Writing “well” is a basic requirement for offering an added value to your audience and gaining their loyalty towards your content. But, how does one become a good writer? We’re going to talk about it in this post! Today, I’ll share with you 14 practical and effective keys for being the best online writer. Take notes!
How to be a Good Writer? 14 Executable Tips for Achieving the Best Results
1- Define the Purpose of your Text
The first thing you have to do before starting to write any class of content is to define the objective of your text. It’ll help you to take the appropriate narrative and choose the information necessary to pass on to your readers what you have defined in you objective.
So, to clarify what the purpose of your text is, you can ask yourself the following questions:
- What is the message you’d like to convey?
- What effect do you want to have on the audience?
- What will you provide readers through the text?
2- Make Sketches
After making the objective of your article clear, it’s now time to define the structure of your text. Doing this will help you organize the information that you’ll share with your readers as to ensure you meet all the objectives you initially planned. This way your sketch will be like your writing guide.
Through the sketch of your text you can answers questions such as:
- What is the title style that you’d like to use (I advise making a decision on this after you finish writing the text)
- What ideas or concepts will you transmit in each paragraph.
- How many subtitles will you employ to address the different themes.
- What type of illustrative images will you use.
- What will be the location of said images.
- What will be the attempted range of your article.
3- Always Find your Own Interest in the Theme
Can you imagine how boring it is listening to a story narrated halfheartedly? To have what you’re telling your readers be appealing to them, it’s essential that you yourself are interested in the topic you’re attempting! Apart from the issue itself, it’s essential that your view on the topic be lively and interesting.
So, to ensure you maintain an attractive tone and that it entices the reader, I suggest identifying what it is that you yourself find interesting about the theme that you are going to present. Ask yourself: Why is this theme interesting? What’s relevant to me? What would I like to know about the topic?
4- Get to Know your Model Reader
Something that is as crucial as maintaining an attractive voice is getting to know the people who you are targeting. Their characteristics will largely determine what the most appropriate attitude will be to accomplish interesting them in your theme. To become acquainted with your online readers you can use Google Analytics.
For example, if you discover that the bulk of your public is older people, then you’ll be able to adapt your content for said audience and omit references targeting teens or towards audiences that are too specific. To get to know your readers, I suggest answering the following questions:
5- Set a Consistent Storyline
All texts require a storyline in order to achieve conveying a clear message to readers. As explained by specialists: “The argument is a type of exposure that aims to support a thesis with reasons or arguments, meaning, an idea you want to prove”.
Thus, even if it’s content that’s informal in nature you should use a good argument to convey your ideas efficiently. To guide yourself through this step you can set the structure of the argument beforehand by responding to the following questions:
- What idea do you want to convey?
- What information will you use to justify it?
- How will I explain the data behind my reasoning?
- What will the conclusion of my text be?
6- Create Attractive Titles
As you already know, titles are crucial in attracting readers to your content. For this the challenge is catching your audience’s interest or curiosity through only one line of text. To make this happen, the marketing experts recommend a few highly effective formats for your titles:
- Head directly for your readers: “Learn how to be a good writer”.
- Use list format: “10 Reasons to Travel to France”.
- Generate curiosity: “The Queen on England’s Deepest Secret”.
- Pose questions: “How to cook a delicious baked chicken with only 5 ingredients”.
- Display utility: “Everything you need to know before you buy a house”.
7- Use Subtitles
Another important point for conveying your ideas clearly and not bombarding your audience with information is to organize your text through subtitles. As explained by specialists, subtitles “Are designed to separate the interpretive framework in long texts, or to anticipate the partial content that follows”.
So for example, if the them or main title (H1) of an article for your blog is “4 Social Media Trends you should be paying attention to”, you can order the information under 4 subtitles composed of the names of each of the Social Media Trend listed.
8- Fulfill what’s promised in the titles
Another important point if you want to “rope in” your readers and add followers, it to make sure to fulfill what you promise in your titles. In fact, nothing is more deceptive or produces more spam alerts than going to an article through a link which promised one thing but ended in something completely different.
This way, if for example you announce in your title “The incredible story of the PC” you will have to recount related information to the creation or evolution of personal computers and you should find a point to surprise your audience and fulfill the word “Incredible” used in the title.
9- Explore Other Authors to Inspire Yourself
A lot of times after selecting a theme to write about, your mind goes blank and your fingers seem frozen on the keys. So, how can you overcome this awkward moment? Very simple: by googling article on your topic!
Taking a look at what other authors are saying about the topic the you should write about will give you an outlook on possible approaches and will inspire you to form your own. For example, if you have to write about vegetarian food you can search “benefits of vegetarian food” and explore the results.
10- Research the Topic
To bring an added value to readers while addressing a subject it’s essential that you can throw out some useful, new or entertaining information on the topic. It’s being original! In this regard it’s critical to know what has already been said about the topic to be able to add a rewarding reading.
Thus, it’s recommended that every time you go to write any content you carry out a prior investigation on the topic. In fact, if you have a blog oriented towards a theme in particular, you can make a list of the most legitimate and relevant sources to consult (for example, specialty sites that are well placed on the Internet).
11- Read Other Blogs
Beyond the particular themes that you should provide in your articles it’s important that you are a frequent reader of other relevant blogs linked to your sector. Doing it will help you obtain ideas for your own content and will keep you up to date on your industry’s trends.
To find important blogs linked to your activity area you can enter keywords related to your sector in the BuzzSumo search (for example, if you have a pet store you can search for “pet care”) and filter the results by “Article”.
Thus, a lot of the results with a large number of “Shares” on Social Networks will correspond with the most popular sites in your sector and you’ll be able to add them to your inspiration sources.
12- Carry a Notepad to Capture Ideas
As you know, moments of inspiration are usually fleeting and that’s why you have to take advantage of them. A good way to ensure not missing out on any of your good ideas is to carry a notepad with you everywhere you go. This way you are always ready to capture your creative thoughts in order to use them in your texts.
So, if you like telephone Apps I advise downloading Evernote on your mobile and computer. It is the ideal tool for online writers since it allows you to take voice notes, photos and write texts that can later be automatically synchronized between your devices in order to access them easily.
13- Use Synonyms
In regards to how to be a good writer, it’s fundamental to use a broad vocabulary (though not necessarily complicated), so that your sentences in each paragraph aren’t repetitive or monotonous. To do this it’s advisable to have a good online dictionary of synonyms at hand while writing.
The idea is to vary the way in which you describe events or present your arguments. Doing this will not only improve your writing style but additionally with help with the comprehension of your content (so for example, to talk about “clothes” in an article about Fashion you can alternate the terms “attire”, “apparel”, “clothes” and “design”, etc.).
14- Consult your Reader Feedback
Finally, to answer the question of How to be a good writer, there’s nothing better than consulting your readers. And how can you find out what the public thinks about your articles? Very simple: by reading the comments on your blog. For this you should be sure to enable it in your site’s setting menu.
Additionally, you can know how your audience reacts to your articles by checking how many times it has been shared on Social Networks and what the comments are. Just take a look at the numbers reached in “Shares” from the social button on your blog, (those which allow people to share your content of Social Media).
That’s all for today! Put these 14 different tips on how to be a better writer to practice and obtain the best results. Then tell me about it!
Did you like this blog post? Which tip was most beneficial to you? Would you add any others to the list? Leave us your comments! And please, remember to share this article with your contacts. Until next time! ?