30 Content Marketing Tools You Need to Reach Your Persona


September 30th, 2015 min read
Do you ever wonder how the best content marketers get so much done in such little time?
Sure, they have a team of people helping out, but that's not all.
They use tools that help them plan content, manage content, and improve the performance of their websites.
These tools save content marketers hours of time and provide valuable information that you just can't find with a Google search.
The following are 30 of the best content marketing tools available, including the tools we use for our business and our clients.
Content Planning Tools
1. SEMRush
What it does: SEMRush tracks over 95,000,000 keywords and over 56,000,000 domains to provide a complete competitive analysis of websites in your industry. You can find out how they rank for keywords and get an estimate of their traffic.
What it costs: Starts at $69.95 per month.
2. Ahrefs Content Explorer
What it does: A simple tool that helps you find the most shared content for any topic.
What it costs: Free with limited searches; plans start at $79 per month.
3. Google Trends
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What it does: Helps you find trends based on topics, location, and other variables. You can see historical trends and trends happening in real-time.
What it costs: Free
4. Content Strategy Helper Tool
What it does: This tool consolidates trending news from across the internet to provide inspiration for content topics.
What it costs: Free
5. BuzzSumo
What it does: BuzzSumo lets you find what content performs best for any topic or competitor website.
What it costs: Free with limited data; plans start at $99 per month
6. Tweak Your Biz Title Generator
What it does: Type in your topic, hit enter, and then this tool spits out hundreds of share-worthy blog titles for you to choose from.
What it costs: Free
7. Inbound Now Blog Title Idea Generator
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What it does: This tool is slightly different than the previous one. It randomly shows you a blog title idea where you can fill in your topic. You keep clicking to see more ideas, until you find the one that grabs your attention.
What it costs: Free
Content Management Tools
9. HubSpot
What it does: HubSpot is the best end-to-end Inbound Marketing platform that allows you to manage your blog, social media, email marketing, list segmentation, lead generation and scoring, landing pages, and more.
What it costs: 30-day free trial; plans start at $200 per month
8. DivvyHQ
What it does: DivvyHQ is an entire platform that helps you plan, schedule, and publish content, as well as manage the entire workflow.
What it costs: 14-day free trial; plans start at $1,000 per month
10. Kapost
What it does: Kapost is a content management framework that allows you to create content, distribute it on social media, and view analytics.
What it costs: Plans start at $1,000 per month
11. Siege Media Content Marketing Checklist
What it does: This is a helpful checklist to make sure you've done everything you can to create the best piece of content.
What it costs: Free
12. Wordpress Editorial Calendar
What it does: Allows you to easily manage your blog posts with a drag-and-drop interface and schedule publishing.
What it costs: Free
13. Trello
What it does: Trello is a visual-based organization tool that allows you to manage separate projects or "boards" at once.
What it costs: Free
15. Google Drive
What it does: Google drive is a cloud storage software that allows you to create and collaborate on word documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms, and drawings.
What it costs: Free
14. Evernote
What it does: Evernote is like Trello and Google Drive combined.
What it costs: Free with limited features; plans start at $24.99 per year
Tools to Improve Your Content Marketing
16. Inkybee
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What it does: Provides insights about websites to help you identify influencers for outreach and PR.
What it costs: 14-day free trial; plans start at $79 per month
17. BuzzStream
What it does: Research influencers, manage your relationships, and conduct outreach that’s personalized and efficient.
What it costs: 14-day free trial; plans start at $29 per month
18. SocialOomph
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What it does: Allows you to schedule social media posts, track keywords, manage multiple accounts, and more.
What it costs: 7-day free trial; plans start at $6.97 every two weeks
19. Outbrain
What it does: A service that lists your blog posts under "relevant articles" or "promoted stories" on major websites such as CNN, TechCrunch, and ESPN.
What it costs: Minimum daily budget of $10
20. GetResponse
What it does: It's a more advanced version of Aweber or MailChimp for email marketing.
What it costs: 30-day free trial; plans start at $12.75 per month
Measuring Progress and Tracking Metrics
21. Google Analytics
What it does: Measures your web traffic and provides insights into traffic sources, demographics, user behavior, and more.
What it costs: Free with premium options for big websites
22. Advanced Web Ranking
What it does: Provides SEO audits, tracks rankings, keyword research, content optimization, and more.
What it costs: Licenses start at $199
23. Moz
What it does: Moz is a comprehensive tool that provides analytics, competitor research, and tracking for a variety of metrics.
What it costs: 30-day free trial; plans start at $99 per month
24. Share Tally
What it does: You type in a URL and this tool shows you where it's been shared and how many times.
What it costs: Free
25. ShareMetric Chrome Extension
What it does: A Chrome extension that compiles link data and organic search visibility from several popular marketing tools.
What it costs: Free on Google Chrome
Tools to Increase Conversions
26. OptimizePress
What it does: Allows you to easily build landing pages to drive sales of your product or service.
What it costs: Packages start at $97
27. Visual Website Optimizer
What it does: Run split tests, track user behavior, and optimize pages with minimal technical knowledge.
What it costs: 30-day free trial; plans start at $49 per month
28. Optimizely
What it does: A simple tool for running A/B tests and tracking user behavior without using code.
What it costs: Free with limited features; plans start at $17 per month
29. Crazy Egg
What it does: Creates heat maps of your website that let you visually analyze user behavior.
What it costs: 30-day free trial; plans start at $9 per month
30. Leadin
What it does: A free tool from HubSpot that lets you track user behaviors, convert visitors into email subscribers or leads, and provides detailed contact information.
What it costs: Free