Content—whether for blogs, social media platforms, email marketing, or video—is a critical part of digital marketing strategy. But creating content isn’t always easy. So what content creation tools can make the process easier, faster, and help you scale your business? You’re about to find out!

Top research tools for content creators

What’s one of the key ingredients for content marketing success? Curiosity! To create content that works and helps you scale, you have to research as much as—if not more than—you write. Here are some of the best ones.

Google search engine results pages (SERPs)

Even if you’re not writing SEO content to rank in relevant search results and drive organic traffic, the Google SERP is a goldmine. You can learn a lot about your audience from:

• Google autocomplete, which can give you an idea of what topics people are searching for and the phrasing they use
• People Also Asked, which reveals related topics people are interested in that you should cover to tap into that interest
• Related Searches, which serves a similar purpose to People Also Asked
• The organic and paid results, which give more insight into what your audience wants and what content search engines consider worth consuming

Pricing: Anyone, anywhere can use Google for free. While paid tools can be helpful, you can accomplish a lot with free tools like this as well.

thruuu

Since we’re talking about SERPs, thruuu is worth a mention. It’s a SERP Analyzer that gives an overview of the top results for a Google query. To help you write content that ranks, grows your website traffic, and, ultimately, grows your business, it includes info on:

1. The average page performance of top results, as well as performance data for each page
2. Keywords used and keyword density across titles, descriptions, and headings
3. The average word count and number of images across the top results and for each page
4. Related Searches, People Also Asked Questions, and info on featured snippets
5. thruuu even provides content briefs and outlines based on this info so that you don’t have to do it all manually.

Pricing: thruuu has a free version that’ll get you 10 credits per month. And, if you need more, there are a few pay-as-you-go options and monthly subscriptions starting at just $13 per month.

Google Trends

Just like the Google SERP, Google Trends can help content creators figure out:

1. What people in your target market are and aren't interested in
2. Whether existing interest is declining or rising
3. What kind of content is already being created around the topic you're researching (which can help you set yours apart)
4. Find related topics and queries
5. Compare topics easily to make picking the topics with the most potential easier

Pricing: Google Trends is also free, although it probably shouldn’t be since the data is so valuable!

Connectively (formerly HARO)

There’s more misinformation out there than ever. Not to mention more surface-level, cookie-cutter content being produced on popular topics. So making your content stand out and backing up your arguments with expert quotes is a smart move if your goal is to scale. Connectively.us helps with that by making it easy to:

• Connect with experts in various industries, especially if you don't have an existing network
• Get expert insights that will make your content unique and more credible, even on short notice

Plus, it can be a good way to get backlinks and get your company’s name out there.

Pricing: Connectively has a Lite Plan which is free for up to 10 pitches per month and has paid plans starting at $19 per month, all the way up to their Premier plan for $149 per month. 

Jasper

Last but not least on our list of research tools is artificial intelligence writing assistant Jasper. To be clear, while he knows some facts from his study of 10% of the internet, he isn’t a research assistant. Jasper’s strength is writing great content.

However, he’s great at creating outlines. He can both give you ideas for what aspects of your topic to research and help you organize the bits of research you collect so that they’re easier to make sense of as you write.

You can create an outline with a command or with one of the two relevant templates—Blog Post Outline or Video Script Outline. All you have to do is enter a blog post or video topic/title, along with a tone of voice. Jasper will give you a bulleted outline that you can edit or add to as needed.

Pricing: Creator plan pricing begins at $39 per month, while the most popular option—the Professional Plan—starts at just $59 per month. 

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is one of the most popular SEO software platforms available, with SEMrush offering very similar, yet different tools for you to research, plan and optimize content for your website. For the sake of this article, we’ll be focusing on Ahrefs, as it’s our preferred platform for both content creation and progress tracking.

Some key functions of Ahrefs you can use for content creation are:

• Keyword Explorer: This robust content creation and research tool is probably where you’ll spend most of your time in Ahrefs. It allows you to get data on a specific keyword and it gives suggestions for related keywords, questions people also, things people also search for and more.
• Content Explorer: Search for any keyword or phrase and Ahrefs gives you pages from all over the web along with useful SEO metrics.
• Competitive Analysis: Type in any list of websites, your website and Ahrefs will give you a competitive analysis, including content gaps (keywords your competitors cover but you haven’t yet).

Pricing: Unlike other tools on this list, Ahrefs doesn’t come cheap. There’s no free option and paid plans start at $129 per month. Depending on your content creation needs, it might actually be worth it for you to dive into their higher plans, but keep in mind that credit usage adds up quickly.

Writing and optimization tools

What about tools for the writing and optimization process? Here are some great ones.

CoSchedule Headline Studio

Headlines can make the difference between people showing interest in your content or not. So it’s important to write headlines that are enticing (not clickbait-y) and show what value readers can expect from your content. CoSchedule Headline Studio helps with that by:

• Analyzing headline type, sentiment, length, emotional and power words used, as well as other important factors to give you a headline score
• Seeing how your headlines stack up to competing content in terms of search engine optimization

Pricing: CoSchedule Headline Studio has a free plan with paid plans starting at $4 per month. (CoSchedule Headline Analyzer, which is like the introductory version of Headline Studio, is also free.)

Jasper

Amanda Weston of Blogs By Jasper nicely summed up how Jasper—our user-friendly AI content generator—helps with the writing process. Amanda said: “Writing with Jasper has helped me move from idea to results in less time. Crafting compelling and persuasive copy that really captures my readers’ attention and effectively communicates my message has led to increased brand recognition and growth in my business.” 

Pricing: Jasper’s Creator Plan begins at $39 per month. But, if you want the Professional Plan for long-form, higher-volume, or more flexible content creation, plans start at just $59 per month. 

Surfer

For those using AI to support marketing efforts, Jasper integrates with Surfer to help with various aspects of SEO and content strategy execution. Its five key features include: 

1. Keyword Research: For discovering search terms worth targeting, including keywords for pillar pages. 
2. Content Planner: For finding relevant content clusters, including clusters that support pillar pages.  
3. SERP Analyzer: For seeing what content is ranking for a particular keyword, as well as comparing and contrasting the data to determine why Google thinks those pages are worthy of top spots in search results.
4. Content Editor: For optimizing your content to beat the highest quality content currently ranking on relevant search engine results pages (SERPs).
5. Audit: For understanding how published digital content could be improved to make it rank and perform better.

Pricing: Surfer’s plans start at $49 per month and go up to $200 per month depending on your needs. 

Editing tools 

Next up, here are a few must-have tools that help with the editing process. 

ProWritingAid

Grammarly alternative ProWritingAid acts like a second pair of eyes to catch and correct grammatical mistakes. But it also does much more than that, offering 20 in-depth writing reports for: 

• Improving writing style and readability
• Removing cliches and redundancies
• Swapping out overused words and improving word choice
• Detecting plagiarism 
• Finding and fixing sticky sentences

There’s even a House Style report that you can customize to fit your needs and make sure that all of your content sticks to your content guidelines. 

Pricing: ProWritingAid has a free Chrome extension, but to enjoy all its features, you’ll need a paid plan. There’s a $10 monthly option, a $79 yearly subscription, and even a lifetime deal. 

Hemingway App

Hemingway App is another powerful tool. This content creation software has a focus on clear, bold writing and good readability. It catches issues such as:

• Hard to read and very hard to read sentences
• Poor readability (AKA high reading grade levels)
• Overuse of adverbs and passive voice
• Unnecessary, weak, or complex words

Pricing: You can grab Hemingway for Mac or PC for just one payment of $19.99. If you prefer, you can simply use the web app for free.

Jasper

Jasper can help with the editing process in several ways. For instance, you could use:

• The Explain It To a Child template (or the Summarize option as seen in the screenshot above) to simplify paragraphs that are difficult to understand
• The Repurpose content feature to change content into a different format
• The Content Improver Template to make a piece of content more interesting, creative, and engaging
• Use the Sentence Expander template to create longer, more well-rounded sentences

Pricing: As mentioned, Jasper’s plans begin at $39 per month for the Creator Plan and $59 per month for the Professional Plan. Flexible pricing options are also available for enterprise-level solutions.

Visual content creation tools

Whether you need to create promotional materials for other content or make standalone visual content, here are the top tools to help you. 

Canva

An alternative to Photoshop, Canva is one of the most robust, user-friendly graphic design tools for visual content and even video content. It boasts: 

• Drag and drop functionality 
• Customizable templates for all sorts of visual content
• A massive library of stock photos and royalty-free music 
• Tutorials and courses to help you create attractive designs even if you’re not a pro designer

Pricing: Canva has a generous free version with paid plans starting at $12.99 per month. 

Biteable

If you need a simple way to create and collaborate on high-quality videos, you’ll want to check out Biteable. It offers:

• Customizable templates for everything from ads and e-commerce promos to social media posts to presentations and trainings
• A library of over 1 million video clips, 2.8 million stock images from Unsplash, and 17.7 million Shutterstock Premium clips
• Royalty-free music and studio-quality animations
• Custom fonts to keep your visual branding consistent and recognizable 

Pricing: Biteable has a free forever plan. Its two paid plans are $99 per month and $208 per month, respectively. 

Jasper

Jasper is the AI copilot & art generator that helps you create amazing content, faster.

Are you tired of spending hours searching for the right images, videos, and music to create engaging visual content? Look no further!

Jasper's AI Image Suite includes a wide range of image editing and AI image generation tools. And when it comes to putting it all together, Jasper steps in to make the process faster and more efficient. Say goodbye to endless scrolling and hello to creating amazing content effortlessly with Jasper!

Pricing: Book a demo to learn more about pricing options for Jasper's AI Image Suite.

Choose your content creation tools wisely

"Shiny object syndrome" is, of course, risky. Trying out every tool you come across or using too many in your workflow can be bad for both your content creation budget and your productivity. However, that doesn't mean you need to avoid using tools altogether. 

Content creation tools like the 11 we've discussed above have many benefits, including time savings and a better return on your investment in content. And since Jasper helps in all stages of the writing process—research, writing, editing, and even visual content creation—there's no better tool to start with.

Sign up today and see how Jasper can make your content creation workflow more efficient and your content more effective!