Paid tools are great… but “what if I’m just starting out and I don’t have the money to invest into all those fancy tools”?

This is the “BUT” – question I received from one of our amazing readers after publishing the last blog post. It’s true, at least two of the Twitter tools I mentioned in my recent article are paid tools. Obviously, SocialBro and Sprout Social are both awesome resources to use if you’re not exactly on a restricted budget.

So, I took this input seriously and I decided to share with you a set of content marketing tools that you can use for free. On top of that, you’ll be able to utilize these tools in your day-to-day work thus being able to reach your goals faster, with less efforts and in less time.

Let’s dive into it, shall we?

If you want to know whether the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” gets more searches than “Transformers”, have a quick look at Google Trends. This is the best place to go and search for that kind of information.

Seriously tough.

Google Trends is a fantastic content marketing tool to look at trends of various keywords. Furthermore, you can compare different search terms, find related searches and evaluate regional interest for a specific keyword (TIP: Do a search for long tail keywords!).

Lacking inspiration as to what to write about in your next blog post?

Checkout Übersuggest – the Google suggest tool on steroids.

You might also want to have a look at the following free keyword suggestion tools:

Use these free content marketing tools to compile a list of highly relevant keywords.

SEMrush is a great tool to help you analyze your competitors. Simply enter the URL of your competitor’s website and hit the search button. SEMrush will than show you the top 10 keywords driving traffic to your competitor’s site.

Bare in mind the following:

You get 10 free queries before you’re asked to pay. So, use these queries wisely.

Say you’ve used your ten free shots and now you’re wondering how to get further analysis without signing up for a paid account.

Here’s another free research software tool to help you accomplish your objectives: KeywordSpy.

Use KeywordSpy to quickly unveil your competitors’ most profitable ad copies and keywords.

First off, I’m referring to WordPress.org in this article (NOT WordPress.com!).

WordPress gives you full control over your content. It’s free and easy to use. You can customize your web layout, pick the fonts and colors you want. On top of that, you can experiment with different plugins, compose and publish as many blog posts as you wish. WordPress is a robust platform putting you in the driver’s seat of your online marketing efforts.

I’ve mentioned BuzzSumo in numerous blog posts. It’s a phenomenal tool that enables you to identify the type of content that gets shared the most across different social media channels thus enabling you to create articles, videos, infographics and podcasts around similar topics.

Have a closer look at the channels that drive higher engagement; combine these insights with the knowledge you have about your target audience and your industry specifics to be able to craft content that cuts through all the noise and clutter and reaches the right people — aka your best prospects and possible future clients.

Other free resources to help you generate content ideas are:

Manage all your social networks and schedule your messages in one place. Use Hootsuite’s free plan to do just that.

Are your social media marketing efforts paying off? What are people saying about your brand? Do you know what is working and what not?

Hootsuite is a great tool to organize your social media activities, schedule tweets and engage with your community. This is the first tool I used when I started my online journey on social media. It’s a content marketing tool I continue to use along with other amazing resources.

One of Jing’s best features is that it lets you record short five minute videos for free. How helpful is that if you want to do a quick tutorial and share the insights with your team? Pretty neat, right?

Furthermore, you can use Jing to capture screenshots, mark up your screenshots and share them through IM, email, and social media.

Sign up for Canva and stop worrying about your graphic design skills.

Canva is a simple design tool enabling you to produce impressive images for your blogs, flyers, Facebook and other social media covers, promotional campaigns, and loads more.

Stop waiting for your designers to deliver the images you want. DIY fast and easy.

MailChimp is great if you’re just starting out and you have no list or only a few subscribers. Obviously, I’m talking about MailChimp’s “Forever Free” pricing plan. As soon as you have more than 2,000 people on your list, you’ll be asked to upgrade to a paid account. Until than, it’s free to use.

Similar to aWeber, GetResponse, and Constant Contact, MailChimp is an email marketing service provider that enables you to send emails and newsletters, manage contacts and measure results.

You don’t know what to do next? Get Evernote and start prioritizing in advance.

Evernote helps you capture everything that is important to you in one place. Take notes and snap photos on the go, and let Evernote sync everything between your devices. Stay effortlessly organized.

When inspiration hits you, it’s good to have a collecting tool like Evernote on you.

If you don’t know your numbers, you don’t know what you’re doing. Relentless testing and tracking is the secret sauce. Use Google Analytics for traffic stats and monitor your performance closely.

How many new vs. returning visitors do you have? What devices do people use to access your website (desktop, tablet, mobile)? Where do most of your visitors come from?

Google Analytics is the most widely used web analytics tool. It’s fairly easy to set up and it comes at no cost.

Yes, you don’t need the most expensive and fancy tools in the world to accomplish great things.

The above mentioned free content marketing tools come with a bunch of features to appeal to entrepreneurs and small business owners who don’t have the budget to invest in additional manpower or hire an agency.

Obviously, this list of *freebie* tools is not complete. There are other awesome content marketing tools on the market, ready for you to be discovered and used.

The eleven resources I have mentioned above are fairly straightforward and easy to use. They will definitely help you improve your productivity, and achieve your goals and objectives in a more systemized way.

What are your favorite content marketing tools? What other resources would you add to the list?

Image: StartupStockPhotos / Pixabay.com

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