One of the best-earning jobs you can do from home is being a content writer. On average, a freelance content writer can earn as much as $30 per hour. A content writer’s job is to provide engaging, original, and easy to read content for a specific audience. Although some may say that writing a few words is easy, it’s not.
Most of the time, the word count for an order can reach up to a thousand words or even more. You also have to focus on a topic and expound on that topic. Aside from that, you also need to know your audience since they’re the reason why you’re writing. If you’re interested and feel like you have what it takes, here are some skills that you should have to be successful in this field.
Adaptability
Having the ability to adapt to situations may seem obvious, but writers fail to display this skill in their content. Not being able to adjust to a specific niche or topic can spell disaster for a writer. A good writer isn’t a one-trick pony. Instead, a good writer is more of a swiss knife, capable of writing content on almost any kind of niche.
Further, the tone of your writing should also be appropriate for the topic. It would be best if you also were consistent with your writing. You may inevitably come across topics that are against your beliefs or practices, but you should keep away from your biases. Content writers also need to learn the different tones and styles of writing to be able to adapt to any given topic instantly.
The quicker you can adjust to different writing styles and tones, the more valuable you are as a writer. In a single campaign, there can be dozens, if not hundreds of topics a writer may encounter. Employers will undoubtedly give a plus to writers who can quickly adapt and come up with sensible content, regardless of the topic given.
SEO familiarity
Skillful content writers working in an article writing service are always up-to-date with search engine optimization or SEO trends. The reason why they’re still up-to-date with the latest SEO trends is that it’s their way for their content to be discovered by their target audience. There is no point in writing great informative content if no one is reading.
Being knowledgeable with SEO also allows you to write SEO-friendly titles, use keywords effectively, and structure meta descriptions properly, to boost your search rankings in search engines. As content writing is more than just writing, you also have to keep up by using tools. These tools can be a word counter, grammar checker, plagiarism checker, etc.
Research skills
Research is essential to becoming a successful content writer. Researching as a content writer isn’t only used for planning and writing to end up with great content. Research should be done regularly to increase the quality of the content you’re writing. Thus, your mind will always be filled with ideas that you can use for other topics given to you in the future.
Being able to produce original content
As a writer, one of the most in-demand skills is being original with content. Plagiarized content can spell disaster for a campaign. Publishing copied content can rank a page lower due to Google’s algorithms.
On the ethics side, it would always be wrong to copy someone. Although you can borrow an idea about something, give credit when it’s due. Although paraphrasing is also an excellent way to be original, experienced writers can tell you that paraphrasing doesn’t always work. For a writer, you should read everything about a topic. From there, you can discuss your ideas. You can also use plagiarism checkers to make sure that you’re creating original content.
Good organization skills
The hardest part of being a content writer is keeping yourself organized. Keeping yourself organized doesn’t only mean you have to keep your workspace neat and tidy. Excellent organization skills are also related to how you establish and position your ideas so that you don’t write a confusing article.
Organization skills are also about how you manage your time to make sure you meet your deadlines. Turning in content that’s past the set date will emit a negative effect on your audience or customers. Also, proofreaders won’t have enough time to double-check your content if you were to submit it late. You have to prioritize your tasks so that you finish them on time.
Excellent communication skills
Communication is essential to writing a significant content. You’ll be able to get ideas and insights from clients or your audience to improve how you write your content. It’s also essential that you continuously communicate with your clients if you encounter any problems to satisfy them when you submit your final output.
Interaction is also vital to being a great content writer because you’re open to being corrected for your mistakes. You can turn these comments into insights to help you improve your writing skills, and produce more excellent content in the future.
Being a good editor
Being great at editing will require the right eye for detail, patience, and discipline. You have to remember that your drafts are far from perfect, so you have to take time to double-check everything you write. Further, editing is needed to avoid overused words, redundancy, wrong grammar, misspellings, and punctuation errors. Double-checking your content to prevent such mistakes will significantly increase the quality of your content.
Open to feedback
As a writer, your work will most probably go through a proofreader for feedback. If that’s the case, then you can expect some changes, depending on the proofreader. Most of the time, proofreaders are excellent at spotting minor details that need changing.
However, since proofreaders are mostly human, there may be some things that you need to stick by. If an editor or proofreader gives out some suggestions, carefully go over it and decide for yourself if you need to change it. Of course, if you feel the need that your content stands, do politely explain it to them.
Remember, proofreaders also get delayed when you get delayed. It’s also good to think that no one is perfect when it comes to these kinds of work. Getting proper feedback is essential as you’ll be able to learn more and hopefully improve your writing in the future.
Takeaway
Being a content writer can be rewarding. Writing can earn you a lot, while at the same time, you also learn a lot from your topics. The skills mentioned above are just a few of the basics a writer should possess.