9 Best Ways to Improve Your Content Writing Skills

Why does it matter if your content rocks or sucks?

Because content (or rather digital content) literally holds the key to netizens’ hearts.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably interacted with some form of online content or another every single day. So, it won’t come as a surprise when I tell you that an average person interacts with 285 pieces of content daily. That rounds out to 54K words, all vying for reader attention.

While more and more content appears on the web, audiences’ appetites for content are not increasing at the same rate. In fact, it’s more or less static. That’s why nearly 50% of content published lies unused, according to Forrester’s estimates.

It goes without saying that only the best content will be remembered, reshared, and followed. When the competition is so stiff and stakes so high, you can’t afford to take content writing lightly.

Now, you understand why you need to hone your content-writing skills, right?

But how?

Just follow the actionable tips and tricks I’ve explained in this post and watch the likes, comments, and shares on your content multiply.

Let’s get started.

3 Proven Ways to Create Killer Content

It can be heartbreaking to spend hours researching, writing, and promoting content only to see it tank. You’ve probably Googled “how to write content” and found tips like, “Write on unconventional topics.”

But are these kinds of tips actually feasible, given the time constraints that digital-savvy writers face? I doubt it very much.

That’s why I’ve identified three practical and proven tips that anyone can use to skyrocket the success of their content. Here they are:

1. Write on Topics that Interest You and Your Readers

It’s best to write on topics you excel at. Your in-depth knowledge and expertise will shine through in your content and differentiate it from that of your competitors.

I’ll cite myself as an example here. In all humility, I consider myself to be an above-par influencer. That’s why many of my blog posts revolve around influencer marketing, like the one below:

I’m able to provide my readers with insights that I’ve gathered in my two-decade-long career as an influencer. Needless to say, readers can take away a LOT from my posts, which keeps bringing them back for more.

There are other ways of homing in on the right topics.

Such as?

Tap into trending topics. It can be hard to identify topics that are guaranteed to get traction. To eliminate guesswork, you can write on topics that audiences in your niche are liking and sharing. Such topics also have the potential to go viral on social platforms.

You can use tools like Feedly, Google Trends, and BuzzSumo to pick trending topics that you’re interested in. For example, Feedly lets you add your favorite topics/publications and set alerts for trending articles. This way, you can find the sweet spot between you and your audience, topic-wise.

You can also jump onto platforms where your readers hang out and snoop around their feeds. Dig into the questions they are asking on forums like Quora and Reddit. You’ll also get an idea about what kind of content you’re competing with.

Anything else?

If you’re aiming to make it to the social-media Hall of Fame, check out trending topics with social-listening tools like Mention. You’ll find topics that are getting engagement on your target platforms.

Match user intent. Engaging content always measures up to audience expectations. It delivers what it promises. So, if you’re targeting moms-to-be with a nursing guide, ensure that it contains information pertinent to that user group.

To identify your target group’s intent, analyze their keywords and engagement data. Feed the topics you’ve shortlisted into tools like SEMrush. You will understand what kind of content is getting maximum traction for such topics. All you have to do is create better content. Voila!

2. Write Smart

Once you’ve figured out the topics that matter to your audience, you can start writing the content. But creating content from the ground up can be tough and time consuming. As promised, I’m going to share smart ways of creating killer content without breaking a sweat.

Sound good?

Then, follow these two tactics:

Curate Relevant Content

In simple terms, content curation means:

• Source share-worthy external content.
• Add your unique perspective to it.
• Give it a visual makeover.
• Share it as your own, accrediting the original posters.

This is what a curated post looks like:

Content curation takes the grunt work out of writing on unvetted topics. Just be sure to pick high-quality content and adhere to the social etiquettes of reposting.

Repurpose Successful Content

Why create content from scratch when you can simply refurbish your old content that is already successful? Since you’ve already done all the research, why not repackage the content and extract maximum mileage from it? Makes sense to me.

There’s also one more benefit of repurposing content. By presenting the same content in different formats, you can cater to audiences with varied content-consumption preferences.

For instance, if you have a whitepaper with ground-breaking information, you can compile the key points into a crisp infographic to make it more digestible.

Content repurposing is something that experienced writers do all the time since it helps save time, effort, and resources. Plus, it eliminates the risks involved in creating new content. Not only that, it is one of the best hacks to nail content marketing.

3. Dig Deep into Your Topics

When all is said and done, there’s no shortcut to research. Devote extra time to search for compelling examples, stats, talking points, and visuals. It makes a huge difference to your content quality.

Image via Convince and Convert

Talking about authoritative content, case studies and whitepapers deserve a special mention.

Why, you ask?

Three reasons:

Not every writer invests efforts into creating long-form content.

They indicate demonstrable success.

They require in-depth research, backed by verifiable facts and figures.

Every serious content writer should leverage these incredibly powerful content formats. Once you’ve obtained permission from your clients to quote their stories, hire a professional writer who can do justice to your material. Don’t forget to vet writers thoroughly before entrusting your proprietary research to them.

Regarding stats, verify the domain authority (DA) of their sources before linking to them. Alexa’s ranking is a great yardstick to start with. I checked out vocal.media’s ranking on Alexa before submitting this post. Aim for a rank above 5K to secure great backlinks.

4. Write for Digital Audiences

You may be a pro at writing “hard” content, but digital content writing is a different ball game altogether. To ace it, you need to capture the attention of Google crawlers as well as flighty audiences.

How, you ask?

• Use headline analyzers like CoSchedule to pick headlines that stand out in search results and indicate intent accurately.

• Prioritize SEO (search engine optimization) so that your content is indexed for relevant keywords. SEO can get technical for newbies who had better leave it to SEO experts. But if you prefer to be hands-on, check out the search terms your audience is using through tools like AnswerThePublic.

Then, use relevant keywords in your titles, tags, URLs, meta descriptions, and content as naturally as possible.

• Add visuals since they have a high share quotient. While you’re conducting research, visualize how to depict your content in effective formats. GIFs, memes, stock images, infographics, and animations. The list of visuals you can use to enrich and beautify your content is endless. Pick wisely.

• Optimize your content for each target platform separately. Cookie-cutter type content can get lost in overcrowded platforms. For instance, if you’re creating posts for Instagram, make them visual heavy. You can use a free photo editor like Instasize that offers Instagram-style filters and beauty tools. This way, your content matches platform guidelines and audience tastes.

Final Thoughts

I know this comes late, but you REALLY need to write more often to sharpen your writing skills. Psych writer, Malcolm Gladwell, propounded the famous 10000-hour rule in his book Outliers. According to him, you need to put in “10000 hours of deliberate practice” to become an expert in anything. Based on that, you can become a better writer if you practice rigorously.

That’s a lot to chew on, I understand. If you have questions about any of these tips, feel free to write them in the comments below. I’ll get back to you with the answers soon.