21 free must have tools for your professional copywriting career

This is a list filled with unique, useful and often overlooked tools that have helped me and my team greatly in our freelance copywriting career. From working with startups to established small businesses, all of these tools have made the process smoother and helped in increasing our returns multiple times over. 
It’s said that, a craftsman is only as good as his tools. The same goes for professional copywriters, and practically any other industry, as a matter-of-fact. 
No matter what niche you specialize in, it’s important that you have the right tools so that you’re able to craft the best possible copy for your client. Here’s a suite of 21 free must-have tools copywriters should equip themselves with: 

1. http://www.beenokle.com/zenwriter.html -ZenWriter (PC). Trying to tame the wily beast that is writer’s block is a lot easier with a distraction-free environment. Fortunately, these tools can help make that perfect (or near perfect) writing environment a reality, no matter where you’re using your computer. 

2. http://www.yesware.com/ This app describes itself as “email for salespeople”, and although I’ve only been using it fairly recently, I’m quite impressed. With email tracking, pre-made templates and syncing to other products built in. This is a very cool resource you should try out if you want to land more clients. Many initial contacts (and even sales) are made through email, so it’s an important thing to utilize. Yesware lets you step up your game by making your inbox seem like a professional arm of your freelance business (which it should be!). 

3. https://www.bidsketch.com/ We just know that all freelance copywriters are going to love how Bidsketch tackles proposals. No longer will you have to waste time creating + designing them, and you’ll now be able to land more clients than ever by sending out sleek, professional looking proposals that outline exactly what work needs to be done. 

4. https://bywordapp.com/ ByWord (Mac). If you read the above description and felt like you were missing out because you were on a Mac, fear not! ByWord is quite similar to ZenWriter, and although I haven’t used it personally, it comes highly recommended from folks like Michael Hyatt. 
If you’d rather write text “Matrix-style”, be sure to check out the super minimal WriteRoom (Mac) and DarkRoom (PC) as well. 

5. http://www.copyscape.com/  Copyscape is a free web-based tool that allows you to check the content of a single webpage and see if it contains any duplicate content found elsewhere on the web.  Copywriters might also want to check out the pay-as-you-go version, which allows you to check a section of plain text, rather than an already-published webpage, for plagiarism. 

6. https://www.readability.com/ I describe this as a “writing tool” because it’s most useful for creating awesome content. Most importantly, it allows you to read interesting content without being distracted.  I challenge you to install it. Go to a really long article like this one, and see if it makes a difference in helping you finish. With an amazing selection of typography and minimalist styles, you’ll be able to consume great content faster than ever before, which will lead to better writing. 

7. https://www.flickr.com/  I simply don’t know what I do without Flickr. It’s the only website I use to get images for the copy I submit clients. Finding and crediting images on Flickr is simple and painless, and the quality is unmatched. 

8. http://unsuck-it.com/ is a free web app that allows you to convert words that don’t flow well in your copy (like business jargon) and replace it with fun words that do. Mostly, it’s a great tool for you to find quirky synonyms or definitions to boring words. 

9. http://www.thesaurus.com/  No copywriter is complete without a trusty thesaurus by his side (or, in the case of web copywriting, in the next tab). Thesaurus.com is the most comprehensive thesaurus website and is one that I frequent multiple times with every piece of copy that I write. 

10. http://www.rhymezone.com/ Poetry isn’t the only thing that requires rhyme. Copywriting needs it too sometimes. The next time you’re looking for a rhyming word to strengthen your copy, head over to RhymeZone. 

11. https://www.webpagefx.com/tools/read-able/ Did you know that you should be aiming for a 7th-8th grade reading level when writing copy? We’ve covered this before in copywritersforums. Read-Able is an awesome tool that automatically and accurately tests the reading level of an excerpt of text. 

12. http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/#work Find high performing and competitive keywords. With this tool - you can get great keyword ideas and suggestions for your content for free! 

13. http://live-keyword-analysis.com/ Live Keyword Analysis is a quick ‘n easy SEO tool that will help you calculate the density of keywords in a sample of text. If you feel as though your keyword is too frequent or too rare within your copy, use LKA to confirm that. 

14. https://www.freshbooks.com/ I’m not sure how freelancers survive without Freshbooks. It’s such a crazy-awesome tool to use for billing and invoices! Personally, I like using software like this to keep things professional and organized rather than relying on those, “Hey, did you pay me yet?!” emails. Keep track of billing for different clients; send out invoices to separate email accounts in a single click. Never lose track of who owes you money with this great accounting tool, it’s one of the most necessary for freelance writers out of this entire list. 

15. https://drive.google.com/drive/my-drive We all need some way to deliver copy to our clients. For me, Google Drive is the perfect answer. Not only do most of my clients use it already, but the vast amount of storage and simple UI makes it a far better choice for me than Dropbox. 

16. http://www.aminstitute.com/headline/  EMV Headline Analyzer is an extremely cool yet very underrated copywriting tool that allows you to check the EMV (emotional marketing value) of your headline. Basically, it tests your headline to see what percentage of words in it invokes emotion. The higher, the better. 

17. http://www.wordcounter.com/  Word Counter is an advanced keyword counter. It analyzes a sample of text and gives you info as to the top 25 most repeated words in the text, excluding small words like it, the, etc. 

18. http://sitetuners.com/  Conversions are a big priority in professional copywriting. The Conversion Ninja Toolbox is essentially a website with a vast library of conversion optimization resources. It’s a great place to frequent whenever you need some CRO advice. 

19. https://www.legalzoom.com/country/ng Once your freelance business starts to make some progress, you MUST familiarize yourself with the necessary documentation for your business endeavors. You will likely only need to file for an LLC if you are the sole “employee” in your freelance operations. While a website is never a good replacement for consulting a lawyer and an accountant, LegalZoom can help you knock out legal documents in a breeze. 

20. https://www.mint.com/ I still use mint regularly to keep some basic tabs on my finances. The software is beautiful and it has just as many features as needed. It can help you set goals on spending & income so you can track your progress on all expenditures (by linking your debit & credit cards) or you can opt to enter purchases manually. 

21. https://www.rescuetime.com/ One of the biggest wake-up calls I ever had in relation to my productivity was installing RescueTime. It’s pretty scary how much time you can be spending on “black holes” of the internet. Time sucks like Reddit and YouTube were taking up a couple hours every week, but I was finally able to see just how much time I was wasting, and now I’ve cut down time spent on those sites immensely. 

We do hope, you will like and enjoy these free tools and we also want to know more about other tools that’s not mention here, which you are using in your freelance copywriting business!