With the ongoing demand for fresh content, whether for a business or your personal blog, having some extra help can be beneficial. Luckily, the internet has plenty to offer! Here are 15 top-notch resources you can use to boost your output – at no cost!
Canva – Eye-catching graphic design
Create colourful and unique graphic design with this fabulous site. Get registered at Canva for a multitude of free features to take advantage of.
It offers vibrant templates for the likes of social media formats, résumés, logos, posters, banners, calendars, brochures, letterheads, proposals, book covers, and a lot more! It’s all backed up by a friendly team, too, making it a must-use resource anyone can quickly become adept with.
Instagram – Quality images
Take a photo, apply a filter, make a few tweaks, and you have a high-quality, custom image ready for your site. Instagram can quickly give a professional look to the photos in your blog posts, and their recognizable style may appeal especially to younger audiences.
Buffer – Social media management made easy
Free social media management for the discerning amateur blogger or small business. Buffer has a free version for three social media accounts, from which you can schedule 10 posts per account. To step up the features, you can pay $15 p/m for the Pro version.
Trello – An engaging PMS
A vibrant, free project management system. Ideal if you’re a small business – keep track of your projects, add some groovy stickers, and organise your workload efficiently.
Trello is one of many PMSs, but it’s certainly one of the most popular thanks to its accessibility, which is complemented by its fun and friendly approach.
YouTube – For quality videos
Sticking an engaging video in amongst your copy is an ever-brilliant way to liven up any post. You can also easily create a channel and start making videos, so you can drop custom made content into your posts where necessary.
Whether you’re reviewing a film you love, explaining how to do keyword research, or using a TED Talk to bolster your point, a YouTube clip can be enough to keep readers on the page, engaged with what you’ve got to say. I’ve used several on this post alone!
Venngage – Free infographic tool
Want to make a few free, powerful infographics in a very short space of time? Venngage offers five infographic templates. As a content marketing technique, they’re still popular, but this tool cuts out a lot of the work and helps anybody create their own impressive works of genius.
MailChimp – Email marketing
Send out a newsletter for free to up to 2,000 contacts. Email marketing remains one of the most effective techniques in reaching customers, so think up a few catchy subject lines and give it a whirl. MailChimp simplifies the process and, seeing as the basic option is free, it’s a brilliant way to get started.
Evernote – For getting organised
A nifty work and life organiser. It’s free to download and offers plenty of useful features in its basic format. It’s really useful as either a personal organiser or one for multiple staff members to use. It’s effective for team collaborations as well, should you want to brainstorm whilst on the go or working remotely.
Grammarly or Hemingway – Manage your writing
A bit worried your diction and grammar isn’t quite up to scratch? Get the Grammarly browser extension to monitor, and improve, your blind spots.
Alternatively, there’s the Hemingway Editor. This helps you to write like Ernest Hemingway. In short. Sharp. Engaging sentences. It’s much more dramatic this way. You could re-read the Old Man and the Sea if you need a bit of extra inspiration, too.
Pixabay – Copyright free images
Many bloggers still make the mistake of trawling through Google for an image, potentially infringing on copyright in the process of uploading whatever they find.
It could land you with a hefty fine, made even worse when there’s a quick, easy, and high-quality alternative. Pixabay has over 1.4 million images in its database! There are plenty more of these sorts of services, too, so have a gander: 15 Copyright Free Image Resources.
Google Sheets, Drive, & Calendar – Manage your workload
Used by businesses large and small across the world, Google’s brilliant Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms will make your work look professional in an instant. If you’ve not tried these out yet, then do so – they’re basically Microsoft Office level, but minus the plethora of formatting options.
Additionally, you can open up a free Google Drive account to store all that hard work in once you’re done. Plus, keep a steady calendar of events, posts, meetings on the go in your calendar.
Blog Topic Generator – For instant ideas
In a complete rut for blog post ideas? Stick a few nouns into HubSpot’s Topic Generator and see if you can find some inspiration. It fires back some genuinely interesting ideas, so adapt them as necessary, or have a eureka moment inspired by this nifty tool.
My Hours – Track your time
Track, manage, and report your time with My Hours – the free package provides you with a number of features to help you track your time professionally. This can be helpful for small businesses, if you want to know what you spend most of your time doing and adjust accordingly.
Biteable – Create some videos
Add extra clout alongside your bespoke infographics and copyright free images with this tool. Use Biteable to easily adapt the ready-made templates available. They’re customisable in a variety of ways, so you can add your brand’s stamp all over them.
Hubspot’s Free Marketing Resources – Everything Useful In One Place
Last but not least, the excellent Hubspot provides a large array of free marketing resources in one convenient place. If you’re looking for guidance with content marketing strategies, infographic templates, social media calendars, on-page SEO advice, lead generation tips, and PPC guides… well, they have you covered.