Content Writing is a form of writing in which the writer writes a detailed description of a company’s products or services. Content writing is client-oriented & focuses on creating interest among readers or potential customers. Content writing is much more than mere article writing. It involves using techniques like SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to direct the internet traffic towards the company’s website or blogs, so as to attract the maximum possible number of visitors.

Content writing as a profession is picking up pace with the increasing popularity of digital marketing. There are 10 different types of content writers:- Brand Journalist, SEO Copywriter, Digital/UX Writer, Lead Generation Writer, Subject Matter Expert, Influencer, Social Media Writer, Advertising Copywriter, Technical Writer & Grant Writer. Once you get a good grip over the concept of content writing, based on your skills & liking you can choose one or more of these. Read on to know more about content writing & how to start as a freelance content writer.

How to start as a freelance content writer?

To begin with, do extensive research in this domain. Read the blogs & posts of other freelance content writers & try to understand their style of writing.

To become a successful content writer, it’s important to be equipped with the following skills:

• Language skills. Language skills are important to ensure that you put forth your points in a clear & understandable way. Your expressive power should be high which comes from good knowledge in spelling, grammar & vocabulary.

• Good patience & research skills. You should have the patience to do good research on the given topic from various sources, so as to gather as much useful information as possible.

• Interaction skills. Content writing involves talking to clients & editors to understand their requirements & to clarify your own doubts. For this, you must have good listening & communication skills.

• Creativity. Just gathering points is not enough to write on a topic. You should be able to elaborate & write them in a way that creates interest among the readers. You should also possess the ability to analyze points & forming conclusions & ideas based on them.

• Thoroughness. Through the whole content writing process, you must work with dedication & perfection. After every paragraph, you write, read over to check if it is relevant to the requirement & make sure that it is not deviating towards irrelevant topics. Also, check for spelling & grammatical mistakes before the final submission.

• Step 3: Practice. Write a sample article on any topic. Check with grammar correction apps like ‘Grammarly’ to know the language mistakes you’ve made. If you are working on your first assignment & you do not excel at it, don’t lose hope. With practice comes experience & a better scope for improvement.

• Step 4: Build a portfolio. Most content writing posts require experience. You will be asked to show your portfolio & a sample of the work you’ve done. If you have no prior experience, you might be given a sample assignment based on which your selection will be made. Initially, you may find it difficult to find a job as a content writer, but as you keep writing more & more & gaining experience, you’ll end up with numerous offers on hand.

• Step 5: Time management. Good time management is an essential element that contributes to making you a successful content writer. Clients often give deadlines for the submission of work. Make sure to be punctual with your work. When accepting a freelance content writing job offer, enquire about the amount of work that will be given & the amount of time that needs to be spent on the work. Once you are confident that the time to be catered is suitable for you, you are good to go.

Content writers are mostly hired by digital marketing companies & a certificate in any of the digital marketing courses will be of advantage if you want to pursue a career in content writing. This is because, apart from regular writing, a content writer must also incorporate digital marketing techniques in his/her writings. These techniques can be learnt well by taking up professional courses in the field of digital marketing. ‘Kolkata School of Digital Marketing’ which is the best digital marketing institute in Kolkata is offering a ‘Diploma in digital marketing’ in which the art of content writing & digital marketing will be taught from scratch. In this course which spans over a period of 3 months, you will get to learn the latest digital marketing trends, how to combine traditional marketing methods with digital marketing methods to get the best results, visitor tracking & web analytics to analyse the impact of your content published on the web, data analysis & other skills to establish yourself as a great content writer & digital marketer.