Learning how to write web content to become a professional website content writer is one of the most-rewarding skills, whether you write for your website, or you learned the skill to write for clients who would pay for your services.
If you learned the skill to write for your website, then you’re in for a high-converting number of leads who would visit your website on a daily basis, plus your website gets to be at the first position on Google.
And if you learned the skill to become a freelance web content writer, then you’re in for a rewarding pay of up to $1,500 weekly.
But unfortunately, this might be so unreal to you, because:
- First, the issue of where to start from in writing high-converting web content
- Zero-knowledge of SEO and keyword research
- Copywriting skills that speak the right words to your readers
- Low confidence in writing attractive content for your clients
All these reasons and many more might drive you into thinking that you can never be an expert website content writer, but that shouldn’t be.
If you read till the end of this blog post, I will show you how to go from being a total novice to becoming an expert in web content writing that actually generates leads through content writing. And if you want to learn this skill for your career, I will show you how to launch into the career line of web content writing.
But first, let’s look at the meaning of content writing.
NB: These skills of content writing, learning how to use the tools, ranking content on Google, landing clients, structuring your pricing, and many more, are all you get to learn from our 90% practical digital marketing course where we teach you all about getting results and learning high in-demand digital marketing skills.
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What Does Content Writing Mean?
Content writing is a form of content marketing strategy, which involves writing website copies that are aimed at selling a service or passing information. According to eMarketer.com, 60% of marketers create at least one piece of content each day.
This means that content writing still remains a vital skill in digital marketing.
This image below is simple proof that industry experts still write engaging content every day, and it has been a big part of their marketing mix.
Website Content Writer – 5 Effective Steps to Become a Website Content Writer
Now that we’ve figured out what content writing means, let’s look at what “website content writing” is.
What is Website Content Writing?
Website content writing is the production of relevant content for a website that is aimed at speaking to the target audience of the website and providing detailed and compelling information for the readers.
This content is written in a tone that the audience best knows of. And it’s required that these web content are written and optimized with industry-related keywords to help in its ranking.
A website content writer on the other hand is anyone charged with the task of providing this good website content. It’s required that this content writer has sound knowledge and active background in search engine optimization to writing content that will rank the web pages of the website.
Now that we’ve detailed what web content writing means and what is required of expert writers, let’s look at how to craft web content.
How Do You Write Website Content
Website content writing format takes an intentional form of writing that follows the rule of marketing. This simply means that it starts from knowing your customers since they are the audience you’re writing for.
This is a breakdown of the steps required to follow in writing content for any website.
Steps in writing content for any website
1. Audience Research
Knowing who you’re writing for, is the fundamental step to take in writing content that converts. Is the website designed for audiences who understand technical terms of their industry, or for millennials who understand modern-day terms in the business niche?
These are part of the job you have to do before writing.
Highlighting technical terms used in some business niche
In this image, some of the terms used are industry-related terms that can’t easily be understood by people who are not actively in IT. This means that any content writing for a similar website must make use of these terms.
2. Determine the Purpose of the Website
Some websites are designed to give details on the services that a brand renders, some are to convert readers to make a purchase or sign up for a program. Whatever the aim of the website is, a professional website content writer must take note of the purpose of the website and write content that will align with the goal.
In writing a sales page that converts, you must know how to use high-compelling CTAs and a subtle sense of urgency to drive your readers to take action and in time.
The two things your call-to-action button must do is to “drive your readers to take action” + “motivate your readers to take that action”
Here are some of the best CTAs that tick these two boxes.
- Click here [Action] to start your free trial [Motivation].
- Get[Action] a free quote here [Motivation]
3. Do Keyword Research
Keyword research, as part of on-page SEO, is one of the most required skills for any website content writer. This is because every brand wants to have their page ranking on Google, and content is one of the factors that rank web pages.
Starting out to learn keyword research, you can learn the simple strategies on how to use Google keyword planner and SEMRush to find out the right keyword you should optimize your content with.
From this image below, you can choose to discover keywords and similar keywords by inputting a keyword or inputting a web address to see keywords the website is driving traffic with.
Google keyword planner for web content writers
Website Content Writer – 5 Effective Steps to Become a Website Content Writer
At this point, these are keywords that you can use in ranking your content as well if you’re in the same niche as this brand.
To learn more about SEO, click here to access our detailed guide on SEO which includes keyword research also.
4. Write In a Required Tone
So many industries require you to write in a tone that best resonates with their brand. It could be in a conventional tone, technical tone, etc. Finding out what audience you’re writing for, will give you insight into what tone to write with.
Also, you can look at your competitors to find out what tone their web content is written with, this is part of the research you need to make before writing any web content.
Once you have mastered how to take these steps in writing, then it’s time to structure your steps in becoming a web content writer.
Steps to Becoming a Website Content Writer
Becoming a content writer requires you to know how to write first and foremost. This means that when you’re tasked to write content, you must know how to craft engaging content from the information you’ve been given.
Followed by this is the ability to organize your thought, outline your points, and deliver in a given time. Whether you’re learning to write for your website, or for your clients, the steps are always the same.
Looking into the steps that you must follow to become a renowned website content writer, let’s detail these steps.
Step 1. Choose a Writing Niche if You Want to Write For Clients
As a content writer, you can’t write in every niche. Not because you can’t put words together to make a sentence, it’s simply because it will require you to have in-depth knowledge in almost every field before you can write content that resonates with the readers.
There are niches that you can choose to start with, but the golden rule in picking a niche is to write for clients in industries you’re very familiar with.
As a digital marketer who knows the terms and how-to’s of every digital marketing area, it won’t be hard to write content in this area compared to when charged with a task to write content in the medical line.
A digital marketer might know how to write email series and automate email copies, this means that he can always write How-to’s for any client, but might not know how to write content on how to treat ulcer with PPIs.
And any client who would want to work with you will require an expert in a particular industry, other than a writer without a particular niche.
Step 2. Become Acquainted With Content Writing Tools
There are tools that make your journey into content writing much more easy and hassle-free. For instance, most content writers use Grammarly to auto-check their works for grammatical errors.
Google words is also a tool that most content writers use since it lets you give access to your client who might want to keep an eye on his job in real-time as you make progress.
Some other tools used by content writers are:
- Google keyword planner for SEO
- Atlas for graphs
- Evernote
- WordPress
- Unsplash, Pixabay, and several others.
These tools will make your content writing journey very easy and professional.
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3. Read More Contents In Your Preferred Industry
There’s no better way to learn how to write other than reading-related content. The more you read, the more you understand how professional writers word their content, express their ideas, and put them in structured content with headlines, and sub-headlines.
Reading—the good and the bad—inspires you. It develops your palate for all the tricks that writers have invented over the years. You can learn from textbooks about the writing craft, but there’s no substitute for discovering for yourself how a writer pulls off a trick. Then that becomes part of your experience. – Roz Morris
If you choose to write in the digital marketing field, some of the go-to brands that write awesome content in all digital marketing niches – content marketing, SEO, email marketing, customer retention, etc are people like Neil Patel, Moz, and many others.
4. Position Yourself For Opportunities
If you’re embarking on this journey to write for clients, or to get a content writing job, you must position yourself for content writing opportunities.
There are contests that call for writing tasks with a fat reward, a simple search for these contests on Google will give you great insight on how to sign up for as many of these contests as possible.
Also, looking for clients? there are freelancing platforms where you can find clients and execute these web content writing tasks for them to get paid.
Platforms like Fiverr.com, Upwork.com, Freelancer.com, are some of the platforms that provide a link between writers and clients who will need your services.
5. Practice Content Writing.
Practicing what you’ve learned will bring you more experience and help you build your portfolio in your career line. You can start by offering to write short and medium-length content for free.
Find sites that will allow you to guest post on their platform and get credit for your content. This is a sure way to build your portfolio as this is one of the many factors that will determine how fast you get writing jobs.
How Do I Practice Content Writing?
Practice content writing by :
- Guest-posting on blogs and forums
- writing and expressing your thoughts to build your portfolio
- offer to write for free for some brands that will give you credit for your work
- read more written contents by industry experts
- don’t just digest the information but pay attention to how their words are structured
- learn how to write in different tones
Conclusion
Building a good reputation as a website content writer will pay off in the long run if you’ve built the skills for your brand, or to make money from clients or employers using the skill. The task required cuts across the following:
- Choosing a niche to write in
- Learning about the target audience of the website
- Learning how to use writing tools
- Mastering SEO and keyword research
- Practicing your craft to get better by every step