Content Writing 101 — The Ultimate Guide to Starting Your Career as a Writer
By: Sudiksha Ramchandani
Tags: Careers, Freelancing, Content Marketing, Writing

After almost 2 years of working as a Content Writer, I dare to write this blog. Yes, I call it a dare, because I strongly believe in the fact that you cannot teach someone to write. The most important requirement of being a Writer is the thought process. If you can think, you can write. You just have to learn to use the best possible words and techniques to express your thoughts.

In this era of information overload, you will come across a number of tips and tricks to start your career as a Content Writer. However, the key is to narrow it down to the most important ones. In the below read, I will take you through the process of organizing your cluttered thoughts, putting it into beautiful words, and finally admiring your piece of Art. Let’s Start:

Structure it well:

Think of a topic and start writing whatever comes to your mind. Pour your heart out. Sounds about right? I started my writing journey with these principles and I soon realized how incorrect I was. Content Writing is much more than pouring your heart out. A Well written article consists of a structure. Each following line/ Paragraph has to be connected with the previous one. Ever wondered why many successful Copywriters do not succeed as Content Writers? Because irrespective of well-crafted sentences; they fail to establish a connection.

How to write a Well-structured article?

The First and the Foremost step is to Ideate and come up with a topic. Instead of simply Googling your keywords for Topics, ensure you have a good understanding of who you are writing for and who your audience is. Understanding your target audience will make the topic generation process a lot easier.

The next step is to Research. Until and unless you are an industry expert, you are expected to research the topic/product/service you are writing about. Make sure that the sources you are using are credible and trustworthy.

The Final step to structuring your article is planning. Outline the entire article by jotting down subheadings and the most important points you want to talk about. This will not only save you a great deal of time, but also make the writing process smoother.

Write drunk; Edit sober:

While the internet is debating whether Hemingway really quoted this, I personally believe it to be a great piece of advice. Once you have an outline ready, you are less likely to make any structural mistakes. Now, you have the liberty to pen down your wonderful thoughts. Do not worry about any grammatical mistakes that you might make in the process.

Before you hit publish, ensure that you edit your article. Take a short break after you finish writing and then come back for editing. And, if you are not running on strict deadlines, take a day off before editing your article. This way you can look at it from a fresh perspective and find silly mistakes that may ruin your reputation as a writer (Even if they are not intentional).

Keep it simple:

Your Reader will not look through the thesaurus for synonyms. If it is difficult to understand, the bounce rate is sure to go up. Make sure that your article is easy to read without jargon.

Whether you are an aspiring writer or a beginner in this field, following the above rules will help you in writing some great digital content for online readers.