As a copywriter, you are designated to writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing, this can be a stressful and tiring job. Sometimes even the most seasoned copywriter will struggle and overlook things, especially when you need to make it original, to the point and yet still relevant. Below is a list of tools we believe every copywriter needs in 2021!
Wordcount
Whether you are a blogger, copywriter, a student or anyone that uses a pc or laptop, a decent word counter will always be an advantage. The word counter is an online tool used for counting words, characters, sentences, paragraphs and pages, along with spelling and grammar checking. This will ensure there are never any grammatical mistakes in your pieces and by using an online tool just look at how much time you will save by not having to go through every word yourself!
This is a great one to get you started: Wordcount.
Thesaurus and Dictionary
Remember back in the old days when you were at school or college and didn’t know what a word meant, or an alternative to a certain word, you would get those good old books in the back of the class called a thesaurus or dictionary…Well, believe it or not, you can now get them online! Having these two popped up in a tab while you’re writing away is always a plus, it will improve your variation with words and the timeless word databases will always have your back!
Thesaurus and Dictionary.
Read-able
The readability test tool is a quick and simple way to test the readability of your work. You can simply type in your text or link it from your page and the readability test will work out a score based on certain factors.
Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease- gives a score from 0-100 on how easy your piece is to understand.
Gunning Fog Score- estimates the years of formal education needed to comprehend a passage of text on the first reading.
Coleman Liau Index- relies on characters and uses computerized assessments to understand characters more easily and accurately.
Automated Readability Index (ARI)- gives you an estimate of the U.S. grade level necessary to comprehend a passage of text.
SMOG Index- approximates the age needed to understand the text. And you can reference this chart for a breakdown of grade levels in the U.S.
Discussion Forums
Any copywriter will know the importance of writing to and engaging with your audience. It can be difficult to locate prospective customers and audience’s interests. Central to the role of the copywriter is to keep up to date on relevant affairs and to anticipate what their readers want to read about. A great way to do this, and also engage with possible readers, is to follow closely and track relevant themes in online discussion forums. Here you can get an idea of popular subjects, ages and what holds people’s attention most.
A great, yet simple tool for any copywriter.
Hemingway
The Hemingway app can be used in conjunction with other editing tools. The app uses colour codes to indicate specific dysfunctions.
Yellow highlights- Suggestive of the sentences being too long or complex.
Red highlights- Suggests complicated sentences that require logical restructuring.
Purple highlights- Hold your mouse over to see a list of shorter words.
Blue highlights- Show weak phrases that can be replaced by words with force.
Green highlights- Have been shown to allude a passive voice.
This is a great tool to really dissect your writing and correct any errors.
Although you can purchase versions of these apps and websites, most of them have a perfectly usable free version which will allow your copywriting career to really take off.
Give these tools a try, maybe it will make your copywriting career just a little bit easier!
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