Well, I would say that when you are passionate about writing, you can go for it! Is it pretty quick? But you know you can start; all you need is a little pattern or a few points to follow to get on the right track. We all need a good plan to start with something new, so that we can move forward in the right direction. We have the zeal and enthusiasm to keenly work for whatever we are passionate about. To put those efforts, for content writing career, in the right place at the right time, here will be an explanation on content, content writing as a career and finally tips to start your content writing career with.
CONTENT is…
Content is any kind of information that will educate, inform, entertain, motivate, inspire, convince or persuade a specific set of audience. In other words, content is what a communication is about; the information conveyed or area of interest. The basic definitions are right in front of you.
Content writing is about solving problems of people with your writing ability to make things or topics clear and understandable to the audience or readers. Since you are solving problems, you are actually adding value to this set of particular or target audience. And when you add value to this set of audience, you build trust, and trust is a key ingredient in building a brand.
A content writing job can be pretty smooth depending on your talents and expertise, but it can also be precarious due to a lack of vision and knowledge.
People interested in pursuing a career as content writers have a variety of alternatives. Each type of content writing employment necessitates a unique set of abilities and knowledge. The most important requirements for pursuing a career in content writing are the capacity to articulate thoughts in words, an extensive vocabulary, and a solid understanding of the language in which they will write.
CONTENT WRITING AS A CAREER is…
Content writing as a career is a great career option for people who are into creative writing and are capable of expressing their views through writing. This field of content writing is so much about skills, and the beauty of skills is that you can practise and develop skills. Honestly, you will just need to practise and do the hard work, regardless of the location, gender, age and stage of life you are in.
When you think you have those skills, content writing gives you great opportunities to excel in many fields as the demand is great in the market, and the market is huge!
An individual with a degree in literature or journalism and mass communication is preferred by many companies. But, as skills are majorly required, so anyone with skills like good writing and good communication skills can apply as the field of writing is extensive. A good and in-depth knowledge of your work and the field you are writing for is appreciated. And for the same reason, individuals with degrees in literature and journalism and mass communication are preferred. Focus on the skills of writing, and you have great opportunities waiting for you as the field of writing is extensive and the demand is high for good content writers in the industry.
Do you want to pursue a career in content writing? Information has been delivered to our fingers, and access to information has never been easier, so we Google everything we want to know. It was evident that information must be made available on the internet to reach a crowd of millions or billions of people. People did not see article writing as a job option years ago. Even our educational system has recently acknowledged it as a formal educational subject. Still, now that our society has progressed so much thanks to the internet, awareness of content writing as a career alternative has skyrocketed. Apart from this, a qualification in literature or journalism might make it a little simpler to jump into chances immediately. Still, there is no such demand for qualifications for a career in content writing.
HOW TO BECOME A CONTENT WRITER
There are a few things to be considered when you begin your career as a content writer. Such extensive fields have a great number of people coming towards them. Making you space in such a situation is very important. By making you space, I mean making yourself stand in the crowd, if not standing out of the crowd. It is perfectly alright to be a part of the crowd, but when in the right direction. By the time you will have expertise on the required skills, you will be outstanding in the field to ace the race.
So here are a few tips to be taken into consideration while starting your content writing career:
- Niche
- Portfolio
- Social proof
- Blogs
- Pitch
- Apply for the companies
Go niche, choose your target and write for them. Of course, you as a content writer will be writing about a lot of things, a lot of topics, but there should be a niche. Define your type of content you want to dedicate your skills to and the type of audience you want to cater to. When you combine a skill of content writing with a specific niche, then not only you become an expert content writer but also an expert in the industry of a particular area or subject. This can be a very attractive offer because now, not only do you have subject matter expertise but also a specific skill around this subject matter. And that is a great opportunity to make a space for yourself in the market. Be mindful of what and how you choose as you have to make sure the niche you choose is dependent on content and there are enough opportunities, otherwise any random choice of target audience or subject will hamper the upcoming opportunities and the efforts will go in vain, and you do not want that!
Build a portfolio because you need to show your abilities when you get the opportunity. Show your credibility before you start earning because, let’s be clear, no one will take the risk to trust you when you have just started. For example, if you write for a firm, show them your portfolio showing your skills and work. The content of any firm is their presentation of their identity, they will need a good hand who can cover this for them. Your portfolio can help you to enter the bar they have set, and you can prove yourself with your further work.
You have to start working on elements that will help you build this trust. Come up with different content ideas and create content for the industry. Create a few blog posts, write a small e-book or a case study. Or perhaps some white papers too. A good portfolio will give you a great platform to grow from. A portfolio is a showcase of your capabilities.
Start with creating social proofs too. You need to make your work present in front of the people so that you have a social proof. For example, how we go through different websites to check the review for the product or service we are looking for. Later, when the review matches our desire and want, we avail it. Similarly, when you have such social proof in the form of reviews, you can simply get a better response when you apply for providing content writing service.
Build and increase authority with a blog, it creates a sense of expertise. You will be using your blog as a tool to showcase your capabilities and authority. It’s extremely easy to set up a blog, and there are plenty of resources online showing you how to do that. Go for it! You can get good reach and score good gigs by social proofs and blogs. You need to be good at your work, and you will get maximum benefit out of building authority with a blog.
Create a pitch, a great pitch is simple, crisp, clear, to the point and articulate. These are the elements of a clear and effective pitch,
- A clean, customized subject line
- Address the recipient by name
- Reference to where you saw their requirement (or why you think they need content)
- Why do you think you are a good fit for the requirement or company?
- References to your work and portfolio
- Links to your blog and other platforms
- Links to your social media handles
- Good email signatures
Set up, optimize and organise your LinkedIn profiles, so that you can actually present your work, skills and achievement to the world which is full of opportunities. If you want to be part of the gig economy, it will make sense for you to take LinkedIn more seriously and use it more deliberately. The first obvious thing and the most important thing is to set up a decent profile with every possible information. Fill in all your achievements, make it visible to the opportunities coming towards you.
Search and get ready to apply for the companies you want to work with. Reach out to them and pitch that they might want to consider you a freelance content writer until they find a full-time writer as it is pretty difficult to get in as a full-time content writer, so let’s start from freelancer. And chances are you will get lucky and you might become their “full-time content writer”. But for that start applying. Check the requirement, see what you want to do, go for it.
Opportunities are many, you can go ahead and apply at many digital marketing and advertising companies too. They are in need of a content writer, and at times, you will not know when your demand is high.
If you want to try interning first, to make your portfolio more impressive by showing your experience. You can even get lucky and get placed at that company you are interning at. You can try writing to many content writing companies like Write Right and Estorytellers, there are the best content writing companies, recognised by Clutch and Good firm as best among the other content writing agencies.
Apply for an internship, write to them, and if you get lucky, you can get a reply soon and earn valuable experience there. Get the idea of working and writing for a big space, learn writing target oriented. You can use this for your future as experience counts.
There are a few things you can do to help you to improve your writing. The most crucial thing that you need to do is to start reading more. Told by many and tried by a few. But trust the process. Reading is a part of developing your skillset. Do not ignore it. Read more books, e-books, blogs, articles, white papers, whatever comes your way. The more you read, the better your writing becomes. By reading you can get your vocabulary to good points.
You also need to write a lot more. Write just a little bit every day, but write every day. The more you write, the more you know what not to do and polish yourself along the way. Write down what comes in your mind, write down what makes you happy, write about topics that affect you in any which way, but start writing every day! Get into the habit of writing.