Do you want to make a career in content writing? It may apparently sound easy, but becoming a successful content writer requires dedication, hard work and most importantly, a passion for your work. Only then can you say – work can really be fun!
In this blog, we are about to cover the qualities of a successful content writer.
Table of Contents
# Master various writing styles
Knowing a wide variety of writing styles and gaining expertise in each one of them can make you a highly sought-after professional. Blogs have a personal and opinionated tone, while service pages need to be crisp and display information about the company and its products. If you are writing news, you should follow the inverted pyramid structure of writing with the most important news at the top and informational paragraphs regarding the news following it. Have you ever written an ad copy? Here, you don’t have to write paragraphs after paragraphs. Just a short and crisp write-up with a persuasive tone can do the work.
# Keep it original
Remember, your reputation as a writer depends on your authentic writing style. Many a writer has lost ground because of plagiarized writing. Imagine what would happen, if your write-ups turned out to be carbon copies of some other written pieces on the Internet. Now, this is nothing unnatural. With so many writers creating content on the same topic, creation of same content is inevitable, even if by accident. The result – your reputation is marred, your employer loses the project and you lose your job.
# Check your write-up for plagiarism
If you want to save your job at the content writing company, you should check your content on an online program to verify, if there is any duplicate content. The program will surf the Internet within seconds to inform you, if your writing is original or a replica. Modify the part which turns out to be a copy of another piece of content.
# Make sure that you have written correctly
On your very first day as a writer,you will be asked to check your copy carefully. It’s not that anyone doubts your writing prowess, but simple grammatical mistakes, typos and contextual mistake are common even among the most experienced writers.
# Be open to feedback
As a learner, it is necessary to embrace any type of feedback you get from your seniors, peers, employer or client. The more you show your urge to learn, the better knowledge you will gain. Even experienced writers embrace feedback from their peers. Remember, you need to write according to the needs of the clients and according to the search pattern of users. If you want to improve your skills as a content writer and increase your reputation, listening to feedback is indeed essential.
# Decide what you want to achieve
Understanding and knowing what you want to accomplish through the content can help you set a tone of writing. Do you want to convince your readers to use the products your client is offering? Do you want to create brand trust or do you want to show your readers how a particular thing works and how using it can help them?
# Write from the viewpoint of your readers
A crucial thing to keep in mind when writing content is what your readers want and what language do they understand. It’s foolish to use industry jargon. You may be an expert, but your readers are not. You need to identify the words your readers can easily understand. Write in a manner, which answers their queries and not in a style which shows how enigmatically you can write.
# Search for keywords
With proper keywords, you can increase the visibility of your write-up. On the other hand, if you just choose a topic randomly and start writing on it, you may not be able to reach out to your readers. Mark my words, even writing needs strategy. And knowing what keywords are typed most by readers can herald the much-awaited success in your career.
# Mold the title according to the content
The title of your content is what attracts your readers in the first place. While being trained in the content writing companyyou have joined, you will learn that the title should be a microcosm of the entire content. Write a different content from what the title promises to deliver and get ready to lose traffic as well as your job.
# Make the title attractive
Yes, we know that your content title is your gateway to success. Design it in such a manner that it shows your readers a solution to their problems. Research has proved that ‘how to’ titles have more visits than any other form of title. This shows that Internet is used by people to know how they can do a particular job. And yes, please make the title clear. You don’t want readers to feel that they are fools, while you bask in the glory of intelligent pun intended writing.
# Take a look at what competitors are doing
When writing about a client, you need to make sure that your content stands up to the market. This can be done by checking out what the competitors of the client are posting. You can also learn who are commenting on their blogs and sharing them. With this knowledge, you can try to approach those who are commenting on the blogs of the rivals of your clients and ask them to comment on your blogs as well.
# Don’t edit while writing
As a professional content writer, you must be aware of the fact that editing is a completely different part in the content creation process.
You write a couple of lines and delete it. You write an entire paragraph and delete it entirely. You then, try to change the title.
Stop immediately.
When you are writing, let your ideas flow, unless you know that you are drifting from the topic. Once, you are done writing, you can move on to the editing part, not before that. If you don’t, you will never get it correct and never complete your work in time.
# Stick to the relevant stuff
If you want to gain ground among readers, you should know how much you should write and where you should draw a line. Yes, we know you can write a book on a topic, but no one wants to know how much you know.
A successful content writer tries to stay active in social media. It’s your task to build audience and connect with industry experts as well as influencers. The more active you are on social media, the more friends you will make and increase the reach of your content. With a long friend list, you will have more people to recommend your content. Want to become a marketing specialist in the content writing company? Be a social butterfly.
# Design it in a legible manner
Of course you are writing for your readers.
Make sure that separate points are written in separate paragraphs and the sub heads are marked with bullet points or hashes. This makes the content worth scanning and a higher number of readers will enjoy reading it.
On the other hand, if you do not add bullet points and sub heads, your content will be nothing short of a boring piece of writing. No one will read it.
As far as comments are concerned, well, you can have a couple of negative views. No traffic and no conversion. Nothing, It would be equal to reaching alone in an empty-battlefield all decked up to prove your bravado.
# Avoid long sentences
Short sentences are easy to write and understand.
You are not creating content for a bunch of intellectuals. You are not preparing a question paper for your English major students. You are creating content for all and anon. Your readers are everyone from children to adults, from the less educated to the highly educated.
So make sure that the sentences are short, so that everyone can understand what you have written and what message you want to convey.
# Use simple English
As a content writer, you should be aware of the importance of simple words and simple meaning. Internet users do not have all the time in their hands while surfing. In fact, you must know that people access the Internet while they are traveling to and from office. Take your own example, how much time do you get for accessing Internet or social media for your personal use while at work? Hardly any, right? The same goes for your readers. Therefore, when they are browsing, they definitely do not care for content with complicated words.
# Write information rich content
Do you not want to establish a name in your niche? In that case, you have to do away with vague content. Readers are always looking for solutions to their problems. With vague and unclear solutions, you cannot go far in assisting them. Therefore, your content should have information mentioned clearly and distinctly.
# Highlight the brand
In some write-ups, you need to show readers how you are better than your rivals. If highlighting the brand is your ultimate motive, you must make a thorough study of the subject, on which you are writing.
Creating generic content literally has no value to your readers. A person checking out your content is already aware of the meaning of the topic. Your association with a good content writing company can teach you that whenever you are writing content, it should not only be detailed and in-depth, but also express how your client does a better job at helping the readers.
# State your opinion
If you are writing a blog, show a bit of yourself. A clear-cut and impersonal tone is basically a recipe to failure. State your opinions and do not feel ashamed to express what you feel. Come on, no one is coming to shoot you, if you express your views.
What is creative writing, if not a reflection of your own thought-process?
# Hit the mark with a controversial viewpoint
If you think that a topic has numerous view points, you can express your own, no matter how controversial it is. The more controversial it gets the better readership and traffic you can get. All you have to do is keep track of the news and tap on a piece of news.
# Do not get distracted
While writing, assign a certain amount of time for checking personal emails, messages and social media networking sites. These claim precious time and you lose the flow of writing. Do not leave a sentence incomplete and manage another task.
Also, as a content writer, you need to complete a sub part and then leave your seat or entertain yourself with minor socializing.
# Read aloud your content
This is probably what decides the response of your readers and whether they will return or not.
Once, you have completed the content and checked it, it is time for some serious investigation. Read the content loudly until you are absolutely comfortable with the tone. If needed, read it several times. If you identify any obstruction in the flow while, reading, immediately correct it.
When you are completely sure that the write-up is smooth and you can read it without stammering, you can submit it without worries.
These were some of the qualities of a successful writer. Practice them and improve your writing skills. With their help, you can become an efficient writer in no time. Your content writing companywill be proud to have an employee like you and will go to any heights to retain you. If you have not yet adopted any of these qualities, do try and let us know how you transform yourself into a dynamic writer.
