8 apps and tools I use to make better content that gets more views & subscribers:
1. HeadlineStudio by @CoSchedule
2. ThumbsUp.tv by @standardshows
3. @ahrefs
4. @typefully
5. Creator's Companion
6. SnagIt
7. Handbrake
8. @StoryblocksCo
Here's how I use each 👇
1. HeadlineStudio (made by @CoSchedule) is a tool for writing better titles and headlines.
It scores your headlines based on sentiment, emotion, common/uncommon words, etc.
coschedule.com/headline-analyzer
I take HeadlineStudio's scores with a grain of salt, but the tool helps me brainstorm MORE and BETTER titles.
Here's one of my best-performing videos w/ 3.4 million views.
I brainstormed 47 titles, and the scores helped me land on this "most powerful" phrasing.
2. ThumbsUp.tv by @standardshows is a simple but INCREDIBLY useful tool.
It shows what your title/thumbnail will look like at every size on YouTube, and whether or not your title will be cut off.
It's crucial to make sure your thumbnail looks great at small sizes!
3. @ahrefs is a powerful SEO research tool. If you make SEO-focused content, it's nearly guaranteed that your competition is using it.
It lets you get traffic potential and difficulty info for keywords, suggests related keywords, and much more.
ahrefs.com/
I have friends who have built entire businesses by using Ahrefs to source great topics/keywords. They use this guidance to write epic content that ranks highly on Google/YouTube.
Two examples: swimuniversity.com by @MattGiovanisci and listenmoneymatters.com by @andyfieb
Ahrefs is NOT cheap, but they have taken several pieces of their tool and turned them into free mini-tools you can start out with.
Their keyword generator is one such example: ahrefs.com/keyword-generator
4. @typefully is a tool for writing Twitter threads.
It's way better for this purpose than Twitter itself - it auto-saves your drafts, lets you schedule tweets, and can auto-retweet your threads.
I'm writing this thread in Typefully right now.
typefully.com
5. Creator's Companion - this is a @NotionHQ template I built to manage my entire content creation process across multiple YouTube channels and blogs.
It lets my team and I manage everything in Notion, from idea to scripting to editing.
thomasjfrank.com/creators-companion/
6. SnagIt is the best cross-platform screenshot tool.
I use it literally every day to create screenshots with arrows, boxes, and other annotations.
It lets me communicate with my team faster, make documentation, and take screenshots for blog posts.
techsmith.com/screen-capture.html
I'll note that while SnagIt is the best cross-platform screenshot tool, it's expensive.
If you're not working across both MacOS and Windows like I am, check out these alternatives:
- Windows: ShareX - getsharex.com
- Mac: CleanShot - cleanshot.com
7. HandBrake is an open-source video encoding tool that I use for one specific purpose: turning GIFs (that I make with SnagIt) into MP4 videos that have MUCH smaller file sizes.
handbrake.fr
I make a lot of these "gifs" for the @NotionHQ tutorials I publish on my site (e.g. thomasjfrank.com/notion-links/), and any reduction in their file size means a faster website and better SEO.
Sometimes I get a full 5x file size reduction by doing this.
8. Finally, @StoryblocksCo is a fantastic resource for getting affordable stock footage that makes my videos more entertaining and helps me tell better stories.
I use several of these - Getty, ArtGrid, Pond5 - but SB is BY FAR the most affordable.
storyblocks.com
These tools (among others) help me find the right topics, craft better thumbnails/titles, and make better content.
This helps me build my audience and business.
If you want to see the tools I use for the next step - monetizing - check out this thread: twitter.com/TomFrankly/status/1528820852967342080