4 Easy Ways To Strengthen Your Online Writing Skills

As a beginner, it can feel daunting and downright overwhelming to start your writing journey. But it doesn’t have to be. With enough perseverance and practice, you can quickly improve your writing skills so you can publish your work online and, eventually, make money. 

The content marketing industry is worth more than 300 billion dollars, and that number continues to rise each year. The need for content across industries is vital for success in expressing ideas, educating readers, and producing conversions.

Whether you just started a blog or want to learn how to become a better writer for personal reasons, here are four tips for beginners to improve their writing skills. 

Use Conversational Language

When someone stumbles across your content, they’re looking for answers and solutions. Most of them are beginners at their own projects and look online for quick fixes and step-by-step help. Like you, they’re beginners in their field.

So, it’s best to speak to them like beginners. That doesn’t mean dumbing down what you say. Instead, you need to clearly get your point across in plain language that anyone can understand. For reference, you want to write so that a middle schooler can understand what you say. 

Use conversational language that’s easy to follow and takes users from step one to step two. It’s easier to increase user engagement by speaking to them how they want to be spoken to. If you have trouble staying away from formal writing, then pretend you’re speaking to a friend. The conversations you share are effortless and fun, and that’s how your writing persona should be too. 

Use active verbs that paint a picture and avoid passive voice. If you can explain something in action, it grabs readers’ attention more and keeps them invested.

Write Regularly

If you’re new to online writing or haven’t done it in a while, then you’ll need to get back into the routine of doing it regularly. It’s important not only to generate leads and grow your audience but also to get better at it.

Around 60 percent of marketers produce at least one piece of content every day. At first, however, you’ll want to focus on writing to write. Don’t concentrate on how many words you’re producing. Instead, set a timer and dedicate a specific amount of time to writing each day.

If you have trouble writing every day, then include it in your routine. If you’re serious about becoming an online writer, make time for it the same way you do anything else. Consider when you’re most productive and write during that time so you can write more.

You can’t become a professional writer without practice. We like to think we can pump out a quick draft and it’s ready for the world to see, but it doesn’t work that way. To create loyal readers in your niche, you need to cater to their specific needs and interests. You can’t do that if you don’t know how to express yourself.

Join a Community

It’s easier to stay on track and remain excited about your projects when you have a community experiencing the same thing. You can bounce ideas off of each other, talk when you don’t feel motivated, or have a good conversation.

It’s up to you how you want to join a writing community. There are tons of online resources and groups looking for new members to share their input. You can join a membership where only registered users have access so you know you have shared interests and ideas.

Don’t forget to scour social media for groups interested in new participants. Facebook Groups make it easy for those already on the platform to hold discussions, encourage others, and improve your writing skills. 

Learn Proper Formatting

Have you ever stumbled across a blog post that consisted of one huge wall of text? You likely didn’t even know what the main points were because they didn’t stand out or catch your eye. These types of posts bring in zero conversions because they fail to give readers a positive user experience. As a result, your bounce rate inflates and you’re back at square one.

So, it’s crucial to learn proper formatting for any online writing you publish. For simplicity’s sake, we’re going to go over how to format a blog post so readers feel compelled to engage with your content.

When writing posts online, make sure to:

  • Separate main points through headings, subheadings, and paragraphs. 
  • Leave plenty of whitespace in between the text. If it’s difficult to read, it won’t convert. 
  • Add visual content such as images, videos, graphics, and more.  A whopping 90 percent of users watch video content online at least once a month, which means it’s more likely to boost your conversion rate.
  • Include bullet points or lists to break up long bits of information that are otherwise difficult to consume. 

Back to You

When you start your writing journey, it’s important to stay focused and remember to take it one step at a time. With consistent practice and continued learning, you too could have an online writing business that thrives. How will you improve your writing skills this year?

Syed Balkhi is an award-winning entrepreneur and online marketing expert. He is the co-founder of OptinMonsterWPBeginnerMonsterInsights, and WPForms.

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