Writing is a dream job for most people, but not for all. Some writers are hired just to write product descriptions for catalogs, and some turn out to be J.K. Rowling or Stephan King. Unfortunately, however, most writers have a better chance of writing product descriptions and web content than of becoming best-selling authors.
While every successful content writer seems to have a privileged life they work remotely, make their schedules themselves, and work as much or as little as they please the majority have a tough time making a living of it. They lack the skills that are necessary to succeed. Because no matter how talented they are, writing skill is simply not enough for success. So, if you want to become a successful content writer, you need a full toolkit of marketable skills and knowledge.
1. Good content writers must be gurus of different writing styles
The reason is that each form of writing has its identical style. News is delivered in AP style, in short, informational paragraphs with the core of the story at the top. Blogging is personable, friendly, and often may be opinionated. Ad copy is brief and influential. White papers are lengthy; they define a problem and provide a solution. Nevertheless, every category is content, and mastering each style makes writers more valuable and in demand.
2. Good content writers don’t pick random subjects
“Ideation” is a marketing industry catchword that describes the creative process of finding a subject, title, and angle to write about; and ideation begins with nothing other than analytics. Most ideation is done as a team, but freelance writers are usually working on their own. This is the reason you should know how professional marketing teams generate ideas. Before doing that, good content writers must:
• Understand their target audience. Marketers name that as creating a “buyer persona.” If you know who will be your readers, you can write what they like to read. You write for your target audience. It’s not for yourself, not for your company, not for your brand.
• Perform keyword research before writing. Writing how-to posts are popular than others because most of the time people search to know how to do something.
• Check out the competition topics have. What successful content are others in the industry sharing? A competitive content audit gives you tons of information. Not just about what your competitors are sharing, but who is linking their content to other content, blogging about that, tweeting that out, and posting it elsewhere.
• Craft a catchy title. After you have the keyword, competitor, and reader familiarity, take your time, choose your subject wisely, and craft a title that will catch readers. The title compels people to read or not to read. The most important words on your post are the title you put and the meta description.
3. Good content writers stay original.
It’s all about your reputation. Every content with your name on it must be original. That gonna sound ridiculous, with thousands of people writing about the same topics, but it’s easier than you think. Every talented writer can bring a unique style, different perception, or luminosity to an overworked subject.
Plagiarized content effects negatively for SEO, is bad for your company, and even worse for yourself. Protect your reputation and your career by taking the necessary precautions. Before you submit your content, always use an online program to check for plagiarism. It’s easy to accidentally duplicate writing.
4. Successful content writers must know SEO, HTML, CSS, and WordPress
Nothing to panic about. You only need to learn the basics. WordPress themes have varying levels of automatic functions, and sometimes it not going to give the output you want. In that case, the only option is to dig into the text/HTML tab and write code to do what you want. It’s worth your time to learn the basics in these.
Updated modern SEO knowledge is also critical. Search engine algorithms change quickly, and you have to keep up. One thing remains the same: High quality is always everyone’s need. If you can write detailed content from a unique perception, that will do the job.
5. Successful content writers are brilliant social media specialists
Name recognition is an important thing. Social media puts everything you need together. Build your audience, meet publishers and talk to industry experts to get knowledge. When your writing is published, it’s just the beginning. The more active you are on social media, the more likely your audience will be to recommend your content. Successful content writers are always active, public, and friendly.
So, think again about it. It’s not about words on paper as soon as “content” is added to “writer.” Content writers are also marketing experts, SEO specialists, on-page coders, and social media experts. With the precise skill set, you’ll succeed like no other.
As CodeHub, we do content writing for websites that meet your expectations, with an attractive style. Let’s work together!