Throughout my career in journalism and public relations over the past 20 years, I have been tasked with editing, and proofreading marketing materials, press releases, print magazines, promotional items, and much more. While online editing tools certainly have tremendous value, I still go the old school route as part of my proofing process. By printing out copy and putting my red pen to paper, it frees me from all of the distractions that can come with staying tethered to my at-home Mac or at-work PC. It also allows me to get into the mode of really proofreading the copy instead of relying on the electronic editing tool to do it for me. I find that taking this approach has caught many errors along the way, and it has also allowed me to truly hone in on the voice of the written piece and then make the necessary edits to amplify the tone and messaging.
Frase helped us improve the content outlines as its briefing tool is just magic. Now our team can create detailed outlines without missing a reference on a specific topic or keyword. We also use Frase as content quality measurement tool. Helping rate writers and their work according to the scoring mechanism they provide.
Surely, most editing tools can not beat Grammarly in terms of the level of all-round polishing that can be achieved in terms of clarity, accuracy, and engagement. And yet, I find Grammarly's "plagiarism" feature quite limited, which is why I prefer "Duplichecker" to run a thorough scan of all content. The tool is amazing, as you can check any content up to 1000 words for free! No logins or membership is required. What's more, the tool scans your text word by word- checking for the remotest similarity to any previously published content. The duplicate phrases get highlighted in one column, while the other column displays the links to the original content. This way, you can ensure that your posts are 100% original, delivering value to the readers without being a copy-paste of other published content.
My personal favorite editing tool has to be ProWritingAid. With built in extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Google docs, ProWritingAid helps me focus on the writing and easily covers all of my editing needs. It has a built-in plagiarism checker, grammar, as well as a nifty style editor tool that can actually help you become a more confident writer. Although there are paid options, the free plan is more than enough to get started with and is what I recommend to anyone looking for a new editing tool that works and won't break the bank.
Call me old-fashioned, but I really love to edit content by getting my hands dirty in Google Docs. My top tip for proofing/editing in Google Docs is to read the piece backward. Start from the last sentence of the conclusion. It helps you look at the piece with fresh eyes, which is a must after mulling over your content for what feels like too long!
As an avid blogger, I really think that writer.com is massively underrated as an editing tool. It's not even that it differs massively from some of the other editing tools, it's just very visually soothing! Sounds strange I know, but I just really like how easy it is to navigate and how clearly it highlights aspects of the content that need to be updated or amended.
This is my go-to tool to make my content more readable. Literally, in the past year, there is not a single piece I have published without running it through Hemingway editor. Most of my editing takes place through this editor as I get a chance to read every single line, and analyze the sentence structure, tone, and readability. I aim to get to a 6 or 7-grade readability for all my articles.
ProWritingAid It is a tool for editing, plagiarism detection, grammar checking, and style editing that can help you write and speak English more effectively. The program serves as your mentor or individual writing coach so that you always feel comfortable speaking in public. The nicest aspect is that it functions on all other platforms, including Google Docs. Most authors of fiction and non-fiction, bloggers and content creators, students, business writers, etc. use ProWritingAid software.
There are two tools that I often use when editing texts. The first is SEOWind.io which allows me to draw up a so-called outline for an article. This is done by collecting information from the pages at the top of a Google search for a particular phrase I am interested in. This way, I can see a cross-section through H1, H2, and H3. I can generate a title tag and meta description using PGT-3. I know what additional keywords I should operate beyond the one I have chosen. The second tool is SurferSEO which helps to optimise content against competing sites. This way, I know what my client's competitive sites are focusing on and what my client's sites are missing. For example, I know what length by average their content has, how many images by average they are using, the same about H2 and H3, and how I can improve my client pages.
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Editing is such an important part of the writing process, and there are so many different tools out there to help with it. It can be tough to choose just one favorite, but if I had to narrow it down, my top pick would definitely be ProWritingAid. ProWritingAid is an online editing tool that helps you improve your writing by identifying grammatical errors, inconsistencies, and areas for improvement. In addition to being a great grammar checker, ProWritingAid also provides targeted feedback on things like sentence structure, overused words, and style. Basically, it's like having a Virtual Writing Coach at your side every time you sit down to write!
My favorite editing tool (other than Grammarly) is Paraphrasing which I consider the best platform that helps me in writing the content. It also helps in rephrasing the sentences which are wrong and gives me suggestions too in altering the words that add beauty to the sentences. This is the tool which I use.
Google Docs is my favorite editing tool because it's so easy to use. I can quickly and easily access my documents on any device, which makes it a great tool for working on the go. I also love how easy it is to collaborate with others on projects—you can invite anyone you want to work on a document with you, and they won't have to download any software or sign up for an account. It's all right there on the web! Google Docs also has some pretty advanced features that make it possible for me to do things like insert tables or create graphs directly in the editor window, instead of having to go back and forth between different programs.
The Word Counter is a free online platform which tracks not only your character and word counts, but also gives grammar tips. I have found the website super helpful for any writing work I need to do. By writing more effectively, I feel like my content resonates more with my target audience. Next time you are thinking about using an editing tool, check out The Word Counter!
The Hemingway App simplifies your work by cutting out unnecessary information from the text you create. It does this by highlighting wordy phrases in yellow and particularly problematic ones in red. It helps you maintain simplicity and clarity in your writing by underlining adverbs, passive voices, and complex sentences. It can be accessed remotely from any location without Internet access. Additionally, you may post your material immediately to Medium or WordPress with a single click, and export your text to external editors such as Microsoft editor.
Yoast is the best plug-in that content specialists globally prefer due to its high-quality SEO features. In case you want your website to rank high on Google, you will come across several recommendations for Yoast sooner or later. But this service deals with the technical aspects of search engine optimization and offers a free-to-use content editing tool. Moreover, with Yoast, you can optimize your content even though you don’t have much SEO knowledge. This tool will help you with keyword density, analyze your headings, KW distribution, and more. You can use this tool as a WordPress plug-in or through their site.
I have been using Headline Analyzer for content editing and creation. Previously, I had issues with zero click-through rate because the content headlines were awful. But once I learned about this tool, I threw the headlines in there and discovered how bad they really were. I thought that I had got the art of writing headlines down, but this still points out my mistakes. CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer makes it hassle-free to write top-notch headlines, which is the best aspect of your content strategy and SEO. Another tool to check the readability of the content is Hemingway Editor.
Sapling is my personal favorite editing tool because it combines everything you would expect with next generation AI to help you become a better writer. Using advanced machine learning algorithms, Sapling is able to detect far more nuanced issues than its competitors, speeding up your overall workflow. With a free option to get started and premium only costing $25 a month, it is a very affordable tool with a wide range of applications regardless of the type of writing you do on a daily basis.
The AI-based tool is easy to use and is dependable on grammar and spelling checks. The uniqueness of this tool lies in its enriching ideas, and sentence and tense corrections make it better than other favorable tools. The app allows us to upload our word document and traces all the mistakes for suggestions, unlike other tools that need copy and pasting. An additional advantage of ProWritingaid is its suggestions for every typing error. The tool is built in a way to give out all possible better solutions for writing. Furthermore, the tool can be rekindled to add suggestions in the native language making it distinct from others. The utilization of the tool in a generic sense, like writing college essays, school assignments, and even research articles, makes it feasible and likable.
The best advice on writing I ever received was "Nobody owes you their attention." And in this world of unlimited content, earning your readers' attention means sticking to the 3 Cs. Keep it 1. Concise 2. Compelling 3. Clean For this, I use Hemingwayapp.com. It helps you channel your inner Hemingway. The app – which is free – picks up on over-complex language, use of passive voice, unnecessary punctuation and overuse of adverbs. That allows you to trim the fat from your writing and write copy that compels the reader to consume every word.
One thing that content writers should be careful about is plagiarism. One can excuse the odd grammatical mistake because everyone cannot be a George Bernard Shaw. Mistakes can happen, but plagiarism is a definite NO. Nobody tolerates plagiarism because it amounts to downright cheating. So, my favorite plagiarism checking tool is Grammarly. I will choose Copyscape as a second choice because it is equally good. Like Grammarly, Copyscape is easy to use, fairly accurate, flexible, and has several additional features like compatibility with different operating systems. Besides, Copyscape offers case tracking, WordPress integration, and Private Indexing. Exciting pricing options are available. Features like Banner protection, Batch search, and Copysentry are not available in Grammarly. Besides, Copyscape is available in Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian. So, Copyscape is a multipurpose tool that equals Grammarly in utility. The only drawback is that Copyscape does not save reports.