24+ Mega Helpful Free Tools for Professional Writers
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Ambitious Writer Society
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Forget 7-day free trials. We’re talking amazing tools that are forever free!
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Want free SEO writing training? Check out the Ambitious Writer Society.
Want free copywriting training? Check out Filthy Rich Writer
We also talk about free invoicing tools, editing tools and more.
You have to spend money to make money, right? But, what if you’re an aspiring writer who has yet to earn enough income to reinvest into your own career?
When you’re just starting out, you have to save money to make money. If I had spent what little money I had before getting well-paying clients, I would have been in debt, terrified and fleeing the freelance writing world within months to go back to my hourly job…
In this post, I’ve put together a long list of forever free tools for writers. I have used or still use many of these tools myself, and they were essential to helping me churn out a 6-fig writing business.
Disclaimer: I try to keep this list updated, but let me know if any of these tools are no longer free to use.
24+ Awesome Free Tools for Writers
Once your writing business begins to flourish, then you can think about reinvesting big bucks into growing that business. But in the beginning, you can function as a professional writer without spending a dime (on certain things).
You will have some tiny expenses when starting out, such as your portfolio site, but this article will help you save money in many other areas. These free tools can help you expertly run your business, look professional and get paid.
Read this: How to Set Up Your Website Like a Pro
Forever Free Training Tools for Writers
If you want to make a profitable career as a writer, you have to know your stuff. It’s essential to continuously upgrade your skills so you can continue to meet (and exceed) client expectations.
The dire need for well-trained, confident writers inspired me to create the Ambitious Writer Society. I’ve highlighted our free training below. If I had access to these resources at the start of my career, my 6-figure income, confidence and knowing my worth would have come way sooner for me!
Client Finder Articles and Trainings
How to find clients is one of my favorite topics from Ambitious Writer Society (AWS). AWS is my other website that is completely dedicated to writers trying to create a fulfilling career for themselves.
We have tons of free content about how to find work, including this article: How to Easily Find Clients Using AI
If you enroll in our Complete SEO Writer Roadmap program, you’ll also get access to the 14-Day Client Finder, which will help you generate a massive list of potential clients to pitch, all within 14 days. And we touch on all that in our free training video.
So, if you’re feeling totally overwhelmed and stuck over where to find clients…
I highly encourage you to check out our FREE training video: “How to Successfully Find and Live Off Steady, Well-Paid Writing Jobs - WITHOUT Cheap Newbie Rates, Mind-Numbing Projects or Working Full-Time”
(Just FYI: This button will take you to the AWS site.)
Cold Pitching Articles and Trainings
Whether you’ve sent 0 or 1000 pitches already, every writer is at risk of making silly pitching mistakes that ruin the opportunity to land work with a prospect. Cold pitching is hard enough as it is. Don’t lose out on gigs because you made common cold pitching mistakes.
AWS offers free articles to make sure you know how to send pitches that are error-free. We also have an extensive cold pitching course within our Complete SEO Writer Roadmap program. Check it out here on the AWS site.
SEO Writing 101 Guides
If you’re considering getting into SEO writing, check out the AWS free SEO training. You’ll get an action plan about how to learn the basics and the jargon to sound like a pro - all within one comprehensive, accelerated training.
With the help of our free SEO writing articles, you’ll learn how SEO works and what profitable projects you can do in the lucrative world of SEO. It’s also helpful if you want your portfolio site to rank better online. Sign up for our free SEO writing training here.
Filthy Rich Writer
I took their copywriting course (read my review here). While some of their courses are not free, they constantly refresh their site, podcast channel and social media with tons of free copywriting training.
Check them out here. You won’t be disappointed!
AWAI
I took their direct response copywriting course (read my review of it here). They also have tons of free content in the form of blogs and email newsletters, so I suggest signing up for free writing insights that come straight to your inbox!
Read this: Filthy Rich Writer vs. AWAI Copywriting Courses
Forever Free Marketing Tools for Writers
Even if you don’t feel like it yet, you’re becoming a business owner. So exciting! Every writer should know how to market themselves to find well-paying clients and interesting job opportunities!
#BossBlog
Feel free to browse my B2B-focused blog collection. I cover all sorts of topics from successful homepage hacks to project management automation to email marketing and more.
Forever Free Writing Tools for Writers
Every writer can use a little help to make their work sparkle! Most of these tools can help you check your work or inspire better ideas than if you just brainstormed on your own.
Hemingway Editor
If you want a second pair of “eyes” on your writing, the Hemingway app does exactly that. No need to email a friend and wait days for them to look at it.
All you have to do is type or paste in your text. Hemingway will highlight specific areas that need improvement. It can help you improve the readability of your writing and suggest alternative sentences.
Headline Analyzer
Headlines can make or break conversions. That’s why they’re so important!
With Headline Analyzer, just type in a headline, and the software will give you a rating. You can keep tweaking the headline until it is perfect for SEO and readability.
When I was just starting out as a copywriter, it really helped me refine my skills.
Grammarly
It’s like having a little grammar angel on your shoulder as you write online. It just follows you from email to Google Docs and gives suggestions.
Not only will your writing projects be amazing, but your emails will be impeccable. Talk about a real professional!
Cliche Finder
Cliches can kill the effectiveness of your writing. Just type in the box, and the software will highlight the cliches in your writing. It’s just a really simple way to improve your writing, making it compelling and rich.
Forever Free Invoicing Tools for Writers
I used to be intimidated about invoicing and billing. It seemed so complicated! Plus, creating every new invoice by hand would be tedious and time consuming.
I desperately needed simple and fast invoicing software that was easy for me to understand.
Wave Invoicing
I’ve used this software for years and love how user-friendly it is! Wave makes such wonderful and simple invoices, quotes and statements. With just a few clicks, I can invoice a client, and it looks super professional.
Mr. Biller Invoicing
Another great, easy-to-use free invoicing software! Mr. Biller does have paid versions, but the free version can serve the purpose - especially for a small business!
The free version allows for unlimited invoices, so the sky’s the limit when it comes to billing.
ReliaBills Invoicing
The free version of ReliaBills has many of the same features as the paid version. You’ll get reports, custom invoices and customer data management, all for free!
Forever Free Project Tools for Writers
When you can have all of your client files in one place - and it can be totally remote, you’ve hit the jackpot!
Google Products
Can you be more user-friendly and integrated than Google? I used to only use Google’s free version of Gmail (and its accoutrements).
Now, I pay $6 per month for Google Business Suite. However, even if you want to use the free version, here is a rundown of helpful Google tools available:
Google Docs
Google Slides (better version of PowerPoint)
Google Drive
Google Sheets
Google Meet (great for discovery call meetings)
Google Contacts
Google Analytics
More!
Forever Free Social Media Tools for Writers
A great way to find clients is via social media, so you’ll want to continuously post engaging content. Luckily, there are free social media tools for writers - just in case your social media channels lack on lead gen.
Linktree
I like that you can connect several different links on Linktree. It gives you the ability to funnel your social media click-throughs into the right category.
If you can funnel people in the correct manner, you can score more conversions through each respective link!
Canva
I love Canva’s templates. They look fresh and contemporary so that your posts can compete with everyone else’s online.
Some of the templates and options are excluded from the free version, but you still get plenty of great stuff!
Later
Compared to when I first started using Later, they ended up decreasing the number of free social media posts you can schedule per month. But it’s still plenty for a small business!
I mainly love the drag-and-drop features! Plus, you can save hashtags, captions and previous media.
Forever Free Photo Tools for Writers
Every great writer’s website needs professional-looking photos to look like the real deal. I used to worry that I’d have to buy every picture that I wanted for my website, but that’s not the case.
Pexels
I use Pexels for everything: my websites, my socials, even my digital products.
They have a pretty big selection of all different photos. I also confirmed with the company that these pictures are completely free to use. You can even manipulate them with colors, markups - whatever!
Pixabay
Pixabay claims they have over 1.5 million photos that are free to use.
The layout is very similar to Pexels. Just know that the sponsored photos show up right at the top. These sponsored photos do require payment.
Unsplash
Another great free photo tool! They claim to have over 1 million free photos, so that’s plenty. Just like Pixabay, however, they put their paid or sponsored photos up at the top, so don’t choose those.
Forever Free SEO Tools for Writers
If you want clients coming to you automatically from a random Google search, you’ll want to know how to maximize SEO. I love the following free tools because they’ve helped me rank higher on Google for my websites and my clients’.
Ubersuggest
I use Neil Patel’s free SEO tool all the time. Even though the free version only allows you to search 3 keywords per day, that’s usually enough for me whenever I want to write a single blog post.
Once you enter a keyword, the software analyzes it. You’ll find information about search volume, competitor stats, SEO difficulty, longtail keyword suggestions, competitor links and more.
I learn so much when browsing through Ubersuggest. It helped me rank #1-2 on certain webpages!
SEO Unlocked Course
Another tool from Neil Patel! His free SEO Unlocked course is super helpful. Basically, it’s a crash course in how to use SEO, covering everything from on-page SEO to off-page. Plus, the worksheets help you apply the concepts.
After taking his course, I was able to rank in the top 2 for several of my articles (and have remained there for years)!
MetaTags
Whenever a client needs Google titles and metas, I use this software! It counts characters so that you don’t get the “…” on the meta description, which can actually hurt your rankings.
It also shows you what it will look like as a Google entry. This is helpful because I can manipulate the words to make sure it stands out when scrolling.
You can also see what the entry looks like on Facebook and other online formats.
Forever Free Time-Log Tools for Writers
It’s important to know how much time a particular task will take you. This helps determine your rates and will help you understand where time is being optimized (and where time is being wasted).
Toggl
Toggl is my choice for time trackers, mainly because it’s super easy to use and to edit your entries. It also creates colorful and straightforward reports. I’ve sent these reports to hourly clients, and it provides more than enough information for them.
Heads Up, Writers!
(Read Below)
Heads Up, Writers! (Read Below)
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