From choosing a movie to utilizing our free time to choose the career of a lifetime, we all are consuming content for everything. There is a small world of marketing that controls our mind subconsciously with its content machine and if you can become a content writer then there is no limit for you to touch the blue skies. Most people start content writing because they love writing but if you don’t love writing, you will fall in love with it at the end of this article.
Before starting the tutorial on how to learn content writing, let’s start with the basics of what is content writing?
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What is Content Writing?
Content writing is formed with two different terms; ‘Content’ & ‘Writing’. Content means to provide value to the user and writing is the expression of information in a written form. Hence content writing is a skill that can be used to provide value to your user to educate, aware, inform, or influence him for marketing purposes.
Types of Content Writing
Content writing is a broad concept, there are a few types of content writing styles that you can confront in your content writing journey.
1. SEO Content writing
SEO content writers do keyword research before writing content. The writer has to be lucid and precise to write any content. These writers are hired to make the content of any website relevant, authoritative, and user-friendly.
2. Blogging
Blogs are a great way to attract traffic to the website. Websites with blogs have more chances to rank on a search engine. Blog writing is slightly more conversational which feels the user more connected with the problem.
3. Copywriting
If you attract the user with a single line then copywriting is for you. Copywriting is done for advertisements, product descriptions, print media, and sales copy. The shorter and crisper it is, the more it will grab the attention of the user.
4. Technical writing
This type of writing is quite intimidating but if you are interested in writing how-to-tutorial, reports, instruction manuals, software documentation then this is the best option for you.
5. Emails
Email writing can also be measured in copywriting because the reason behind most people opening it is the crisper subject line. MNCs hire email writers to write emails related to legalities, sales pitching, and more.
Steps to learn content writing
If you want to learn content writing then there are numerous content writing tips shared by professional content writers, but when you are just starting as a beginner you must have to go with the step-by-step guide on how to learn content writing.
1. Pick Your Niche
Niche is any particular topic you are passionate about. Choosing the appropriate niche should be the first thing to be done before starting writing. Choose the one on which you are enthusiastic about writing for hours with the least research. Here are some examples of niches or topics for content writing.
- Travel
- Health & Fitness
- Cryptocurrency
- Spirituality
- Books & movies
- Digital Marketing
2. Read Daily
Reading is a regular exercise for any content writer that should be done to improve himself in the field of content writing. Reading develops sentence formation capabilities, grammar, and knowledge. The more you read, the more you will understand the variety of perceptions of a similar situation. When you are just starting you can read books, news articles, website blogs, and Twitter threads.
3. Write Persistently
With reading, writing should also be done regularly. It should be made in a process like after reading a particular chapter of a book, write it in your words. Write in a single breath; without doing any corrections in the beginning. Catch the flow and write everything you know about the topic.
4. Work on Grammar & Vocabulary
When you have just completed your flow of writing, now it’s time to make it grammatically correct. As a beginner, you can install Grammarly in your google keyword and chrome extension. Grammarly corrects spellings, suggests sentence-related words, and makes the article error-free.
Content writing is a field that provides an opportunity for every writer to stand out from the crowd with his excellent vocabulary skills. Improve your vocabulary by reading books, playing word games, and using a dictionary.
5. Create your profile
Now you are going well in writing content for yourself. Let it be shared with other people who need it the most. Create your free blog on WordPress in which you can write about the various problems and the solutions people are searching for in the search engine.
There are various freelance content writing platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, People Per Hour, Freelancer, etc, where you can get ample opportunities to showcase your content writing skills.
6. Builds Credibility
There are numerous content writers already working in a market on less payoff with excellent work then why people will recommend you?
Ans: This is where you have to win the trust of your audience. To create your position in the dominating market, you have to give your best in very less payor or maybe in zero. First, give them the reason to choose you then become their only reason of choice.
7. Be a Feedback Seeker
A content writer is always ready to seek feedback from the client. The positive one gives recognition and the negative gives learning. The feedback mechanism maintains the flow of the writer to improve himself more from yesterday.
Mostly in every content writing agency, there is a weekly feedback mechanism which builds trust with the client and a valuable connection.
8. Practice with Patience
The only mantra to achieve growth in content writing is to practice more and more. Practice Reading<Writing<Editing consistently will polish your work and make you an excellent writer. Content writing is a long-term journey where you will achieve small amounts of success and small failures as well but to maintain a balanced mindset is what you need to prosper more.
Content Writing Courses
Even from the step-by-step guide some people still want to learn content writing from the experts. So, there is a list of content writing courses that you can do from the comfort of your home.
1. The Content Writing Course
A 15-hour content writing course by Paul Jenkins includes 26 sections to cover all modules from basic to advanced. Access this course for a lifetime with the certificate of completion. The entire course is available on Udemy.
2. HIIT Content Course
This is a 10-week content writing program with 100% LIVE & Practical Training with weekly assignments. Every completion of the content writing assignment will reward you with a cashback and after program completion, you will receive the blockchain completion certificate.
3. Content Marketing Masterclass
The full-fledged content marketing course will be helpful for you to grow your business which includes content creation, promotion, copywriting, SEO, email marketing, & more. The 4-hour course on Udemy provides lifetime access with a certificate of completion.
4. Ninja Writing: The Four Levels of Writing Mastery
This is another one of the best courses on Udemy which will turn your articles, blogs, content copies into a masterpiece. The 4.5 hours course is highly recommended for beginners.
5. LinkedIn Learning Free Content Writing Course
This is a free content writing course by LinkedIn covering the topics like copywriting, blogging, social media copywriting, and content strategy. The video-based course will reward you with a certificate of excellence which you can use on your LinkedIn profile to attract more employees.
Content Writing Interview Questions
Content writing is booming today, most people are interested in writing for various agencies. To stand out from the crowd you have to understand the approach of experts in writing content and these interview questions will help you with that.
1. How do you create a strategy for new clients?
Ans: By asking this question, HR wants to know how you welcome new clients and for this, you can share this process with him/her.
- Define Marketing Objectives
- Find your buyer’s persona
- Define the tone & positioning of the Brand
- Brainstorm ideas
- Start writing content for them
2. How do you decide the tone for the content?
Ans: The tone of the content depends upon 3 factors.
- Brand personality
- Type of audience
- Type of social media handle
3. Tell me the difference between a blog & article?
Ans: Articles can be written formally to inform the reader more briefly about the subject using deep research, comparisons, and facts. Blogs may or may not be the element of the article, written in an informal manner where a writer can express his personal opinion.
4. What is unique about your style?
Ans: This question is asked with the motive of how you think about yourself as a content writer. You should answer this question soulfully. Here is an example of this answer;
I always write to motivate the user to attempt a call to action and to make it happen, I used to research the type of audience.
5. How do you check your content?
Ans: I usually do these practices.
- Read loudly
- Use content writing tools like Grammarly and Hemingway.
- Read backwardly
- Check paragraph gaps
- · Use spell-check
Conclusion
I hope this blog helped you understand content writing and gave you a clear perspective of how you can start your journey of content writing. This was just the guide to clear your path of content writing but now it’s your turn to give yourself a kickstart.
The best time to start your journey is NOW!
Best of luck!