5 Tips For Content Writing That Shines

5 Tips For Content Writing That Shines

Can you name your favourite content writers? Probably not unless you are one. While not a J. K. Rowling or a Paulo Coelho, a content writer wrote everything you learned through reading. From your Dad’s Eicher city maps to your Mom’s ‘mixie’ manuals. From labels of your keto diet foods to those enviable travel blogs.

Content writing is everywhere. How can you distinguish yourself in this field?

One word: Quality.

If content is king then quality is the queen. To write quality content you need:

Audacity

Charge like a Lion

Content writing is about the target audience. Your target audience has short attention spans with ten others tabs open. Even if you’re writing for the print medium you only have until their next cellphone notification. So be brave. Pen a catchy headline, know your subject and assess buyer persona. Ditch the clichés and write crisply. Brevity is the soul of not just wit but also of the article that gets read.

Versatility

Adapt like a chameleon

Educate yourself on the stylistic differences between infographics, blogs, news articles, ad copies, white papers and landing pages. Try writing in bullet points, standard paragraphs and one-sentence paragraphs. Until you find your niche, and especially if you are a freelance writer, say yes to a range of assignments. Interview experts. Experiment with voice. While a conversational voice can be okay for your colleague’s blog, in your company’s sales pitch it would be frowned upon.

Relevance

Be productive like a cow

Ideation is important to produce the right content for the right audience. Know the brand/website/product/blog you are writing for inside out. Research extensively (include an audit of competitive content). If someone’s paying you per word, they don’t want fluff. If you want credibility, you don’t want fluff.

Once you find your subject and angle, you need analytics. To attract your readership – even through Law of Attraction! – your friend is the search engine. This article’s heading used “Content writing” instead of “Content writers” as the former had higher keyword rankings! SEO trends, on-page coding, social media presence and a basic understanding of marketing are the tools to befriend them. Sign up for online courses on soft skills. Revamp old posts and links. Stay current, stay updated and stay a forever student.

Class

Be elegant like a swan

Feeding an audience doesn’t mean starving your craft. Whether an amateur or professional, obscure or famous, content writer or creative writer, you are a writer. So write with conviction and flair. Use active voice, good grammar and varying sentence structure.

A list of keywords wouldn’t win you clients. Striking a chord would. Enjoy writing for your work reflects your energy. To make a connection you also need to be taken seriously. As Brandeis said, “There is no great writing, only great rewriting.” Proofread soon as you finish and edit after a gap. Get professional help. Run a plagiarism check. Use resources like Dictionary.com, Grammarly and the Thesaurus.

Authenticity

Be unpretentious like a dog

Consider everything but endorse only what you believe in. Get clear on the charges. Discuss deadlines and meet them. Being a good but consistent writer is better than being an excellent but sporadic one. While you may get lucky because of talent, your staying power comes from positive recommendations.

A reader might not pick up their favourite novel every week but they would visit you for your insight, opinion and new articles. That’s the magic of good Content Writing.