5 Insanely Simple Writing Tips You Need to Know
By: Jon Peters
Tags: Self Improvement, Writer, Creativity, Writing, Advice

5 Insanely Simple Writing Tips You Need to Know

Giving you the tools to elevate your writing to the next level

Photo by James Pond on Unsplash

If you’re reading this, you’re probably a writer who’s looking to improve their craft. You may write solely in your private journal, or you might have your own blog with 100,000 subscribers. My point is, no matter how long you’ve been writing, wherever you are in your own writing journey — none of us are perfect, and there is always more to learn.

And today is your lucky day.

“But why?” I hear you ask.

Because, dear reader, I’ve have put together a list of the only writing tips you’ll ever need. This right here is the crème de la crème of writing advice. At least I think so anyway. You may read it and think I’m barking mad. Hopefully not, but stranger things have happened.

Still here? Fantastic, let’s begin.

1) Provide value to your readers

I want my work to be read. You probably do too. I write because I believe I have something worth writing about, and I hope that my words can be of value to my readers.

You clicked on this article for writing advice. If you’d opened this page and found an article discussing LeBron James’ career or recipes for the perfect Philly Cheesesteak, you’d be disappointed.

Your words should provide readers with value. They should finish reading your words and feel something. Whether you’ve just given tips on how they can make more money, or how they can avoid feeling stressed first thing in the morning, your words should leave your readers with a clear takeaway that they can easily implement into their own lives.

Whatever your message, make it clear, make it valuable, and above all, make it for the reader.

2) Keep it simple

Unless the title of your article is ’10 Words That Nobody Else Will Understand (But You’ll Sound Super Smart),’ do us all a favor and put the thesaurus away.

We’re not reading your articles so that you can elucidate something to me — explaining it will do just fine. Deciding to use simple language doesn’t mean you think that your readers are cretinous, obtuse, or vacuous, it means that you have respect for their time. As impressive as your scintillating vocabulary might be, few things will annoy readers more than having to pause every ten seconds to look up a definition of a word.

“Identify the essential, eliminate the rest.” — Leo Baubata

Try to avoid redundant words or phrases, which often serve no other purpose than to bolster your word count. Look at the examples below, and the improved, more concise versions beside them:

His eyes actually filled with tears — His eyes filled with tears.

filled with tears — His eyes filled with tears. It is absolutely essential that you regularly change the oil in your car — It is essential that you regularly change the oil in your car.

essential that you regularly change the oil in your car — It is essential that you regularly change the oil in your car. I do one-hundred sit-ups a day, for the purpose of improving my ab muscles — I do one-hundred sit-ups a day, to improve my ab muscles.

improving my ab muscles — I do one-hundred sit-ups a day, to improve my ab muscles. In spite of the fact that we could afford it, my wife wouldn’t let me buy a sports car — Although we could afford it, my wife wouldn’t let me buy a sports car.

If you can tell a story in 500 words instead of 1,000, do it. Your readers will thank you for respecting their time.

3) Quality is king

Most posts don’t go viral, and unfortunately, there is no magic formula. I’ve read articles that deserved much more attention than they received, and read viral posts that weren’t all that good. That’s just how the cookie crumbles.

While you can’t control how your writing will be received, you can control the effort you put in. Nobody wants to read or write an unmemorable story, so you should aim to write the only post a reader will ever need on that topic. Don’t settle for publishing an article that you’ve half-assed in an hour. You might get one-hundred, maybe two-hundred views. But how much better could it have done, if you’d spent the time writing The Godfather of articles, instead of Jaws 4?

Write every post as if it has the potential to be a blockbuster.

4) Write your headline, then write it again

Many writers pour their hearts and souls into their work. They spend hours editing a piece to within an inch of its life, then they take all of thirty seconds to write a headline before hitting ‘Publish.’

Don’t tell me you haven’t done it.

Most writers don’t spend enough time writing headlines, which is odd considering the headline is your reader’s deciding factor on whether to open your article or not. You could have written the War and Peace of blog posts, but if readers don’t like your headline, nobody will ever read your masterpiece.

“I have to mix in the right amount of curiosity and information to make a cocktail of highly click-able sh*t.” — Tom Kuegler

Tom Kuegler is great at writing headlines, and if you haven’t read any of his work, you should. But don’t just take my word for it, decide for yourself after you’ve looked at some of these headline examples:

How To Triple Your Output In One Year

How To Build An Easy $1,000 Per Month Money Stream Online

A 2-Minute Trick To Write Better Headlines

Writers, Here’s How To Actually Start Standing Out

What does each of these headlines have in common? They appeal to the wants and desires of readers. Who wouldn’t want to triple their yearly output, or make an easy $1,000 per month online? And best of all, the ‘How To’ element lets readers know that they will come away from the article with a clear insight as to how they too can achieve these goals.

Before you hit ‘Publish,’ make a list of as many headline ideas as you can. Try to incorporate powerful, emotional words, which will grab the reader by the scruff of the neck and say, “Hey you! Yeah, you! Come and read this article!”

When you’re done, try running them through CoSchedule Headline Analyzer, which will analyze your headline for readability and word balance, and give it a score out of 100.

Your headline should not only encapsulate the message of your article, but it should also appeal to the wants and needs of your readers. If your headline doesn’t trigger a part of your reader’s brain to think ‘I need to read that article,’ it isn’t a very good headline.

5) Remember why you write

We all have days where we don’t feel like writing. Maybe you’ve found yourself questioning the decision to continue writing. When that feeling strikes, it’s important to remember the reason you fell in love with writing in the first place.

Do you remember the first thing that you ever wrote? Maybe you used to write in your diary, or maybe you once ran a blog about continental cheeses. Whatever it was, I bet you remember writing it.

My first foray into writing came back in 2015 when I started a gaming blog. I don’t recall why I decided to sit at my laptop one day and write a review for Batman: Arkham Knight the videogame, but you know what? I loved every second of it.

I remember the exhilaration as the words flowed from my fingers. I remember the vulnerability I felt sending my precious words out into the big wide world for all to read. Above all, I remember the passion I felt, and how I knew I’d found my calling.

Don’t ever forget what made you fall in love with writing.

“A write is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, or because everything she does is golden. A writer is a writer because, even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway.” — Junot Diaz

TL;DR

Provide value to your readers

Keep it simple

Quality is King

Write your headline, then write it again

Remember WHY you write

Happy writing.