Every youngster at the brink of his/her career has stars in his/her eyes and a belief that he/she can conquer it all. Am sure if you are one of those with writing skills and want to enter the digital world to pursue a career in Content Writing, I will share with you my journey. It may/may not be the most inspiring but it’s truthful.
This is how, over the last 9 months I got ready to set sail my ship in Content Writing:-
Rule 1. The ocean is vast but there are plenty ships sailing
The very first step in acquiring any knowledge or skill set is to start with an open mind. There will never be a right time or wrong time to start. So once you have decided to get into Content Writing, dive in! There’s always enough space for a newcomer. Don’t let anyone distract you from your choice. Once aboard, all you need is to prove your worth!
Rule 2. Learn to sail
Learn, learn, and learn! Once you know you want to pursue a career in Content Writing, the next step is to gain as much knowledge as you can, to deliver quality content which is the primary ranking factor for Google today. Enroll in a content writing course from an established Digital Marketing Training Institute, self-learn from the internet, get tips from an established content writer or have a mentor. Learning and understanding the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in Content Writing is the beginning.
Rule 3. Stay on course
A rudderless ship is a sinking ship. Define your course. Find your niche. Find your unique style. Every content writer has his/her strength. Start to write on various topics and see which of those you can excel in. Writing a blog is different from writing a book, writing an ad copy is different from writing an article, writing website content is different from writing content for a social media post. Also, writing for a specific industry like fashion, food & beverage, healthcare, IT is so different from one another. Try every spectrum, understand and evaluate your strength and then proceed.
Rule 4. Maintain seaworthiness
Just like the Captain who maintains seaworthiness of his ship by taking cargo, crew and every other factor into account, you need to maintain your writing by taking a lot of factors into account. The most important factor is to continue to deliver value through your content as per the requirement of the target audience. Be brief, be direct. Don’t stray from the topic. Understand the need of the product/ service. Use your SEO skills to deliver effective content that will get the best results for your client’s product or service. Value and learn from critical comments as much as from positive feedback.
Rule 5. Face every storm
You are in the ocean of content writers. Like so many ships sailing the oceans, you need to also stay afloat. Don’t yet compare yourself to the best content writers and feel overwhelmed by their achievements. Instead, get to know your competition. See competitor’s websites, see their work, and see what they have to offer. How are you going to deliver something different?
Rule 6. Stay Afloat
The only way to stay afloat today is research and more research. Creating engaging content in line with the overall marketing strategy is required to get more organic traffic to a website, to increase clickthroughs. Research keywords that are ranking high, research the importance of backlinks, research new and valuable content, research interactive content. Get inspired by SEO expert Neil Patel and the likes and use their research to also learn the latest in SEO tactics and content marketing.
Rule 7. Get ready to anchor
You have reached the shore. Cast anchor. Your anchor is the headline or the title of the content. To get the audience attention, and drive traffic to your content, the title also needs to be keyword friendly. Edit, edit, edit the content until the title summarizes the exact message you want to convey in the content. Like your eye is the window to your soul, your title is a window to your content.
Rule 8. Arrive at the destination
Time to arrive. Let everyone know you are well-equipped to handle content writing. Post your work on LinkedIn, on Facebook, on Medium or any platform you want to be seen. Get a website and slowly begin to link your work on it.
Conclusion: You are a beginner today, not forever. Find your ship in an ocean full of Content Writers. Set sail, face the storms and stay afloat. If you enter into digital marketing and content writing fully equipped, someday soon, you can share your 8 tips here towards becoming a successful Content Writer.
From the authors’ desk: I found my calling. My mentor Poonam Mashru, DMTI Softpro, Mumbai, India, showed me the way. Her blog https://poonammashru.com is my onshore training. I may be only 25 blogs (now 26) and 7 websites old, but I am here to stay. A quick learner, I have set Arilla Words to sail. Google is my ocean and Arilla Words my ship.