In this blog, we’ll take you through everything you need to know about how to use content creation tools.
From the beginning stages of idea generation to the final steps of publishing your content and sharing it with the world, we’ll give you all the tips and tricks that can help you create quality content that your audience will love.
Let’s dive in!
Content Creation Tools Examples
If you’re a content creator, you know that there is a lot of content out there. What makes the most effective and engaging content? Here we listed the top 10 content creation tools you’ll want to start using today. This list doesn’t apply to just marketers. Professionals working in sales, training, and proposal teams also create unique and large amounts of content.
In the end, all content creators share one goal: creating relevant and helpful content for the right audience.
These content creation tools will help you to determine what is relevant to your attentive audience, how to best package it, and the easiest way to provide editorial reviews.
Content Creation Tools for Creating Relevant Content
1. Google Trends
Google Trends helps to keep you in the loop. Google Trends reveals insight into today’s relevant content. Not yesterday’s. Google Trends is ideal for those who frequently create content. This includes those who blog, have a heavy social presence, develop content for specific groups of people, or work in marketing.
The Content Marketing Institute recommends using Google Trends to research keywords, discover content ideas, and monitor your brand.
Simply enter in a topic or explore trending stories and featured insights. Google Trends displays the frequency of search terms in consideration of its total volume across geographic regions. Additionally, Google Trends shows search interest over time. Depending on the flux of query volumes, you may choose one topic over another to discuss in whatever content you create.
2. Moz Keyword Explorer
You wouldn’t want to create awesome content and not get noticed. Easily check what keyword to use for blog posts and site pages with Moz’s Keyword Explorer. You can enter terms or phrases into Moz Keyword Explorer. Moz will provide you with keyword suggestions and a SERP analysis reflective of the keyword’s search volume, difficulty, opportunity, and potential.
Once you start exploring, you can export CSV files and save them for later. This includes the top ranking sites containing your keyword or phrase. Moz Keyword Explorer allows for two free searches a day. If you require more searching, you can upgrade to a paid subscription starting at $50 a month.
3. Sigstr
Sigstr is an email signature banner. Email banners are added and changed from one admin console with changes immediately reflected in employees’ email signatures. Sigstr banners are a great way to intertwine visual content and compelling copy.
You can create unique signatures for departments, teams, executives, and customer service. Swap out Sigstr signatures to engage email recipients with company news, upcoming events, and relevant content.
Content Creation Tools for Designing Visual Content
4. Giphy
If you blog or even just read a lot of blogs, you know how easy it is to get lost in a sea of words. GIFs are a really easy way to grab the audience’s attention. Sometimes animation shows more than just still images. But where is everyone finding GIFs? Giphy is a free visual content creation tool. You can contextually search for GIFs, or you can create your own.
Have one team member who can answer your chats and emails at lightning speed with an animated GIF suited for the context? In addition to sparring in chat messages, use Giphy in blog posts.
5. Canva
Need to develop striking visual content? Don’t have a lot of time? Check out Canva. Canva is an easy-to-use tool to create graphics and documents ready to print or to publish online. Features include photos, photo filters, icons, shapes, and hundreds of fonts. Outbrain listed Canva as an awesome digital content creation tool because of its drag and drop design feature.
New users can sign up for a free Canva account and start designing with ready to use design layouts. Canva comes ready with pre-sized social media templates in addition to templates for flyers, posters, and email headers.
Mimeo uses Canva for our Instagram account (@_mimeo). Canva’s capability to share designs and templates makes it easy for our content creators to collaborate together.
6. Pixlr
Pixlr delivers the capabilities of PhotoShop for free. There’s tons of value in the free version. For those requiring more editing capabilities, Pixlr Pro comes with more design tools and features at a price of $14.99 a year.
Pixlr comes in handy when creating graphics for presentations and social media. Use Pixlr to resize images, apply quick fixes, and remove the image background.
Content Creation Tools for Editorial Use
7. Grammarly
Write, write, write… Sound like an average workday? But as any content creator knows, editing is just as important as the writing process. This content creation tool also made HubSpot’s Ultimate List of Free Content Creation Tools & Resources. Grammarly is an automated proofreading platform. It corrects over 250 types of spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors.
Copy and paste content directly into a Grammarly document to check for grammar and spelling mistakes. It helps to check sections of content as you write. For example, upload answers to an RFP before handing it over to the review team. Or check sections of training courses before handing them over to be designed.
8. Hemingway Editor
Affect the editorial skills of Ernest Hemingway with this content creation tool. The Hemingway Editor is a proofreading tool for readers. It details the revisions you can’t see in Grammarly without upgrading to Grammarly Pro. Copy your content into Hemingway Editor and it will highlight style suggestions.
Sentences highlighted in yellow or red will flag where writing is too dense. One of its strongest features is its capability to highlight uses of passive voice. Avoid using passive voice in all content — including training materials, marketing collateral, and sales literature. Active voice is critical in creating compelling copy and in winning proposals.
9. Microsoft’s Snipping Tool
This content creation tool is one of the most simple but is also maximizes the amount of time spent editing. Microsoft’s Snipping Tool is simple and straightforward: capture screenshots. But, it’s more than that. You can cross out content, highlight sections, insert arrows, and add your own suggestions in type.
Once you’ve created a snip, you can save or copy and paste into emails and chat windows. The Snipping Tool comes in handy when providing feedback for web pages and layout design in addition to longer content like business proposals or training materials.
10. Trello
Content creators have a lot of content. Trello makes it easy to share, collaborate, set reviews and approvals, and create an editorial calendar for whole teams. Devote one project or one team to a virtual Trello board. Use Trello to organize entire projects and filter for specific team members to check the status of project updates.
Trello saves a lot of time and a lot of emails. Instead of sending status updates, simply move a project’s Trello card to the appropriate user or status.
free online content creation tools
There’s no doubt about it – we live in a visual age. That means if you don’t have a visual content creation strategy, you’re losing your audience.
The stats prove it:
Video gets lots of online attention across all age groups and is predicted to be 82% of online traffic by 2021
Content with images gets more views and more shares than other content
Images help your marketing convert, increasing signups in one case by as much as 329%
Video can help boost customer retention, as in the case of Tiger Fitness, who had a 60% returning customer rate
The bottom line: if you’re going to stay ahead of the marketing game, you need to use visual content marketing.
But not everybody’s a design whiz. We totally get that.
If creating visuals is a stretch, you’re going to need some help. That’s why we’ve put together this list of digital content creation software. It contains the tools you need to nail visual content creation, and there’s an added bonus.
All of the visual content creation tools listed below are free.
That means you can use visuals to get visitors’ attention without blowing a hole in your budget, and get the benefits of more attention, more leads, and ultimately, more sales.
Recommended Resource: Need to jumpstart your content marketing results? Get more traffic and conversions with our Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing in 2020.
We’ve divided the tools into categories, so you can easily find the visual content creation tools you need first:
Image Creation Tools
Video Creation Tools
Animation Tools
Infographic Creation Tools
Screen Capture Tools
Meme Creation Tools
GIF Creation Tools
Presentation Creation Tools
Image Creation Tools
Let’s start our list of digital content creation tools with some tools focused on creating and editing images.
- Adobe Spark
adobe spark – digital content creation software
Adobe Spark is a fast content creation software that lets you easily combine text, images, and video content for better storytelling online.
- BeFunky Graphic Designer
be funky fast content creation software
If you’re looking for a way to quickly create collages and other photos, BeFunky Graphic Designer can help. You can also make cards, banners, brochures, and posters with this fast content creation software package.
- Canva
content creation tools for social media imclude canva
Canva is one of our favorite tools, making it easy to create and edit customized images for sharing on social media, illustrating blog posts, and much more. It’s an essential content marketing tool for many professionals.
- Fotor
free content marketing tools – fotor
Looking for photo editing, photo effects, and image retouching? Try the templates and tools from Fotor to make graphic design easy.
- Image Quote
handle content creation for social media with Image Quote
As the name suggests, Image Quote (previously known as Instaquote) is all about helping you create quote graphics by adding words to images. This is a mobile app, available for both iOS and Android.
- Pablo
6 Pablo by Buffer – digital content creation tools
If you’re looking for content creation tools for social media, then Pablo, by Buffer, is a good choice. It makes it easy to combine beautiful images with text, and includes filters. You can add your own logo, too.
- Photo Collage
photo collage is digital content creation software
Photo Collage opens with a blank canvas where you can add your photos and arrange them. You can also add text. It includes a handy tool to create your collage automatically if you don’t want the hassle of arranging the images yourself.
- Pixlr
8 Pixlr Web Apps
Pixlr is another useful free content creation tool. It’s available in three flavors:
A quick tool for adding fun filters
Pixlr Express, which includes more image editing
The full Pixlr Editor, which has many of the same functions as professional image editing software like Photoshop
- Quotes Cover
content creation for social media with quotes cover
You don’t have to login or sign up to use Quotes Cover. This free digital content creation tool lets you easily create quote graphics online. And you can use their designs as a starting point, making the process pretty quick.
- Quozio
quozio is fast content creation software
Quozio is another tool to help you speed up content creation for social media by making it easy to create quote graphics. Just enter your text in a box, say who said it, and you’ll soon have plenty of choices with different backgrounds and fonts. Sharing buttons are available just below, which keeps the process simple.
- Snappa
content creation tools for social media – snappa
The next on our list of free content marketing tools is Snappa. This web app is a full-featured drag and drop image editor, which lets you add and edit effects with a slider. You can upload your own graphics, and save designs in folders.
- Stencil
Stencil content creation tools
Stencil streamlines content creation for social media. This fast, simple app lets you easily combine photos, icons, and more to create your own images. And it includes templates and quote graphic templates, too.
Video Creation Tools
Our next selection of free visual content creation tools is all about video.
- Animaker
content creation tools – animaker
Want to get the effect of a studio-created animated video without the hefty price tag? That’s what Animaker offers. You can create multiple video types including explainer videos, whiteboard videos, and even infographic videos.
- iMovie
visual content creation tools – imovie
If you’re using iOS or MacOS, then iMovie is likely one of the best free content creation tools you can use. This app makes it easy to create and share videos, and to make Hollywood-style video trailers.
- Lumen5
lumen5 is a visual content tool
Lumen5 is one of the more interesting visual content creation tools on our list. That’s because it uses artificial intelligence to let you create a video from text. Enter a URL and the software will create videos to match, including photos and music. This is definitely one to keep an eye on.
- RawShorts
use rawshorts as a visual content creation tool
RawShorts is a drag and drop video editor designed to make it easy to create animated and explainer videos. It includes templates for many industries which users can select and customize. And it’s easy to add other media, transitions, and audio to your video creation.
- Soapbox
Soapbox by wistia
Soapbox is a Chrome extension from video hosting service Wistia. It lets you create and share videos in your browser window, with no technical skills required. The extension also includes a split-screen view, allowing you to record your webcam and your screen at the same time.
- VideoShop
digital content creation tools – videoshops
VideoShop lets you add music, sound effects, and voiceovers to your videos. You can also combine and edit clips, and add filters and transitions. Plus it’s easy to share your creations on social media. This app is available on iOS and Android.
Tools to Use: 11 Best Instagram Video Editing Tools Compared (Free and Paid)
Animation Tools
Want to make short animations to liven up your content marketing? These content creation tools will help.
- Boomerang
Boomerang from Instagram
Boomerang is a video app from Instagram, available both as a standalone app and within the Instagram app itself. It allows you to take short stop motion videos, and share them on Instagram. These are a highly engaging and popular content format on that platform.
- Biteable
biteable visual content creation
Biteable lets you create up to 5 videos per month in its free plan, and publish them to YouTube and Facebook. It says it’s the simplest way to create a video. You can easily choose from pre-made templates, styles, and soundtracks, or create your own. And you need just one click to share to your favorite social media platform.
- Google Photos
free content marketing tools – google photos
Google Photos has a built-in Assistant that works with the photos you upload to automatically create short movies and animations. If you want more control, you can also create them yourself from within the cross-platform app.
- Powtoon
powtoon is a well known visual content creation tool
Powtoon bridges the gap between videos and presentations, making it easy to create appealing visual content in only a few minutes. These are an excellent way to get attention and engage your audience.
- Renderforest
Renderforest
If you’re looking for a way to create visual content fast, RenderForest is a good option. This cloud-based animation and video maker helps you quickly make intro videos, explainer videos, presentations, infographics, and much more.
- RendrFX
RendrFX
RendrFX is a paid service, but you can create up to 3 watermarked videos for free. Add your content to the site’s many templates, and you’ll soon have an engaging video you can use anywhere.
Infographic Creation Tools
Next, it’s time to look at tools for infographics, which are one of the most engaging visual content formats.
- Easel.ly
easelly is one of the free content creation tools
Easel.ly aims to make it simple to create infographics by using pre-made templates and adding photos, images, and charts. The free version gives you access to 10 templates, but you’ll get hundreds more with a paid plan.
- Google Charts
google charts
While Google Charts doesn’t exactly let you create infographics, it’s a great tool to support infographic creation. That’s because it lets you visualize data by creating and customizing multiple chart formats.
- Infogram
infogram
If you’re looking for interactive visual content creation tools, Infogram is worth a try. In the free version, you get access to 37 types of interactive infographics plus 13 types of maps, and you can use drag and drop to create a stunning infographic.
- ThingLink
free content marketing tools – thinglink
ThingLink is another piece of digital content creation software with a focus on interactivity. You can embed images, video, 360° content, maps and more for a truly immersive experience.
- Venngage
Venngage
Venngage makes it easy to create infographics via a three-step process. First, choose a template, then add elements, and finally, customize your design. Some functionality is reduced in the free plan.
- Visme
use visme for visual content creation
If you want to get started with infographics, Visme has a lot to offer. It includes several templates, charts and widgets that you can use to create your infographic. However, you’ll need to upgrade for an even wider range and additional organizational features.
Screen Capture Tools
If you need fast content creation software, a screen capture tool’s a great way to illustrate something for your audience. Here are some worth checking out.
- CloudApp
use CloudApp for visual content creation
CloudApp is a favorite on the OptinMonster team because it’s the tool we use for creating screenshots, screen recordings, and animated GIFs. It’s simple to use and allows unlimited screenshots, even in the free version. You can also easily share and store images.
- Awesome Screenshot Awesome screenshot
Awesome Screenshot is a browser extension available for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari that lets you quickly capture web pages and add annotations. You can store, organize, and share images, too. - Firefox Screenshots Firefox Screenshots
Recent versions of the Firefox web browser include the built-in Firefox Screenshots tool. This lets you take a photo of a part of the screen, the visible screen area or the whole web page with just a couple of clicks. You get online storage for images, too. - Kap
digital content creation tools – kap
If you need a digital content creation tool for MacOS, then Kap could be useful. It’s an open-source screen recorder that’s fast, functional, and easy to use.
- Nimbus Capture
Nimbus Capture
Nimbus Capture is another browser screenshot tool that allows you to capture and edit screenshots. It works with Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Edge, as well as on Android, PCs, and Macs.
- Windows Snipping Tool
windows snipping tool
The Snipping Tool built into Windows is another easy way to create screenshots. You can use different types of screen captures and can highlight, annotate, and remove URLs from snips.
Meme Creation Tools
Whether they’re cat pictures or screenshots from movies, it’s hard to imagine the web without memes, so here are some visual content creation tools to help you create your own.
- iMeme
imeme visual content creation software
iMeme is a digital content creation software for making memes. It includes 50 common memes, or you can use your own photos. You can also customize the text. There’s just one downside: there’s no built-in sharing. You’ll have to download your newly created meme and share it manually.
- Kapwing
Kapwing
If you’re looking for a simple meme creator, Kapwing is worth a look. Just upload or paste a link to an image, video, or GIF; add your text; then share your new meme.
- Make a Meme
visual content creation tools – make a meme
With Make a Meme, you can upload an image, add text via the onscreen input boxes, then press a button to create your meme. If you’re happy with the meme preview, it’s then easy to share from the preview page.
- Meme Buddy
use meme buddy as a visual content creation tool
Meme Buddy is an online meme generator with a difference: it lets you make a meme by voice via an integration with Google Assistant. You can choose images, add text, translate memes, and much more, all without having to touch a keyboard.
- Meme Generator
Meme Generator for visual content creation
The meme creation process in the Meme Generator is pretty simple. You search for or add an image, add some text, and then share your meme. It’s pretty quick, making it easy to get started with meme creation.
GIF Creation Tools
A little bit of animation is great for getting visitors’ attention, so it doesn’t hurt to add GIFs to your digital content creation mix. Here are some tools to help you get started.
- Ezgif
ezgif
Want to create a GIF fast? With Ezgif you can upload a series of images and it’ll create the GIF for you. You can adjust the order of uploaded images, change the GIF size, and tweak animation settings, too.
- GIFMaker GIF Maker
GIFMaker lets you upload up to 300 images to create a new animated GIF. You can use the online GIF creator to change the canvas size and animation speed. There’s also the option to add music from YouTube to make your GIF even more appealing. - Giphy
giphy is a visual content creation tool
Giphy is one of the best-known content creation tools for social media. It integrates with multiple apps to help people find the right GIF to share. But it also includes an online GIF creator. Just upload a photo or a video, set your animation speed, and add some decorative effects, then your GIF is ready to upload and share.
- Imgflip
imgflip is a digital content creation tool
Like other online meme generators, Imgflip works with existing memes or lets you upload your own image. Once that’s done, you can easily add text to the top, bottom or both to create your meme.
- Google Slides
Google Slides
If you’re already using other Google services, then Google Slides is a useful part of the suite. It allows you to quickly create visually appealing presentations using pre-made templates. You can also use Slides to work with imported PowerPoint presentations or to export your creations to PowerPoint. Best of all, you never lose your work since everything auto-saves.
- Emaze
emaze is fast content creation software
Emaze is an online presentation tool, with templates for design, business and education in a variety of categories. Just choose a template and start editing, and you’ll soon have an attractive presentation. You can also create other visual content, as well as websites, with this software.
- Prezi
Prezi
Prezi offers presentation design for non-designers, letting you get started quickly with templates relating to different niches. This fast content creation software also makes it easy to change how you navigate through a presentation based on your audience. And it provides stats on audience interaction. The free version has some limitations.
- SlideDog
SlideDog presentation software
SlideDog lets you create and play presentations and media playlists. There’s just one catch: in the free version, you can only use Pro features for 15 minutes at a time. Presentations are interactive, and you can livestream and share content. SlideDog integrates with all common presentation and media software.
- Slides
slides is a free visual content creation tool
Slides is a browser-based presentation tool that offers a live presentation mode. It includes vertical slides, and lets you create private slide decks by default. And it includes the ability to embed presentations and to get data on viewer activity.
- Sway
Sway
Sway is an online presentation tool from Microsoft that lets you create presentations from existing templates or documents. It’ll also help you get started by gathering resources related to your chosen topic.
That’s it! With these visual content creation tools, you have everything you need to grab visitors’ attention. Next, see our list of the best WordPress plugins to grow your business.
But don’t stop there – use the videos, presentations, memes, GIFs and more to improve your OptinMonster marketing campaigns.
OptinMonster customer Sportique doubled conversions by using an edited image as part of an optin form and combining it with OptinMonster’s exit-intent technology to get visitors’ attention just before they clicked away from the site.
Conclusion
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