Freelance Online Writing Tools Enhance Success

I have been publishing online content for less than a year at this point. I still have a lot to learn. However, I now realize that online writing tools designed to simplify a freelance writer's job do exist. They are particularly helpful for those new to online content writing. I have found the following resources invaluable.

Get Sources
Help A Reporter Out
Prof Net
Writers obviously conduct a great deal of research on their own. However, it adds to the credibility of the piece when an expert is asked to weigh in. Some online publishers require interviews for particular articles. I have used the online sites HARO (Help a Reporter Out) and ProfNet many times to locate authorities. HARO has over 80,000 mainstreet and expert sources who respond directly to writers' queries. ProfNet boasts tens of thousands of qualified communicators ready to connect to writers. These sources, in turn, receive free advertising. It's easy to sign up at either site, and there is no charge. As an example, I wrote an article about antique tin signs. I queried specialists on HARO and received approximately ten responses from antique dealers willing to share their knowledge. This online source tool has made my job as a writer much less complicated.

Check for Plagiarism
Article Checker
Plagiarism Checker
Dupli Checker
Even though writers no doubt set out to create work that is completely original, it's still possible to inadvertently plagiarize. I run each of my articles through an online plagiarism checking tool now before submitting. After all, that's the first thing editors for the publishing sites are going to do anyway. Copy and paste text into a plagiarism checker and it will be analyzed to see if it there is a similar document online. Dupli Checker scans the text line for line. These plagiarism-checkers are free.
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Elicit Images
Stock Exchange
Wikimedia Commons
Writers know that online articles generally do better when accompanied by pictures. Some publishing companies have their own library of images and writers can choose from those. However, authors often have the task of seeking out images to match their articles. Stock Exchange and Wikimedia are two public domain image and photograph sites that can be used with ease. Be sure to read and understand copyright issues. Wikimedia is the better online tool when searching for pictures of celebrities.

Optimize Key Words
Tag Crowd
Google AdWords Keyword Tool
Keywords help to drive viewers to articles. If I'm wriing an article about teaching fractions, 'fractions' would be one of my keywords. Online content needs a certain amount of keyword density in order to be discovered by search engines. Keywords can occur in titles, headings, captions and text. There are different schools of thought as to what percentage of the total article keywords should comprise, but 2-5% is a safe bet. Before writing an article, use an online tool such as 'Google AdWords Keyword Tool' for keyword suggestions that can be incorporated into your writing. Once an article is written, TagCrowd is a great tool. It is a simple, free application for visualizing keywords. Paste in text and you'll be shown an image cloud in which the words that appear most often in the article show up in the biggest, boldest lettering. Pasting into TagCrowd before submitting is a good visual reassurance that important keywords have been incorporated.

See also:
Three Freelance Writing Sites: Associated Content, AOL's SEED, and Demand Studios