Ventio
Regular Member
- Nov 22, 2013
- 458
- 146
Writing content comes easy to some people, others prefer to outsource it. For those looking to get into content writing or looking to save money by creating their own content, I figured I could write a brief brief guide on how to go about creating content.
I'm not claiming to be an expert or anything, I have been writing content for some people on BHW and offline for a few years so I figured this information might be helpful to some people.
The first piece of advice I would have is not to be scared. Some people think they suck at writing so they don't try at all. Or they write an article but think they can't write a video script. This fear just gets in your way. I have been writing content for a few years now and I still get a little anxious when a client is ready to give feedback on something I wrote. And news flash: you're going to suck at anything you just started doing. All you need is a little practice and guidance to get where you want to be.
Start by thinking about your subject. There are many different places to get ideas for content in your niche. For example, we all know how to use Google keyword planner to looking for keywords to rank but it can also be a good source for content ideas. Most keywords start with "how to" or "where can" are great ideas for pieces of content. These keywords show you a need that people are looking to be filled; you can fill it with a piece of content on your website.
Another great place to look for ideas are infographics. Infographics have short, summarized content along with facts. You can take these infographics, re-write them and add information to create a new piece of 100% original content. This way of looking for ideas is great because most infographics already have a ton of facts you can include in your content.
Another place I get content ideas from is Google. You can search around in your niche and see what topics people have already written about. You can either expand on these topics or cover a new topic that you didn't see much information about. You can also look in the comment sections to see what people are saying, sometimes people comment on what they would like to see more of. This is your opportunity to capitalize on the gap.
Another source of information is just plain research. I recently had a client give me a medical topic to write about which I knew nothing about. So I went on google and looked at a bunch of sites talking about it. After looking at about 5-6 sites I got an idea of how to talk about the subject and I was able to take the necessary information to write the article. When doing this make sure everything stays in your own words.
Once you have your subject, next step is breaking down the sections of your content. This will depend on what you're writing. Is it a script? An article? Depending on what it is you'll need different sections. Generally you can start with these sections:
Introduction - summarizes what the content piece will be about, talks about problem the content hopes to solve, gives brief background on the subject.
Main point - Here you would introduce the first thing you want to talk about. If you are expressing an opinion then it is important to have examples/facts to back it up. Concrete examples & stats are also good for beefing up your content and making it more professional.
You can have multiple main points in your content piece. Again depends on how long you're trying to make your content and what you're talking about. Usually articles cover between 2-3 main points.
Conclusion - Summarize what you talked about and the outcome of what you talked about. For example if you wrote an article about changing a bike tire, in the conclusion you would summarize the steps needed to change a tire and the things people should have learned after reading your content.
The last step for any piece of content is to edit your spelling and grammar. Many times this is a deal breaker on whether it is a good piece of content or not.
Although it takes longer, you should consider writing multiple drafts of your content piece until you get the best piece of content you can write. Through each draft you write you'll be able to see areas where you can improve and areas that need expanding on.
As I said before, some people find writing content easier than others. But if you can learn how it's a good way to save money & it is a very marketable skill to build upon. There are many offline opportunities for content writers.
They biggest key to getting better at writing is to write write write write as much as you can. Consistency is the key to being good at anything!
I'm not claiming to be an expert or anything, I have been writing content for some people on BHW and offline for a few years so I figured this information might be helpful to some people.
The first piece of advice I would have is not to be scared. Some people think they suck at writing so they don't try at all. Or they write an article but think they can't write a video script. This fear just gets in your way. I have been writing content for a few years now and I still get a little anxious when a client is ready to give feedback on something I wrote. And news flash: you're going to suck at anything you just started doing. All you need is a little practice and guidance to get where you want to be.
Start by thinking about your subject. There are many different places to get ideas for content in your niche. For example, we all know how to use Google keyword planner to looking for keywords to rank but it can also be a good source for content ideas. Most keywords start with "how to" or "where can" are great ideas for pieces of content. These keywords show you a need that people are looking to be filled; you can fill it with a piece of content on your website.
Another great place to look for ideas are infographics. Infographics have short, summarized content along with facts. You can take these infographics, re-write them and add information to create a new piece of 100% original content. This way of looking for ideas is great because most infographics already have a ton of facts you can include in your content.
Another place I get content ideas from is Google. You can search around in your niche and see what topics people have already written about. You can either expand on these topics or cover a new topic that you didn't see much information about. You can also look in the comment sections to see what people are saying, sometimes people comment on what they would like to see more of. This is your opportunity to capitalize on the gap.
Another source of information is just plain research. I recently had a client give me a medical topic to write about which I knew nothing about. So I went on google and looked at a bunch of sites talking about it. After looking at about 5-6 sites I got an idea of how to talk about the subject and I was able to take the necessary information to write the article. When doing this make sure everything stays in your own words.
Once you have your subject, next step is breaking down the sections of your content. This will depend on what you're writing. Is it a script? An article? Depending on what it is you'll need different sections. Generally you can start with these sections:
Introduction - summarizes what the content piece will be about, talks about problem the content hopes to solve, gives brief background on the subject.
Main point - Here you would introduce the first thing you want to talk about. If you are expressing an opinion then it is important to have examples/facts to back it up. Concrete examples & stats are also good for beefing up your content and making it more professional.
You can have multiple main points in your content piece. Again depends on how long you're trying to make your content and what you're talking about. Usually articles cover between 2-3 main points.
Conclusion - Summarize what you talked about and the outcome of what you talked about. For example if you wrote an article about changing a bike tire, in the conclusion you would summarize the steps needed to change a tire and the things people should have learned after reading your content.
The last step for any piece of content is to edit your spelling and grammar. Many times this is a deal breaker on whether it is a good piece of content or not.
Although it takes longer, you should consider writing multiple drafts of your content piece until you get the best piece of content you can write. Through each draft you write you'll be able to see areas where you can improve and areas that need expanding on.
As I said before, some people find writing content easier than others. But if you can learn how it's a good way to save money & it is a very marketable skill to build upon. There are many offline opportunities for content writers.
They biggest key to getting better at writing is to write write write write as much as you can. Consistency is the key to being good at anything!
