Tools Every Nigerian Freelance Writer Should Know About

Nicholas Idoko 15 min read

Last Updated on January 29, 2024

Introduction

In today’s digital world, freelance writing has become a popular career choice among Nigerians.

However, to succeed in this competitive field, it is crucial for Nigerian freelance writers to be equipped with the right tools.

These tools not only enhance their productivity but also enable them to deliver high-quality work to their clients.

Using tools for freelance writing in Nigeria is of utmost importance.

Firstly, these tools aid in enhancing the writing process by providing valuable assistance in tasks such as grammar and spell checks.

They help to ensure that the content produced is error-free and maintains a professional standard.

Additionally, these tools assist in improving the overall efficiency of freelance writers.

They offer features like word count tracking, time management, and project organization, allowing writers to better manage their time and meet deadlines.

This is especially crucial in the fast-paced world of freelance writing, where time management is key to success.

Furthermore, these tools provide numerous opportunities for freelance writers to refine their skills.

Many platforms offer writing courses, style guides, and editing tools to help writers continuously develop their abilities.

This continuous improvement is essential for Nigerian freelance writers to stay competitive in a rapidly changing industry.

In essence, tools play a vital role in the success of Nigerian freelance writers.

They contribute to error-free writing, increase efficiency, and provide opportunities for skill enhancement.

By utilizing these tools, freelance writers in Nigeria can enhance their writing abilities, productivity, and overall career prospects.

Writing and Editing Tools

Being a freelance writer requires more than just a passion for writing. It requires a set of skills, constant learning, and the right tools to improve your craft.

In this section, we will explore some essential writing and editing tools that every Nigerian freelance writer should know about.

Grammarly

Grammarly is an indispensable tool for freelance writers in Nigeria as it helps enhance their writing skills by correcting grammar and spelling mistakes.

This innovative tool comes with a user-friendly interface and advanced features that cater specifically to the needs of writers.

Grammarly’s grammar checker ensures that your content is grammatically correct, which is essential for maintaining professionalism and credibility.

It also identifies spelling errors and offers suggestions for improvement, saving you from embarrassing typos.

Moreover, Grammarly provides insights into your writing by offering suggestions for clarity, conciseness, and tone.

Its plagiarism checker ensures that your content is completely original, protecting you from any potential legal consequences.

Hemingway Editor

The Hemingway Editor is a fantastic tool that significantly improves the readability of written content.

This tool is especially useful for freelance writers in Nigeria who aim to communicate their ideas as effectively as possible.

The Hemingway Editor highlights lengthy and complex sentences, making it easier for readers to comprehend your content.

It suggests breaking down these sentences into shorter, simpler ones for better clarity and impact.

Additionally, this tool helps identify unnecessary adverbs, which can reduce the strength of your writing.

By replacing them with stronger verbs and eliminating excessive adjectives, the Hemingway Editor enhances the overall quality of your work.

ProWritingAid

ProWritingAid is a comprehensive writing assistant that offers numerous features to assist Nigerian freelance writers in checking for style, grammar, and readability.

This tool acts as a virtual mentor, helping you polish your writing skills and produce high-quality content.

ProWritingAid’s style checker identifies potential issues with sentence length, repetitiveness, and clichés, ensuring that your writing remains engaging and captivating.

By highlighting these areas, it encourages writers to explore alternative ways of expressing their ideas.

Furthermore, this tool provides extensive grammar and spelling checks, offering suggestions for improvement.

It also evaluates the readability of your content by calculating the Flesch Reading Ease score, ensuring that your writing is accessible to a wide range of audiences.

ProWritingAid even offers an in-depth analysis of your writing style, pointing out overused words and vague language.

This helps freelance writers in Nigeria develop their own unique voice and maintain consistency throughout their work.

In fact, these writing and editing tools are invaluable resources for every Nigerian freelance writer.

Grammarly enhances writing skills by correcting grammar and spelling mistakes, the Hemingway Editor improves readability, and ProWritingAid assists in checking style, grammar, and readability.

By utilizing these tools, Nigerian freelance writers can take their craft to new heights and produce exceptional content.

Read: Finding Consistent Work in the Nigerian Freelance Scene

Research Tools for Nigerian Freelance Writers

As a freelance writer in Nigeria, utilizing the right research tools can significantly enhance your writing process and optimize your content for search engines.

In this section, we will explore three essential research tools that every Nigerian freelance writer should know about.

Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is an invaluable tool for freelance writers in Nigeria.

By using this tool, you can conduct keyword research to identify the most relevant and high-ranking keywords for your content.

To utilize Google Keyword Planner effectively, start by brainstorming topics related to your niche.

Enter these topics into the tool, and it will generate a list of relevant keywords and their search volumes.

Next, select the keywords that align with your content and have a substantial search volume.

These keywords should be naturally integrated into your writing to enhance its visibility on search engine result pages.

Evernote

Evernote is a powerful tool for organizing research materials and taking notes during the writing process.

Nigerian freelance writers can benefit greatly from using Evernote to stay organized and increase productivity.

With Evernote, you can create notebooks and categorize them based on different projects or topics.

This way, you can easily access your research materials and refer back to them when needed.

Additionally, Evernote allows you to clip web pages, articles, and PDFs directly into your notebooks.

This feature is particularly useful for Nigerian freelance writers as it enables them to gather relevant information from various sources and keep it all in one place for easy referencing.

Pocket

Pocket is another valuable tool that can assist Nigerian freelance writers in saving and organizing online articles for future reference.

When you come across an article or blog post that you find interesting or relevant to your work, you can save it to Pocket with a single click.

Pocket will then sync the content to your devices, allowing you to access it offline at any time.

For Nigerian freelance writers, Pocket provides a convenient way to curate a collection of articles that can serve as inspiration or references for future writing projects.

It eliminates the need to search for the same content again and ensures that valuable resources are always at your fingertips.

In short, these three research tools – Google Keyword Planner, Evernote, and Pocket – can greatly benefit freelance writers in Nigeria.

By utilizing these tools, you can conduct efficient keyword research, stay organized, and have a curated collection of valuable resources at your disposal.

Incorporate these tools into your writing process and witness the positive impact they bring to your freelance career.

Read: Overcoming Writer’s Block: Tips for Nigerian Freelancers

Tools Every Nigerian Freelance Writer Should Know About

Discover More: Creating a Standout Portfolio for Freelancers in Nigeria

Productivity Tools

Trello

Trello is an essential tool for Nigerian freelance writers as it helps them effectively manage their projects, set deadlines, and collaborate with clients.

With Trello, freelance writers can create boards for their different projects and break them down into actionable tasks.

They can then organize these tasks into lists, such as “To-Do,” “In Progress,” and “Completed.”

This visual representation provides a clear overview of their projects and helps them stay organized.

Furthermore, Trello allows writers to attach due dates to their tasks, ensuring that they never miss a deadline.

This feature is particularly helpful as it helps writers to stay on track and manage their time efficiently.

In addition to project management, Trello also facilitates collaboration with clients.

Freelance writers can invite their clients to join a specific board, allowing them to contribute, leave comments, and interact directly on the platform.

The ability to communicate and receive feedback in real-time helps to streamline the writing process and ensures that both parties are on the same page.

Google Docs

Google Docs is another invaluable tool for Nigerian freelance writers, offering several advantages for real-time collaboration with clients and seamless file sharing.

One of the main advantages of using Google Docs is the ability for multiple users to edit the same document simultaneously.

This feature is especially useful when working with clients as it allows for easy collaboration and the ability to track changes made by each party.

Writers can share their work with clients, and both parties can make edits, leave comments, and suggestions in real-time, eliminating the need for back-and-forth emails.

Another notable benefit of Google Docs is its seamless file sharing capabilities. Writers can easily share documents with their clients by simply sending them a link.

This eliminates the hassle of attachment limits in emails and ensures that clients have immediate access to the latest version of the document.

Focus@Will

Focus@Will is a unique tool that can significantly assist freelance writers in Nigeria to improve concentration and productivity by playing background music optimized for focus.

It offers a curated selection of instrumental music specifically designed to increase focus and productivity.

This tool leverages neuroscience research to create music that engages the brain’s capacity for attention without distracting it.

Freelance writers can choose from various genres and styles of music tailored to their personal preferences and work requirements.

The continuous flow of background music helps to block out external distractions, enhance concentration, and create a productive working environment.

By using Focus@Will, freelance writers in Nigeria can optimize their focus and work at their peak performance, resulting in improved productivity and quality of writing.

In general, these three productivity tools – Trello, Google Docs, and Focus@Will – are indispensable for Nigerian freelance writers.

They assist in project management, collaboration with clients, real-time document editing, seamless file sharing, and enhanced concentration.

By utilizing these tools effectively, freelance writers can streamline their work processes, meet deadlines, and deliver exceptional writing services.

Read: Guide to Setting Freelance Rates for Nigerians

Design and Formatting Tools

Canva

Canva is a versatile platform that offers various features to support Nigerian freelance writers in creating visually appealing graphics and illustrations for their content.

It is an indispensable tool that enables writers to elevate the visual impact of their work.

With Canva, Nigerian freelance writers can access a vast library of templates, fonts, and design elements that can be customized to suit their needs.

Whether they are creating social media posts, blog banners, or slide presentations, Canva provides a user-friendly interface and drag-and-drop functionality that makes it effortless to design stunning visual content.

The platform offers a wide range of pre-designed templates that are specifically tailored for different types of content.

This is advantageous for Nigerian freelance writers as it saves them time and effort in conceptualizing and designing graphics from scratch.

They can easily find templates that align with their writing niche and adapt them to fit their content seamlessly.

Furthermore, Canva allows Nigerian freelance writers to tap into their creativity by providing an extensive library of free and paid stock images, icons, and illustrations.

This enables them to enhance the visual appeal of their work and engage their audience effectively.

They can easily add these visual elements to their designs and customize them to match their brand identity or desired aesthetic.

In addition to designing static graphics, Canva also offers features for creating animated content.

Nigerian freelance writers can leverage these features to add dynamic elements to their work, making it more engaging and captivating for their readers.

With Canva’s animation options, they can bring their ideas to life and establish a strong visual presence in their writing.

Adobe Spark

Adobe Spark is another powerful tool that freelance writers in Nigeria can use to create professional-looking visual and video content.

It offers a comprehensive set of features that enable writers to enhance their written content with captivating visuals.

One notable feature of Adobe Spark is its video creation capabilities.

Nigerian freelance writers can utilize this feature to produce high-quality videos that complement their written content.

They can incorporate images, text, and audio to create visually appealing videos that effectively convey their messages or stories.

Additionally, Adobe Spark provides a variety of templates and customization options for designs, enabling Nigerian freelance writers to create visually consistent and aesthetically pleasing graphics.

This is crucial for maintaining a cohesive and professional brand image across different platforms and content types.

Apart from its design features, Adobe Spark also offers a user-friendly interface that simplifies the creation process.

Nigerian freelance writers with limited design skills can easily navigate the platform and produce visually polished content without the need for extensive technical knowledge.

Piktochart

Piktochart is an excellent tool for Nigerian freelance writers who want to enhance the quality of their written content by incorporating informative and visually appealing infographics and visual presentations.

By using Piktochart, freelance writers can create visually engaging infographics that effectively communicate complex information in a concise and compelling manner.

This is particularly beneficial for Nigerian freelance writers who often write about data-driven subjects or want to present statistics and facts in an easily digestible format.

Piktochart offers a range of customizable templates and design elements that allow writers to create unique and eye-catching visuals.

With its intuitive drag-and-drop editor, Nigerian freelance writers can easily add text, charts, icons, and images to their infographics without any hassle.

Furthermore, Piktochart enables freelance writers to design visual presentations that captivate their audience and enhance their storytelling capabilities.

They can utilize the platform’s interactive features and multimedia integration to create engaging presentations that leave a lasting impact.

In review, Canva, Adobe Spark, and Piktochart are invaluable design and formatting tools that Nigerian freelance writers should know about.

These platforms provide a range of features and templates that support writers in creating visually appealing graphics, illustrations, infographics, and presentations.

By incorporating these tools into their work, freelance writers can enhance the quality and visual impact of their content, ultimately attracting a larger audience and establishing themselves as professional and versatile writers.

Read: Successful Nigerian Freelancers Share Their Stories