Content Writing Tips for Beginners

Writing may sound easy but copywriting is another story. This market is extremely competitive, different and producing a text is not enough. If you want to be successful you can’t simply write, there’s a process to it. It should look more or less like this:

Important Tips:

Think of a catchy title and the first sentence.
Plan your introduction - a summary of what the article is going to be about.
Structure the main body of the article.
Think of ways how you want to develop your ideas throughout the text.
Write a conclusion - it’s not the same as the introduction.

Language Skills

Once you’ve created a plan of your article you can start writing keeping certain things in mind, such as...

SEO Factor

The majority of texts today need to be SEO-friendly, therefore a solid understanding of search engine optimization is crucial. You need to learn how to craft perfect headlines, titles, meta descriptions as well as ‘weave’ all the keywords in the text in a natural wayDon’t worry if you’re a beginner. There’s plenty of free tools available on the Internet that can help you with SEO. Besides, as a content writer, you need to be able to find useful information online, which brings us to the next tip. As a writer, you need to pay extra attention to the language you use. Proper grammar, spelling, syntax, punctuation are essential. You need to know how to express your ideas going for the right choice of words. Your writing skills will improve over time and with a lot of training.

Research

Sourcing information has never been easier. You don’t even need to have any knowledge on a particular topic; everything can be found online. That’s why you should be good at researching relevant data on the Internet. There’s one big trap here though - too much information. Narrowing it down to an accurate one is a tough task, you’d feel the temptation of including everything in your text. Don’t! Nobody likes beating around the bush, straight to the point writer.100% Unique. Don’t ever copy anything you found. It’s not only about plagiarism and fines. If your client is looking for an SEO-friendly text for their website, providing them with a copied article may hurt their rank in search engines. That’s the opposite of what they’ve been trying to achieve.

Adjust the Tone and Style of Your Writing

Every client is different and being able to adjust texts for various purposes is your asset. You need to know the target audience and create an article accordingly. Don’t make a mistake of shooting without aiming at anything. Every text has its principles. An encyclopedia entry cannot sound casual, a product description mustn’t be extremely long, and a fiction book editing has to address the story. Always align the tone and style to the target reader.

Use Visuals

A text will look much more attractive if you add a visual element such as a gif, a picture, or an infographic. People react better when there’s something to look at, not just something to read about. Remember to name the visuals you want to use in your text - alt information.

Summarize

Introduction and conclusion are inseparable elements of most texts. You need to be able to differentiate them and write them correctly. It’s not easy to sum up the essence of an article, but it’s a must if you’re a content writer. The aim of an introduction is to grab readers’ attention and persuade them to stay with you and keep reading. Conclusion, on the other hand, is a summary of what you’ve talked about. It should also include a call-to-action part such as a question.

Proofread and Edit

You can’t skip this step. After you’ve written something, you should read it at least twice in search of errors, things that can be improved. There’s always something that needs to be changed in the end. A good practice is to read it out loud. This way you’ll be able to spot more mistakes quicker.