Of Title Generators, Headline Analyzers And Other Content Tools

By: Sorab Ghaswalla

Old timers can vouch for this — there’s no shortcut to developing quality content. As a content creator, you have only your skills and talent to rely on. The star will always be the human content developer.
But all help is welcome, right? With the advent of the digital age, technology has come to play a major role in the content ecosystem. While welcome, many content developers, especially the new crop, have got the impression somehow that they can slapdash a few words or raw video footage, drag these through the labyrinth of tech and hope for the best. They couldn’t be more wrong.

​Tech can only play a supportive role. Betting your entire basket on technology will not help you turn out a good copy or a great video.
There are hundreds of content tools out there. I shall list them here:

• Headline Analyzer
  
• Title Generator
  
• Keyword Research Software
  
• SEO Tools
  
• Graphic Design Tools
  
• GiF Creators
  
• Video Tools
  
• Animation Tools…..
  

….and more.
This list can be divided into two: tools that help during the actual content creation, and those that come into play after it’s over. Eg: A graphic design tool is to make graphics while you are writing an article, while a headline analyzer is after the fact.
In the previous newsletter, I’ve talked of some of the above tools. But here’s the thing — for the content developer to use them, there’s one basic requirement — he/she has to write the basic copy first.
Yes, if you must rely on technology for content, you can only use it to embellish your work. There are actually content clients, including some big enterprises out there that have started using these tools to “produce” content, rather than outsource it to content agencies! You cannot use an SEO tool before writing your content, right? It’s like putting the cart before the horse. So, folks, you are seriously mistaken to think that only tech will help you produce your copy for you.
Take a headline analyzer for instance. These run on algorithms largely build on the principles of human behavior, i.e. how a human being perceives a certain combination of words. There’s a lot of math at play here. Most of these analyzers work by pegging an overall score to the “quality” of the headline. So, you key in your headline and within seconds it analyzes and puts a number to it + mini scores on other aspects like length of the headline, word balance, and even its appeal to search engines.
Just to reiterate — it does not write your headline for you, but tells you whether your title will resonate with the audience or not. There are even tools that analyze the emotional connect of a headline!

Serious workers of the craft will be pardoned at scoffing at such “machines”. But as a veteran (and over-worked at that) in the business, my take is — why not? This is data analytics at work for content, and there’s a science to the madness, so anything that helps to better your labor of love should be welcomed. So far as the veracity of the scoring of such “analyzers”, I am no expert so can’t tell. Obviously, the same headline comes out with different scores when put through three different headline analyzers.
To sum up, technology is not the hero of this movie, it is the human being, mostly a creative one, who is spear-heading the process. Tech is the support cast.
Image by fancycrave1 from Pixabay