6 FREE Tools to Make Your Work Week a Little Easier

Written by Shelley Kilpatrick.

As communication professionals, it can feel like we’re expected to know how to do everything – write great articles, design amazing graphics, be social media experts – which gets a little overwhelming at times. That’s why I wanted to write this blog. I use these tools every day to make my work week a little easier, and I am hoping they will do the same for you!

 

 

1. Pixabay

Using visuals is such an important part of communicating. Especially if you want that amazing blog post you just wrote to be shared. It’s not always practical to get out your camera and take a great photo; sometimes you just want a good stock image.

And that’s exactly what Pixabay offers – free stock photos. And they have thousands of images. You can even use them for commercial purposes with no attribution required.

2. Canva

Not to be biased or anything, but this one is definitely my personal favorite. As a non-graphic designer, I have no idea how to use Photoshop and definitely don’t have the design skills of a seasoned professional. But with Canva, I can make really awesome images.

Canva offers templates, shapes, fonts, and everything you need to take a basic stock image to the next level. And best of all, it’s incredibly easy to use! They also wrote a whole design school series to help us novice designers.

Here is a screen shot of the template I used to make the image for this blog. All I did was change out the background photo, re-write the text, and BAM – perfect image.

3. Keywordtool.io

While SEO is about more than just keywords, it still helps to know what your audience is looking for. But, if you don’t have access to or know how to use Google Analytics, it’s tough to find the right combination of words your audience is using. Keywordtool.io helps give you a little edge.

You know how when you do a search, Google will offer suggestions at the bottom of the page? Keywordtool.io compiles a list of all the possible suggestions from Google. It’s an easy way to get some insight on what topics and keywords your audience wants to learn about.

4. Buffer

If we had all the time in the world, it would be easy to write insightful and witty social media posts every day. But who has that kind of time? More than likely, you have about 30 min a week to devote to social media. And that’s all you need, because with Buffer, you can schedule a week’s worth of social media posts all at once.

Buffer will also shorten your links so that you can keep track of how many people clicked on your links. The free option lets you connect one profile for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+. But there is also an option to upgrade so you can connect up to 10 profiles.

5. Atomic Reach

Microsoft Word checks your spelling and grammar, but wouldn’t it be nice if it would tell you that your content is also persuasive, engaging, and appropriate for your audience? Well, that’s what Atomic Reach is for. You simply copy and paste your text into the box, select your audience, and hit score.

Atomic Reach will analyze your writing and give you tips on how to make it a better fit for your audience. It’s a great tool for anyone looking to improve their writing skills. You can see how it scored this blog post in the screen shot below.

6. SumoMe

We all know it takes a lot of work to get traffic to your website. Knowing what’s working and what’s not is half the battle. SumoMe offers a ton of free apps that will help. My two favorites are the heat maps and the content analytics. You can add each of these apps to your blog or website to see how much of your content is getting read and where people are clicking.

For example, with the heat map, you can tell if your CTA is in the right place on your blog post or if you should move it. With the content analysis, you can get a good feel for the optimal blog post length for your site. Or if a lot of people read the whole thing, you’ll know to keep writing on that topic because your audience is engaged.

Well, I hope these tools will help you throughout your day! And please comment and let us know what other tools you use to get your job done!