Tips on How to Write the Content Professionally
August 4, 2017| Category: Business Writing Jobs, Careers in Writing, Freelance Writing, Writer Jobs
The writers who create the content professionally earn their living this way. The requirements for becoming professional content writer include competence and skillfulness. Content writing should be regarded as a profession rather than a hobby. It requires writing on a great number of topics, ranging from popular issues to scientific ones. The advantage of working as a content writer is the opportunity to be engaged in the activity you love and be paid for it as well as the possibility to work from home.
- Develop Your Writing Skills
1) Become aware of the content writing realities. Having decided to take up content writing as a profession, you must consider some real facts about it, namely:
- Not a very high pay. The majority of workers engaged in content writing are not highly paid, especially if they are just beginners. To obtain valuable experience and establish useful contacts, one should consider writing for the newspapers as a start. However, an average compensation constitutes not more than 12 dollars per hour.
- No creativity. If you aim at demonstrating your creative skills, content writing is not for you, as it is often nothing but the way of informing the readers of certain issues or selling a product or a service. The topics a content writer is supposed to write about are quite dull and often dictated by an employer.
- Quick reaction. Writing well and quickly is one of the requirements while writing for an employer. You may be asked to write an article in an hour or meet challenging deadlines having no time to consider every single word.
2) Get qualified in technical writing. This type of content writing is aimed at describing technical information in the form of manuals or user’s guides. As technical content writers are in demand, you may consider getting qualified in this type of writing. Benefit from programs in technical writing which focus on the skills of project management and organizational skills or find the enrollment option at a local university which provides certification in technical writing.
3) Benefit from online courses. Being quite experienced and having enough skills in content writing, you can opt for an online course. There are a number of online courses you can take by subscription to Captivate or Illustrator, to name few of them. If you need such programs as Robohelp or Flare, search for the options on the internet.
4) Take advantage of the degree you have. Starting a career as a content writer is possible if you have a degree in English, which implies acquiring writing skills.
- Gaining valuable experience
1) Internship is a good idea. Start looking for writing related part-time jobs while at university to gain useful experience. A good idea is to start working part-time at any publication you might want to work in future on the full-time basis. Thus, you will establish useful contacts with writers and editors.
2) Consider membership of PWA. Professional Writers Alliance provides a writer with valuable tools, courses and resources. It is not free, but the fee is relatively small.
3) Be taught. A good idea is to find a mentor who you can talk to. It may be your professor, an editor or any other professional writer. A professional mentor charges fees.
4) Learn to write a newspaper article. There are some positions available which imply writing articles as a journalist. Get acquainted with the rules of writing newspaper articles and wikiHow articles. A good way of practicing writing is to write your own article based on a well structured article which has already been published. Study the article tone and voice.
- How to Find a Job
1) Learn how much they earn. As a rule, the pay for content writing constitutes 0.02 dollars per a single word. The payments are made either by words or hours. Having gained experience, you may be paid 0.03 – 0.10 dollars per a single word.
2) Resume. If you plan to become a full-time content writer, you should write the resume and the cover letter which will enable a potential employer to see whether you meet the requirements for the position.
3) Don’t be afraid to take risks. If you are only beginning your career, you might consider taking on positions which are not highly paid. No matter what kind of work it might be, this will help gain valuable experience and establish useful contacts.