has her name associated with big marketing schools. She is also a teacher who extends assignment help to budding marketing students through MyAssignmenthelp.co.uk. Besides being an active blogger, she is a certified yoga instructor.
