9 Key Tools Used for Content Writing Built For Strategists
Content Marketing Manager
The pressure’s on but your mind is as blank as the page in front of you.
Not only writers get writer’s block. Strategists also get strategist’s block.
Breathe a sign of relief… I’ve put together a list of 9 key tools used for content writing that strategists swear by. These can significantly improve the content creation process.
Table of Contents
Top tools used for content writing – from one strategist to another
Disclaimer: At Yahini, we spend a ton of time testing, researching and using various tools to figure out which ones are worth recommending, evaluating them based on what they’re supposed to do and how well they meet our criteria. We do not accept payment for featuring a tool in our articles or linking to a site. Our recommendations are 100% authentic and unbiased, because we believe you deserve nothing less.
Yahini
Yahini generates a full content workbook and strategy tailored to your business's goals and objectives, making the entire content creation process more efficient.
This content workbook includes strategist-level briefs in seconds, essentially eliminating the need for using complex content writing tools and generic brief generators. Yahini’s briefs are built by content strategists who take into consideration everything from the stage of the funnel a customer’s at, to the priority of that specific topic in relation to the business itself.
Unique features
- One-click brief generation – You don’t have to spend hours playing around with SEO tools. Just enter your URL and a few details about your business, and everything’s ready to go.
- Advanced keyword clustering – Yahini automates keyword research for you and sorts your keywords and topics into clusters that match what your audience is looking for at every step of their journey.
- Content for every funnel stage – With Yahini, you’re covering all your bases—top, middle, and bottom of the funnel. You can also tweak it to fit your strategy exactly.
- Strategist-level briefs – Unlike generic AI-generated content, Yahini's briefs and outlines are crafted with advanced prompting techniques and input from experienced content strategists.
- SEO with “brains” – Each brief is designed with SEO in mind. Yahini digs into search intent and assigns a content type to each stage of the funnel (for example, if you want to create a BOFU piece on a certain keyword, Yahini assigns that keyword to its best content style, such as a comparison post or an alternative post)
- Easy export options – Whatever format you and your team prefer, Yahini’s got you covered. One click, and your brief is ready to be shared, edited, or presented.
How does it help content strategists?
Strategists do everything from researching keywords, prioritizing them, building topic clusters around them, assigning them to the perfect content type, and building the final brief. For many content marketers, this is a time-consuming part of the writing process.
That’s essentially what Yahini does. It combines the experience of multiple content strategists (including us, the founders) into set playbooks and brief templates tailored for every content and keyword type.
How much does it cost?
For $39 a month per project, you get access to all of Yahini’s features, letting you generate 20 content briefs with total month-to-month flexibility to pause when you need to. And if you just want to give it a spin first, there’s a completely free plan that lets you set up a project and create a handful of briefs to see how it feels before committing.
Surfer SEO
Compared to Yahini, Surfer SEO lets you build your own brief according to what’s already out there on the first page of Google – meaning, you can just copy and paste headlines from your competitors. Many digital marketers use this as a starting point for their content creation.
This can be a disadvantage at times, but it’s a handy writing tool when it comes to having a place to store what others have written about and then “injecting” your own unique ideas and thoughts.
It also simplifies your SEO workflow, from research to publication.
Unique features
- Content score optimization – Surfer’s Content Editor features an upgraded auto-optimize function. It swiftly boosts your content score by inserting relevant terms, and maintaining readability, all without manual effort.
- Automatic internal linking – This tool scans your domain to find and insert the most optimal internal links automatically, turning a task that used to take hours into a matter of minutes.
- Humanizer – Aimed at avoiding penalties for AI-generated content, the Humanizer feature detects and corrects patterns and unnatural language, adding that much needed human touch.
How does it help content strategists?
Content strategists usually use Surfer to research the type of content that works for a specific keyword. They can pivot strategies based on real-time data, making sure that it aligns with the latest SEO standards.
How much does it cost?
You can choose from three main plans, ranging from $89 to $219 per month, and an Enterprise option that offers custom pricing.
ButterDocs
ButterDocs is writing and editing software that serves as a Google Docs alternative. It is perfect for writers who are also strategists, offering great tools for content creation.
It has a built-in notes app, an outlining board, focus tools, and collaborative features.
Unique features
- Outline board & notes app – Each document comes with an outlining board and a dedicated notes app, so you don’t have to leave the writing environment. This is great for creating blog post outlines.
- Distraction-free writing environment – Focus Mode and Dark Mode help eliminate distractions and reduce eye strain.
- Word sprints & nag notifications – Boost productivity with timed writing sprints and gentle reminders to keep you focused if you start to drift away from your task.
- Stash unused text – A unique feature that allows you to save snippets of text for later use.
- Tag, filter, & sort comments – Manage feedback efficiently with custom tags for comments and filter them to focus only on what's relevant.
How does it help content strategists?
ButterDocs is perfect for content strategists who love organization and efficiency. The tool allows strategists to visually plan content, making sure that everything is well-researched and planned before the writing even begins.
How much does it cost?
During its early access phase, ButterDocs is offering a discount on its pricing plans. You can secure the Professional plan for as low as $100 per year (with the mention that this is for the first 500 sign-ups. Pricing might increase if you’re reading this later).
During the early sign-up phase (at the time of writing this article), teams can purchase the team plan for $1000 per year. This plan includes unlimited users, documents, notes, dedicated support, and advanced security options.
Clearscope
Clearscope is an AI-powered content optimization platform that provides actionable insights and recommendations to produce content that aligns closely with what people already search for, whether it's long-form content or shorter pieces.
They focus on relevance and search intent, assigning your content a score and giving you tips on how to improve it.
Unique features
- AI content outline generation – Automatically generate content outlines that are optimized for SEO.
- Content inventory – Track and manage your content's performance. Clearscope offers insights into how well your content is doing and where improvements can be made.
- Keyword discovery credits – Clearscope provides monthly credits for discovering new, relevant keywords and analyzing their search volume.
- Integration with popular tools – Clearscope integrates with Google Docs, WordPress, and Microsoft Word.
How does it help content strategists?
Strategists usually use Clearscope to double-check that their writers' content is top-notch and up to par with what’s already ranking on Google. This content tool helps ensure high quality.
They might also use it to improve the content score, sprinkle in a few more keywords, or improve the readability of the text.
How much does it cost?
The "Essentials" plan starts at $199 per month and offers unlimited users and projects and access to essential features like AI content outline generation and keyword discovery. For larger teams requiring advanced functionality, the "Business" plan is available at $599 per month and includes additional resources like a dedicated account manager and more monthly content reports.
Copy.ai
Copy.ai—previously an AI copywriter tool—has rebranded as an AI GTM tool, optimizing everything from idea generation to execution. It can be a useful content generator for various needs.
It allows marketing teams to focus on strategy and innovation, leaving the platform to handle the repetitive and time-consuming tasks.
Unique features
- AI-powered content creation – Uses advanced language models based on artificial intelligence to generate high-quality content, from blog posts to email campaigns and social media posts.
- Automated workflow templates – Offers pre-built workflow templates for a variety of marketing and sales processes, which can be customized to fit your requirements.
- Integration options – Integrates with over 2,000 tools and platforms.
- Workflow builder access (Advanced Plan) – Provides the ability to create and customize workflows.
How does it help content strategists?
Copy.ai has been used as a content genereation tool by content strategists for content ideas and ideation purposes, mainly. They can produce a wide range of types of content (blog posts, email campaigns, social media posts) in a very short amount of time with the help of AI.
However, generally speaking, the copy generated by AI usually needs to be tweaked and edited by the strategists themselves.
How much does it cost?
You can use Copy.ai for free with limited features, such as 2,000 words in chat and access to GPT 3.5 and Claude 3 only. Plans with better features start at $36 per month.
WriterZen
A great alternative to Ahrefs (in terms of pricing too) is WriterZen. It’s an all-in-one platform that takes a strategist all the way from research to publication.
It allows you to discover topics, explore keywords, plan content, and even write the content. Similar to other SEO content writing tools, their brief generator feature is just a DIY version of exploring what’s already ranking and inspiring yourself from your competitors.
Unique features
- Topic discovery – Unveils hundreds of clustered topics from a single keyword, providing deep insights for months of content planning and identifying relevant topics.
- Keyword explorer – Like your standard keyword research tool, WriterZen identifies low-competition, high-ranking keywords. It also has a Golden Score you can use to discover hidden opportunities for your target keywords.
- Content creator with GPT-powered AI – You can use their AI to write your content from scratch, but be aware that this will need tweaking.
- Keyword clustering – Automatically categorizes keywords into topics and clusters, enabling users to develop a strategic content plan.
How does it help content strategists?
WriterZen is particularly good for content strategists who want to scale their content production, as it gives more than enough available credits. It has everything you need to put together a content marketing strategy in place, although some of the features can be overwhelming for a beginner or for someone who just wants to use certain features.
How much does it cost?
WriterZen offers several pricing plans to suit different needs and budgets. The "Cluster Only" plan, which offers basic keyword clustering capabilities, is $19 per month. For more features, the "All-In-One" plan is available for $99 per month, and it includes unlimited AI writing, plagiarism checks, keyword lookups, and additional member seats.
All plans come with a 15-day free trial.
Frase
Frase enables content creators to move from keyword research to building well-researched articles. It analyzes search queries and generates research-driven content using AI, streamlining the creation process.
It also uses a percentage score that tells you how close you are to the first article ranking on Google. You should aim to have at least a score of 70%, depending on how the competition performs (for example, I’ve had cases where my score was 70% but next in line was a competitor with a score of 100%, so it made no sense to try to get closer to that as it would be just copy-pasting their content). This is one of the tools for content writers that focuses heavily on competitive analysis.
Unique features
- SERP research simplification – Frase condenses and analyzes content from the top search results, providing insights like word count, domain rating, and heading count.
- Unified SEO content workflow – Offers a single platform for researching, outlining, writing, and optimizing content.
- Custom templates and SOPs – Allows users to create and reuse templates for content briefs, saving custom AI prompts.
How does it help content strategists?
Frase helps research-first content strategists automate the research and content planning processes and, like Clearscope, ensure that their content reaches a certain “score.”
How much does it cost?
Frase offers a range of pricing plans starting with a Free Trial that includes 1 user and 1 search query, perfect for individuals just getting started.
The "Solo" plan is priced at $15 per month (or $12/mo if paid annually) for 1 user and 10 monthly search queries. For more extensive needs, the "Basic" plan at $45 per month (or $38/mo if paid annually) includes 30 monthly search queries for 1 user.
Semrush SEO Writing Assistant
Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant is similar to other graders but offers just a few more features. It integrates into your preferred writing platforms like Google Docs, WordPress, or MS Word 365 and offers real-time suggestions to make your copy more engaging, SEO-friendly, and consistent in tone. Many find its browser extensions particularly useful.
Naturally, it uses data from top-ranking competitors to provide you with real-time actionable insights.
Unique features
- Real-time SEO recommendations – Provides instant feedback on your content’s SEO performance, including keyword usage and optimization tips based on top-ranking competitors.
- Readability score – Analyzes your text to ensure it's easily understandable for your target audience, suggesting improvements and helping to avoid passive voice.
- Tone of voice consistency – Helps maintain a consistent tone throughout your content.
- Plagiarism checker – Checks your copy against billions of web pages to ensure originality and avoid potential SEO penalties associated with duplicate content.
- Automated editing process – Offers detailed, actionable tips for content improvement, helping to catch grammar mistakes.
How does it help content strategists?
For content strategists who don’t have a hefty budget for complex SEO tools and content graders, Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant is a great starting point.
How much does it cost?
While you have free access to this tool, if you need the Tone of Voice and Originality checker features, you need to upgrade to the Guru plan, which is the premium version.
Lose The Very
Lose The Very is a simple tool that removes “very” from your copy because, as content writers, we know that it is way overused and boring.
Unique features
Nothing too huge to mention here!
How does it help content strategists?
Obviously, the tool speeds up the editing process by eliminating the very words we want out of our content. Beware, though. This is a great tool for novelists or poets. But don’t overuse it, or it might make your content sound way too Shakespearean. It can help writers avoid overusing passive voice.
How much does it cost?
Lose The Very is free to use.
You ask, we answer. Here’s what you need to know about choosing the best tools for content writing
Are there any benefits to using specialized content writing tools?
Of course. They help you optimize your writing process and even enhance the quality of your content.
How can these tools used for content writing improve my content strategy?
These tools bring a lot to the table when it comes to building your content strategy. They can give you insights on SEO, readability, and engagement, and they help you build better content that meets your audience’s needs more effectively.
Are there any free tools used for content writing that are recommended for strategists?
Yes, there are plenty of free tools out there, but bear in mind that they have limited capabilities, and you usually need to sign up for a paid plan to make use of advanced features. They might help generate content ideas but lack deeper strategic functions.
What are the key features to look for in tools used for content writing?
That depends on your content goals. Do you need tools for SEO, keyword research, strategy, etc? Ask yourself what you want a tool to accomplish and search for that.
How do I pick the best tool for content writing?
There is no such thing as a perfect tool for content writing; it all depends on what you need it for (as mentioned above).
There are plenty of tools for every use case out there.
Yahini offers you the strategic advice you need to create a content strategy from the ground up. Its AI has been trained by seasoned content strategists, providing you with expert-level content briefs right at your fingertips.
Ditch the generic outlines! Sign up now.
- Need a 24/7 content strategist? See how Yahini can help you craft perfect content briefs.
- Any questions? I’m happy to help! Just reach out to us!
- Not ready yet? Learn more about Yahini here.