The Only Content Tools You'll Ever Need (Until Next Week)

Sup Tool-Users.

Just caught myself with 37 browser tabs open—all content tools.

My therapist says I have "commitment issues," but I prefer to call it "thorough market research."

Speaking of digital hoarding...

My Personal Content Tool Stack (The Real MVPs)

You ever wake up and realize you're spending more time with your content tools than actual humans? Yeah, me too. Here's the stack that's basically become my digital family at this point:

🔍 Ahrefs

This isn't just a tool—it's my browser's homepage. I practically live inside Ahrefs, using it for:

• Keyword research that doesn't make me question my life choices

• Competitor analysis (aka professional stalking)

• Finding those sweet, sweet content gaps

Pro tip: If Ahrefs isn't your default new tab, are you even serious about SEO?

🧠 Claude & ChatGPT

The AI tag team in my corner. Claude's been stealing the spotlight lately—its writing just hits different. But ChatGPT keeps me coming back with that search functionality and my collection of research prompts.

I use ChatGPT Queue plugin to batch-process research prompts about:

• Industry trends (without the buzzwords)

• Meme-worthy content that won't make Gen Z cringe

• Competitor strategies (again, professional stalking)

📊 SurferSEO

Great for content analysis when you need to know exactly how many times to mention "digital transformation" before Google notices you.

Their AI writing features weren't quite cutting it though, which is literally why I built Penfriend. Sometimes you have to create the tool you wish existed.

💬 Team Slack Channel

Where my team dumps interesting finds, industry gossip, and occasionally useful content ideas. The digital equivalent of "hey, look at this cool thing I found."

With us being all over the world, it’s so help to have something that’s async.

🍇 LowFruits.io

New addition to the family. Helps find those easy-win keywords that even your intern could rank for. Been playing with it lately and genuinely enjoying the results.

✍️ Penfriend.ai

My not-so-secret weapon for content creation that doesn't sound like it was written by a committee of robots. Outside of Inge (the other co-founder of Penfriend), I use Penny the most. I have database access. I have the receipts 🥲 

The Content Creation Flow

For those curious about how these all work together:

1. Ahrefs for finding what to write about

2. LowFruits to identify the quick wins

3. Surfer for understanding what the competition is doing

4. Claude/ChatGPT for research and outlines

5. Penfriend for turning it all into something humans actually want to read

6. Team Slack for validation that I'm not completely off-base

Then it's just a matter of turning one piece of content into a million social posts using AI prompts—because apparently that's what we do now.

This might be something I’m building out in Penfriend. A product to come maybe?

Analytics... Or Something Like It

GA4 continues to be the digital equivalent of trying to assemble IKEA furniture with no instructions. If anyone's figured it out, please send help (or wine).

Your Turn!

I'd love to know: Would you be interested in a deeper dive into this workflow? Which specific tool combinations you'd like to see broken down step by step?

Drop me a line and let me know what parts of this stack you want to hear more about. Or tell me what awesome tools I'm missing out on for distribution (seriously, I need recommendations).

Chat tomorrow, (remember, I’m doing this daily now)

✌️ Tim "Content Tools Go Brrrr" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend

P.S. Got a content tool worth sharing? Send it my way—my collection might be concerning, but at least it's comprehensive!