<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="section post-header" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: proxima-nova, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px;"> <h2 class="post-header__title post-header__title--featured" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #4f4f4f; font-family: 'Sentinel SSm A', 'Sentinel SSm B', serif; font-size: 36px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: 0.045em; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> <span class="hs_cos_wrapper hs_cos_wrapper_meta_field hs_cos_wrapper_type_text" data-hs-cos-general-type="meta_field" data-hs-cos-type="text" id="hs_cos_wrapper_name" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Ultimate List of Free Content Creation Tools & Resources</span></h2> <div class="hubspot-author__name" data-hubspot-form-id="author_data" data-hubspot-name="Blog Author" id="hubspot-author_data" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.75em; margin-top: 5px;"> <span class="hubspot-author__intro" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 600;">Written by</span> <a class="hubspot-author__link" href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/author/lindsay-kolowich" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; font-weight: 600; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Lindsay Kolowich</a> | @<a class="hubspot-author__twitter-handle" href="https://twitter.com/lkolo25" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; font-weight: 600; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">lkolo25</a></div> <span class="blog-feed__social-networks blog-feed__social-networks--mobile" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #797979; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 45px; left: auto; margin: 5px 0px 25px; opacity: 1; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: 0px; transition: all 0.2s; width: 275px;"><a class="blog-feed__social-networks-link blog-feed__social-networks-link--share no-click" href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/free-content-marketing-tools-list#" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(232, 232, 232); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(232, 232, 232); border-left-width: 1px; border-style: solid none solid solid; border-top-color: rgb(232, 232, 232); border-top-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #919191; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: proxima-nova-condensed, proxima-nova, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 600; height: 38px; letter-spacing: 0.06em; padding: 7px 0px 0px 11px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: top; width: 65px; word-wrap: break-word;">SHARE</a><a class="blog-feed__social-networks-link blog-feed__social-networks-link--first twitter-share-mobile" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/free-content-marketing-tools-list&via=hubspot%20@lkolo25&text=The%20Ultimate%20List%20of%20Free%20Content%20Creation%20Tools%20&%20Resources" style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); border: 1px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: 14px; height: 38px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: top; width: 50px; word-wrap: break-word;"><img class="thinglinkFiltered" src="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/file-2096919339-svg/assets/blog.hubspot.com/images/social-icons/tw.svg?t=1440193197141" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 26px; left: 13px; max-width: 100%; position: relative; top: 5px; width: 26px;" /></a><a class="blog-feed__social-networks-link no-click" href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/free-content-marketing-tools-list#" style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); border: 1px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: 14px; height: 38px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: top; width: 43px; word-wrap: break-word;"><img class="thinglinkFiltered" src="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/file-2096919334-svg/assets/blog.hubspot.com/images/social-icons/fb.svg?t=1440193197141" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 26px; left: 8px; max-width: 100%; position: relative; top: 5px; width: 26px;" /></a><a class="blog-feed__social-networks-link no-click" href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/free-content-marketing-tools-list#" style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); border: 1px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: 14px; height: 38px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: top; width: 43px; word-wrap: break-word;"><img class="thinglinkFiltered" src="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/file-2096919344-svg/assets/blog.hubspot.com/images/social-icons/li.svg?t=1440193197141" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 26px; left: 8px; max-width: 100%; position: relative; top: 5px; width: 26px;" /></a><a class="blog-feed__social-networks-link" href="mailto:?Subject=Check%20Out%20This%20HubSpot%20Blog%20Post&Body=I%20came%20across%20this%20post%20on%20the%20HubSpot%20Blog%20and%20thought%20you%27d%20like%20it.%20Check%20it%20out%3A%20http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/free-content-marketing-tools-list" style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); border: 1px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: 14px; height: 38px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: top; width: 43px; word-wrap: break-word;"><img class="thinglinkFiltered" src="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/file-2089304566-svg/assets/blog.hubspot.com/images/email-gray-s.svg?t=1440193197141" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; height: 26px; left: 8px; max-width: 100%; position: relative; top: 5px; width: 26px;" /></a></span></div> <div class="section post-body post-body--offset-left" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: proxima-nova, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding-bottom: 20px; position: relative;"> <span class="content-post__body" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #797979;"><span class="hs_cos_wrapper hs_cos_wrapper_meta_field hs_cos_wrapper_type_rich_text" data-hs-cos-general-type="meta_field" data-hs-cos-type="rich_text" id="hs_cos_wrapper_post_body" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> <img alt="content-tools-tips-resources.jpeg" class="post-body__featured-image" src="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/hubfs/content-tools-tips-resources.jpeg?t=1440193197141&width=761" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; width: 624.046875px;" title="content-tools-tips-resources.jpeg" /></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> Creating content isn't always a walk in the park. (In fact, it can sometimes feel more like a sprint in a swamp.)</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> While other parts of business and marketing are becoming increasingly automated, content creation is still a very manual job. Automation hasn't yet replaced what we do (thank goodness). </div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> That being said, there are plenty of tools out there to make creating content much easier. Below, you'll find a list of 28 fantastic tools and resources to help you research, write, edit, and design content more easily. (You'll notice there are a lot of design tools in here -- that's because visual content is often the part of the content creation process where people get the most nervous and frustrated. So don't worry, we've got a ton in there for you.)</div> <h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> <a href="http://offers.hubspot.com/content-creation-templates" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">For more free tools, download our content creation templates for creating blog posts, ebooks, infographics, and more.</a></h3> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> Let's get started.</div> <h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 32px; letter-spacing: 0.045em; line-height: 1.33; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 28 Free Tools & Resources to Make Content Creation Easier</h2> <h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> For Researchers</h3> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 1) <a href="https://support.google.com/docs/answer/2481802?hl=en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Google Drive Research Tool</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> Google recently added a tool to Drive that allows you to conduct Google searches without ever leaving your Drive window. All you have to do is click "Tools" from the menu bar and choose "Research" from the dropdown menu. </div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: center;"> <img alt="google-drive-research-tool.png" class="alignCenter shadow" data-constrained="true" src="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/hubfs/google-drive-research-tool.png?t=1440193197141&width=669" style="border-radius: 4px; border: 1px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; padding: 8px;" title="google-drive-research-tool.png" width="669" /></div> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 2) <a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-do-a-google-site-search" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Site:search</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> This is a handy Google hack I use every day. Basically, it allows you to do a Google search that's limited to a particular website.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> For example, if I wanted to search HubSpot's blog for marketing resources so I can cite one of our old blog posts, I'd do a site:search for blog.hubspot.com with the search term <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">marketing resources.</em> The formula for site search is <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">site:samplewebsite.com [search query]. </span>So my example would be <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">site:blog.hubspot.com marketing resources.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: center;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;"><img alt="site-search.png" class="alignCenter shadow" data-constrained="true" src="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/hubfs/site-search.png?t=1440193197141&width=669" style="border-radius: 4px; border: 1px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; padding: 8px;" title="site-search.png" width="669" /></span></div> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 3) <a href="https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/home?hl=en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Google Webmaster Tools</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">Doing SEO and keyword research? Your marketing software should be able to help. But if it can't (or you'd like to augment your data), Google's Webmaster Tools can be a great help. <span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">You can check things like the number of indexed pages on your website, submit your site to Google so you're getting crawled and indexed, and even </span>disavow bad inbound links. It also can give you information on search queries that have a large volume of impressions but low clickthrough rate.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">Within</span> <span class="il" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">Google</span> <span class="il" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">Webmaster</span> <span class="il" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">Tools</span>, go to "Your site on the web" and choose "Search queries." You'll see a table showing a search query, impressions, clicks, and clickthrough rate (CTR). Comparing this data to your other analytics data can help uncover some opportunities.</div> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 4) <a href="http://percent-change.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Percentage Change Calculator</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> I can't even begin to tell you how useful this little calculator is when looking for and analyzing data. Ever want to know the percentage change of two values without have to remember the formula? Simply enter the two values into this calculator, and it'll spit out the percentage change. Trust me, you'll want to bookmark this one.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> Here are a few other handy calculators:</div> <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin: 15px 0px 0px 3em; padding: 0px;"> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><a href="http://www.math.com/students/calculators/source/3percent.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">3-Way Percentage Calculator</a> – </span>Calculates answers to these questions: What is X% of Y? X is what percent of Y? X is Y% of what?</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><a href="http://www.marketingforsuccess.com/marketing-calculator-4/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Conversion Rate Calculator</a> –</span> Spits out a conversion rate when you enter the total visitor count during a specific time frame and the number of times during that time frame those visitors took a specific action.</li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><a href="http://drpete.co/split-test-calculator" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">A/B Test Calculator</a> – </span>Works for a basic scenario with two groups of people (A & B) who get to see one version of your website and for whom you track the number of conversions or goals (purchases, downloads, clickthroughs, etc.).</li> </ul> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 5) <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/search-in-a-giphy/jlleokkdhkflpmghiioglgmnminbekdi?hl=en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Search in a Giphy</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> You know that coworker who always seems to find the perfect animated GIFs for your social posts or internal chat client? With the free Giphy Chrome extension, you'll be able to find great GIFs just as quickly.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> To use the tool, all you have to do is open the extension in Chrome, search, choose a GIF, and drag and drop. So far, the tool works in Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, and more -- and they're constantly expanding support.</div> <div class="webstore-Vb-nd-bc-Db-t" itemprop="description" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: center;"> <img alt="search-in-a-giphy.png" class="alignCenter shadow" src="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/hubfs/search-in-a-giphy.png?t=1440193197141&width=638" style="border-radius: 4px; border: 1px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; padding: 8px;" title="search-in-a-giphy.png" width="638" /></div> <h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 32px; letter-spacing: 0.045em; line-height: 1.33; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> For Writers</h2> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 6) <a href="http://evernote.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Evernote</a></h4> <div id="last" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> I use the free version of Evernote every single day. From to-do lists and research notes to writing entire chunks of articles, it's proven helpful at every step of the writing and editing process.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> One great feature? Its mobile, desktop, and web apps sync automatically as long as you have an internet connection. (And if you work offline, it'll sync the next time you have internet.) Plus -- and this is super important for content creators like us -- it's constantly saving and syncing your work automatically, making it a safe place to write and store ideas.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> Use it to k<span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">eep a running list of ideas, take notes, store inspiring articles or ebooks -- even to <a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-i-wrote-1000-word-blog-post-in-10-minutes-ht" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">write a blog post in 10 minutes</a> by speaking it out loud and then editing the translated text.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: center;"> <img alt="evernote-screenshot.png" class="alignCenter shadow" data-constrained="true" src="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/hubfs/evernote-screenshot.png?t=1440193197141&width=669" style="border-radius: 4px; border: 1px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; padding: 8px;" title="evernote-screenshot.png" width="669" /></div> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 7) <a href="http://word2cleanhtml.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Word2CleanHTML</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> If you like drafting blog posts in programs like Microsoft Word, Evernote, or Google Drive instead of your content management system (CMS), then this simple tool can be your best friend. Why? Because when you copy a document from Microsoft Office and paste it into your CMS, lots of little, weird formatting issues can crop up in your HTML.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> Word2CleanHTML applies filters to fix all those things added into the HTML, resulting in well-formatted HTML you can paste directly into a web page CMS. Simply paste in your draft, click one button, and then copy the resulting HTML straight from the tool. When you paste that into your CMS (most will have buttons reading "HTML" or "</>" in their tool bar above your draft), it will appear nice and clean. No hair-pulling or swimming through code required.</div> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 8) <a href="http://www.wordcounter.net/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">WordCounter</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> There is no "right answer" for <a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-long-should-your-blog-posts-be-faq" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">how long a blog post should be</a>. As long as it serves its purpose -- whether that's thought leadership, driving leads, explaining a new concept, or something else -- length doesn't matter. But although we don't recommend writing blog posts with a word count in mind, sometimes word count can come in handy. WordCounter works exactly the way you think it does: Paste in your content and it'll spit out exactly how many words you have.</div> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 9) <a href="https://coffitivity.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Cofftivity</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> According to <a href="http://www.inc.com/welcome.html?destination=http://www.inc.com/kelsey-libert/8-tips-for-staying-productive-while-working-from-home.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">a study out of the University of Chicago</a>, "A moderate level of ambient noise is conducive to creative cognition." In other words, being the tiniest bit distracted actually helps you be more creative. That's why for many people, myself included, white noise helps promote focus.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> There are a lot of white noise generators out there, but my favorite is Cofftivity. This particular one offers non-stop café background sounds at varying intensities, from "Morning Murmur" and "University Undertones" to "Lunchtime Lounge" and "Brazil Bistro." It's available on the web and as an app on iOS and Android.</div> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 10) & 11) <a href="http://www.zerys.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Zerys</a> & <a href="https://www.elance.com/category/writing" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">eLance</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> Need to start creating content but don't have the bandwidth? We hear about this roadblock a lot. One way to get around it is by hiring freelancers <span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">from reputable marketplaces like </span>Zerys<span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;"> or </span>eLance. These resources give you access to skilled freelance writers who can write blog posts, ebooks, whitepapers, and other pieces of written content for you. (To be sure you're hiring the best writers, <a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-screen-for-good-writers" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">read this in-depth post about how to screen for the best writers</a>.)</div> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 12) <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://offers.hubspot.com/html-hacks-for-marketers" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">HTML Hacks for Marketers</a></em></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> While this isn't strictly a writing resource, basic coding knowledge is quickly <a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/coding-modern-marketer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">becoming a must-have skill</a> for the modern marketer -- bloggers and written content creators included. But learning from scratch can be daunting. Where on earth do you start?</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> If you're a total beginner, start with <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://offers.hubspot.com/html-hacks-for-marketers" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">HTML Hacks for Marketers</a>, </em>which my colleagues at HubSpot created with <a href="http://www.codecademy.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Codeacademy</a>. It'll teach you quick but useful hacks anyone -- regardless of coding knowledge -- can use in their marketing. For example, you'll learn how to make small changes to HTML like altering headers and spacing, creating text in block-quote form, and inserting social share links. My personal favorite is the hack to change font colors.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> Once you've mastered these basic HTML skills, move on to <a href="http://www.codecademy.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Codeacademy's free interactive courses</a>. They found a way to make learning HTML and CSS actually fun -- and you can go through each lesson at your own pace.</div> <h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 32px; letter-spacing: 0.045em; line-height: 1.33; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> For Content Editors</h2> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 13) & 14) <a href="https://www.grammarly.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Grammarly</a> & <a href="http://www.correctica.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Correctica</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> While human editors will be able to catch most grammatical errors, editing tools like Grammarly and Correctica are great tools for triple-checking before you press "publish" or "send." Both free tools check for grammatical errors -- and Grammarly even checks for plagiarism.</div> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 15) <a href="http://www.hemingwayapp.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Hemingway App</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> Ernest Hemingway, admired for his succinct writing style, is the namesake for this handy editing app. Want to make your written content easier to read? Paste your content into this free web app, and it'll assess your writing and identify opportunities to make it simpler.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> My favorite features include identifying passive voice and hard-to-read sentences. Check out the right-hand side of the screenshot below, where the tool has summed up how readable my writing is with a grade. (Some room for improvement here.) Their suggestion to improve readability overall? Shoot for lower than a 10th grade reading level.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: center;"> <img alt="hemingway-app-screenshot.png" class="alignCenter shadow" data-constrained="true" src="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/hubfs/hemingway-app-screenshot.png?t=1440193197141&width=669" style="border-radius: 4px; border: 1px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; padding: 8px;" title="hemingway-app-screenshot.png" width="669" /></div> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 16) <a href="http://coschedule.com/headline-analyzer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Headline Analyzer</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> Here's a scary stat for you: <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/06/how_people_read_online_why_you_won_t_finish_this_article.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Only 62%</a> of people who click into an article end up reading past the headline. That makes your headline both the first and possibly the only chance for you to compel readers to keep reading -- so it's totally worth it to spend the extra few minutes coming up with a really good one.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> What does a really good headline look like? The free tool Headline Analyzer by CoSchedule can tell you. It scores your headline quality and rates its ability to drive social shares, traffic, and SEO value. In my experience, its strength is helping you strengthen specific components of your title. For example, it reports on perceived sentiment and commonality of word types. It'll even show you how it will appear in search results.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> So although you should take these scores and grades with a grain of salt, you can use this to give your headlines a “once-over." (And <a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/a-simple-formula-for-writing-kick-ass-titles-ht" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">read this blog post to learn more about writing awesome headlines</a>.)</div> <h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 32px; letter-spacing: 0.045em; line-height: 1.33; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> For Designers</h2> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 17) <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/nimbus-screenshot/bpconcjcammlapcogcnnelfmaeghhagj?hl=en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Nimbus Screenshot</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> This is another tool I use every day. Sure, you can capture a screenshot of your entire screen or part of your screen using the old <a href="http://www.take-a-screenshot.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">keyboard shortcut method</a>. But what if you want your screenshot to include stuff that's not visible on your screen?</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> Nimbus Screenshot lets you capture the visible part of a web page, a selected area, a selected scroll (my personal favorite), the entire page, or the entire browser window -- including everything below the fold.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: center;"> <img alt="nimbus-screenshot.png" class="alignCenter shadow" src="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/hubfs/nimbus-screenshot.png?t=1440193197141&width=387" style="border-radius: 4px; border: 1px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; padding: 8px;" title="nimbus-screenshot.png" width="387" /></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> Once you've taken the screenshot, you can crop, edit (like adding notes and callouts), and choose to print or save to your desktop or Google Drive.</div> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 18) <a href="http://canva.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Canva</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> If you like creating beautiful visual content in a really short amount of time, you'll love Canva. <span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">The time and resources it takes to learn design, pay for design assets, and/or get inspired to </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">create beauty</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;"> from scratch can be really difficult when you're staring at a long list of to-dos -- but Canva</span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">offers a huge library of pre-made templates and assets that you can manipulate while also adding your own imagery.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">Best of all, they have so many assets and graphics available for free that you won't have to pay a cent if you don't want to. If you want to use more "premium" assets and graphics found through their image search, t</span>hey'll charge you $1 for each. But there's plenty of value for free. </div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> Here's an example of something you could make:</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> <img alt="hubspot_canva_example" class="alignCenter shadow" src="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/file-409265072-png/Blog-Related_Images/hubspot_canva_example.png?t=1440193197141" style="border-radius: 4px; border: 1px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 8px;" /></div> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 19) <a href="http://thinglink.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">ThingLink</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> Ever wanted to make an image (or infographic) clickable? ThingLink lets you upload an image and add little icons to it that appear when a person hovers their cursor over the image. These icons allow users to visit links, watch videos, or read messages you've written. Plus, it's easy to share: Users can easily embed ThingLink images. (<a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-make-infographic-clickable" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Click here for step-by-step instructions</a>.)</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">Below is part of a a clickable infographic from Thinglink my colleague </span><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginnysoskey" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Ginny Soskey</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;"> created for </span><a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/the-anatomy-of-a-shareable-infographic" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">another post</a>:</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box;"> <div class="video-container-responsive" style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 351.015625px; padding-top: 30px; position: relative;"> <center style="box-sizing: border-box;"> <div class="tlImageContainer tlSmallNavi" style="background: none !important; border-radius: 0px !important; border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; box-sizing: content-box !important; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; display: inline-block; float: none !important; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, sans-serif !important; font-size: inherit !important; height: 354px !important; left: auto !important; line-height: normal !important; list-style: none !important; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px !important; position: relative !important; text-align: left !important; text-shadow: none !important; top: auto !important; transform: none !important; transition-property: none !important; width: 624px !important; z-index: 0 !important;"> <img class="alwaysThinglink thinglinkImage" src="http://cdn.thinglink.me/api/image/589464093132324865/1024/10/scaletowidth#tl-589464093132324865;1043138249'" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box !important; max-width: 100%; width: 624px;" tl-scene-id="589464093132324865" /><div class="tlFourDotsButton" style="-webkit-user-select: none; background: none rgba(20, 30, 35, 0.701961) !important; border-radius: 4px !important; border: none !important; bottom: 6px; box-shadow: none !important; box-sizing: content-box !important; color: rgb(212, 212, 212) !important; cursor: pointer !important; float: none !important; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif !important; font-size: 9px !important; height: auto !important; left: auto !important; line-height: 14px !important; list-style: none !important; margin: 0px !important; outline: none !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 10px 10px 0px !important; position: absolute !important; right: 6px; text-align: center !important; text-shadow: none !important; top: auto !important; transform: none !important; transition-property: none !important; width: auto !important; z-index: 1;"> <div id="intro" style="background: none !important; border-radius: 0px !important; border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; box-sizing: content-box !important; float: none !important; height: auto !important; left: auto !important; letter-spacing: 0.1em; line-height: normal !important; list-style: none !important; margin: 0px 0px 2px 8px !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0px !important; text-align: left !important; text-shadow: none !important; top: auto !important; transform: none !important; transition-property: none !important; width: auto !important;"> Made with</div> <div id="logo" style="background: url(http://cdn.thinglink.me/jsec/233120246811/gfx/thinglink-logo-made-with.png) no-repeat !important; border-radius: 0px !important; border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; box-sizing: content-box !important; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; float: none !important; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, sans-serif !important; font-size: inherit !important; height: 18px !important; left: auto !important; line-height: normal !important; list-style: none !important; margin: 4px auto 10px !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0px !important; text-align: left !important; text-shadow: none !important; top: auto !important; transform: none !important; transition-property: none !important; width: 82px !important;"> </div> <a class="btn" href="http://www.thinglink.com/?buttonSource=badgeButtonBox" style="background: none !important; border-radius: 0px !important; border-top-color: rgba(145, 145, 145, 0.298039) !important; border-top-style: solid !important; border-width: 1px 0px 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; box-sizing: content-box !important; color: rgb(0, 85, 190) !important; cursor: pointer !important; display: block !important; float: none !important; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, sans-serif !important; font-size: inherit !important; height: 32px !important; left: auto !important; line-height: normal !important; list-style: none !important; margin: 0px 10px 0px -10px !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0px !important; text-decoration: none !important; text-shadow: none !important; top: auto !important; transform: none !important; transition-property: none !important; width: auto !important; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="btnMessageShort" style="background: none !important; border-radius: 0px !important; border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; box-sizing: content-box !important; color: rgb(238, 238, 238) !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif !important; font-size: 8px !important; height: auto !important; left: auto !important; letter-spacing: 0.1em; line-height: 32px !important; list-style: none !important; margin: 0px !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0px !important; text-shadow: none !important; text-transform: uppercase !important; top: auto !important; transform: none !important; transition-property: none !important; width: auto !important;">LEARN MORE</span></a><div class="arrowRight" style="background: url(http://cdn.thinglink.me/jsec/233120246811/gfx/made-with-arrow.png) no-repeat !important; border-radius: 0px !important; border: none !important; bottom: 11px; box-shadow: none !important; box-sizing: content-box !important; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; float: none !important; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, sans-serif !important; font-size: inherit !important; height: 10px !important; left: auto !important; line-height: normal !important; list-style: none !important; margin: 0px !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute; right: 10px; text-align: left !important; text-shadow: none !important; top: auto !important; transform: none !important; transition-property: none !important; width: 6px !important;"> </div> </div> <div class="tlThingContainer" style="background: url(http://cdn.thinglink.me/api/nubbin/std/plain) -9999px -9999px no-repeat, url(http://cdn.thinglink.me/api/nubbin/std/hover) -9999px -9999px no-repeat, url(http://cdn.thinglink.me/api/nubbin/std/highlight) -9999px -9999px no-repeat, url(http://cdn.thinglink.me/jsec/233120246811/gfx/arrow.png) 50% 0% no-repeat, url(http://cdn.thinglink.me/jsec/gfx/arrowUp.png) 50% 0% no-repeat !important; border-radius: 0px !important; border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; box-sizing: content-box !important; float: none !important; font-size: inherit !important; height: auto !important; left: auto !important; list-style: none !important; margin: 0px !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0px !important; position: static; text-shadow: none !important; top: auto !important; transform: none !important; transition-property: none !important; width: auto !important;"> <div class="tagx tl-a-589464270576549889" href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/a-simple-formula-for-writing-kick-ass-titles-ht" style="background: none !important; border-radius: 0px !important; border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; box-sizing: content-box !important; float: none !important; font-size: inherit !important; height: 33px !important; left: 24px !important; list-style: none !important; margin: 0px !important; outline: none !important; overflow: visible; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute; text-shadow: none !important; top: 251px !important; transform: none !important; transition-property: none !important; width: 33px !important;" tl-thing-id="589464270576549889"> </div> </div> </div> </center> </div> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 20) <a href="http://evernote.com/skitch/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Skitch</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> Skitch is a free app by Evernote that helps you communicate more visually. It lets you mark up images, digital assets, PDFs, and other files with arrows, callout boxes, text, and more all in one place.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> In the example below, I opened the program on my desktop and used the "Screen Snap" button to take a screenshot of a web page -- which then opened right in Skitch for editing and exporting.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: center;"> <img alt="skitch-by-evernote.png" class="alignCenter shadow" src="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/hubfs/skitch-by-evernote.png?t=1440193197141&width=523" style="border-radius: 4px; border: 1px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; padding: 8px;" title="skitch-by-evernote.png" width="523" /></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">Although it's free, it does require you to </span><a href="https://evernote.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">open an Evernote account</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;"> -- </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">but that's also free (see above).</span></div> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 21) <a href="http://infogr.am/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Infogram</a> </h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> While similar to Canva, Infogram is a visual content tool that focuses on helping you create infographics, charts, and data visualization. <span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">If you like to create charts using Microsoft Excel, you're in luck -- it</span> also offers compatibility with Excel through Infogram Charts. Also, their infographics are responsive with mobile devices.</div> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 22) <a href="http://www.google.com/fonts" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Google Fonts</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">Want to spruce up your site pages, presentations, ebooks, and other content with cool and difference new fonts? Little-known fact: Google has a directory of 600 free fonts ready for you to download and use.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">Simply find and select the fonts you like from <a href="http://www.google.com/fonts" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">their directory</a>, then click "Use" to get the HTML code you can copy and paste onto your site. Alternatively,</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;"> you can download the fonts to your desktop and use them when making new marketing content by clicking "Add to Collection." <span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">(</span><a href="http://help.hubspot.com/articles/KCS_Article/COS-General/How-do-I-add-Google-Fonts-to-my-new-Landing-Pages" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Click here for step-by-step instructions for doing this in the HubSpot software</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">.)</span></span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: center;"> <img alt="google-web-fonts.png" class="alignCenter shadow" data-constrained="true" src="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/hubfs/google-web-fonts.png?t=1440193197141&width=669" style="border-radius: 4px; border: 1px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; padding: 8px;" title="google-web-fonts.png" width="669" /></div> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 23) <a href="http://www.imagecolorpicker.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Image Color Picker</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> Remember that time you wanted to match your call-to-action design to that color you were using on all your event swag ... but the one person who would know what that color was didn't work at your company anymore? Next time that happens, snag a picture of that swag and upload it to <a href="http://www.imagecolorpicker.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">ImageColorPicker.com</a>, or use any image URL to do the same thing. Select any point of the picture, and immediately see its corresponding HEX, RGB, and HSV values. Helllloooo matching color schemes.</div> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 24) <a href="http://www.haikudeck.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Haiku Deck</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> If you've ever had to create a PowerPoint or SlideShare presentation in a pinch, you'll wish you knew about Haiku Deck. This tool helps you quickly find simple layouts, beautiful images, and great fonts. It's available for the web and for iPad.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> Want to see what one looks like? Below's an example I pulled from their <a href="https://www.haikudeck.com/snowed-in-education-presentation-OuhVv4ZyNM#slide-17" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">list of featured decks</a>. Note the simplicity of the design -- if you want to create super detailed slides, this may not be the right tool for you.</div> <center style="box-sizing: border-box;"> <iframe frameborder="0" height="541" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://www.haikudeck.com/e/OuhVv4ZyNM/?isUrlHashEnabled=false&isPreviewEnabled=false&isHeaderVisible=false" style="box-sizing: border-box;" width="640"></iframe><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;"><a href="https://www.haikudeck.com/p/OuhVv4ZyNM/snowed-in?utm_campaign=embed&utm_source=webapp&utm_medium=text-link" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" title="Snowed In? Education Presentation">Snowed In?</a> - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires</span></center> <div style="box-sizing: border-box;"> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 25) <a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/75-free-stock-photos-im-ht" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">HubSpot's Free Stock Photos</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> Searching for and buying stock imagery can be a pain in the you-know-what -- especially when it comes to deciphering legalese for different use cases. I have a liberal arts degree, and Nietzsche was easier to read than whatever legalese stock imagery companies tended to give me. All I wanted to know is whether to cite or not cite a stock image of a laptop. Why was it so hard?</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> That's why our team decided to create a library of 550+ free and royalty-free stock photos. Whether it's a unique image needed for an ebook or that perfect photo you want to add to a blog post, that collection should have you covered.</div> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 26) <a href="http://placeit.net/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">PlaceIt</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> PlaceIt serves a very specific purpose: It allows you to upload images of your site or product into real-world environments of people holding phones, tablets, and laptops. PlaceIt will automatically alter the image to make it appear natural with the angle of the phone's screen -- which will save you time learning and/or editing in more advanced software to get the angle right.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em; text-align: center;"> <img alt="place-it-example.png" class="alignCenter shadow" src="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/hubfs/place-it-example.png?t=1440193197141&width=614" style="border-radius: 4px; border: 1px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%; padding: 8px;" title="place-it-example.png" width="614" /></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625;">You'll have to pay per image to get really large or high-resolution versions, though I've found free images work just fine for blog posts and and product page content. The paid downloads also remove that PlaceIt watermark from the bottom right.</span></div> </div> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #455560; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1em 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;"> 27) & 28) <a href="https://thenounproject.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">The Noun Project</a> & <a href="http://offers.hubspot.com/free-icons" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">HubSpot's Resizable Icons Collection</a></h4> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> Like with stock photos, another challenge content creators face is finding elegant icons that resize without getting all fuzzy. There are a few resources out there for great, resizeable icons.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> <a href="https://thenounproject.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">The Noun Project</a> is an extensive library of thousands of icons uploaded by contributors. With a free account, you can use icons as long as you either give credit to the creator or purchase them royalty-free for $1.99 apiece.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> <a href="http://offers.hubspot.com/free-icons" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3288e6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">HubSpot has a library of resizeable icons</a>, too, which you can download for free and without any licensing or attribution. The kit comes with a free guide for how to change the color of the icons using PowerPoint, Photoshop, and Illustrator.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.625; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em;"> To that, we say ... </div> </div> </span></span></div> </div> The Ultimate List of Free Content Creation Tools & Resources Written by Lindsay Kolowich | @ lkolo25 SHARE Creating conten... Read more »
