5 Free Tools Every Blogger Should Use

These websites will take your writing to the next level.

Photo by Humphrey Muleba on Unsplash

When I started blogging, I was totally unaware of how many great free resources were available. Over the past few years, I’ve gradually built a bookmarks folder filled with amazing blogging tools. In this article, I want to share with you the five that I use most often.

If you’ve been blogging for years, you might have already heard of most of these, but if you’re new to blogging, I think that this list is really going to help you out. It’s exactly what I wish I had from day one.

Lastly, I want to emphasize that I don’t have any kind of affiliate connection with any of these websites. I’m recommending them because I truly find them helpful.

Grammarly

Grammarly is a freemium program that checks your articles for proper spelling and grammar. It’s basically like having a personal proofreader, but without having to pay a dime.

No matter how good you are at proofreading, almost everyone lets one or two mistakes slip through. Grammarly catches them.

The paid version also includes stylistic suggestions and a plagiarism checker. I used to have the paid version, but these days, I think that the free version does more than enough.

The only caveat that I’ll give is that sometimes Grammarly gives incorrect suggestions. It’s great for catching mistakes, but make sure you understand its suggested corrections before accepting them.

Capitalize My Title

Capitalize My Title is a very basic site that does exactly what it says it will. You paste a title into a little text box, and the website automatically converts it to proper capitalization.

What I like about the site is that it’s easy to use and it works with a wide variety of style guides. With a single click, you can convert between APA, Chicago, AP, and more.

The website also rates the quality of your headline. The rating isn’t foolproof, but it’s a good starting place if you don’t know much about writing titles. It gives you a basic idea of your headline’s readability and search-engine readiness.