WebTextTool (now TextMetrics) is a fantastic tool for analyzing written content intended for either or both online or print publishing
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
First off, WebTextTool rebranded and changed its name to TextMetrics about half a year ago. It's the same product, but the new name better describes what the tool does. Currently, I am the only one using WedTextTool (TextMetrics), and I use it for every news item or blog post for our website and any articles or content I write for outside publications as well. I try not to publish anything (either online or in print) without running it through WedTextTool (TextMetrics) first. It's a super-objective "editor" that looks for the things the internet needs that a human editor doesn't or can't look for because it's all based on algorithms.
Pros
- WebTextTool (TextMetrics) expertly assesses the text and, just as importantly importantly, the FORMAT of the content for SEO effectiveness and advises on what to do to make it more effective.
- WebTextTool (TextMetrics) assesses and ranks your content's readability level with actionable recommendations.
- WebTextTool (TextMetrics) provides feedback and recommendations on other factors such as target audience (leaning towards any one particular gender), credibility (adjective usage), and sentiment (negative, positive, or neutral).
Cons
- WebTextTool (TextMetrics) assumes that each uploaded or typed in the article is intended for online publishing, mostly in a blog type environment. While this is a perfectly understandable assumption in this day and age, it shouldn't be so difficult to ask the question of whether the content is intended for online or print media.
- The "Credibility" section tends to be a little too harsh for my taste. Depending on the style of writing and the type of content, "too many adjectives" is too subjective a metric to apply to all writing ( still, I do get why they try to do it).
- This is a little nitpicky, but I'd prefer to see how many projects and credits I have left to use on the dashboard page as opposed to having to click over to my account. A dashboard should show everything that a user needs to see in one shot.
Likelihood to Recommend
I honestly can't think of a scenario where WebTextTool (TextMetrics) would not be valuable for anyone writing content intended for publishing either online or in print media. If the intent is for print media, then even if you completely ignore the SEO section of the analysis, all of the other analysis tools intended for content are incredibly insightful and helpful. These days, even print media almost always ends up online in some form or another on the publisher's website or in a digital format of the publication. So the SEO tools can still give a little boost in reworking or rewording some parts to make sure they will be effective not only in print but online as well.
