20 Tools To Write Smarter Email

Twenty Tools To Help You Design Better And Write Smarter | Email Mark...
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Twenty Tools To Help You Design Better

And Write Smarter
Create compelling content.
Thats the key to engaging your email subscribers and turning them into loyal customers.
But what happens when you dont have the time to become a skilled graphic designer and a
stellar writer because youre too busy mastering your own cra , and, you know, running your
business?
Thankfully, there are plenty of tools out there thatll help you create engaging content with
ease. This way, your subscribers will get quality, valuable content and youll still have time to
take care of business (and enjoy Happy Hour at the end of the day ).
To help you design better, write smarter and create engaging content faster, check out some of
our favorite content creation tools:
Design Better
A polished and consistent design will help you establish brand recognition and trust with your
audience. When paired with the right words (or sometimes, no words at all), a strong design
will drive your prospects and customers to act fast.
Create Stunning Visuals

Content is far more than just words on a page. By using visuals (e.g., adding an infographic to
a blog post or posting shareable images in a social feed), you can enhance your content
easy-to-use design tools built for the non-designer.
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Cost: Free (with paid upgrade options)

Canva is blowing up in the content marketing world. Why? Because of its ease-of-use and
practical templates. Whether you need to create a cover photo for your Facebook page or a
featured image for your next email, Canva will provide the blueprints and tools to do it
beautifully.
Pro-tip: If you know absolutely nothing about design, stick to their templates
theyre awesome! If youre creating multiple designs with Canva, try to use similar
templates to keep your look and feel consistent.
2. Pablo
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Cost: Free
Weve all seen inspirational quote images shared on Twitter or Facebook. Fortunately, you
dont need Photoshop, or expensive so
imagery and modern web-fonts that allow you to create a shareable piece of content in under
a minute.
Heres a silly image that I created in 20 seconds:
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the image. A white font over a light ba
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on some screens.
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3. Skitch
Cost: Free
If you typically present instructional content, such as how-to articles, Skitch is a lifesaver.
Built by the Evernote team (another awesome app to check out!), Skitch allows you to take a
screenshot and annotate it with a small set of practical tools. You can easily add cues and text
to point readers in the right direction.
Heres an example I created in under a minute:
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Pro-tip: If youre creating multi-step instructional images, feel free to make a

separate image for each step (or clearly number the steps within the images).
Adding too many annotations to an image may create confusion.
4. infogr.am
Cost: Free, with paid plans.
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charts.
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Pro-tip: Infographics are fun and have the potential to go viral, but always
be credible. Check your data and cite your sources!
Develop a Color Palette

You dont have to study graphic design to know that color is important. Using consistent
colors is essential to establishing and supporting your brand.
5. Adobe Color
Cost: Free.
Professional designers dont choose colors on a whim theres actually a lot of thought that
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the image. Check out this example, using the cheesy quote image from above:
Find Free and Engaging Stock Images

Need a good image for your blog post or email? Pick up a brand-new $750 camera, take a
photography class at your local college or university, travel to an exotic location and start
snapping! Yeah right. Heres a better idea: Simply download some amazing photos
from any one of the options below.
6. AWebers stock image gallery
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Cost: Free for all AWeber users!

Looking for the perfect image for your next email? Try our stock image gallery, which contains
over 6,000 royalty-free images and buttons. Read more about it!
Pro-tip:
reuse any files you save from Canva, Pablo or other sources.
7. Unsplash
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Cost: Free, but usage must adhere to this license

Ten new photos every 10 days so youll always find a fresh selection from which to choose.
Thats the Unsplash promise!
8. Death to the Stock Photo
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Cost: Free, but usage must adhere to their license

Tired of stock photos that look too stock photo-y? Me too, and so is Death to the Stock Photo!
Simply sign up with your email address and get stunning images delivered right to your inbox.
9. Subtle Patterns
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Cost: Free, but usage must adhere to their license

Sometimes your website, blog, email or infographic needs something less flashy than a stock
image. If youre looking for something a bit more subtle, check out Subtle Patterns for
free-to-use patterns that make perfect backgrounds and textures.
10.
Pro-tip: Just a warning there really are a ton of images from which to choose!
Avoid getting get caught up looking for the perfect one, as you may leave little time
for your writing (which just so happens to be a perfect segue into our next set of
tools)
Writing Smarter
Writing is an art form. It requires the perfect mix of rules and risk, of substance and style.
Aint nobody got time for that!
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tools to help you write quick and clear, so y

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What to Write
Sometimes, we get stumped at step one: What should I write about and who gives a hoot?
11. Hubspot topic generator
Cost: Free
There are plenty of resources on our blog that speak to this in detail. If youre looking for a
quick exercise in idea generation, try out Hubspots Blog Topic Generator. Simply plug in three
nouns and let the generator work its magic.
Pro-tip: This Blog Topic Generator is also a great way to brainstorm some subject
lines for your next email.
BONUS: Portents Content Idea Generator
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Cost: Free
A er publishing this post, one of our readers, Kim, mentioned Portents Content Idea
Generator as an alternative to Hubspots tool. I just tried it and it was a lot of fun! I cant wait
to write this post: 15 Ways Heavy Metal Music Could Leave You Needing a Lawyer. I had to
add it to the list.
Pro-tip: Some of the suggestions I received were pretty silly (such as, How Heavy
Metal Music Can Prevent Hair Loss,) so feel free to revise as needed.
Where to Write
Do not wrestle with your text editor (trust me, it doesnt lead to anything good). There are
plenty of options paid and free that provide the ideal text editing experience for your
needs. Here are few outside of the usual tools like Microso Word, Google Drive, Pages, etc.
12. Desk
Cost: Paid application, available for Mac
Desk is a premium app available for Mac OS. If you plan to write daily, and perhaps publish to
WordPress, Tumblr or Blogspot quite o en, then an application like Desk may be your perfect
companion. Advanced tools and publishing options justify its price, and distraction-free
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13. Ulysses
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Cost: Paid application, available for Mac

Another premium option is Ulysses, which focuses more on writing in Markdown, an
easy-to-use format designed specifically for those writing and formatting prose. A wide
variety of editor styles, and export options make Uylsses a top player in the paid editor space.
Pro-tip: Ulysses has a demo. Take it for a test-drive before committing to buy.
14. Ilys
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Cost: Paid, subscription-based

Ilys is a paid service, but only costs $1.08 a month. Basically, this handy web app forces you to
write forward, and never go back. As writers, we o en get hung up on one word, or getting a
phrase just right. Experts like Ann Handley will recommend that you embrace the Ugly First
Dra . Ilys forces you to do just that, only letting you enter one. letter. at. a. time. It sounds
unconventional, and it is, but many writers claim to have found their flow using the tool.
Save the editing for later.
15. Calmly Writer
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Looking for a distraction-free solution that

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auto-save your progress, so if your computer freezes or you navigate away from the webpage,
you will lose your work. Avoid the stress and tears by exporting your work when youre done!
Pro-tip: A distraction-free editor is only one half of the equation. Make sure your
mind and environment are also clear of distractions before you sit down to get in
the zone.
Find the Write Words

See what I did there dont do that.
16. Power Thesaurus
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Cost: Free
Looking for the perfect word? Look no further Power Thesaurus can help you find it. This is a
great tool to use during editing, especially if you find yourself repeating the same words over
and over again, and want to include some variety.
Pro-tip: Most people tend to use a thesaurus to find a big fancy word to replace
their simple word. Instead, choose words that you would use if you were having a
conversation with your friends this is what your subscribers want to hear or read.
If you would typically say that something is everywhere in a conversation, dont
feel inclined to say that its ubiquitous.
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Cost: Free
Word Counter is a simple tool that provides you with writing stats, such as total word count,
average words per sentence and keyword density. Keyword density is particularly helpful, as it
shows your most repeated words within the text. You can then optimize (or decrease) your
keyword usage as needed.
Pro-tip: Lets take a look at the age-old question of how many words should it
be? In my opinion, the only person who can answer this is your audience. Find the
happy place that works best for both you and them. Tap into your blogs analytics
to see whats working. This will also vary by medium, so a quick opinion blog post
will be significantly shorter than a well-researched informative post.
Analyze and Edit

One of the quickest ways to become a better writer is to become a better editor. Editing
content doesnt have to be a chore if you take advantage of any one of the three tools below.
These apps will analyze your content and provide you with grammatical suggestions,
readability scores (a.k.a. how easy it is to read your content), spelling errors, word/sentence
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engages your audience.
18. Grammarly
Cost: Free, with paid options

Grammarly is a powerful tool! There is even an extension for the Chrome web browser that
allows you to analyze your grammar anywhere that you type on the web. The free version of
Grammarly has a few limited features, but will still provide great recommendations to
improve your writing.
19. Expresso App
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Cost: Free
Expresso app provides a quick way to analyze text and make improvements. All you have to
do is paste in your content, click Analyze Text, and youll get all of the information you need
to take your writing to the next level. One feature thats really cool is the highlighting of filler
words, which can inflate your writing.
20. Hemingway App
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Hemingway will quickly display sentences

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accidentally switching to passive voice. Hemingway will point this out so you can make the
correction before you publish or send your content.
Now get to it!

There you go 20 tools to help you design better and write smarter. Try some out yourself the
next time you sit down to cra a blog post or email. We covered a lot of awesome tools, but
dont get bogged down on any one suggestion only use the tools that will save you the most
time and money.
What tools are you using to optimize your content creation? Please share your suggestions in
the comments!
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Hi Naina,
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Thank youTips
for reading.
I hop
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succeed!
Love
Your all Points.We can Compare One tool with Other and will
Choose the best suitable for Our Requirement.
Ysf 3/20/2015 12:49 pm

thank you!
Steve Feld 3/21/2015 11:08 pm

Thank you, thank you Tom, for the writing tools info! My own Holy Grail
in putting Kugelschreiber to Papier is the semi-colon. Perfect
understanding of this mysterious punctuation is out there! What you
have here is the proverbial step in the right direction!
Rahul 3/22/2015 4:21 am

Hey Tom !
Awesome piece of info. It is very useful for designers and also bloggers. I
personally have used Canva and Pable, they are more than awesome
tool.
tools.
Thanks for sharing man !
Tom Tate 3/23/2015 7:02 am

Hi Steve,
Thanks for the comment. Ah, yes the mysterious semi-colon. There are
many untapped grammatical techniques out there. This might be a good
topic for a future post.
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Hi Rahul,
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No problem!
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Best of luck with your writing and designing,

Tom
Rahul 3/23/2015 9:42 pm

Thanks Tom !
Wish you the same.
Peter Mcgrath 3/24/2015 12:23 pm

hello grata source of info for creating great graphics and writing articles
thanks you so much for sharing with your readers always you give great
content many thanks peter McGrath
ps I am going to save this page
Tom Tate 3/24/2015 12:38 pm

Hi Peter,
Thank you for reading. Best of luck with your marketing!
Tom
3/24/2015 1:27 pm
Excellent article and resources! Thanks Tom.
Sergio Felix 3/24/2015 2:05 pm
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used everything.
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Not a problem.
you fin
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Going to check the ones Im not familiar with, thanks!

Tom
Sergio
Tom Tate 3/24/2015 2:11 pm

Sergio,
Glad you liked the post, and thank you for reading.
Best of luck with your marketing!
Tom
Kim 3/24/2015 6:34 pm

Hey Tom a great article, with a lot of cool information and resources. This
is great for bloggers. I have used hubspot topic generator but I have also
used portent.com http://www.portent.com/tools/title-maker to create
some pretty grabbing blot titles. Its a lot of fun. I must check out pablo.
And of course use Aweber for my autoresponder. Again thanks for the
article and Ill share with my audience. This will be great for bloggers
who are just starting out. Cheers Kim
Tom Tate 3/25/2015 7:15 am

Hi Kim,
Im glad you enjoyed the post, and thank you for sharing with your
audience!
I just used Portents Idea Generator and it was great. Added it to the list
above. Thanks for the suggestion.
Best of luck with your content creation and business,
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Twenty Tools To Help You Design Better

Create Stunning Visuals

Cost: Free (with paid upgrade options)

the image. A white font over a light ba

Pro-tip: If youre creating multi-step instructional images, feel free to make a

Cost: Free, with paid plans.

Develop a Color Palette

Find Free and Engaging Stock Images

6. AWebers stock image gallery

Cost: Free for all AWeber users!

Cost: Free, but usage must adhere to this license

8. Death to the Stock Photo

Cost: Free, but usage must adhere to their license

Cost: Free, but usage must adhere to their license

tools to help you write quick and clear, so y

11. Hubspot topic generator

BONUS: Portents Content Idea Generator

Cost: Paid application, available for Mac

Cost: Paid, subscription-based

15. Calmly Writer

Looking for a distraction-free solution that

Find the Write Words

16. Power Thesaurus

Analyze and Edit

engages your audience.

Cost: Free, with paid options

19. Expresso App

20. Hemingway App

Hemingway will quickly display sentences

Now get to it!

Share This Article

Marketing Project Man

Read more posts by Tom Tate

Ysf 3/20/2015 12:49 pm

Steve Feld 3/21/2015 11:08 pm

Rahul 3/22/2015 4:21 am

Tom Tate 3/23/2015 7:02 am

Best of luck with your writing and designing,

Rahul 3/23/2015 9:42 pm

Peter Mcgrath 3/24/2015 12:23 pm

Tom Tate 3/24/2015 12:38 pm

Excellent article and resources! Thanks Tom.

Sergio Felix 3/24/2015 2:05 pm

Going to check the ones Im not familiar with, thanks!

Tom Tate 3/24/2015 2:11 pm

Kim 3/24/2015 6:34 pm

Tom Tate 3/25/2015 7:15 am

Email (will not be published) (required) Need an avatar?

Notify me of all new comments to this post via e-mail

Building Customer Loyal

By Olivia Dello Buono

Importing Your Email Lis

3 Ways You Can Use Pop

Copyright 1998-2015. Reproduction Strictly Prohibited. All Rights Reserved.

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