A Few Tips To Help You Excel in Online Content Writing

Why do you think that online content writing is the game changer today? The answer is pretty simple. The content we create online communicates our message, educates the readers, and helps to create an opinion in their mind. To a great extent, it reinforces the recall of the brand and persuades the readers to become a customer. It acts as an influencer online and motivates the readers or customers to go for the purchase of your products and services. High-quality content ( maybe an article, a product description, Social Media Post, or a blog post), is the best thing you can do online to attract clients and create interest in your business and brands.

Content is King – Why and How?

There is a famous saying that “Content is King“.  Have you ever wondered where it is stemmed from?  Well, the quote is by no one else than Mr. Bill Gates, who wrote the essay titled “Content is King†on the Microsoft website. He went on saying “Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcastingâ€. Well, that is the power of content, and Google recognizes that. Leading search engines, including Google, prefer good content to be original, engaging, and actionable, and that answers the question of the readers.

Good content should be unique, concise, grammatically correct, and is appropriately formatted. It is the simple formula for all the aspiring writers who like to make it to the big league of online content writing. A good piece of content appearing online should engage the reader, increase search engine rankings and traffic, and increase the likelihood of quality links from other sites.

Online Content Writing

Most of the writers online are writing for a living (barring a few who are just passionate about it). We write as a freelancer or work for a publisher and agencies or an independent blogger, the parameters to excel is the same. As a good writer, you should know the basics of writing, including the grammar and the composition of the content ( blogs, articles, Essays, PR drafts, and Reports). There is more to online content writing than filling the pages with words. My post will attempt to explain the essential qualities of a good writer for online content writing.

The Art and Science of Online Content Writing – Qualities of Good Content Writers

Writers should be Readers first

If you are excellent readers, (I mean you are passionate about reading), it is a big plus point. Besides adding to your knowledge 360 degrees, it sharpens your grasp on the language, improves vocabulary, and learns more on tonality and applications. It also improves your mental skills, broadens your imagination, and you get to understand more about your audience. As a result, you would evolve as a better writer.

Be a Researcher

Online content writing is a bit different than a fiction story or novel writing. The writers know what they are going to inform the readers through the content, and they require to give a good reason to believe it. Data, historical facts,  infographics add credibility to your content piece, and the readers start looking at you as the authority on the subject. Being authoritative also helps to drive engagement and backlinks, which make your content page performing much better on search engine results pages.

Simplicity, clarity and visual treatment are the Thumb rules.

Great ideas are acceptable but more important is that the content should be easy to read and understood by the readers. Otherwise, all your hard work would go waste. For online content writing, you must keep the following guidelines in mind.

• Avoid using jargons and complex/difficult word in your content. Please do not make your readers open the dictionary now and then. They will stop reading the content and go to some other page.
• Segment your content into headers and sub-headers, and limit your paragraphs to a few sentences. The idea is to bring in more clarity.
• Usage of boldface, italics, and bullet points can serve as visual highlights for critical issues.
• Usage of infographics and impressive visuals brings relief to the readers.

Good Writers serve the Readers, solving their Problems

As “marketing†always try to identify what the consumers want, similarly, a good writer must determine what the readers wish to read, before penning a single line. Online content has to deliver value in terms of solving the reader’s query or problem. The content ought to be compelling enough to get the readers to act on something /call to action.

Give a bit of your Personal Touch.

An essential part of your success story depends on how well you can connect with your readers. Readers should feel that they are reading the story, actually written by someone and not an article generator. It is a pleasure for the audience to go through a lucid tale written in the first and second person, in the active voice. It makes him/her more involved with the content, and there is a better probability, he/she would respond either by commenting, following, or downloading ( call to action).

Learn a bit of Marketing, Digital platforms and media.

A conventional mindset of writing may not be suitable in the digital era. Instead, if you have a little bit of marketing flair, you have more advantages. Marketing mindset makes you well acquainted with the readers (potential customers for brands), their needs and wants. A good understanding of social media helps you to learn and connect with your audience better. Contents that are popular on social media tend to show up as search results on search engines as well. If you are planning a career in the online content writing domain, try to have some basic knowledge on search engine optimization (SEO) as even the best content is worthless if no one can find it on the net.

Wrapping Up

These are the essential qualities you ought to have to make it right. It is now over to you.

Do you agree with the points I have made? What are other attributes do you think essential to excel in content writing? Tell me in your comments?

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