There are more tools for blogging and SEO than you can shake a stick at, but for whatever reason, some of the best ones seem to slide completely under the radar. In this article, I'm going to share with you the most underrated blogging and SEO tools you can buy that don't get the credit that they deserve.
You'll be tempted to go grab some of these and the good news is that they are all relatively affordable, especially compared to their better known replacements that steal most of the spotlight.
#1 KW Finder
Powerful AHREFs and SEMRush alternative. It has enough fire power that I still use it regularly even though I spend hundreds of dollars each month on similar tools.
KW Finder is a replacement or supplement to popular tools like AHREFs and SEMRush.
Although I'm grandfathered in at an even lower rate, it's still wildly more affordable than either of the two mentioned above.
Although I'm a diehard AHREFs user, I also use KW Finder to find new keywords and research competitors backlinks.
It isn't as robust as AHREFs but it is more than enough to help any blogger find great topics and spy on their competitors backlinks. A new blogger would be better served grabbing access to KWFinder in the early stages of their career before going all in with AHREFs unless they are seriously committed to the process and are ok with potentially spending more than they earn up front.
One of my favorite features that KW Finder has that similar tools don't is the ability to see the sum of a list of terms. Remember, when blogging, we might be targeting one specific term but we also plan to rank for many other semantic terms. This will show us the true search potential of a collection of keywords for a topic.
Why It's Underrated
It lacks the name recognition and the SERP research tool space is very crowed. Also, the lower price point might be causing people to equate the low price to low value (which is not at all the case here).
#2 Thrive Themes Suite
What all of my websites (including this one) are built with! Thrive Themes is a suite of tools that allow you to...
- Build a beautiful Wordpress blog
- Build high converting landing pages
- Capture leads and build your list
- Keep your website blazing fast
It is the only Wordpress theme I recommend and the extra tools are just icing on the cake.
This is one of the tools that you've likely heard about but I still think is grossly underrated.
It's underrated because the price is INSANELY low, even for just the theme and content editor. The Thrive Themes Full Suite gives you so much more though than just a basic WordPress theme.
If you want to see all of it's uses in action, just scroll around my site here for a few minutes.
Notice things like...
- The site layout and design
- The table of contents and sidebars
- The lead magnets
- The free courses I create
Thrive Leads is the most complete suite of tools for WordPress users on the market and I couldn't possibly recommend it more highly.
While there are hundreds of great WordPress themes, the Thrive Themes Suite is so much more than that. You can collect leads, split test pages, created courses and more all for one low price. The price point is not reflective of the value at all. It's worth exponentially more than the $200ish/year it costs.
Why It's Underrated
There are 10s of thousands of WordPress themes and page builder options. Also, the price point is low and unfortunately many users might associate price with value.
#3 WP Sheet Editor
This tool is an absolute life saver if you have a large amount of content on your website. It has saved me literal weeks of my life. Use code ENTRERESOURCE for $200 off the all plugins bundle.
WP Sheet Editor is a WordPress plugin that allows you to update things on your WordPress websites fast.
Instead of flipping between "Edit" for each page you want to make changes to, you can do them all from inside one dynamic spreadsheet database.
Here are some examples of how I might use it...
- Review all posts that I have published to ensure they have proper meta descriptions
- Change the titles of many posts at the same time
- Update or remove featured thumbnail images
- Change or add categories or tags
- Change author names
- Change permalink URLs
The case uses are endless. It's just a God send for updating your existing posts and pages.
Why It's Underrated
WP Sheet Editor is powerful and that can make it seem complex. While it can do a LOT of things, using it just on the most fundamental things like updating the tags of pages in bulk can save you hours of time in one use. It's a lifesaver for me and I can't imagine working on any large websites without having it. I'm shocked not everyone talks about it.
To learn more, watch my full WP Sheet Editor explainer video here.
#4 Scapple
A minimalistic, affordable mind mapping tool that will help you organize your thoughts, brainstorm and become the most creative version of yourself possible.
Scapple is a low cost, minimalistic mind mapping software. There are a lot of options for mind mapping tools but Scapple is my favorite.
Here's a mind map I made explaining why I love Scapple.
Why It's Underrated
It's not a "must have" and it isn't specifically for blogging but it is perfect for fleshing out ideas. Also, it's under $20 freaking bucks for lifetime access.
#5 PlaceIt
Almost every blog post I've written in the past year includes some sort of design I created with PlaceIt. It's like Canva on steroids.
If you've read more than a couple of my articles, you've seen things I've created in PlaceIt many times.
It's the best mockup generator on the market and the price point is very reasonable.
I love using PlaceIt mockups when I do tech tutorials by creating 3D mockups of what the devices would look like when demoing. Here's an example of one of them I created for a recent post I wrote about viewing private Instagram accounts.
Why It's Underrated
Tools like Canva get all the attention and the design tool space is crowded. However, PlaceIt does mockups better than any of the other software products out there and it's not even close.
#6 Lasso
Lasso makes it easy to create attention grabbing product call outs. This box you're looking at right now was made with it!
Each of the tools I've mentioned in this article is showcased with a Lasso call out box.
These are beautiful, customizable boxes that help you promote your products at the highest possible level.
Once you've created a box, you can easily embed it to any post with a short code. These codes are "dynamic" which means that when you edit them, the changes will appear everywhere at the same time. This is awesome if you're like me and you like to optimize things over time or if your affiliate changes their target URL and you need a new affiliate link.
There are other features as well but the product boxes are more than enough to justify the expense for me.
Why It's Underrated
Lasso is relatively new and I'm guessing many serious bloggers have already created their own product call out boxes manually and don't feel like switching. I found it worth the effort to change.
#7 Link Whisper
A must have tool for anyone who has multiple pages on their website. Use code ENTRE10 for $10 off your purchase.
I can't really explain how much time Link Whisper has saved me building internal links between my pages. It allows me to manually add links from one page to another without opening the editor at all.
It even shows me which pages are missing internal links so I can have a virtual assistant systematically go through pages on a website in order. They then provide link recommendations with context (it's impressive how relevant they often are).
You can also create rules like, "always link this url when this phrase is mentioned."
If you're an affiliate marketer who promotes "Athletic Greens" for example, you could set a rule that automatically adds your affiliate link to Athletic Greens to every instance on your website that you mentioned that phrase.
Why It's Underrated
Internal link building isn't sexy and it's often overlooked. Also, it's relatively new so I don't anticipate it staying low key for much longer.
#8 Export All URLs Plugin
A tool that has limitless case uses. The only reason you haven't heard of it is .... I don't know?
A free plugin that I use religiously. Like WP Sheet Editor, its power is limited only by your own creativity. I use it for getting quick lists of my pages that are in draft mode so I can prioritize which ones to complete first.
Why It's Underrated
One of millions of free plugins that doesn't have an obvious purpose. Don't confuse that with having no purpose, there are just too many to list and it can vary based on your own unique needs.
#9 SEO Minion
One of my most frequently used Chrome extensions, SEO Minion allows you to review the key information on competitors websites or your own pages. See outbound links, heading structure and more with just one click.
Competition isn’t a bad thing. In fact, competition can help us create better content because we can compare our work to what others have already made.
For instance, if you write a post about bird houses, you could find a page like the one below when researching competitors.
We could then get an insane amount of data on the post for free. This will help us when we're trying to decide how our similar post should be structured. These are the "baseline" numbers.
I check out:
- Content length
- Images
- Tone
- SEO
If I make a post, I want it to always be the best on the topic. That is of course until someone sky scrapes me (which they inevitably will).
This doesn’t guarantee that you’ll outrank these other pages but you’ll dramatically improve your brand reputation and overall traffic over time by creating grade A content.
Why It's Underrated
Ok, it's technically not "overrated" since it has 100,000+ downloads, but I just don't see anyone creating content about it! This is probably because it's free and there aren't any affiliate incentives, but it's awesome.
Sources and Links Mentioned
- (On Semantic Keywords) https://www.semrush.com/blog/semantic-keywords/
- (Everything You Need to Know About Internal Link Building) https://www.searchenginejournal.com/link-building-guide/internal/
- (Affiliate Link Best Practices) https://entreresource.com/affiliate-link-tips/
- (50 Lead Magnet Examples) https://entreresource.com/lead-magnets/
- (KW Finder) https://kwfinder.com#a57e03a70285f7342158c44eb
- (Thrive Themes Suite) https://www.clkmg.com/nm250089/thrivethemes
- (WP Sheet Editor) https://r.freemius.com/2866/2601277/
- (Scapple) https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scapple/overview
- (PlaceIt) https://tools.entreresource.com/place-it
- (Lasso) https://getlasso.co?lmref=8AOqaA
- (Link Whisper) https://tools.entreresource.com/linkwhisper
- (Export All URLs Plugin) https://wordpress.org/plugins/export-all-urls/
- (SEO Minion) https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/seo-minion/giihipjfimkajhlcilipnjeohabimjhi?hl=en
Love this list. I would add the HemingwayApp – Sadly you can't get it as a plugin or extension, and you do have to use their website (or you can download guides). But it can help with readability scores, keeping people on your pages longer and decreasing bounce rates. It's completely free, just wish they would drop an app like Grammarly!