Improving on a skill is a process that takes place over an entire lifetime. You can never stop improving once you start. The key is perseverance and an attitude to pursue excellence. The same applies to writing and if you know what you need to do, the only step that remains is doing it. For all the content writers who want to improve their content writing skill, we put together a guide to writing better content.
Here’s the TL;DR for all you skimmers:
1. More research and understanding done = More confidence to write.
2. Keep reference books and sites handy = More time to write.
3. Add discipline = Writing is consistently created.
4. Practise writing and editing = Improved work.
5. Make friends with readers = Improved feedback.
6. Step out of comfort zone = Improved state of reality.
Perform In-depth Research
The first thing you want to do is understand what is the kind of work you will be trying to create. You will need to research and find other written work that is similar to what you want to write. Read a lot of it before you feel comfortable with attempting a similar style. Of course, you will also have to research about the topic that you will be writing about but you should not start writing until you are confident that you can create work that meets the same standard.
Keep Reference Books and Tools Handy
So you’ve done your research, you are now ready to begin and then you put your fingers to the keyboard. Words flow smoothly for a while and then suddenly, you stop because you aren’t sure what is the best way to phrase a thought that you want to put. Then you have to go and get a reference book like Wren & Martin or refer to an online source. This will break your flow and might even successfully distract you into wasting a lot more time than you had imagined. Keep your reference websites and books handy so that you only use them for what you need without getting distracted.
Add Discipline To The Process
Many writers claim they have writers block and then don’t write until they feel inspired. While that’s fine for an author with a flexible deadline, you can be better than that. Set a time in the day that you feel is most productive to get writing done. Repeat writing at that time the next day and the day after and so and so forth until you forget what you used to do at that time otherwise. This disciplined approach to your writing will also boost your time management skills in other aspects of your life as well.
Practise Writing and Editing
Writing is a skill and like all skills, you are not going to become good overnight or even after a week. It takes more time than you can estimate to create a piece of writing that pleases most people. However, you need to experiment and create a lot of bad work initially to pave the way for progressively less bad work until it finally becomes something that has improved so tremendously that people start dying for you release something new. To improve a single piece of writing, you need to be willing to complete it then rest and then return to it for editing.
Make Friends With People Who Like To Read
We’re going to make a wild assumption here and guess that you don’t have many friends who read for pleasure. If you do, great. If you don’t, start becoming more pleasant to readers now. They’ll give you a new perspective on your work. Their feedback is important to take your content writing to the next level. If you can get a reader who represents your intended audience to check your work and give you feedback, you will improve faster.
Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable
Content writing forces you to get out of your comfort zone to learn new concepts then write about them. That is something you will have to get used to. You will be spending lots of time reading about topics that you don’t have a lot of interest in but are important to understand. Once you accept this, procrastination will never be something you encounter again.
A bonus tip to content writers is to join a writers group or book club. It’s always fascinating to get more points of view and it’s also helpful to see how pieces of writing are generally received. If you want to be nice to us and to other writers you know, share this blog post with them. If you feel like we missed anything, write to richard@indiefolio.com and let him know that he isn’t as smart as he think he is because he missed out on your valid point.
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