How to Start Content Writing: Tips and Techniques to Be A Content Writer

9 Tips to Start Content Writing from Home for Beginners

Do you want to become a professional content writer? Is writing your passion and any new topic compel you to search and create fresh content on it.

There are people who want to make a living writing, but they don’t know how to become a content writer with no experience.

Lack of knowledge and insufficient writing skills sometimes puts a halt on their dream to become a skilled Content Writer.

Let’s understand how to start content writing from home and become a professional writer.

  • Decide a Niche
  • Research is the Key
  • Let Ideas Pop into your Head
  • Browse the Web to Gather Useful Information
  • Write Informative Content
  • Work on Creating Eye-Catchy Headlines
  • Make First Paragraph Informative & Engaging
  • Keep the Language Simple
  • Always Proofread your Content & Follow 3 Round of Edits
  • Tips to Effective Content Writing

No two content writers are the same; they differ in their writing style and tone.

Some Content Writers are more creative than others, and some find it challenging to write on different topics.

It is important to upgrade your content writing skills regularly. Sometimes, reading other writer’s blogs can significantly help to upskill your knowledge and writing style.

Add ideations to your writeups as it conceptualizes your content and engages the readers.

Remember, with increasing digitalization, there are millions of web content available on every single topic, and you have to make sure that your content stands out.

To write what’s on your mind will not make your content rank on the search engine listings, but if you write what your readers want to read can make a huge difference.

Adding concepts and pairing it with the right marketing strategies can do the trick to some extent.

9 Tips to Become a Content Writer for Beginners

If Content Writing is your passion and you want to turn it to your profession, there are few things that you need to follow.

Decide A Niche

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Even if you are skilled enough to write a perfect piece of content on a multitude of topics, it’s crucial that you identify your niche area first.

Work on finding out what interests you the most and then list down some relevant questions and start writing sample content.

Finding the right niche is important if you want to make content writing your profession. Indeed, you will enjoy writing on the topics that interest you the most.

You can take inspiration from the blogs you read. Develop your own writing style and never try to copy someone else’s style.

Keep the tone of your content engaging to attract more readers towards your blog.

Research is the Key

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You must have seen a piece of well-written content many times. The hidden fact behind such blogs is that they are drafted after a lot of research.

To become a successful web writer, do make a habit of reading as much as you can before you start writing on any topic. 

Once you completed your research and gathered enough material, scrutinize the points to pick the most essential pointers and add new ideas to it.

You can have a look at the relevant reference pages to understand the concept of the topic and get insights into the related information.

Prepare a list of critical pointers as this will help you to frame a full-fledged content on the selected subject.

To develop exceptional Content Writing skills and become a successful writer, you need to stay in research mode round the clock.

Research the topic on a regular basis to substantially increase the quality of your content.

It is the key to achieve success in your professional career if you want to become a content writer and make a living writing.

Let Ideas Pop into your Head

Yes, Content Writing is something that requires a proactive mind paired up with the running fingers on the keyboard.

You will develop this quality once you start researching on an on-going basis.

Remember, Research always ends up with the rise of new ideations, so take the help of a notepad to jot down your ideas and, later on, start framing the content around these ideas.

When you are all set with the new ideas, consider gathering significant points as well as the URLs for reference content.

Your content should precisely reveal the message that you want to convey to the readers.

Browse the Web to Gather Useful Information

Do not limit your research to a single source. In fact, research the web to gather more and more information relevant to the topic that you intend to write.

Many a time, you will notice social media articles or posts pertinent to the proposed topic; do not forget to note down the URL. Paste it alongside your listed ideas.

Add notes to the points and the reference links to describe why and where you want to use these ideas.

When you’re done with the pointers, helping content and reference links, you’re pretty much ready to get started with your first content writing sample. Finally, sit down and start writing content on the selected topic.

You can start framing your content with the information you have collected so far.

But always make sure that your draft appears professional, even if it’s your first attempt. For this, you will need to proofread the material several times.

Write Informative Content

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People usually browse the web to search for information on any particular topic or product.

While writing a piece of content, always stick to the main topic and make sure that the entire writeup revolves around the main subject.

For making the content more informative, it is outstanding to include relevant topics by providing sub-headings. 

If you feel that the content exceeds the stipulated word limit, then continue it in another topic by providing internal links.

If you do so, do not forget to link the content appropriately so that it makes sense.

Do not include irrelevant information to make your content lengthier as it will break the flow of reading.

Be a content writer with a vision. Inform your readers by providing in-depth knowledge about the topic.

Not just unrelated information will make the content boring, but you will also lose your audience.

As there is a lot of content available on the internet, read the first few pages relevant to your topic to see how the writers have explained it.

Later on, add something different to your page to distinguish it from other web contents available on the same topic.

Work on Creating Eye-Catchy Headlines

A headline speaks a lot about the content as well as its quality. If the headline appears attractive, the audience will definitely read the content.

So, work hard on creating headlines that attract readers.

For example, while browsing the web, you may come across an article titled “How to Start Content Writing” then you read another heading that says “5 Tips to Make a Career in Content Writing”. Can you feel the difference?

Both the web articles may contain similar information, but the question is ‘which one would you prefer to read?’ and indeed, the answer is the later one.

The reason behind this selection is the unique title that compels the reader to click this webpage.

The former heading appears quite generic so, possibilities are that it may lack the attention of the audience.

The heading of the posts is the first thing that the potential readers see when they start searching for any topic.

The readers will only click on the title if the heading appears to be appealing to their eyes.

Make First Paragraph Informative & Engaging

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If you want to start a successful career in content writing, you can always put extra emphasis on making the first paragraph of your writeup attractive.

The first paragraph tells the readers if the post is worth reading, or it’s just a waste of time.

Make the initial portion of the content in such a manner that the readers want to learn more about it.

The headline, as well as the initial paragraph, must include a synopsis of the content that is present in the further sections.

For writing a persuasive paragraph, the writer must know its importance.

Write the first paragraph in such a manner that the reader understands what information exists in the upcoming sections.

The first paragraph very much decides if it is useful to read further or not. Certainly, if you want to become a content writer, you will have to excel in whatever you write.  

Keep the Language Simple

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While writing the content on any desired topic, the Content Writers must not show that they are a scholar in that particular subject or language.

The readers are happier to read a piece of content, which is quite simple and straightforward.

Write your content keeping in mind that the readers of all the ages must be able to understand it easily and effortlessly. Use simple English and do not exaggerate while making sentences.

Maintain the consistency of language throughout the writeup. Remember, since we are living in a digital era, people of all ages, regions, styles, and languages browse the internet to search for the information they require.

Do not use complex language or difficult words/ phrases as the readers with very little understanding of the English language may fail to understand it.

Write the article in such a manner that readers would love to come back to your blog time and again.

Always Proofread your Content & Follow 3 Round of Edits

If you want to show your professionalism, follow this professional approach- always apply three rounds of edits to the content.

In the first edit, read the writeup thoroughly and then remove any additional sentence or words you might have added while writing the content.

During the second stage of the edit, focus on noticing the grammar, typos, or punctuation errors.

Keep editing the spelling mistakes or grammatical errors as you move further with the content reading process. Make sure to correct each major or minor mistake during the second round of edit.

In the third round of editing, read the content right from the beginning, and check if any error remains uncorrected. Make sure that the draft is ready to publish and does not include any errors or inconsistencies.

Tips to Effective Content Writing

Now, this is certainly something you must know to satisfy your query on how to start content writing from home as it will help you in the long run.

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Your Content from Beginning to End

Several guidelines help Content Writers to improve their writing skills and make their content look great. These include:

  • Check the format of the introductive paragraph.
  • Analyze the first sentence and determine how it looks like.
  • See the structure of each sentence and the entire article.
  • Analyze the writing style of the writer.
  • See how the topic develops and how the ideas are presented.
  • Identify what the call to action is.

The length & Depth of Content Should Match

Sometimes, you may come across articles that are difficult to read. Have you ever thought about what makes difficulty reading?

Well, there are two reasons due to which the writeup stands unreadable. Either the content is too short and lacks the thorough coverage of the topic, or it is too lengthy and contains irrelevant information.

It’s probably easy to become a content writer if you can easily differentiate between these two aspects.  

•    You can select the length of your content to be short or long; however, ensure that the writeup contains appropriate information as the length of the post allows.

•    The short length articles must include in-depth and advanced level knowledge about the topic.

•  The long writeups can consist of broader information about the subject and can incorporate related topics as well.

There is no such hardcore rule when it comes to the length of the article. However, you may focus on fulfilling the goal of the article, whatever length you select to cover. 

Spend Time on Creating Titles

Yes, this is a golden rule of Content Writing. The writers should spend as much time on creating headlines as they do for the writings.

Sometimes, the most interesting as well as valued content remain unread, just because the readers don’t find its title interesting.

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However, there are some smarter ways to develop headlines that are likely to outshine and perform better on the search engine result pages:

  • How to # (do something exciting or useful)
  • Top # (list of products, celebrities, TV shows, movies, etc.)
  • Why #(something is the way it is)
  • How # (the celebrity or ay personality performs something that readers want to know)
  • Breaking News
  • Interview with # (politician or celebrity)
  • Newsjacking
  • Best of # (type, statement or category)
  • Secrets of # (something that the readers want to know)
  • # of (something exciting or useful)

The First Sentence of the First Paragraph Should Be The Best

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You got only three seconds to persuade your readers to read the whole article.

It is only possible if your readers can relate to the very first sentence of the writeup.

Relate the first sentence with the heading and take the reader towards the main objective of the article in a smooth manner. Keep the tone casual wherever possible.

If you want to craft an irresistible introduction, show your talent in the first paragraph of the article.

Prove your talent in the first 100 to 500 words as it reflects as well as influence the presentation and the primary intent of the content. There are different types of leads that make excellent content.

  • Little-known fact
  • Storytelling in a fascinating manner
  • Breaking News
  • Claiming the exclusiveness (Such that the information provided in the article is exclusive and not available on any other channel)
  • Contrarian viewpoint

Maintain the Trust of Audience

how-to-become-a-content-writer-for-beginners

To keep the integrity of information is essential while writing a piece of content.

Regardless of the topic, you are writing, it is crucial that you maintain the trust of the audience and not create hype.

Keep the audience informed so that they do not feel cheated at any point of time in the content.

If you try to create hype, you will lose the trust of your audience as they may feel manipulated.

Do not hide any facts and actual figures from the audience. Make it your primary duty to write content with the intent to entertain, educate, and inform the audience.

Your content must focus on helping the readers, so make sure to write content only after understanding the core concepts of the project.

Conclusion

You need to have a range of skills as well as dedication towards writing if you want to be a Content Writer. It is an art and a passion.

However, if you’re going to become a professional writer, you can opt for any short-term or long-term content writing courses that are available at various institutes.

Once your Content Writing course completes, you can easily apply for the Content Writer position in IT and Corporate firms.

Besides, you can select to build your career as a freelance content writer where you get the freedom to work from your comfort zone.

All the best in your future endeavours. Happy Writing!

If you find this article informative, please leave a comment below. If you have suggestions for improving this article, I’d love to hear from you.

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