Over the past year, I’ve experimented with dozens of websites, software, services related to online writing/blogging. In this article, I’ll discuss my five favorite tools that helped boost my online writing career: a note-taking app (ie. Evernote), Grammarly, WordPress.com, Medium, and Twitter.
Let me elaborate.
A note-taking app
There are many note-taking apps out there. Evernote, Microsoft OneNote, Google Keep, and Notion to name a few.
I use Evernote for anything related to writing. Here’s why:
- It’s convenient.
- All of my documents are organized, visible, and in one place.
- Easy navigation.
- Search bar for keywords.
- Going through documents is seamless.
- Cloud backup and accessible on multiple devices
- All of the features I need.
- It’s free!
I know I’m bordering on sounding like a paid advertisement, but sadly it’s not.
I recommend Evernote because I’ve personally been using it for years. I have hundreds of notes stored, backed up, and accessible from my phone. Then when I remember the fact that it hasn’t cost me a dime, I can’t help but be happy!
Regardless of what program you end up using, I strongly believe that this sort of centralized writing software is crucial for any writer. If you’re not using something to help with organization, you’re paying for it with your time.
Grammarly
Grammarly is a browser add-on, extension, or app that helps clean up your writing.
Grammarly checks your writing for spelling, punctuation, correctness, clarity, engagement, and delivery.
The correctness and clarity issues are available for free. The engagement and delivery suggestions are only available through the premium version of Grammarly. I’ve done some basic research and based on reviews, people don’t seem very impressed by the Grammarly premium version.
That said, I’ve never used the premium version and I encourage you to do your own research. The free version has worked great for me I think it’s a no-brainer for anyone who writes.
It’s not perfect. Sometimes it misinterprets and gives bad suggestions. But it’s still another piece of software that I’m quick to recommend for the clear value it provides with zero risk (it’s free).
WordPress and Medium accounts
If you’re reading this, odds are that you already have one of these accounts. But from my experience, it’s great to use both. I have approximately 200 followers on each platform and I would guess that less than 20 percent of them follow me on both.
I post on my WordPress blog first and then import it to my Medium account. It only adds about 5-10 minutes per piece and the extra exposure is well worth it.
I’ll admit – I don’t do a whole lot of writing on Twitter myself (although it’s something I’m working on).
Regardless, it might be the most powerful tool of all. You can connect with people, build a following, practice your writing, share your opinion, and speak directly to people which would have otherwise been impossible.
That’s seriously powerful stuff. And again, it’s free.
What’s the goal?
At the end of the day, it depends on what your goals are with your writings or blog. The goal of my writing is to help people, but I can only do that if people see my articles. So a sub-goal is to increase my readers and expand my reach.
The Pareto Principle states that 80% of the benefits come from 20% of the sources and these tools have been those sources for me.
Just remember that a tool only performs as well as it’s handler. So treat these resources as the valuable tools that they are and invest time into learning and improving.
All of the tools that I mentioned are free (although I would strongly recommend paying the $5/month for a Medium subscription).
There’s very little risk and a lot to gain. So why not give them a try?
There you have it! These are my top 5 tools to boost online writing. I hope you enjoyed this article. What tools have most positively impacted your writing? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment below!
If you enjoyed this article, please consider following, liking, or checking out my other articles at http://www.mindpowergrow.com
*This article contains affiliate links. That just means that if you choose to sign up for any of the services I mentioned, I get a percentage.*
Mind Power Grow 
I’ve heard of Evernote before but I’ve never tried it. Thanks for sharing, great posts and insights!
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Hey Camille! I’d definitely recommend it! (as if my post didn’t make that clear enough 😉 ).
You’re welcome and thanks for the kind words.
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I’ve been looking into switching from WordPress.com to WordPress.org … Have you looked into this at all? It seems like the main difference is you can host your own site and apparently WordPress.com has its limitations. Let me know your thoughts :).
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Yea I’ve looked into it. There are some pretty thorough articles out there about the differences. But I haven’t had any issues of limitations with my WP.com.
So at least for now I’ll stick with this one. Curious to know what you think if you make the switch. Let me know!
And thanks for the comment 🙂
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I post the same way, wordpress and then import to medium.
Do you have any suggestions to get the posts out to relevant audience without looking like spamming friends for views. I have noticed the follower counts don’t really add up to views or effective readers.
Great write up.
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Hey Vaibhav!
You know, my strategy has been searching through tags related to my articles and engaging with people who are writing about similar ideas or topics.
On Medium specifically, finding a publication or multiple to write for I think is key to expanding your audience. Particularly if the publication is niche and related to what you write about.
So I’m just kinda making it up as I go! 😀 Hope that helps a bit.
Thanks for the comment and kind words.
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Hi Evan
This is a great list of tools. I use WordPress and grammerly but need a note taking app so I’m going to try Evernote. Thanks for the recommendation!
Rose
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Hey Rose! You’re very welcome! I’m trying to learn how to use Notion as well it seems very powerful.
That said, Evernote has served me well for years and I continue to use it 🙂
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Hi Evan, good on technology, but what I really liked in your post was that your goal in writing is to help people. That comment helped me to think about my own writing. We’d all be better off if we looked at things that way.
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Hello David!
I really appreciate that! It’s interesting to me because when I started this blog, I wasn’t really sure what I was doing, what I wanted to write about, or why. But looking back through the process of building the blog and writing these posts, I notice much more of a theme than I really realized.
Thanks for the comment! 🙂
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This is a great article!
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Thank you! 🙂
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Lovely post thnx to share this lovely post
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Hi Nitinsingh. You’re very welcome! 🙂
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Hello thanks for sharing your wisdom! I’m just starting out and I needed the advice I’m thinking about medium now. I didn’t know there was a wordpress.com verse org
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You’re very welcome, Kyra!
I would at least check out Medium – many people use it as their only writing platform. And yea, he’s an article on WP com vs org if you’re interested – https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/self-hosted-wordpress-org-vs-free-wordpress-com-infograph/
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Thanks for sharing, I got a lot of value.
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