Blogging on BeBee - A Few Useful Tools

My blogs on beBee follow a simple formula. I write on a Word document, edit, paste into beBee Producer, choose an image from Google, and publish. A bit old fashioned I know, but I'm working on getting with the times. Searching around on the internet, here are a few tools I found that could be helpful in enhancing blog quality and content. 

Zen while you pen, a coffee while you brew

A big part of blog drafting is the environment and zone you create for yourself. ZenPen is an aesthetically pleasing clean space to write. No clutter that distracts with a discreet word counter and a save function. If you prefer the ambiance of a coffee shop or busier environment, Coffitivity  plays the background hubbub that some find stimulates their creativity. Not quite my cup of tea, but a novel blogging aid. 

Banish Bloggers Block

There may be times when you have a vague intuitive feel of what you want to blog about. Or there might be times when you want to write but the idea does not crystallize in your mind. Two useful websites are Blog Post Ideas Generator which shows random blogging ideas, and  Link Bait Title Generator  that generates ideas related to a word or topic. As a prompt you could also have a look at Buzzsumo, it shows trending topics on social media.

Title, title of the blog wall, which is the catchiest of them all?

Some prefer to choose a title first, to steer the theme of the post. Others like to choose an apt title after they have written and distilled the theme of the post. John White wrote an excellent article recently recommending one have at least five alternative titles to choose from. He lists CoSchedule as a handy tool to test the title impact. Another headline tool is the AMI Headline Analyzer which analyses and rates the emotional appeal of a headline.

Pictures pretty and perfect

Images attract the eye quicker than headlines. Two sites which provide excellent images are Pixabay and Pexels. Pixabay images can be downloaded in different sizes to suite the effect you want and Pexels appears to have a larger collection of photos and images. You may want to create your own tailored image, or brand yourself more individually. Recently I started using Canva and was pleased with the ease of use and intuitive designs. 

Oh...my...word!

If your vocabulary is repetitive or not as wide ranging as you would like, try Visuwords or GraphWords. Both are visual thesauri that map out words and their alternatives. These sites could be especially useful if English is not your first language, and also to stretch your verbal creativity. Visuwords depicts synonyms and shows relational connections between words, to enhance your writing range. For the poets, there is RhymeZone  which lists rhyming words by the number of letters, for the poet to find just the right word combinations. 

Clarity and Boldness. Full Stop.

Hemingway helps create clear and bold text. It highlights unnecessary adverbs, sentences in passive voice, and hard to read phrases. All potentially superfluous verbiage that may detract from the readability of your blog. Always remember that propper spelling are important and korekt grammar are even more importanter; so use Grammarly. If you prefer a more personal touch, on beBee you can contact Susan 🐝 Rooks for a grammar check. 

Plagiarism. Never. Ever.

Stay clear of plagiarism, and if in doubt what it constitutes, read this Article on Plagiarism by Phil Friedman or this excellent Article by Juan Imaz. I use WriteCheck  which is a great site. It matches your text against a multitude of other published texts. Writecheck costs a bit, but I find it absolutely worth it. Another site, this time for free, is Quetext. Note though that none of these sites are a perfect catch-all and the final onus is on your integrity as a writer. 

Tweet with Tweetpack.

Paul "Pablo" Croubalian offers a Twitter service through his Tweetpack. The Lite version auto-promotes and auto-curates content on Twitter on a “Fire and Forget” basis. The Full version does that as well as full account growth and management. Tweetpack powers the beBee function that auto-promotes Producer posts which have at least five comments and twenty relevants. It is free of charge, but you need to let beBee know your post meets the requirements. Just share it to Twitter with the hashtag #buzzBeBee or add buzz @beBee to a Twitter share. Either way works.

Write and Read. Read and Write.

While these tools may enhance and enrich your blogging, in the words of Lada Prkic: 

“The best way to learn to write is a simple one – write!”