20 Tips to Improve Your Writing Skills

byNicoleJBN

2K followers

11 years ago

If you want to succeed with your Online Business you’ll need amazing content and while writing as engaging as possible isn’t easy, it’s a skill you’ll definitely need to master. The best way to max out a skill is practice. With each article you write, your skill gets better and before you know it you’ll shake one out of your sleeve in no time.

Getting ideas from other people’s articles is great and definitely helps to improve, but having a handy list with some great tips will just top it off and speed it up immensely.

Here’s a list of 20 basic tips how you can improve your writing skills. Feel free to write them down, print them out and keep them handy when you write your next article or have a visitor called Writer’s Block. :)

Tip #1: Know Your Audience

Make sure you offer a solution to the biggest problem of your audience. Use a “language” they understand and always write as if you were talking directly to them.

Tip #2: Tell a Story

Stories will help people to feel connected to you and your business. Your story should focus on answering the question “Why” and not “What” or “How”. Your own experience and opinion is what makes you stand out and produces unique and engaging content.

If you promote a product, give your audience examples of how to use it and how it can help. Do you have experience with the product? Even better as you then can write a review based on your experience with it.

Tip #3: Focus on Quality, not Quantity

A huge amount of poorly written content versus a smaller amount of quality written content. I think it’s a no-brainer which kind of content would be more engaging and converting.

Focus on a few ideas and master them to deliver real, helpful and authentic content to your audience. Don’t you forget to incorporate your CALL TO ACTION into your writing!

Tip #4: Write What You'd Want to Read

Good writers are usually big readers. Ask yourself what you’re reading every day and based on your answer, expand your own reading list to other formats. What about PDFs and podcasts count? Not all writing has to live on paper.

Tip #5: Research Other Writers

Google is your friend, so use it to find other people writing about similar topics. What are they doing well and what can you change to improve your content?

Tip #6: Be Mindful of Spelling and Grammar

Spelling and grammar can mean the difference between success and failure. Always remember that your audience see every little error in your writing. While you can tell them to keep the grammar errors as they found them, it may be better to become friends with online grammar checkers such as Merriam Webster, Thesaurus and/or Paper Rater.

A fellow WA member (@CarlaIves) has a great blog series about Writing Tips. I recommend you read them as well.

Tip #7: Determine What You Want to be Known For

Ask yourself what you want to be good at. Complete this sentence:

"I'm the expert in _____________________."

Your answer should be the frame of your writing.

Tip #8: Use Images

We are visual by nature and using images in your articles is not only a nice breakdown of your text, it’s also a great gap filler where words fall short. Images help your audience to understand and make your job easier when you’re struggling to explain something.

Tip #9: Get a Second Set of Eyes

You’re writing your content, you’re proofreading your content and you’re publishing your content. What about a second set of eyes doing the same to your content? Ask a friend or trusted person to take a few minutes and read your article. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did. :)

Tip #10: Do Your Homework

Never write an article because you’re under pressure to keep a certain time schedule. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing about something you know inside and out, you need to do your research in order to create quality content.

Do your homework and find out what other authors have already written on that topic and make sure that your information is up to date. Put a source link if necessary.

Tip #11: Always Brainstorm

Great ideas usually come to mind when you have nothing to write them down. You’re not alone and develop the habit that you always carry something with you (notepad and pen for example).

Tip #12: Write a Messy First Draft

The ugly first draft gives yourself permission to write as badly as possible because nothing but the words in your mind count. Your first draft should be just written away without hesitation. Grammar? Not important for a first ugly draft!

Ernest Hemingway once said: “Write drunk, edit Sober!” There’s actually some truth to that and that’s the point, it’s your first draft. It’s never perfect. So, get your ideas and thoughts down first and then edit and change.

Tip #13: Stay Tuned-In

Check out other blogs that interest you as you never know what will spark a new idea. Find out where your audience usually hangs out online. Social Media? Engage with them and join conversations.

Found some interesting content? Subscribe to the authors Newsletter.

Tip #14: Ask for Feedback from Your Readers

Always ask for feedback from your audience. A simple sentence like “If you have any questions, leave a comment below.” can move mountains and lots of engagement is what you want on your website.

Also make sure that you’re listening to your audience. Answer questions on your website, Social Media and offer also email support for those who prefer this way of communication.

Tip #15: Include a Call To Action

A call to action should be included in all your content. What do you want your audience to do when done reading your content? Define what you expect for any content you write and make your call to action obvious.

Tip #16: Make it Shareable

Social Media has become an essential way to communicate with customers and audience. There’s more shared and talked about than we think. Before you publish your content, you need to ask yourself if you would share your article socially. If your answer is no, time to rethink and do changes.

Make it easy for your audience to share. Put social share buttons above and underneath your content. Don’t forget your images as well. It’s always good to make them shareable along with your text.

Tip #17: Get Inspired by Other Experts

Inspiration is essential. Do you know writing experts or experts in your particular niche? Check out what they write and how they’ve done it. Read it, get inspired and improve your own articles!

Tip #18: Find Out How Your Readers Prefer Their Content

Find out what your audience prefers. Everyone is different and one may prefer text, another one prefers a video. Find the right balance in what you offer with your content. A good mix of text, images and a video (in some occasions even an audio file) has the majority, if not all, of your audience covered.

Tip #19: Be Consistent

Write and publish content on a regular basis. Make it a priority and find a write and publish schedule you’re most comfortable with. A good start is three articles per week. Whatever plans you have on that, make sure you’re consistent with it.

Tip #20: Have Fun With It!

Show your audience that you’re passionate about what you’re doing and that you have a lot of fun and let that shine through your content. Humor is great and every time you write an article, add a little portion of humor to it. Who says business has to be boring? :)

Writing quality content is an important part of any online business and the most difficult one. Keep writing and don’t give up. The more you write, the more you improve.

I hope these tips above will help you to keep going and to overcome any writers block. Do you have any questions or know about some good tips as well, please share them in the comments below.

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