August 28, 2016

7 Must Have Tools for Freelance Writers

You are a freelance writer, aren’t you?
 
With deal making, negotiations, writing and delivery, I know how tedious your each day is. Do you know what? There are a number of tools that make your freelance writing easier.

The purpose of this post is to make you familiar with seven of such tools. Are you ready to explore the list? Here we go!

Must Have Tools for Freelance Writers

7 Must Have Tools for Freelance Writers : eAskme
7 Must Have Tools for Freelance Writers : eAskme

The following are the tools which I think every freelance writer should have.

#1. A Word Processor

I am not being biased to any specific product here. But you must need a word processor as a freelance writer. Almost every client you deal with needs articles in word processor document format. And, there the significance comes.

If you ask me for the best word processor, I can’t help voting for MS Word. You may find other same type of products like Open Office Writer or Libre Office useful. But I am completely with MS Word as it offers a number of formatting options, page layouts, word counter etc.

#2. A Portfolio

For any freelancer, let alone writer, needs a portfolio website where one should showcase their projects, samples and contact info. When a potential client asks for samples, you need to send only one link instead of a bunch if you have a portfolio.

You can create a website using WordPress with a custom domain. Nowadays, hosting providers give away domains with their plans. The only step remains to be done is developing the website. You can do it on your own or hire a designer to do the same for you.

#3. Sources of Images

Sometimes you spend one heck of your time searching for images to be used in your articles. That’s where the need for a reliable image source arises.

I know a number of stock image providing sites and, Pexels is one among them. If you want more sources, just search for stock images on Google. There, you will have it.

I would like to add a screenshot taking tool here. Being a freelance writer, you have to insert screenshots many a time. Skitch is the best screenshot taking software I have ever used.

#4. A Grammar Checker

Mistakes are manly!

But the irony is that your client loves zero mistakes. Being a non-native English freelance writer is a Herculean task at your initial time. You have to take care of grammar, punctuation, and spelling as well.

Even if you proofread your articles twice, there may be some errors present. A good grammar checker helps you get rid of all the mistakes.

In this section, my recommendation is none other than Grammarly. It is so far the best grammar checker out there.

You must purchase their paid package as it contains a plagiarism checker that avoids those embarrassing situations when your client finds even a 1% copying.

#5. A Keyword Tool

Most of the clients need search engine optimized articles today. And to my knowledge, what they provide is only one keyword. Hence, you have to find out related keywords to use in appropriate places.

There are a lot of keyword research tools that show you LSI (latent semantic index) and long tail keywords. What I like the most is keywordshitter. You enter a keyword, press the button and BOOM!!

Tons of keywords fill the field within a minute.

#6. A Speech-to-Text App

Tapping continuously on the keyboard becomes tedious at times. What I do when I feel the same is, using any speech-to-text desktop application.

If you have searched for any such app, you know getting an efficient one is difficult. And, you need to pay some bucks to get your hands on a good one.

Recently, I found a Chrome extension that works flawlessly in speech-to-text department. Download it from below and enjoy typing without keyboard.

#7. An Invoice Creator

At the end of a project, you have to send invoice to the client for getting the payment. If you are a beginner in the whole freelance writing scenario, you may not know how to create a decent invoice.
 
Even if you are pretty experienced, creating an invoice manually steals a lot of your precious time. The best method is using an invoice creator. Free Invoice Maker is my suggestion here.

Wrapping Up

You have got seven must have tools for freelance writers here. As a freelance writer you can join Fiverr and it's alternatives to make money online.

What do you think? 

If you think my list is helpful, don’t forget to share the same with your peeps on social media. Of course, these are not the only tools that aids in your freelance writing business. There are many!

Did I miss anything essential here? You can use the comment section down below to discuss about the same. I will join you there.

Bio : 
This is the guest post by Jyoti Chauhan from updateland.com. She is a professional blogger.