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Have you ever made a post on social media explaining something? Then congrats; you have already written content.
Basically, content writing means writing digital content. Specifically speaking of text, most people think “content” refers to articles or blog posts, but that’s not the case.
“Content” can refer to any type of text that’s digitally consumable — video scripts, ad scripts, product descriptions, social media posts, synopses, white papers, and to really drive the point home, even well-written social media comments.
However, don’t get too hyped just yet; most people can write content, but not all content that people write is impactful or helpful. But you don’t want that.
You don’t want your content to be awful, right? Well then, keep reading, because this article shares 7 tips that are important for quality content writing.
1. Start With an Outline
An outline is a roadmap of your content. It includes writing down the title, headings, subheadings, and key points, before diving into the actual writing.
Some individual bloggers tend to write their blogs like a personal diary, without any outlines, because their content is meant to express — express the writer’s views, style, reflections, and words.
But for global audiences, you need to organize everything; organize the headings, points, and structure the overall content.
What writing outlines do is help you figure out which points you’re including, which may be discarded, and what’s the best structure.
It helps you take a look at your content at a glance, and:
Make the Content Organized and Clear: An outline structures your thoughts, ensuring a logical flow and that all key points are covered and in order. This is especially helpful for longer and more complex topics.
Improve SEO: Taking a look at all the headings and points can help insert keywords for search engine optimization.
Prevent Rambling: It’s easier to get sidetracked from the main point when writing as you think. An outline, on the other hand, gives you a roadmap, keeping you focused on the main theme and preventing tangents.
Think of an outline as a blueprint of the building.
You want to make sure all the pillars (key points) are present and in the right place, whereas all the floors (headings) are in order.
Without a blueprint, you might end up with a mess.
2. Avoid AI Slop
AI slop isn’t limited to visual content. It is also rampant in text content, and a lot of people seriously dislike it, for solid reasons.
There are many problems with AI content, including:
Neutral Tone: AI tools write content in a neutral tone. It often makes their content sound mundane to read.
Generic Content: Most AI tools tend to write overly generic content. They fail to produce something uniquely new in the content.
Robotic Writing Style: AI tools have a specific writing style because of how they are trained to write, resulting in content with a robotic style. The problem with a robotic writing style is that it feels artificial to read.
Potential Plagiarism: AI scrapes existing content from the internet or its own data repositories, that means a lot of what AI writes is likely someone else’s words — the words literally or the ideas could also be plagiarized.
Potential Misinformation: Another drawback of AI content is that AI tools are prone to producing inaccurate or misleading content, because these tools can hallucinate, and are designed to not turn down user requests.
But this is not it. AI content is far from perfect. And you cannot upload something with so many problems, can you?
So, don’t upload entire AI write-ups. Instead, use the tools for other helpful tasks, like idea-finding and brainstorming.
If you write a part of the content using AI, make it unique using PlagiarismRemover.co to avoid plagiarism.
3. Keep It Simple
We need to keep our content simple to make it easier to consume for readers, which is an important aspect of quality writing. This includes:
Avoiding Jargon/Technical Terms: Jargon makes content harder to consume, so steer clear of these terms. If necessary, allude to a small explanation of what the term refers to.
Using Simpler Language: The simpler the content, the easier it is to understand. So, instead of writing fancy words, keep the language simple. Use words that everyone understands.
Writing Simple Sentences: Aside from the wording, sentences can also get complex. Sometimes, an overly complex sentence can make a reader pause and reread. This can shift their focus to deciphering the sentence from understanding the text. Instead, write simpler and shorter sentences.
Keeping the Structure Simple: The overall structure of the content can also get complex or overly extra, which can confuse readers. On the other hand, a simpler structure makes your content skimmable and easier to read.
Ensuring your content remains simple makes it accessible to a wider audience, and helps them consume it better.
4. Focus on Structure
Content written to inform, especially wider audiences, needs optimal structuring.
Not just in terms of logic and rationality, but also in terms of comprehension.
So, it’s essential to consider what should come first in your content.
Which headings should take precedence over the others and what order they should follow.
Go with a structure that makes the topic more comprehensible, logical, and rational.
For example, if you’re writing on “Five methods to brew coffee,” you don’t want to start the article with the “Tips for brewing coffee” heading.
Instead, it should come somewhere at the end.
Although this mistake is rather obvious (so you wouldn’t do it even without an outline), sneakier structural mistakes require crafting an outline first.
Furthermore, a good outline helps:
Improve Readability: A well-structured post with clear headings and subheadings is easier for readers to skim and understand.
Better SEO: SEO greatly benefits from a well-structured post.
Easier Navigation: With a clear structure, users know what part of the content they’re reading, what they’ve read, and what might come next.
Reuseability: Structured content is easier to reuse across different platforms.
This is why the structure of your content is important to mind.
5. Cut Out the Fluff
Stories only appeal where they’re supposed to be. Some storytelling is okay, but overly long stories can bore readers out.
Especially for informative content, most people are there for just that piece of information they hoped to get, not a story about your past.
Stories, and cutting out similar fluff from your content is essential to make it more focused, engaging, helpful, and usable for readers.
For example, sometimes writers make up a whole scenario just to explain why someone might need to know something, which can take 200-250 words.
If you’re not getting to the point, readers may just leave and read a different copy. After all, there are other sites willing to share the same information less painfully. So, why not?
6. Add Visuals
Some pieces of content, like this article on writing tips, don’t need visuals.
But some types of content — like how-to guides, drawing-related content, designing-related content — requires the use of visuals.
Visuals, like images, videos, or GIFs can make or break these types of content.
That is to say, some things are best learned visually, whereas learning them through text can be daunting or almost impossible.
Plus, visuals can be great complements even to content that doesn’t strictly require them.
It is because our visual memories are far better than verbal memories, and visuals can make learning something otherwise difficult very easy; they’re more engaging, more comprehensible, easier to consume.
7. Proofread
A lot of writers neglect proofreading. And it shows the effect it has on readers when you catch those two typos in their work.
It can shift readers’ attention to how a typo made its way into the content. They might question the writer’s professionalism or the quality of the work.
Although making typos is a natural phenomenon. Almost all writers do it. But typos are also very trivial — easy to find and correct.
This is why some people might feel like losing trust in your work considering it neglects something very basic. That’s why you should always proofread it.
However, there are other strong reasons why you should proofread your work, including to:
Fix awkward wording
Find and remove unnecessary sentences/words
Maximize readability
Fix other grammatical issues like incorrect punctuation or run-on sentences
Ensure the tone is consistent
So, make sure you’re not neglecting proofreading. But don’t fall prey to bad proofreading either.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, writing content isn’t just about typing things out and hitting publish.
You’ve got to actually care about how it reads, how it looks, and whether or not it helps the reader.
A good outline keeps things in order. Skipping the AI slop keeps things human.
Simple language makes things easier to follow. And proofreading is essential to avoid mistakes and giving off a bad impression.
These tips are healthy writing habits you can follow to do a much better job at content writing, making it actually impactful and helpful for readers.
