Content writing has become one of the most sought after services in today's world. As marketing largely shifts to the digital platforms; through websites, blogs, online stories and microblogging, more and more companies, irrespective of size, are looking to increase their market reach using well thought out articles, hoping to soon dominate the space with a mighty influencer status.
Given this sea shift to the digital platform, the world is seeing a surge in the number of content writers, too.
When there is demand, the supply should be matched, as well as it can be. We are not going into the details of the discrimination in pay and other biases that dominate this market, nor are we talking about quality issues in the work.
This article is primarily for all budding content writers, who hope to make a career out of their hobby or passion. Yes, that is indeed possible. Your passion for content writing can indeed turn into a fulfilling career that not only pays your bills, but also turns you into an influencer/expert in your field.
So, how do you do that?
There is a big list of to-dos to make it big in the content writing world, however there is this particularly big DON'T that you should focus on: "Don't limit yourself to the subject you are writing on."
When making a career in writing, you should be as open as a blank book ready to soak up everything the world has to offer. Be selective, yes, about what and from which source you are extracting your information, but please keep reading, listening, learning, as much as you can.
Why you should NOT niche down (at the very beginning) in content writing?
When a client asks you to write on a certain subject matter, you go ahead and research on it and write about it.
Most of the times, thanks to the information already available on the internet, you end up rearranging words from Wikipedia or some other valuable and trustworthy sources.
How much research will you do for a 300-500 word article and how much will you research for a 1000-2000 word article or an even bigger ebook?
The payment you receive for them often dictates the amount of time you will be spending researching and writing each article, right?
However, often the smaller bite-sized blog pieces, which are more in demand in the current market suffer the brunt of being quickly written and lightly researched. There hollowness shines through once they are published and more often than the not, the client sees through this and you lose yet another client.
Finding and retaining clients is an extremely important matter in the field of content writing, especially if you are freelancing. The value you can offer to your clients, irrespective of the amount of money that they are giving you is providing some personal touch to the overall articles you are writing.
Some thoughts and opinions which are inclusive and not provocative add some more to the information already available on the internet. Your readers/ client's target audience, should have something new to work with after they read the article. That's only possible when they find something of value which they didn't find anywhere else.
This is the value you provide to them by adding thoughts to facts. Mash up the information that is already there on the internet, add something from a human perspective, write like you are talking to them, as if you are in a conversation with them and then see the magic unfold.
For that intelligent conversation to take place, you need to read and learn, not only for the sake of the subject you are writing on, but about a variety of subjects and things. Be a sponge and you will soon start seeing beautiful connections between objects that don't seem connected at all to the naked eye. This allows you to share a new perspective that will be much appreciated by your readers.
Open up the doors to your mind and the world. By getting an opportunity to write for the world and for people to read, you are getting an opportunity to be heard and share something of value.
Doesn't matter if you are ghostwriting or writing under your name, the moment you start writing hoping to add value to your readers, you write words that open the way to new possibilities.
Don't you wish to harness this power?
If you are an entrepreneur who would like blog posts/copy/content to be written for your brand or a content writer who would like to learn a few tips and tricks of the trade, you should definitely get your copy of For the Love of Writing.