How to Improve Your Writing and Actually Get People to Read It

Write for your reader, not yourself

The best way to improve your writing is to start writing for your readers, not yourself. To do this, you need to put on a reader’s hat and think about the problems your readers are facing. What questions are they asking? What problems are they trying to solve? One of the easiest ways to do this is to imagine that your readers are in the same room as you. As you write, talk directly to them, as if they were sitting right in front of you. This will help you to be more empathetic toward your readers, and make your writing more reader-focused. Your readers don’t want to hear about how great you are, they want to learn something that will solve a problem they’re facing.

Step back and look at your writing objectively

When you’re in the middle of a big project, it can be hard to step back and see your writing objectively. However, if you want to improve your writing, you need to evaluate it objectively. One way to do this is to take time out at the end of each writing session and leave your writing for a few hours, or even a day. When you come back to it, you’ll be able to look at your work with a fresh pair of eyes and identify areas that need improving. You can also try reading your writing out loud. This can help you identify issues with your content that you might otherwise miss, such as awkward sentence constructions, which are harder to spot when reading silently.

Don’t be afraid to edit (or replace) bad content

Even if you write the best content in the world, it’ll be a waste of time if you don’t get it published. Similarly, even the most well-written content will never improve if you don’t edit and improve it over time. This is why it’s essential to be unafraid to delete, edit, or even rewrite bad content. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve had that article open, or how much effort you put into it originally; if the content isn’t adding value, delete it. You can always try again later, or write something new.

Similarly, don’t be afraid to edit your existing content. It doesn’t matter how many views or shares you had on an article; if you can make it better, do it. Putting out sub-standard content is a waste of your time and your reader’s time. Sub-standard content is never going to help your readers, and it certainly won’t help you to grow your audience.

Define the core problem your content will solve

Not all content is created equal. Some content solves a problem, while other content is there to provide insight into a solution. The first is more valuable than the second. When creating content, it’s important to define the core problem your content will solve. If your content solves a problem, it’s more likely to be shared, and it’ll be more useful to your readers. To define the core problem your content will solve, think about the questions your readers are facing.

What are they struggling with? What would they like to achieve? What could your content help them with? Once you’ve identified the problem your content will solve, you can work backward to create your headline, sub-headline, and even your content outline.

Estimate how much effort the task will take

To improve your writing, you need to estimate how much effort a particular task will take. This way you’ll be able to prioritize content creation tasks based on how much effort they’ll require. When you clearly know how many hours a particular labor will take, you can also look at your content calendar and see where it might fit in.

Estimating how much effort a task will take is a skill that takes practice, but it’s essential to efficient content creation. To estimate how much effort a task will take, you need to get inside your readers’ heads. Think about the problem they’re facing, and how you intend to solve it. How much research do you need to do for your article? How much time will it take to write? How many people do you need to interview? How long does it take to edit an article?

Final Thought

There’s no doubt that creating great content is an effective way to grow your business. However, you need to put in the effort to create content that people actually want to read. The best way to improve your writing is to write for your readers, step back and look at your writing objectively, and don’t be afraid to edit or replace bad content. Once you’ve done this, you can start to define the core problem your content will solve, and estimate how much effort the task will take. If you do all of this, you can expect to see a significant increase in the quality of your content.