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Learn Content Writing

{Your guide to kickstart content writing}

Authored by:
Ashwini Sah
LearnContentWriting.com

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TABLE OF CONTENT

Introduction

Chapters

1. Career as a content writer

2. Ask yourself: Can you become a content writer?
3. Basics of content writing
4. How to write powerful headlines
5. Learn to make your content perfect
6. Summary

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Introduction
Out of the world’s total population of 7.7 billion people, more than 4.2 billion can be classified as
internet users. That’s a whopping ratio of 55.1%. Considering words as the primary medium of
communication over the internet, around half of the world communicates through each other via
written content.

Content writing is the process of putting words into context in order to communicate ideas and
details over the internet.

Which means, every individual or company that intends to communicate over the internet needs
to hire content writers.

● A website owner needs content to express his ideas

● An online seller needs content to communicate details of the products
● A digital marketing agency needs content to run its campaigns
● An SEO agency needs content to optimize its clients’ website
● Search engines need content to rank a website

As a professional content writer, you can make as much money as any other profession in this
world, you just need to learn the art of selling and scaling yourself.

But before that, you need to learn the art of content writing. And believe me, it’s not as simple as
writing. ‘Writing’ and ‘Content Writing’ are related, yet very different.

So, if you are ready to learn, I am ready to teach you, step-by-step.

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Chapter 1: Career as a content writer
We just discussed how important the role of content is when it comes to growing a business
over the internet. But the irony is, Content writing hasn’t been recognized as a career option by
educational bodies. Due to this, there is no mass production of content writers.

As of now, there exists a huge gap between the demand and supply of content writers. Whether
you are looking to make a career in content writing as a full-timer or freelancer or looking to
create a business out of it, you would be surprised by the world of opportunities that exist.

I would majorly segregate content writing as a career option it into two different choices -
Content writing as a job and Content writing as a business.

Content writing as a job

Full-time job

Most of the companies are now looking to hire dedicated content writers in order to maintain
their online presence. Then there are some companies, which have a completely content-based
business model. E.g. Loan aggregators, mobile comparison website, car buying portals,
entertainment websites etc.

In addition, the thin line between content writing and journalism is also getting blurred with time.
So news agencies, online magazines, publication houses etc. will be as happy to hire a good
content writer.

There also thrives an industry that supports the core internet companies e.g. SEO agencies,
digital marketing agencies etc. Big names of this industry either have their own team of content
writers or they have tie-ups with content writing agencies to fulfil their requirements.

You might need to start as a fresher, but as your skills and experience grow, your income and
position also grow. Plus, a full-time job offers you a sense of security. However, you need to
have a strong profile online in order to pitch yourself for good jobs.

Part-time job / Freelancing

This is, by far, the largest market for content writers. Companies who do not require content on
a consistent basis, small-scale blogs, website and software developers are always on the
lookout of freelance content writers.

Working as a freelance content writer has several benefits. You can do it along with your
existing job. You can choose to work from home or any place you wish. You get to choose your

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working hours and be your own boss. If you choose to work as a full-time freelancer, you can
achieve a good work/life balance.

However, freelancing comes with its own share of limitations. As a freelancer, there will always
be a limitation on how much money you can make since you are the only resource working.
Despite this limitation, freelancing is a great option to choose depending on what are the
priorities of your life.

Content writing as a business

Having your own blog

There are a ton of examples of how people made it big by choosing to blog as a career option. It
takes just 30 minutes to create a blog that can make you millions over time. It’s easy to get
ranked if you can find the appropriate niche and target keywords. Plus, if you do it the right way,
with time your income keeps on increasing and the amount of work you need to do to get things
done keeps decreasing.

Content writing agencies

If you are a good writer who started with freelancing, there would come a time when the work
would be more than what you can handle alone. In that case, you can scale-up to create a
team. By doing this, you can beat the limitation of being a single resource of your business, but
you need to leave the comfort of your home, get a physical office and mentally prepare yourself
to manage a team.

And, there’s a catch. You need to be good, not just in terms of quality of writing, but also in
terms of maintaining consistency and adherence to deadlines. Being an average Joe, you would
keep struggling all your life just to make ends meet.

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That said, whatever you choose, it would come with its own share of pros and cons. But do not
let the cons deter you. As in any field, content writing as a career also has challenges. But if you
are determined and know how to play your cards right, growth is inevitable.

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Chapter 2: Ask yourself: Can you become a content
writer?
Content writing as a career offers a great amount of flexibility. Hence, there has been an influx
of individuals jumping into the bandwagon in recent years. But the sad reality is, only a handful
of them are able to make a sustainable career. Despite having a heavy demand for content
writers in the industry, most of the wannabe writers are never able to make it big.

Reason? They do not possess all the qualities of a good content writer.

The profession of content writing is not just about writing. It's way beyond that. If you are looking
to learn content writing and make a career as a content writer, ask yourself these five questions
first.

1. Can you write error-free?

Pretty basic, huh?

If you cannot write error-free, grammatically correct English (or the language of your
preference), you would never be able to keep your readers engaged. Would you take my posts
seriously if they are full of grammatical errors? No, Right?

When a user reads a piece of content, he/she assumes the creator of the article to be a subject
matter expert. Errors in writing break that assumption, which hits the engagement.

2. Do you understand the meaning and consequences of plagiarism?

Does the word ‘plagiarism’ sound foreign to you? If the answer is yes, then stop right away and
do some research over it. Because this is something that you will need to take care of during the
lifetime of your writing career.

In short, plagiarism refers to copied content. Understand that copying even one sentence
without giving due credit to the original author qualifies for plagiarism, and it’s a crime in the
world of content writing.

3. Can you research a topic you have never heard of and write like an expert on it?

Whether you plan to write for yourself (your own blog, website etc.) or clients, you would often
be needed to write on the topics that you might have never heard of.

Especially, if your client base consists of digital marketing firms or SEO agencies, get ready to
handle a new subject every day.

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Can you handle such a situation?

4. Can you beat procrastination?

Procrastination is the action of delaying or postponing your work because you don’t feel like
doing it right now.

Procrastination is the worst enemy of a content writer, and trust me, every writer faces it sooner
or later.

More than 60% of the content writers do not submit the jobs they pick from the clients. And due
to this, they are never able to retain long-term clients.

So ask yourself, would you be able to beat it when you face it?

5. Can you keep yourself consistent?

Do you know why successful content writers do not need to keep asking for a job every now and
then? Because they have the ability to retain every client with consistency in their quality and
punctuality.

For e.g. my first client, who paid me a dollar for a blog post eight years back, is still my client.
Currently, I bill his company around $ 3k per month. That’s the power of consistency.

Can you offer consistency in terms of quality and timely delivery of content to your clients? If
not, you would never be able to create a scalable business out of it.

If your answer is no for any of the above questions, no need to get disheartened. All the
aforementioned skills can be developed if you are determined and clear about your goals.

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Chapter 3: Basics of content writing
Writing content, and writing content that works are two different things.

This is the first thing you need to keep in your mind if you are looking to make a career in the
field of content writing. The Internet is a mysterious place where things change faster than you
can imagine. How people consume content has changed drastically over the years and so the
algorithms of search engines and social media platforms.

To be honest, there are no blueprints, there cannot be. Everyone writes with a different
objective, different viewpoints and for a different audience. Yet, there are a set of rules, which, if
followed, can make sure that your ‘content’ is indeed the ‘content that works’.

Here’s a step-by-step guide that can bring out the best of your content writing skills.

Step 1: Understanding the type of content

What is it? A blog post, a news article, a tutorial or a web content?

Unless you understand the type and purpose of content that you are going to pen down, you
won’t be able to structure it. When a reader lands on your content, he has a certain idea of what
he is going to read. A user coming from a search engine or social media already gets to read
the title, and that creates a presumption of what’s ahead. That presumption is needed to be
honoured in order to deliver a flawless user experience.

For example, if I click on a news piece of certain product launch, I am expecting a short article
with three major information – How did the launch happen, features of the product, and some
expert’s overview of the product.

Similarly, for an analytical article (e.g. Should you buy the Xyz product?), I expect an
introduction, followed by the expert’s analysis of the product and a conclusive paragraph at the
end.

If I don’t see what I had expected, I will very quickly click the cross button and leave your
website, disappointed.

Step 2: Structuring the content

Structure of content refers to the sequence in which the information will be provided. A
sequence is an order in which the information is being provided. An article should always start
with an introduction. It creates a pitch for what’s ahead in the article and why it’s important for
the readers to read them.

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Once the introduction part is over, you need to provide the relevant information, divided into
headings and subheadings in a proper sequence.

For example, if you are writing web content about Malaysia Tourism, Would you start talking
about the cuisine just after the introduction? No, right? You would talk about the destinations
first, places to visit, activities to do, hotels to stay etc.

Most relevant information should come first. If you are confused about the sequence, put
yourself in shoes of the reader and think what sequence would you have expected.

A proper sequence is very much important to maintain the flow of the article and keep the
readers engaged.

Step 3: Gathering the information

When you have finalised the structure, it’s time to gather the required information.

If, for example, it’s going to be a news article, you need to know when it happened, what has
happened, previous events related to it and how it’s going to make an impact on a certain thing.

For a tutorial article, you first need to know what you are going to teach others. Your article
should cover all the aspects of the subject your tutorial is focussed on.

Similarly, if it’s a web-content, say Malaysia Tourism, you need to collect enough information to
cover all the aspects, and how your website, or product will help.

Step 4: Putting it all together

So when you have both the structure and information finalised, what’s left? Putting them
together.

This is where your creativity comes into the picture. How efficiently you can put the pieces
together makes all the difference. Again, there are a few things you need to keep in mind:

Crispiness: Avoid writing crap, write only what’s needed. If the information can be
communicated in just a few lines, what’s the point of writing long paragraphs on it? It will not add
any value but will degrade the user-friendliness of the article, putting the reader off midway.

Flow: If you are still reading this, congrats, you have read more than a few thousand words. Did
you realise it? If no, thank the flow.

A flawless flow plays a big role in making or breaking the overall user experience. Sequence
(discussed above) plays a big role here. If a user needs to scroll up and down frequently to
make sense out of the information, it results in a bad experience.

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Subsequently, how you structure sentences also makes a difference. Avoid overusing too short
or too long sentences.

Choices of words are all also important. You might be craving to show off your strong
vocabulary, but imagine user reaching out to the dictionary for understanding every sentence,
not good, right?

When you have put all the pieces together, don’t jump to publish, or deliver the article. Take a
break, come back and read it again. Check it for grammatical errors, check it for plagiarism,
make necessary edits, and here you have, an excellent piece of content.

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Chapter 4: How to write powerful headlines
According to the Copyblogger, eight out of 10 users on the internet tend to click on great
headlines, only two out of 10 visit the rest. Putting it simpler, 80% of the internet traffic goes to
articles that have a catchy headline. It takes only seconds for the users to decide whether they
would be clicking on your headline or not. No matter how great your content is, a bad title would
completely ruin it.

However, there’s no ‘One formula fits all’ thing applicable here. For different types of content,
you need to have different approaches. Here are some headline writing tips with examples.

The headline for a news article should be self-explanatory. That said, it should clearly convey
the message or break the news. You can, however, garnish it with more information or your
views on the matter. But make sure it doesn’t become too long.

Example 1: Donald Trump wins the presidential election

Example 2: Donald Trump wins U.S. election in astonishing victory (as CBC reported it)

Example 3: Donald Trump wins presidential election, plunging US into uncertain future (as The
Guardian reported it)

The first example simply breaks the news, the second one adds more information to the matter
i.e. the victory was astonishing, while the third one shows the editor’s viewpoint on the matter.

Points to remember:

● Make sure the headline length is ideal. It should neither be too short, or too long.
● Always use the present tense if the tone is in Active voice
○ e.g. Tesla launches model 3 in two variants, starts at $xxx
● You can, however, use past tense if the tone is in Passive voice
○ e.g. Tesla model 3 launched for $xxx, booking starts next month

For blogs, How-to guides, analytical articles, editorials, listicles and everything else, the
headline should clearly convey the benefit the reader will be getting by viewing the content. How
you convey it, matters a lot.

For How-to guides, directly mentioning the problem that it solves works best. For example,
How to download a YouTube video, or How to get more visitors to your website, directly
conveys the benefit in the most efficient way.

Headlines with a definite number work even better. In case you have more than one solution,
make the title more powerful by mentioning 3 easy ways to download a YouTube video. You
can make it more powerful by using two numbers e.g. 5 ways to increase your website traffic by

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300%. Or, if you are highlighting improvements, use ‘reasons why’ technique e.g. 10 reasons
why your website is not getting more visitors. These headlines get excellent click-through rate
(CTR) when they appear on the search engine result pages (SERPs).

Headlines that build curiosity work best for the social media traffic e.g. Justin Bieber walks to
audience in his concert and does this awesome thing, or, Justin Bieber walks to fans and what
happened next will amaze you.

Headlines that ask question work best for analytical articles. A headline that says, ‘Are we
heading towards an economic recession?’ conveys the message that the author talks about
issues that can take an economy towards a potential recession.

You need to be careful in choosing which technique would work best with your content. Make
sure your content justifies the headline, or else authority of your website might become
questionable with time.

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Chapter 5: Learn to make your content perfect
Perfection in content writing is an art, which can be mastered only if you know how to persuade
it.

Understanding the purpose: Every piece of content has its purpose. A news story informs
about an event, a product description informs about its features and benefits, web content aims
to promote products and services offered by the company, a blog post conveys an idea or
opinion. Understanding the purpose of the content piece you are working on helps you to decide
its structure and tonality.

User-friendliness: Ever thought how many (short or long) articles you read on the web per
day? Or to be more precise, do you read all of those articles, or just skim them?

No matter how interesting your content is, the longer it is, the more chances it has of putting off
the reader midway. The only way to avoid this is to make your content skimmable. You can do it
by formatting the article properly. Use heading, subheadings (H1, H2, H3 and so on), bold
highlights, bulleted lists, images etc.

Don’t write extra-long sentences: You will need to use a combination of long and short
sentences to make your write-up a nice read. But make sure to avoid writing very long
sentences as they make it stressful for the readers to read and understand. Break them into
smaller and simpler sentences.

Keep your writing in context: A good writer sticks to the scope of the subject. While writing
about places to visit in Atlanta, you do not need to waste half of the article in describing the
history of Atlanta. Yes, if the place has a remarkable history, you can mention a line or two, but
you need to keep in mind the context of the article. Similar flow should be maintained with
regards to subheadings as well.

Search engine optimisation: Search Engine Optimisation is an exhaustive topic. However, in

short, there’s one thing that always works i.e. well written, informative articles with target
keywords integrated naturally.

Relevant keywords, preferably with high search volume and low competition, can be found
using the keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, UberSuggest etc.

Use references and stats wherever required: When you talk with numbers in your hand,
people listen. This applies with your content as well. Back your statements with facts and figures
to make your write-up powerful. For example, while talking about the economy, you can mention
data related to growth, employment etc. sourced from reliable reports. Also, don’t forget to give
credit for the information to the original source.

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Never forget to revise: After you have completed the write-up, take a break and revise. You
took hours to write a copy, investing a few more minutes in revision is never a bad idea. You
would be amazed to see how much difference it would make.

In short, revising a write-up does two things - removes grammatical and spelling errors, and
improves the language of the write-up. You can use tools like Grammarly and Hemingway app
to achieve perfection in your writing. Just a word of caution, not all the suggestions provided by
these tools are correct. Use your wisdom and accept only the suggestions that look correct.

Write, don’t rewrite: Many writers have the habit of copying long sentences from other sources
and just rephrasing them. Search engines are too smart to understand this and often penalise
websites which publish such content. It is ok to use other resources to seek information but it is
not ok to copy. Always write original content.

Check for plagiarism: Ideally, if you are using other sources just to seek information, and
writing the content yourself, your write-up should automatically be plagiarism-free. However, it
could be a good practice to check your articles on plagiarism checker tools like Copyscape or
Grammarly Premium. Professional writers follow this habit of providing a plagiarism report along
with their content to the clients. This boosts clients’ confidence in your content and helps with
client retention in the long term.

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Final words - Do’s and Don’ts
Content writing is an art that can be mastered quickly if you know how to do it. In fact, it is more
science than art. There are techniques that need to be followed. Here are a few do’s and don’ts
of content writing that pretty much sums up this tutorial.

Do’s:

● Understand the purpose of your content

● Structure your content wisely
● Use subheadings and bullets to make your content an easy read
● Use images wherever required
● Make it search engine friendly
● Revise before publishing/delivering

Don’ts:

● Don’t go out of context

● Don’t write extra-long statements
● Don’t use complex words/jargons just to sound fancy
● Write original. Don’t copy-paste and rephrase

Start your career as a content writer

Once you have learnt the basics of content writing, it is time to start your career as a content
writer. To give you a head start, I have compiled a list of 25 resources to find content writing
jobs.

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To discuss or ask your queries, connect with the community on Facebook and post there.

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