If you are a freelance editor or are thinking about becoming a freelance editor, I’m psyched to share with you four of my favorite tools that you can use now.
As a freelance writer, editor and virtual assistant over the last six years, these four tools are instrumental in my work.
# 1 – Copyscape
Copyscape is especially important for any material that is going to be posted on the web. It checks that material to make sure it is not duplicate content. Duplicate content is a huge no-no in the online space.
It can lead to your client’s website being blacklisted from Google search results. It can be really damaging to search engine rankings and credibility. Essentially, it’s seen as stolen content.
Sometimes people don’t know any better. They hire writers who produce duplicate content. If you don’t use a tool like Copyscape, you run the risk of using what turns out to be duplicate content.
Copyscape charges based on the length of the material. It usually costs 7 cents for a typical blog of around 600 words that I run through Copyscape. Of course, the price for longer pieces of content increases accordingly. You can visit their website to learn more about their pricing.
I’ve been using Copyscape the entire time I’ve been in business as a freelance writer and editor, and I strongly recommend it. For what you get, it’s a great price.
# 2 – Grammarly
Another tool that I love is Grammarly. Grammarly is a tool that looks for misplaced punctuation and other grammatical issues. You can install the Grammarly browser extension in your browser, and it will essentially take a look at everything online. The free version of it is not 100% accurate, but it’s great at calling your attention to mistakes. It will underline things in red when Grammarly thinks it needs to be different.
As an editor, sometimes you’re going to override what Grammarly says. Sometimes they like to place commas where they don’t need to be or they will want certain words to appear together when they’re not meant to be together. Those are just a couple of things to watch out for.
Overall, Grammarly is a really helpful tool for getting that second set of eyes to look at your freelance editing materials.
# 3 – Hemingway App
Another tool that you can use is Hemingway App. Hemingway App goes a little bit deeper than Grammarly. Grammarly is mostly looking for obvious grammar or punctuation errors. Hemingway App looks at things like readability and passive voice. It can be an excellent tool to find some of the problems in people’s work.
I would not rely on Hemingway App and Grammarly as your entire editing infrastructure. You still have to have great grammar, punctuation and style knowledge to be successful as a freelance editor.
# 4 – Toggl
The final tool that I love is a time tracking application called Toggl. As an editor sometimes it’s hard to tell how long a project is going to take, so it makes sense to work on an hourly basis.
With Toggl, you can easily keep track of the time you spend on projects. Toggl allows you to set up tags and colors for working on different projects. You can run reports for your clients very easily.
I use Toggl every single day. I track everything that I do inside of Toggl. Having particular tags for certain clients where I need to capture things on an hourly basis is really helpful. If I was keeping track of that on a piece of paper, I’d probably lose it and it wouldn’t be accurate.
With Toggl, there’s a little timer that’s running in the background, and I think it actually helps me be more productive as well.
As a freelance editor, are there other tools that you’d love to use? I’d love to hear about them in the comments.
If you’d like to learn more about becoming a freelance editor, I have an excellent course all about , including how to price things with clients and the information you need to have from prospective clients before you get started.
HI, I’M LAURA!
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