I Will Not Always Be Your Friend Tell Yurself Everythings Ok Easy Come Easy Go Again

Nothing strikes fear into the heart of a marketer quite like beingness asked to write a blog post. Some marketers would rather wrestle with pivot tables (or grizzly bears) for days on cease than write a weblog post – merely why?

Writing doesn't have to be this painful.

With content marketing shaping upwardly as one of the most important marketing skills to take on your resume, getting a handle on writing could actually do good your career likewise as the obvious benefit of increasing traffic to your visitor'due south site.

Writing is intimidating to a lot of people, particularly those who don't write for a living or on a regular basis. The proficient news is that writing doesn't take to be agonizing, and almost everyone can improve their writing skills with a piffling bailiwick and a willingness to learn. Want to become a better writer? Here are xvi ways you can outset improving your writing skills right at present.

1. Castor Upward on the Basics

Before you lot tin beginning writing incredible content, you'll need at least an intermediate understanding of the bones principles of writing.

This doesn't mean you need to enroll in a prestigious creative writing program at an Ivy league university, but you will need to know the basics of grammar and spelling. Every writer should have a copy of "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White on their bookshelf, as this small just invaluable book is one of the most comprehensive resources on the right employ of grammar and other helpful topics.

For quick and easy online resource, bookmark Grammar Girl and, of course, Merriam Webster.

ii. Write Like It's Your Job

If you want to get better at something, you have to do – and writing is no exception!

Unfortunately, there are few shortcuts that tin can transform you into an amazing author overnight, and even the most talented writers had to larn their craft over a menstruum of many years. Information technology's admitedly fifty-fifty harder to write while because SEO and how to drive traffic to your post.

If you want to improve your writing skills, writing on a regular basis volition not only diminish your fear of the bare page (or blinking cursor), it will also assistance y'all develop a unique mode. So, even if nobody reads it, keep writing. Practice makes perfect.

[ Learn how to write amend advertizement copy with our costless guide: 10 Tricks to Go the Click ]

three. Read Like It'south Your Chore

The best writers are also not bad readers, and reading on a regular basis is an piece of cake way to start developing your writing skills. I don't just mean blog posts, either – diversify your reading material. Expand your horizons to more challenging material than you typically read, and pay attending to judgement structure, word pick, and how the material flows.

The more you read, the more than likely you are to develop an centre for what makes a slice then effective, and which mistakes to avoid.

4. Find a Writing Partner

If you work at a reasonably sized visitor, the chances are pretty good that there is at to the lowest degree one other person who is also wondering how to get a ameliorate writer. Although writing is typically considered a solitary activity, the all-time writers know when it's time to get much-needed feedback on their work.

Talk to your coworkers (or friends) and ask someone if they'd be willing to cast an centre over your work – they may spot mistakes that y'all overlooked.

Finding a writing partner is also a groovy way to hold yourself accountable and go on going.

5. Join a Workshop or Take a Nighttime Course

Most people balk at the thought of standing in front end of a room total of strangers and baring their soul to the world, just joining a writing workshop can be immensely beneficial – and a lot of fun (if y'all manage to find a adept 1).

You don't need to have an unfinished novel subconscious away in your desk drawer to bring together a workshop. These days, content marketing encounter-ups and professional development groups are becoming wildly popular. Join ane of the many content marketing groups on LinkedIn to meet agreeing writers, or search for writing workshops nigh you on sites similar Meetup. Option a topic, write something, listen to the feedback of the group, and then revise it. Rinse, repeat.

vi. Dissect Writing That Yous Admire

Most people read the same blogs or sites on a regular basis because the material appeals to them – but fewer people sympathize why their favorite blogs are and so appealing.

Discover a handful of recent blog posts you really like, and so print them out. Next, merely similar your high school English instructor did, take a scarlet pen and highlight things you liked: certain sentences, turns of phrase, even entire paragraphs. Examine why you similar these elements, and meet if there are whatever common threads in your favored reading fabric. See how writers take one subject and transition into some other. Utilize these techniques to your own piece of work.

Permit's take a look at a particularly powerful (and memorable slice) from Copyblogger that serves as a neat instance of this.

Immediately, you're hooked by Morris' opening. You lot tin't not read to meet what happens next. The pacing is splendid, it grabs your attention, and best of all, it keeps you reading. This slice was first published back in June, and I all the same recollect it. Read the full mail here, and come across how Morris masterfully tells the story of a ring named Death and how this relates to writing content.

7. Imitate Writers You lot Adore

Before we become whatsoever farther, a disclaimer – simulated is not the aforementioned as plagiarism. Don't rip off anyone's work. Ever.

Just every bit you probably have a list of blogs y'all read frequently, yous'll likely likewise read the same writers on a regular basis. Place what it is you lot enjoy nearly their piece of work, and meet if you can use information technology to amend your writing skills. Does a writer yous like use humour to spice upwardly dry topics? Endeavor information technology. Do they use pop culture references to make their work entertaining and useful? Effort that, likewise.

When I first started writing, I imitated some of my favorite nonfiction writers and essayists, such every bit Joan Didion, Truman Capote and Bill Bryson. I likewise attempted (and failed) to imitate writers such as Dave Eggers and Dan Kennedy, but soon realized that I wasn't funny plenty and gave it upward. Over fourth dimension, I eventually adult my ain style, simply reading the works of these writers and seeing how they synthetic their essays and books was immensely helpful to me as a writer (see tip #3).

eight. Think That Outlines Are Your Friend

The blinking cursor of a blank folio is a considerable foe, even for the most experienced writers. Before putting pen to proverbial newspaper, sketch out an outline of what you lot plan to write. This will exist your boxing plan, and it will help you win the war. Very few – and I do mean very few – writers sit downward to write anything without a solid plan in mind.

An outline doesn't have to exist circuitous. A unproblematic framework of which sections should appear in a detail order, along with a few sentences about what each section contains, may be enough. If the topic you're tackling is a petty more circuitous, your outline might have to be, too – but having an outline before you write is like having a roadmap in the glove box of your car before a road trip. If you start to feel lost, refer back to your outline and get dorsum to kicking donkey and taking names.

Allow's have a expect at a existent example – 1 of my own outlines:

Introduction

Brief summary of the post

Department 1 – What is Brand Vocalization?

Paragraph(s) explaining the key principles behind brand voice (style, tone, and messaging)

Examples of each

Section 2 – Developing Brand Voice with Content

Explanations of how to develop make voice using content (written, visual, video)

Considerations for content producers/marketers to bear in mind when producing content (strategy, goals, overall brand messaging)

Section 3 – Examples of Content That Builds Brand Vox

Several examples (three or 4) of content that aligns well with marketing positioning and branding of recognizable brands

Conclusion

Wrap-upwardly

This outline eventually became my contempo post nigh brand voice. I deviated from my initial outline slightly, just the overarching construction was always at that place to keep me on target.

9. Edit Your Work Ruthlessly

So, you lot're writing every mean solar day (or regularly, at least), and you're feeling more confident about your piece of work. Awesome! Now y'all're going to go your own harshest critic.

Editing is a tough skill to learn for beginner writers, considering they place immense value on the time and effort they put into writing in the outset place. Still, a lot of writing is actually rewriting, and this is where the cold, difficult eye of an editor will serve you well.

Develop the bailiwick information technology takes to eliminate inapplicable words (more than on this shortly). Resist the temptation to wax lyrically and get to the point. Non sure if a paragraph works? It probably isn't. Be tough on yourself, and know when to delete or rework something. Your piece of work will exist much stronger as a result.

10. Have That Kickoff Drafts Are Almost Always Crap

The best writers make information technology look and so easy. After reading a dandy mail, information technology's tempting to imagine your favorite bloggers effortlessly turning in incredible posts with minimal effort before spending the rest of their day reading obscure books in a quaint corner café somewhere. Have condolement in the knowledge that this isn't how writing works.

First drafts are near always crap, and that's okay. Don't beat yourself up if you don't create a masterpiece on your first try – chances are, you lot probably won't, and that's okay, as well. Just get your ideas down on paper first, and so go back and start cleaning up. Writing is an iterative process, and even the best writers have to spend a lot of time reworking material they were probably too embarrassed to evidence anybody.

11. Discover a Practiced (Patient) Editor

Whether y'all're trying to make the case for a content strategy to your manager or want to outset guest blogging on your favorite sites, finding and working with a adept editor is one of the best things y'all can do to ameliorate your writing skills. I've worked with dozens of editors over the years, and in my feel, the best are those who prove you why something doesn't work, rather than merely telling yous that information technology doesn't.

Allowing someone else to read your piece of work can be brutally difficult for some writers, specially when they're just starting out, but information technology's crucial that you develop good habits from the starting time and learn to accept constructive criticism almost your work. Remember – writers are desperately needy creatures who need to be constantly reassured that they're the creative geniuses they believe themselves to exist, just you'll need to develop a thick skin if you're serious nigh your work, and a good editor is invaluable when it comes to toughening upwards.

12. Eliminate Unnecessary Words

Another common fault amid beginner writers (and some more than experienced writers who should know amend) is writing overly complex sentences in an attempt to "sound" more administrative.

In many cases, shorter sentences can have a greater touch on. You lot may have heard of a 6-word story that was supposedly written by Ernest Hemingway, which reads, "For sale: Baby shoes, never worn." Whether Hemingway wrote this or not is irrelevant – the power of these six words shows that brevity can be a powerful tool when used correctly, and not every sentence needs to be overwrought to go your indicate across.

Let'south look at another real example from i of my posts – my very start post for WordStream, as information technology happens. This lengthy sentence is a prime number candidate for a ruthless blood-red pen, even if my lame jokes were intended to give it a trivial more flavor. I've edited the sentence to testify you how you lot could edit a similar line in your own piece of work (additions italicized).

"Whether you're a newcomer to Google Ads (formerly known equally AdWords) or accept been running PPC campaigns for years, you lot've probably given a great deal of idea to most which keywords will outcome in more clicks and college conversions – not to mention that vacation home in Lake Tahoe you've been dreaming about."

13. Have a Stroll Down Retention Lane

I've been writing professionally, in one style or another, for the by ten years. When I look dorsum at my early piece of work, which I do every so frequently, it literally makes me blench. I don't practise this because I'm a masochist, simply to remind myself how far I've come up.

Writing should be fun, and along with the thrill of seeing your byline for the first time, seeing how far yous've progressed is 1 of the most satisfying parts of being a writer. Every at present and so (merely not likewise often), re-read your earlier piece of work and marvel at how much ameliorate you lot are now than y'all were then. Pat yourself on the back. Y'all've worked hard, then don't exist shy – congratulate yourself.

14. Don't Be Afraid to Say What You Think

Well-nigh content on the web is bland and dreadfully boring. This is because far likewise many bloggers focus on regurgitating the same news equally everybody else without bothering to add their ain opinions. Obviously you don't want to fall afoul of libel laws, but that doesn't mean you lot can't (or shouldn't) say what you lot recall.

Once you lot've started to discover your ain "voice," don't be shy almost sharing your opinions. This makes for more interesting reading. Don't be contrarian for its own sake, and don't gear up out to purposefully piss anyone off, merely make certain there's plenty of you in your writing to make it a worthwhile read for your audience.

15. Do Your Research

Bated from plagiarizing someone else'southward piece of work, nil will undermine your credibility faster than failing to do your homework.

In their eagerness to exist done with a web log post (or fifty-fifty major newspaper article), many writers endeavour to take shortcuts with the facts. This can range from accidentally fudging a statistic out of haste to being lazy when it comes to sourcing or attribution. Not but can this land yous in large trouble with your editor/content marketing manager/other dominate-type person, it too makes y'all look like an amateur.

Everybody makes mistakes, and you don't need to spend weeks cantankerous-referencing every last statistic (see the next tip), but common sense should prevail here – don't rely exclusively on sites like Wikipedia, and use electric current, primary sources whenever possible.

xvi. Remember Done Is Ameliorate than Perfect

You should definitely accept the time to write as well equally you can, proofread and edit your work thoroughly, and ensure that your slice flows logically from one betoken to the next.

Notwithstanding, this doesn't mean you should have weeks to write something.

No slice of writing will ever be perfect – you have to know when it's time to let it go. This is especially important in content marketing, considering you'll rarely (if always) have the luxury of crafting agonizingly beautiful web log posts total of poignant sentences and evocative imagery. As you become more confident, the "writing" function of writing will go easier and faster, only never lose sight of the fact that deadlines, or editorial calendars, are merely as much your masters equally any boss or manager.

As for me, I'thou going to have my own advice and telephone call this post done. I hope yous discover these tips useful, no affair how long yous've been writing.

Summary: How to Improve Your Writing Skills

1. Castor up on the basic principles of writing, grammar and spelling.
2. Write similar it's your job and do regularly.
3. Read more so you develop an center for what effective writing looks like.
4. Find a partner. Ask them to read your writing and provide feedback.
5. Join a workshop, meetup, or take a writing night grade.
6. Accept the time to analyze writing y'all admire.
7. Imitate writers yous admire.
8. Outline your writing.
9. Edit your writing.
10. Accept that first drafts are often bad and revise.
11. Find an editor who demonstrates patience.
12. Eliminate unnecessary words from your writing.
13. Review your earlier work and see how yous've grown.
14. Don't exist agape to say what you hateful in what you write.
15. Make sure you practise adequate enquiry on your topic.
16. Don't delay writing. Get it done now.

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Source: https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/08/07/improve-writing-skills

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