Content writing is a profession where people write for specific purposes. Through the contents of their writing, they inform or persuade a particular audience about something that interests them in particular. That’s why they are called content writers.
The content for various purposes is often divided into different categories with specific standards, such as articles, press releases, social media posts, news reports, and speeches. There are several ways to become an excellent content writer; it mostly depends on what one wants to specialize in. However, there are qualities that can be used to determine an excellent content writer from an average one.
For a startup business, for instance, a writer could write about the benefits of its product over the other competing businesses in the industry.
For a construction agency, it could be writing about how business building techniques could solve the various problems faced by people constructing houses and related buildings to ensure quality work and ensure that they last longer.
Classification of content writers
The qualities of excellent content writers can be classified into three: technical writing skills, creativity, and information organization. These three qualities are used in writing an article or blog post and should be considered if you want to give your writing professional content a good first impression.
1) Technical Writing Skills
These skills can be applied to a broad range of fields, such as engineering, business, technology, mathematics, and more. The key tenet of these skills is that they are easy to understand without the need for large text font sizes. They also require sequence-oriented language which makes the reader easily able to follow along with what is being described.
Some examples of technical writing skills are the ability to:
– Explain complicated processes in simple terms.
– Use language that does not require large text font sizes and difficult reading angles.
– Create paragraphs with more than two sentences.
Strong technical writing skills require a higher level of grammatical accuracy, which gives the reader confidence in what is being written.
2) Creativity
This is the type of skill where you can only do so much. If you do not have any creativity or imagination in what you are writing, then it will be obvious to your readers right away. Creative writing is something that requires a very strong imagination.
It is difficult to explain the point of creativity, but it is important to remember that there are writers who have not heard the term before. Therefore, what they are doing may be new and innovative to them, even if you are writing about a topic that is fairly new or well-known.
If you do not have any creativity or imagination in your writing, then you will be at a major disadvantage because your posts will not be unique and will not attract the type of readership you want.
3) Information Organization
This skill requires very focused attention to detail, particularly when organizing information in a way that makes it easier for your readers to understand. This can be done in several ways, such as using bullet points, bolding certain words and phrases, and using large text font sizes so that important information is emphasized in a way that draws the reader’s attention to a specific point.
Information organization requires content writers to have:
– Higher levels of grammatical accuracy.
– Perfect spelling.
– Ability to follow the correct grammar structure for your particular writing type. In this case, blogging or writing for a business website requires different grammatical rules than writing an article for an engineering journal or blog post about technology.
The qualities you need to become an excellent content writer
The best way to become an excellent content writer is to educate oneself by reading a lot of related content. When you come across them, which can be a lot as there is a lot of content on the internet, you could get inspired by them. They could then start writing based on these contents in their own style which often attracts readers.
You should start reading more and writing less. Start by asking yourself how much you enjoy your current job and what kind of content you write for it. If you are really struggling with creating good content, then go back to the basics.
Write a personal essay about something big or small that’s on your mind and then edit it until it’s perfect (in other words — rewrite the hell out of it). This is an insanely good way to practice writing for hours on end without wasting any time tweeting about sports or complaining about work (or whatever people usually do when they’re procrastinating).
An excellent content writer is able to turn content given by others into his own. Excellent content writers are also able to write under a deadline, which is very important at times. The qualities of an excellent content writer are not based on how many articles they could write but more on the quality of their content.
Apart from writing, an excellent content writer must be able to edit the contents they have already written before publishing them online in order that they can meet their required standards and those required by their audience.
6 tips to become a better content writer
If you have ever heard the expression “write what you know”, then take it to heart. It does not mean that you should only write about your mundane job experience or even your life in general. What matters the most is, to be honest with yourself and make sure that the content you write reflects that honesty. Let’s take a look at some tips on how to become a better content writer:
1) Write, rewrite, and rewrite until perfect.
2) Don’t plagiarize or copy anyone else’s work. This includes copying/pasting stuff from Google or online encyclopedias etc.
3) Do not be afraid of writing challenging or controversial topics. Whether it be political commentary, cultural criticism, religious commentary, or anything else, write it down.
4) Keep in mind that writing is not all that easy. If you want to become an excellent content writer, then prepare yourself by keeping up with the industry and studying what your peers are doing. You need to learn the rules, but apply them in your own style and make them work for you. This is how you get ahead in this profession.
5) Multiple choice is not your friend. It’s the enemy! I repeat. Write without the crutch of multiple choice. This is how you learn new things and get ahead. More importantly, this is a great way to express yourself and make your voice heard! That last one was for you to take notes on.
6) Writing with music on or off? Why would anyone ever write with music on? Unless it’s classical or jazz, this will not improve your work at all. On the contrary, it will decrease your productivity significantly because it reflects negatively on your attitude towards writing.
Best of luck!