Great content forms the core of every successful marketing strategy.
From bootstrapped startups to established brands, every business needs eye-catching content to attract its target audience and drive conversions.
It is only natural that there has been a remarkable surge in the demand for proficient content writers in recent years.
So, if you have been contemplating taking up writing as a full-time profession, now is the right time.
You can choose from a wide variety of content writing jobs including blogging, ghostwriting, web content writing, and digital copywriting.
And the best part?
You can simultaneously work with numerous clients from all over the world.
But there are a few drawbacks, for sure.
The charm of being a content writer has also resulted in stiff competition in the industry.
If you want to make your mark and attract high-paying clients, you must exhibit best-in-class writing skills.
It took me well over 2 years to start getting well-paying freelance writing gigs.
What’s more?
Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced writer, you need to constantly upgrade your knowledge and skills.
Why you might ask?
It’s because the industry keeps moving swiftly.
Nonetheless, some of the most basic practices remain the same.
That’s why I have curated a list of the best tried-and-tested content writing tips for beginners as well as professional writers.
So, let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Top Content Writing Tips for Beginners
If you’re an experienced writer, you can skip this section by clicking here.
Here is the thing — most people perceive content writing as a cakewalk because it accepts anyone and everyone.
They often think that anyone with average writing skills can become a successful content writer.
But let me spell it out for you — that’s not the case.
If you want to build a rock-solid writing career, you must adhere to the latest industry trends and best practices.
It’s also critical that you have a solid grasp over your language. Poor language will get you nowhere.
What’s more?
It’s also crucial to use a systematic approach for every project.
That said, if you’re a beginner, and have been wondering how to write great content, take a look at some of the most effective content writing tips below:
1. Prioritize Research
You can’t write great content without adequate research. Period.
Whether you’re writing a short 500-word blog post or a detailed 5,000-word guide, you must have a deep understanding of the topic.
Why’s that, though?
If you don’t have a strong grasp over the subject, you will fail to hold your readers’ attention. That’s because your content will lack substance and won’t be able to add any value to your readers.
So, how can you do that?
You should look for credible and authoritative sources in the niche and read a plethora of articles, e-books, blogs, etc. related to the subject.
And that’s not all.
You should also identify relevant examples, case studies, and statistics that can be included in your content.
Whenever you add a case study, statistic, or an example, try to link to the original source. This can drastically improve your content’s credibility.
Run a Google search for images, videos, and other media assets that will enhance your content.
Make sure you provide due credit to any media that you use and link to its original source as well.
It’s equally important to organize your research using an app like Evernote or Google Docs.
Image via Evernote
2. Identify a Unique Angle
The growing popularity of content marketing has resulted in the creation of a cornucopia of content on the internet.
Irrespective of the topic and the niche you select, there likely exist numerous related blog posts, videos, ebooks, whitepapers, podcasts, etc.
In such a scenario, it is natural to wonder how to write content that grabs eyeballs.
So, how can you get your content to stand out?
The solution is to give your unique spin to every topic.
Start by running a Google search for a given topic.
Analyze the top-ranking blog posts, e-books, ultimate guides, etc. and look out for any gaps in their content.
While some articles would lack useful examples, others might miss out on credible statistics and references.
If you want your content to resonate with your audience, you must address these gaps.
What’s more?
You need to try and create a resource that’s more valuable for your audience than the existing ones. So, try to make your content as comprehensive as possible.
3. Know Your Audience
The most important thing that you need to remember as a content writer is that you write for your audience.
If you don’t know your audience well, you’ll end up nowhere.
So, if you want to publish content that immediately strikes a chord with your audience and compels them to share it in their networks, you must know them well.
It’s critical to understand their pain points, struggles, ambitions, and dreams.
Make sure you identify the questions your audience is most likely to ask and the problems they often encounter.
Why are these important, you might ask?
These are the questions and problems that you need to address in your content to make it engaging, relevant, and meaningful.
If your readers derive value from your content, they will likely share it with others and will spend time reading it too.
To figure out your target audience, you need to first look at your niche.
Post that, you need to find out who might be interested in reading the content that you’re writing. For this, you need to find the intent behind the searches.
When you know the user intent, you’ll be better placed to figure out who your target audience is.
For example, this blog post deals with the best content writing tips.
That makes it clear that my target audience for this post is comprising content writers who are looking to begin their careers or improve their skills.
Note how the content of this post addresses both these issues at hand.
4. Find Your Voice
You can’t become a stellar content writer without developing a unique writing style.
It can go a long way to help your work stand out in the sea of mediocre and run-of-the-mill content.
While it will take time to find and hone your style, you must start working on it right from your first assignment.
Remember, it’s your uniqueness that will help you make a mark in the field.
It is also crucial to keep your target audience in mind while nurturing your style and tone.
For instance, a friendly and humorous tone will help grab the attention of millennials and Gen Z.
However, if you want to reach out to senior-level decision-makers, a formal and authoritative tone may be more suitable.
5. Start with an Outline
This is one of the most useful content writing tips for beginners. Actually, it’s helpful for all writers.
Irrespective of the length, type, and niche of your content, you must create a lucid outline before you start writing.
But why is this important?
Otherwise, you will likely end up missing out on certain important aspects of the topic.
What’s more?
If you’re writing long-form content, breaking it down into different subheadings using an outline will equip you better to write it.
So, how can you create a content outline?
- Start by breaking the topic into various sub-topics and further divide the sub-topics into key pointers.
- Include an introduction and a conclusion.
- Assign the target length and write a brief description of what is to be covered in each section.
- Mention whether a specific section needs to include any examples, case studies, images, etc.
Here’s an example:
So, now that I’ve covered the basic content writing tips, let’s take a look at some tips related to content writing and SEO.
SEO Content Writing Tips
In the subsequent sections, we’ll take a look at a few practical SEO content writing tips.
6. Know Your Keywords
Style, quality, and structure won’t make any difference if your content doesn’t make it to the top of relevant search engine results.
And if your content doesn’t rank well on search engines, your target audience will likely never discover it.
This is particularly crucial when you’re writing content for web pages and blogs.
So, what’s the way out?
The solution is to identify the most popular and relevant keywords that are related to a given topic.
You can use free keyword research tools such as Google Keyword Planner and Ubersuggest for this purpose.
However, to get an in-depth look into each keyword, I recommend using SEMrush. It shows you the keyword volume, traffic from different locations, keyword difficulty, and so much more.
Image via SEMrush
If your client has already provided you with a set of target keywords, look for relevant variations and long-tail keywords.
Run a quick Google search for a target keyword and take a look at the “Searches related to” section for keyword ideas.
Image via Google
7. Follow SEO Best Practices
If you are a beginner, you will find it difficult to resist the temptation of flooding your keyword with the target keywords.
After all, a higher keyword density will likely improve the search engine ranking of your content, right?
Unfortunately, keyword stuffing is perceived as a black hat SEO tactic by search engines.
It will, therefore, adversely affect your content and might get it banned from search results altogether.
In fact, Google is prioritizing the content quality and user intent over keywords.
That’s why one of the most important SEO writing tips is to avoid keyword stuffing at all costs.
Instead, you should use the target keyword and its variations only when they organically fit into your content.
The key is to ensure that human readers can easily read and comprehend your content.
Remember, you need to write for humans and NOT for search engines.
You should, however, remember that keywords help search engine spiders understand what your content is about, so don’t neglect them.
It’s essential to add your target keyword into your meta title, meta description, and URL.
Image via Google
Additionally, you should try to include your target keywords in the following sections:
- Introduction
- Conclusion
- Subheadings
- Page title
- Alt text of images
Content Writing Tips to Enhance Readability
Next, let’s take a look at effective content writing tips that will improve the readability of your content.
8. Use Short Paragraphs
If your content looks like an endless wall of text, it won’t retain the attention of your readers.
You have to understand that most people use their smartphones or tablets to read any type of content.
What does this mean?
Each sentence on your desktop will be equal to two or three sentences on smartphones. Long sentences and paragraphs might appear as a big chunk of text.
That’s why you should break your content into concise paragraphs containing a maximum of three sentences each.
And that’s not it.
You should also avoid using lengthy sentences that contain more than 20-25 words. Shorter sentences are easier for the readers to understand.
Good content is one that can be understood by every one; even those who have basic language proficiency.
9. Use Meaningful Subheadings
One of the simplest ways of improving readability is to group related paragraphs under meaningful subheadings.
This ensures that your blog post wouldn’t appear to be a massive wall of text.
What’s more?
It facilitates scannability and helps readers scroll to relevant sections of your content.
Note how I’ve split this post into multiple sections, even among the tips. Additionally, I’ve added a table of contents at the top to make it easy for you to navigate to any part of the post.
This, in turn, goes a long way to improve audience engagement and retention.
And, oh yes.
Don’t forget to include your target keyword in the subheadings whenever appropriate.
10. Include Lists & Pointers
You should always look for opportunities to add relevant bullet points and lists into your content.
But why?
- It helps readers easily scroll through your content and locate the right information.
- It also breaks the monotony of paragraphs and helps retain the attention of your readers.
(See what I did there? 😃)
11. Make it Actionable
Do you want your audience to become passive readers of your content? Or do you want them to remain hooked to your content?
I’m sure you want it to be the latter. To accomplish that, you should avoid the use of passive voice.
However, you can use the passive voice in certain cases such as when you want to convey the effect of a particular action.
What’s more?
You should use a balanced mix of simple and exciting verbs to create diversity in your content.
For instance, instead of writing “increase revenue”, you can use “boost revenue” or “skyrocket revenue.”
The idea is to motivate and inspire your readers through your choice of words to immediately take the desired action.
It’s also necessary to talk to your readers. Make sure your content is directed towards them. Note how I use “you” when referring to you, my readers.
Lastly, remember that your content must provide actionable tips. Explain things such that your readers can implement whatever you’ve explained with ease.
12. Don’t Complicate Things
Content writing isn’t the right avenue to showcase your high-sounding vocabulary.
Avoid the unnecessary use of obsolete or flowery words and phrases that will require your reader to sit with a dictionary.
So, what should you do?
Instead, use simple words and sentences to ensure that even a novice can understand your content.
However, you should include synonyms of commonly used words to create a sense of variety.
You can use tools such as Grammarly to figure out how simple your content is. Note how this very blog post is written such that even 13-year-olds can understand it.
Image via Grammarly
Content Writing Tips to Amplify Engagement
The next set of content writing tips are aimed at making your content more engaging and valuable.
13. Craft a Captivating Introduction
Nothing drives potential readers away faster than a dull and boring introduction.
You must give your audience a compelling reason to spend their time reading your content.
And the best way of accomplishing this is to write an outstanding introduction that gives your readers an exciting glimpse of what’s in store.
Remember, your audience will take only a few seconds to decide if they want to read your post or not.
How can you write a good introduction?
- Make sure the first sentence is spellbinding and immediately sets the tone for the rest of the content.
- Try using a conversational tone and various questions to make the introduction more engaging.
- Avoid including links to any references early on in the introduction.
- Restrict its length depending on the total word count of your content. For instance, a 150 to 200-word introduction works well for an overall length of 2500 to 3000 words.
For instance, the introduction of this blog post is 225 words and the post is well over 4000-words long.
Image via Grammarly
14. Include Examples & Facts
Content writing isn’t about making tall claims without substantial proof.
Instead, you should stick to factual, verified, and trustworthy information.
Even if you state your opinion or draw any inferences, you should accompany them with concrete examples and data.
Don’t forget to include links to reputed sources from where you’ve picked your data too.
What’s more?
If you do have some personal experience that’s relevant to the content, make sure you share it as well.
This will be instrumental in establishing your credibility as a content writer.
Your readers will also derive additional value from your content and might recommend it to others.
And that’s not all.
When you include links to other people’s content, they might reward you with a backlink.
This, in turn, will improve the search engine ranking of the corresponding web page/blog post.
I regularly add examples and statistics to my posts to increase the value that they provide to you, my readers. The below image is from my blog post “How to Become a Content Writer.”
15. Add Images & Videos
Media is far more engaging than text. In fact, people are twice more likely to share videos than other forms of content.
And that’s not all.
When people want to learn about products or services, about 66% of them prefer videos. On the other hand, only 18% of people prefer text-based content.
So, what should you do?
Break the monotony of text-based content with relevant high-quality images, infographics, videos, GIFs, and other visual content.
It helps enhance the visual appeal of your content and is particularly crucial for lengthy blog posts and e-books, such as this one.
What’s more?
These visual aids supplement your content by effortlessly conveying crucial information.
This, in turn, helps improve readability and engagement.
Like always, don’t forget to credit the sources of all images, videos, and other media you use in your content.
Also, when you add images to your content, do add descriptive filenames and keyword-rich alt text. These can help with your image SEO.
The alt text is displayed when your image can’t load. So make sure it describes what’s there in the photo. For example, see how I’ve added the alt text below:
16. Don’t Forget the Conclusion
The conclusion is often the most ignored part of content writing. In my career, I’ve come across so many writers who skip conclusions altogether.
If you’re one of them, STOP right there.
A weak and uninspiring conclusion won’t encourage your readers to come back for more content.
Make it exceptional by going beyond summarizing whatever you have written.
Outline the most important takeaways and provide a sneak-peak of what more they can expect from you.
You can also list a few useful resources for further reading.
Lastly, you must add a call-to-action (CTA) at the end of the post that asks your readers to take some action.
This could be something as simple as commenting on your post.
Moreover, you should ensure that the conclusion is of optimal length. Ideally, for a 3,000-word blog post, the conclusion should be between 150 and 200 words.
Here’s a powerful conclusion from one of Brian Dean’s blog posts on Backlinko:
Image via Backlinko
17. Include an Irresistible CTA
What action do you want your audience to take after reading your content?
Do you want them to sign-up for your mailing list or register for a webinar? Or do you want them to listen to your latest podcast episode?
Perhaps you want them to check out and purchase a newly launched product?
Here’s the thing — your readers won’t take the desired action unless you explicitly ask them to do so.
That’s why you should always use powerful and eye-catching calls-to-action (CTAs) at the end of your content.
Keep it crisp, simple, and easy to understand. Moreover, you should ensure that the CTA aligns with your end goals.
My goal is to engage my readers, so I encourage everyone to ask their questions in the comments.
18. Surprise Your Readers
If you want to build a loyal community of readers, you must exceed their expectations.
The best way of doing this is to provide them with additional value in the form of free resources.
For instance, you can include the link to a relevant and resourceful e-book or podcast.
Alternatively, you can include links to free infographics, content calendar templates, keyword research tools, etc.
19. Draft a Hypnotic Title
The title of your content is the first point of contact with your audience.
If it fails to impress your readers, they won’t click on it, especially when they’re searching for content on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs).
This is particularly crucial considering the over-abundance of content floating around on the internet.
So, how do you ensure that your title stands out from the crowd?
The key is to pique your readers’ curiosity by promising something exclusive, valuable, or irresistible.
However, you must avoid clickbait titles that mislead your audience.
What’s more?
Make sure the title is easy to read and understand and clearly conveys what the content is about.
Additionally, you should try to include the target keyword in it, provided it is an organic fit.
Let’s say you’re writing a blog post on “influencer marketing tips”. Here are a few powerful titles:
- Top 15 Influencer Marketing Tips for 2020
- Best of Influencer Marketing Tips in 2020
- How to Create a Rock-Solid Influencer Marketing Campaign
- Everything You Need to Know About Influencer Marketing in 2020
- The Secret to Building a Result-Oriented Influencer Marketing Strategy
20. Prioritize Value Over Length
Keep your content to the point and relevant to the topic.
Don’t add unrelated sections and examples for the sake of increasing its length.
While studies do state that longer blog posts tend to perform well, you need to remember that the value that your content offers is important too.
Image via SEMrush
A 3000-word post that’s filled with fluff will never be able to engage the readers.
So, when you’re increasing your word count, make sure that you’re adding value too.
Every sentence and paragraph should amplify the overall value of your content.
While search engines tend to prefer lengthier blog posts, your content should justify its length.
Miscellaneous Content Writing Tips
Now that you have a deeper understanding of how to write great content, you must be excited to get into the action. Before you start writing, take a look at a few more helpful content writing tips:
21. Don’t Forget to Proofread
Incorrect grammar and spelling mistakes are some of the biggest turn-offs for readers.
Irrespective of the niche and length of your content, you must ensure that it is free of any spelling and grammatical errors.
Use a tool like Grammarly and ProWritingAid to easily proofread your content.
What’s more?
You should reread your content after you finish writing to ensure that it aligns with your topic and goals.
The content must also flow well, so make sure you add enough fillers and bucket brigades to keep the tone conversational.
However, you must resist the urge to edit while writing.
Lastly, make sure that your content isn’t plagiarised at ALL COSTS.
You should use free online tools like Quetext to check for plagiarism. However, for better results, I recommend using Copyscape or Grammarly Plagiarism Checker.
Image via Grammarly
22. Update Your Content
Depending on the niche and topic, you’ll need to regularly update your content.
Replace outdated data, case studies, examples, infographics, etc. with the most recent ones.
You can even add a few additional pointers or paragraphs to further improve the content.
Additionally, you should check whether all the links in your content are still functional and replace broken links.
Doing so can improve the overall experience of your readers and may also help with your SEO as freshness of the content is a ranking parameter.
23. Keep Reading
You can’t become an awesome content writer without staying abreast of the latest trends and developments in your niche.
Make sure you regularly check authoritative blogs and industry news.
Additionally, you should follow their social media profiles to stay up-to-date.
Remember, you can only write good content when you are thoroughly knowledgable and updated on the topic.
In fact, I’ve gained all my digital marketing knowledge only through reading so that I can write good content.
24. Learn Allied Skills
As a content writer, you should have a working knowledge of different verticals of digital marketing and web development. Here are a few useful skills and tools you should consider pursuing:
- Search engine optimization: SEMrush, Ahrefs, KWFinder
- Social media marketing: Buffer, Hootsuite
- Digital advertising: Google Ads, Facebook Ads Manager
- Web design and development: WordPress, Elementor
- Graphic designing: Canva, Venngage
- Animation: Animaker, Animoto
- Video production: Canva, Lumen5
While these skills aren’t mandatory for content writers, they can go a long way to fetch you high-paying clients.
What’s more?
You can become a one-stop destination for all the digital marketing-related needs of a client.
Additionally, these skills will come in handy if you intend to build your own website or launch your blog in the future.
Final Thoughts
Content writing is a rewarding and fulfilling profession. However, it can be an extremely competitive industry, particularly for beginners.
That’s why you need a list of the best content writing tips to help hone your skills and attract more paying clients.
Instead of jumping right in to start writing, you should invest adequate time for research.
Additionally, you must ensure that your content is well-structured and free from any grammatical and spelling errors. It must also be unique and non-plagiarized.
Lastly, it’s also essential to adhere to do SEO content writing well by following the standard SEO best practices.
Do you have any questions related to the content writing tips mentioned above, or content writing, in general? Please ask them in the comments below. I will answer all your questions there. 😃