7 Hacks to Improve Content Writing Skills

Writing is a natural skill. Isn’t it? 

You must have heard this a zillion times. 

But among all the content writers, how can you stand out?

Let me tell you that, we have been writing essays from school days. But this has got us into essay writing mode, which is very boring to read. 

It is not conversational and engaging. 

So how to improve content writing skills and become a better writer? 

Writing is an essential part of every aspect of digital marketing.

Every advertisement or anything related to a product or service is written by a content writer or copywriter.

It can be a blog post marketing a particular product, a product description, a Facebook or Instagram ad, a Podcast script, a Video Script, an E-book, a Broucher. 

It is can be anything under the sky. The sky is limitless.

An important aspect of content writing is not merely writing your thoughts down.

But, it is writing content for a business. Promoting a business via writing a blog, which can be educational, promotional,  informative, persuasive. 

Or it can be an affiliate article or directing the reader to take a particular action. (which by the way is copywriting)

Content Writing has to be strategic. It has to follow the path of an end goal of the business.

If you are going to start your journey of becoming a content writer 

or are a business owner who wants to start a blog or become a blog writer

or want to improve your content or content writing skills, then read along.

7 hacks to improve your content writing skills and become a better content writer

Practice Writing Daily: 

I know this sounds cliche and very basic. But basics only get the foundation right.

Once the foundation is strong, the structure is gonna last long.

Start writing daily. Take it as a writing exercise. The more you do, the better it gets.

First, write in general on any of your favorite topics. But try to keep it related more towards latest business-related ones. Like Influencer Marketing, How to make or cook any cuisine, or travel places in India on budget.

The reason I am telling you to write on the business-related topic is you will think and write like a website owner. Or else if you just pick up your generic topic then it will end up like an essay, which obviously is not the goal of content writing.

Generic topics mean:

Your favorite movie, or your favorite holiday destination, or your daily routine

Business-related means:  

How to do a particular thing like repair something at home,

Or write about a review on your latest purchase

Or talk about the latest trends in your field of interest.

Analyze Your Writing Style:

So, what next after writing daily.

Well, you have to self-analyze your writing style. 

Why should you analyze your writing style?

Because it will help you in understanding the tone of your writing. Whether is engaging, conversational, persuasive, informative, argumentative.

Depending on the kind of topic you write your tone changes.

Now for example for a how-to guide- How to bake a cake in a cooker at home?

You got to understand from the reader’s point as to why will someone google this question? 

Either they are people living alone, or low on budget, or sweet lovers, don’t have an oven at home. 

So while trying you have to give an instructional kind of write-up, which is engaging, conversational, and giving in details everything about the recipe.  

Read it aloud while analyzing. Another tip is that send it across to your friend who will give you honest feedback.

Inculcate Reading Books:

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: Read a lot and Write a lot.” 

– Stephan King

If you want to be a better writer, you gotta read books. 

It’s as simple as that. Nothing dramatic about it. 

So how is reading connected to writing? 

Reading helps us in understanding different styles of writing, different genres, gives us insights, helps in understanding the content, develops empathy and imagination skills, gives new ideas and content.   

So, the more content you consume, the better you write.

It can be any book. One from your favorite author, or a self-help book, or the latest trending book, something related to your niche. 

So get reading!

Improve Grammar Skills 

If you’re a content writer then you will definitely understand the importance of having good grammar. 

Having impeccable grammar is not the need. 

Having basic grammar knowledge is required. Construing proper sentences which are meaningful, easily understandable by a 7th-grade student is essential. Also since content writing is mostly in English, I would advise you to focus more on writing skills in English.

Your aim as a content writer is to write good content which can be easily understood by anyone who comes across your content.

This isn’t a competition where you are being judged for using high grammar and difficult words.

So keep it short and simple. Write in a way that makes sense- in content and context. 

Always write in active voice and write in one tense. 

Write for the Reader:

Always remember, you are writing for a reader.

A reader who is looking out for solutions. 

Make sure your content has an end-to-end solution. Don’t give incomplete solutions.  

It will reduce the reading time, and the reader might click the next link. 

Put yourself in the reader’s mind while writing. Another tip is to search for what the audience will be searching for. 

For example, If you’re writing for gifting options for Men – Best Gifts for Men- Best Gift for Husbands, Best Gift for Boyfriends – Best Gifts for Boys under Rs. 1000/-.

You must have got the flow. 

This brings me to the next hack

SEO Optimised Content Writing

What is SEO?

It is Search Engine Optimization. Writing keyword-optimized content for the users on the search engines. 

It helps to rank better on Google i.e. SERPs.

Now, SEO-based content writing is one step ahead of simple writing. 

You have to do keyword research. Find out the phrases that readers are using to look for solutions on search engines. 

You have to use those keywords in your content naturally and strategically. Don’t overstuff your content with keywords, it will give the user a bad experience.

Read this to know more about keyword research.

Learn How to Research: 

One of the least talked about is how to do a google search. 

Understand that you are not an expert. You will not have the best knowledge of everything. You will have to look out for genuine and good content. 

This is where research skills play a role. Fact-checking data, statistics, checking the authenticity of write-up matters.

It will help you in writing better content and further help in becoming a good content writer.

Use of Writing Tools:

Why use writing tools?

It will help to further improve your writing, help in grammatical errors, check redundancy, spellings, word count, etc 

Every content writer uses writing tools. It’s not because they don’t know to write. But it helps in the quality of writing and also reduces time in editing. 

It brings clarity in words and improves readability. 

Most of the tools available are online and are free to use. 

There are paid versions also which offer more add-on benefits. But to start off, basic free versions will do the job. 

Resources to improve content writing are:

Grammarly: for the grammar check, tone writing, using longer and difficult sentences, gives suggestions to improve writing, plagiarism check (paid version) 

Hemingway Editor helps in improving the readability of the content.

Co-schedule Headline analyzer: Checks your headline and gives you a headline score

Word Counter: To check the number of words.

Thesaurus: for a wide variety of similar and opposite words

Small Seo Tools, Duplichecker: to check plagiarism content

Conclusion: 

Content Writing is one of the upcoming professions as a freelancer. It is important to understand that content writing seems easy but isn’t that simple.

But, it is possible to practice and get better. 

If you are naturally skilled, then that’s good.

If you aren’t naturally skilled, you get to hone your skills. Nothing is impossible and nothing is difficult. Join like-minded people and writing communities that help you stay connected with writing and grow better as a writer.