Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
Part of maintaining a successful blog is creating content people can read. It’s not only good for SEO, but it will help determine if visitors come back to your site. Is it possible to use Grammarly with WordPress to accomplish this?
Yes.
In fact, you can use it with the Visual, Text, and Gutenberg editors. This can vastly improve your content overall…even if you just stick with the free version.
Today, I’ll show you how to take advantage of Grammarly in WordPress and how it will help you.
How to Use Grammarly in WordPress to Tighten Up Your Text
When it comes to engaging an audience, having content that is easy to understand while looking professional is key. Because the longer someone spends reading your content, the better it looks to search engines.
In reality, on-page time is one of the most important metrics to keep an eye on in Google Analytics. If you’re a freelance writer, wouldn’t you want to show off your best to prospective clients from your blog?
Even the difference between “your” and “you’re” can determine whether or not you get a new client.
Since WordPress doesn’t have a grammar checker built into the system, it’s best to use something like Grammarly as an add-on to your toolset. Unfortunately, Grammarly doesn’t currently have a plugin in the WordPress repository.
So, how do you use Grammarly in WordPress without a plugin?
1. Creating Your Grammarly Account
Before you can fully use the system, you’ll need to create an account with Grammarly. You can choose the free setup, and it comes with a few features you might appreciate.
For one thing, you have your own dashboard where you can scan documents outside of WordPress. Or, you can scan a doc before adding it as a post. And the free checker is definitely worth the few minutes of your time setting up the free account.
Though, if you plan on writing a lot of content, I’d suggest considering a premium account. People are more likely to trust content if it looks professional.
Best Plagiarism Checker & Proofreader
2. Installing Grammarly for Your Browser
You can install Grammarly for your browser as an extension or add-on. Personally, I use the Grammarly Chrome extension as part of my everyday routine. However, you can also get it for Firefox.
Install Grammarly for Chromeor
Install Grammarly for FirefoxYou can also install it for Safari and Edge. And, it comes with several other integrations and add-ons for software like Word on Mac or Office 365. But today, I’m just going over the best way to use it with WordPress.
The thing to keep in mind, here, is that Grammarly will scan virtually every text-entry field on the Internet. This means it doesn’t just work with WordPress.
You can tighten up your writing in social media, web-based email accounts, digital documents, and much more.
I can’t tell you the number of times that Grammarly fixed issues in my Tweets or Facebook posts.
3a. Grammarly in WordPress Gutenberg
Most newer creators are probably using the Gutenberg editor. It’s the drag-and-drop, block interface when creating posts and pages.
Grammarly will scan through the entire document as you type to show and/or fix spelling mistakes as well as point out grammatical issues.
The Grammarly extension works so well with WordPress Gutenberg that I have my writing team use it when creating content. For one thing, it greatly reduces how many errors I have to fix when work is submitted.
3b. Grammarly in the Visual Editor
If you use the Classic Visual editor, Grammarly will highlight mistakes within your content. It will scan in real time throughout the entire text field. And because the Visual editor is considered one large entry field, it shows results for the piece as a whole.
Because the Chrome extension has a built-in spell checker that auto-corrects misspellings, trying to purposely write a bad piece of text is quite difficult for me.
3c. Grammarly in the Text Editor
The Classic Text editor for WordPress works much the same way as the Visual counterpart. Only in this view, you can easily add HTML coding elements if you prefer to enter them yourself.
Of course, you can also just add a custom HTML block to Gutenberg for the same purpose.
As you can see, Grammarly scans the WordPress Text editor in much the same way as it does for the Visual layout.
4. Scanning and Editing the Text in Grammarly from WordPress
You have two ways to edit the highlighted text from Grammarly. You can either: a) hover your mouse over each word and fix it that way; or b) use the add-on’s own editor.
In this example, I’ll use the add-on editor from WordPress Gutenberg.
Click the colored circle from Grammarly’s scanner. Sometimes it’ll be green, yellow, or red depending on what errors are detected.
This will open a new window containing the block of text.
From here, you get a performance report from Grammarly concerning your corrections, clarity of voice, engagement, delivery, and anything else the program finds.
Once you’re done editing in Grammarly, just close the pop-up window. The text in WordPress will be corrected automatically.
Disabling Grammarly Per Website
One last feature I want to show is disabling Grammarly from WordPress or any other websites you use. This means you can turn it on or off depending on your needs.
Hover your mouse over the Grammarly segment in your text field.
Click the power button icon on the left side.
Choose how you want the tool to behave. Do you want to disable it forever on this particular website, until the next time you visit, or keep it working?
Grammarly will stop scanning text on this particular website.
To re-enable scanning, click the Grammarly icon from your browser shortcuts to open its settings. Then, simply flip the switch for the page to “Check for writing suggestions.”
Why Should You Try Grammarly with WordPress?
Well, first of all, you can create a free account today to give it a try. It costs you perhaps a few seconds of your day to add the extension or plugin to your browser.
Secondly, it does more than just highlight issues it finds within the content.
It’s More Difficult to Edit Your Own Writing
One of the biggest reasons I use Grammarly in WordPress is to find the mistakes that I make. There is no such thing as the perfect writer. All of us will make mistakes; it’s just a degree of how often.
Granted, I don’t make as many errors in my writing as I have in the past. But, sometimes there’ll be a spelling error or improper comma usage.
My point is that it’s easier to gloss over your own mistakes than it is when editing someone else’s writing. This is because your brain is already wired to process the information as you work.
It’s fresh in the mind and you don’t really see every minuscule problem in your text. This is why editing a piece a day or two later often yields mistakes you made. It’s no longer fresh in your mind and your brain picks up on the problems within the text.
This is also why most authors will hire editors before publishing a novel.
Teaches, not Just Corrects
Another one of my favorite features in Grammarly is how it teaches on top of fixes. Instead of just making corrections, the system will show you why the changes are necessary.
And the more you learn, the fewer mistakes you make.
If you use the Grammarly editor on the company website, you’ll get far more information regarding the text. It’s a great way to learn, especially if you’re new to freelance writing or blogging in general.
Improving Skills Over Time
Speaking from personal experience, I know my writing has improved considerably since installing the Grammarly Chrome extension a couple of years ago.
Far less of my text has the red line underneath.
As the saying goes, “Practice makes perfect.” The more of these changes you make, the more integrated they become in your writing. Soon, you’ll be catching your most common errors as you’re writing.
My Own Experiences
Between using Grammarly in WordPress and running the Yoast SEO plugin, I know my content is legible and easy to read. It’s an excellent combination to make sure my writing is where it needs to be for my audience.
But it’s not just me who has seen a boost in performance.
One of my writers started using Grammarly when creating content and it vastly improved his overall skill and knowledge over the last few months. In fact, it’s turned him into one of my better creators.
Not only does his work come out more comprehensible, but I also spend far less time editing.
Are You Going to Give Grammarly in WordPress a Try?
If you’re serious about blogging, or even if you’re using WordPress to write content for your clients as a freelancer, adding Grammarly to your toolset only works to improve your skill.
Visitors, clients, and other professionals take notice when your content is well-written. An investment such as using Grammarly within WordPress will make a difference.
For more information about WordPress or freelance writing, visit WriterSanctuary’s YouTube channel.
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