Content writing refers to the process of writing, specifically for digital marketing purpose, planning and editing it. Various fields like writing blogs and articles, scripts for videos or content for a specific platform are many options. People follow their passion for writing and get into professional writing. When this profession is considered more of a hobby, it is a little difficult to cope with all the advice floating around and paying your bills. Somewhere it is difficult to begin with but not impossible. To become and remain a writer it is required to keep learning and polishing your art. One of the best ways to continue writing and explore this field is content writing.
Writers write for a myriad of purposes.
Everyone wants to improve their writing skills. Some people wish to be prominent. Some have rather personal stories to tell. Some people just need to get something out of their heads. Some people seek financial gain through their writing. These factors, or some blend of them, drive everyone. And a few wish to make money from their writing, which is a logical result of everything said above. They want to turn their pastime of writing into a job and earn revenue from it. They aspire to be professional authors. Is there any way we can make a living and earn money by writing? The answer is yes!
Content writers create written content or writing material for a website specifically, provided with guidelines. Just following guidelines are not enough sometimes. Of course, it is necessary to take care of the mentioned rules, but it is most important to be original. We can’t ignore the fact that like many other jobs and careers, there are numerous aspirants in the writing field too. Brushing up your talent and taking it forward with every work you write, you must see the graph. To make the graph go up, consider these basic skill sets of a professional content writer:
Adaptability
It is necessary as a writer to adapt to different tonalities. As a writer, you are expected to write in different styles. That is why adapting several styles and tone of writing is a must. It will help a writer to explore different aspects of writing and fulfill the purpose of writing.
In India, professional writers are in surplus, and they are finding the perfect niche. Often, people ask me if they should quit their professions and pursue a career as a writer. They aspire to have a career where they solely write stories, short tales, and poetry for a living. And always tell them, “No!” Writing is a fun pastime, but it may be difficult to make money from it at times. Freelance content is sometimes hard to get assignments for. Furthermore, in order to have a career as a writer, one must be particularly gifted.
However, if you genuinely like writing and want to make money online through it as a profession, there is a middle way. Writers develop by writing consistently. So, instead of opting for a “full-time writer” right away, choose a career or work as a writer in many other roles. This is referred to as “commercial writing.” One can earn money by writing for business while also improving and considering turning their writing passion into a full-time job.
Not only this skillset lets a writer learn more but also enables that person to explore more options in the writing field and define their niche, which will anyway help an individual to grow in the future (career). Adaptability helps with opening up the mind and filling it with new ideas, and the major function of content writing is sharing ideas and opinions.
Strong research and analytical ability
To give your work a good analytical background. The blog or article written by you should be well-researched, so that the document has a well-defined structure. When research is done right, you write facts along with your opinions, and when you present your opinions with facts, it creates a difference. This strong research and analytical ability can make a whole lot of difference to any writing work, as mentioned above, analyzing gives the work a significant structure. Also, strong research is a great method of collecting good information.
Understand SEO
SEO or search engine optimization is a vital service of any digital marketing agency, and the reason is search engine optimization ensures the presence of the work. It makes sure that the viewers are aware of the writing (blog, article and many more). So, using search engine optimization or SEO-friendly headings and keywords makes a good difference. To reach the audience or viewers, it is necessary to understand the search engine optimization (SEO).
Organizational skills
Very-very important no matter what your job is, and when it comes to writing career, make sure you organize your workspace. Prioritize work when quality content reaches the clients/ readers on time if it creates a sense of credibility. Now, it can be a little too much pressure and tension hovering over the head, but one needs to stay focused to deliver what is promised with good quality. Staying focused is the key, it must be practiced. Once you understand how vital the above-mentioned points are, it will be easier to understand the meaning and importance of time management. Work on time, write work delivered on time when prioritized helps you to meet the deadlines and sometimes beforehand. Time management is precious, be careful, it will determine the capability, quality and delivery of the work.
Communication
In my opinion, the most important skill. Communication not only helps while dealing with the clients, but an effective communication is the key to start right in the first place. While writing a blog or article, the writers’ written communication must be to the point. The writer must be able to communicate its ideas, its feelings with clarity. Remember, the main idea of writing is to share the idea with the readers with ease.
Even while communicating with the readers, make sure that courtesy is a part of the message delivered. To be able to survive in this huge market of writing, it is a must to follow-up with the customers. Make a good rapport with them. They will remember your work just the way they will remember your courtesy.
Edit and proofread
This is a must, write anything you want, on any topic but edit and proofread. Why? Because it is necessary to deliver a flawless, to be point, engaging writing to the reader. To make your work stand out, always proofread and edit. Editing and proofreading are very crucial to a writing job. Consider them pillars to a good and effective work. This skill will definitely help a writer to deliver a quality work, and that is the aim.
When you master these skills, you will be ready to enter the world of writing. Along with your passion for writing, you have all the basic skills and required knowledge. Now, you need a platform to prove yourself. You need to get a job, and for that there are many options. When you take India in the picture, you have a lot of options ready for you.
Freelancing: You can simply choose to freelance, no boss, but you work with the client and earn money. Once you make your position in the market, it gets a lot easier. You have to focus on delivering quality content with the deadline, and it’s done!
In this competitive world, make sure you do not restrict yourself to one trait, explore and learn different writing styles. Create a good range, so that you have more and more people approaching you. The work of a freelancer or any writer for that matter is to provide interesting, flawless work to the client, stick to this.
There are many opportunities for freelancing as the range is wide already. Not all the topics you deal with will be your niche, so be patient and explore. The career options under freelancing are, SEO copywriter, social media writer, technical writer, ghost writer, copywriter, blog writer, advertising copywriter. Other online options are online content writing and article writing.
The following is a list of possible positions as a professional writer in India. Most of them are writing professions, while others are administrative positions in the publishing industry.
A SEO copywriter is a professional writer that helps with the basics of SEO or search engine optimization. Its basic work is to make the work visible online. A social media writer is high in demand in this fast-growing digital world and is mostly desired by business people. They want their customers to be connected with them, and social media is the best way to stay connected. A technical writer, as the name suggests, writes about technical or complicated topics like user manuals, standard operating procedures (SOP), legal disclaimers, guides, employee handbooks, annual reports and proposals. Copy writing is basically writing copy that sells and at the same time satisfies the customers. A copywriter reaches all customers at once through a blog post, billboards, ads, sales letters and more. Blog writers or bloggers, write on websites. It can be a personal blog or a business blog which brings money. For writing business blogs, first a writer needs to get a lot of experience. There are companies where an individual can get experience from, content writing companies like Write Right can be a great option to start gaining experience and implement all your learnings. It is one of the best companies and ranked and recognized by Good firm and Clutch as best among the other content writing agencies.
Online content writing and article writing: Online content writing is called digital writing too as it deals with smartphones, e-mails, blogging, social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Article writing is targeted to a larger audience, with the writer’s opinions that reach numerous people as the work gets published in a magazine, journals or newspapers.
Literary magazine: This is a team of editors, readers, content designers and social media managers. Working with a literary magazine can help the writer understand the minute nuances of writing and the art of literary criticism. Keep working with the magazines and add to your portfolio. Eventually, one can earn with low risk.
Creative writer and content writing: Write for a magazine or a website. A writer earns good, depending on their experiences. A creative writer can work for any online portal too. Content writing is generally done as a freelancer, a little restricted as compared to creative writing job, as a content writer doesn’t always get a chance to ask for the desired pay. Content writer earnings will range from ten thousand to forty thousand or more, depending on the experience.
Publishing house: In a publishing house, there are editors, sub-editors, cover designers, marketing and PR team, acquisition team and many more. Each one of these departments play a vital role to play in the making of a book. Considering the area of interest, an individual can choose working for any of these departments in a publishing house. A job in publishing can be a great learning experience and good earnings.
Author assistance: Preferred by many newbies, assisting an author gives a chance to get a lot of experience with a good professional writer’s earning to start with. Experiences that are helpful even after quitting. Now this is a little different, it includes research, responding to emails, coordination for administrative jobs like printouts, sourcing books for research, handling social media accounts, transcription of notes and many more. For such duties an author needs an assistant to handle all of these things. While working as an assistant, one can get knowledge of other important things and may get an opportunity to create a network.
Aspiring writer or writer-in-making: Writing your own book can be a little tricky but not impossible. After getting so much experience, one can start off on their own. To earn sustainable income, you can even work part-time, take writing workshops, write literary thought-pieces for prominent websites, , tutoring students and aspiring writers, using your skills as a writer to provide critique to budding writers’ manuscripts and mentoring young and aspiring writers.
While practising all this, one can focus on publishing a book in a traditional way. Write for OTT, films or web series, use your talent and passion to earn money. Despite writing books, you can focus on such aspects of writing as it is beneficial in the present as well as in the future. It is a great idea to experience all the open doors, and when your career has such a wide range to try with, why not?
Become a kindle author or KPD (Kindle Direct Publishing): Kindle is preferred by many; people choose to have books in their mobile phones to carry them with them and not increase the weight of their bags. In a world where everything is online, why not put your book there? There are many reasons for it – one is, of course, the ease of access, the second is the ‘instant publication’ it offers. Content writing jobs can provide you with a fortune when done right. You don’t really have to be a freelancer, as assumed by many. Of course, there is an option of opting to be a freelancer and earning money. Now-a-days, companies are in a need of writers as communication is very important. There are many core contents writing jobs too, as mentioned above. With a lot of experience and skills, one can pursue their passion of writing and become a professional writer and earn good money in India.
