Useful Apps and Extensions for Bloggers
Whenever I find an app that I think will be super useful for my fellow bloggers I vow to write a post about it...(then I get sidetracked) I have at least 10 on a list ready to share with you all so here's the first I think that every blogger, writer or social media manager should have.
Grammarly
www.grammarly.com
This app is a constant help for me. I have an A-Level in English, however, I still make mistakes and this Chrome extension has been extremely useful. I've added it as an extension on my Chrome browser, so wherever I'm typing when I'm online it is constantly pointing out issues with my copy.
What does Grammarly do?
Here's the concise answer from the Grammarly website.
As you type, Grammarly checks your text for more than 250 common and advanced writing improvements. The checks include common grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement, article use, and modifier placement, in addition to contextual spelling mistakes, phonetic spelling mistakes, and irregular verb conjugations. Plus, Grammarly’s spell check takes the context of your sentence into account. Grammarly also provides synonym suggestions to make your writing more readable and precise. With Grammarly, you can write online with confidence.And here's a little video that shows Grammarly in action.
It's not completely fool-proof and of course, you'll still need to re-read and check over posts but on numerous occasions, Grammarly has picked up on simple mistakes I've made.
It underlines the spelling or grammatical mistake and then you can just click to repair it or click ignore to overrule it.
I'm just using the free version, but I'm very tempted by the 'advanced' paid for version as I'm sure there are many more mistakes to repair in my writing.
Grammarly Synonyms Feature - aka making your writing more interesting
Another genuinely beneficial feature for me is the synonym feature. You simply double click on a word and it shows you alternative words with a similar meaning.
I usually write quickly and then edit later. Quite often I use words like 'great' and 'lovely' far too frequently so this is quite helpful to make my writing less repetitive.
Another Quick Tip (from me) - Overusing Exclamation Marks
Guilty. I'm addicted to exclamation marks so at the end of a post I click ctrl + F and search for exclamation marks. This isn't a Grammarly feature but one I use to weed out the zillion !!!'s I use when I'm typing at speed. Sometimes I realise I've been using exclamation marks like full stops, so this helps as it highlights them all so I can double check really quickly if they're all necessary. (I deleted 6 from this post, in most cases, they are most definitely not required!)
Sign up for your Grammarly account here - www.grammarly.co.uk
Sign up for your Grammarly account here - www.grammarly.co.uk