To be clear, an effective content marketing strategy is driven by the expertise of skilled content marketers. However, the most efficient content marketers also know that the right tools can help them do their jobs faster, easier, and more effectively.

In all my years in this industry, I’ve come across countless tools. To answer your question, I’ll run down my shortlist of the top online content marketing tools out of these that every content marketer should be using.

1. WordPress

As of July 2020, WordPress powers 37.7% of the Internet. It’s one of the most versatile, customizable, and effective content marketing tools that you can use. Being an open-source CMS, it lets you build and host websites easily, and the plugin architecture and template system allows easy customization for different niches.

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2. Google Docs

One of my biggest challenges when it comes to producing content is keeping track of the different versions as it gets passed around for edits. This whole issue is resolved simply by using Google Docs. Because everything is on the cloud, it’s faster and easier to keep track of changes made to a document. Anyone can have access to it with the click of a link. Best of all, Google Docs is free and familiar to a lot of users, making it easy to use.

3. Grammarly

Even when you go through your content with a fine-tooth comb, trust me, you will miss something. A little typo here, a grammatical error there—technically they’re not really big deals. However, publishing something with a spelling error can reflect very badly on your brand. Imagine the things you’ll miss simply because you’re busy working on other things as well. Grammarly can help you significantly reduce your error rate. It’s efficient, thorough, and reliable.

4. Yoast

SEO is a big part of what we do and among all the plug-ins that I use in WordPress, Yoast is one of the most useful. It allows me to optimize keywords for an article, preview and edit metadata and descriptions, change URL slugs, and all the other technical SEO elements that I would otherwise miss. It also gives me a thorough assessment of my SEO efforts, making it so much easier to edit and optimize content.

5. Buzzsumo

I’m a big fan of Buzzsumo as a multipurpose tool for content marketing and research. One of the main things I use it for is researching content in specific niches. I get access to important metrics such as backlinks, social shares, and content popularity. It offers great insights into top influencers so you can learn who the thought leaders are across specific topics. This allows you to tailor your content and maximize reach and engagement.

There you have it. These five tools have proven to be indispensable for me throughout my career. Most are free to try for a few days or forever. Hope my answer helps! As always, if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below or email me at Leadspanda.