As the world grows online, we see a surge in demand for freelance content writers or ghostwriters. If you think you have the perfect grasp of grammar, vocabulary, and expressions, content writing can be a probable future for your career.
Content writing is a business opportunity for people who love reading and researching articles and combine their perspectives to create new meaningful content for web pages or blogs. Different forms of content rule the social media market, and social media determines modern public acceptance. Hence, if you create powerful content, it is a smart way to develop your career.
A Brief on Content Writing
Content writing is nothing but wordplay. Here, a writer uses “content” or words or media files to convey information about a business or project or any idea. If you want to succeed as a freelance content writer, you should be able to create informative, engaging, and unique content for your readers.
How Does Freelancing in Content Writing Work?
To begin as a freelance content writer, you need to know the platforms where you will get your clients. Define your niche of expertise, and they will start assigning topics and ideas to you. As a writer, it is now your job to create unique content for your clients’ blogs, websites, or social media platforms. These are digital content. You might need to create offline content like presentations, dissertation papers, advertisements, etc.
When you create digital content, you begin your career as a part of the digital marketing industry.
What Makes your Content Good?
The modern digital world prefers SEO-friendly content. No matter which niche you choose to create your content, you need to conduct thorough research on the topic and create plagiarism-free, high-quality content. Your penmanship, wordplay, and focus on keywords will help your clients secure a high rank on the search engine. A content writer should focus on creating simple yet well-researched content. The process requires smart editing and a strong grasp of vocabulary.
We can label content as good and high-quality if it grabs your customer’s attention in the first 30 words. The key to good content is catchy keyword utilization, easy-to-read sentences, strong meta-description, and well-researched materials.
How to Start a Career as a Content Writer in India?
There is no standard step-by-step guide to becoming a content writer. The process seems daunting initially but offers exceptional flexibility; hence, it is one of the preferred career paths in today’s world.
Content writing is a job that anyone belonging to any field of expertise, holding any degree, can start without hindrance. All you need is strong writing skills, analytical thoughts, and a knack for researching.
You can follow the below options to begin your journey as a content writer-
Table of Contents
1. Freelance Work
The fastest way to build your career as a content writer is to start as a freelancer. As mentioned earlier, the demand for content writers is high among corporates. They generally seek ghostwriters to prepare their blogs, webpages, or advertisements. Look up freelancing websites like Freelancer.com, Fiverr, Upwork, WorknHire, or similar for suitable opportunities. You can display your sample content on these sites, set your freelance rate, and place a bid on projects to get work.
These websites are great for building a portfolio and gaining expertise as a content writer.
2. Internship Programs
If you are looking for a part-time earning opportunity, you can try internship programs with newspapers, digital marketing companies, etc. They guide you in creating high-quality content, offer a certificate and stipend.
3. Blogging
Blogging is one of the most successful ways of becoming famous as a content writer. If you are writing a blog for yourself, you can create one for free and write as per your comfortable time. However, monetizing a free blog is time-consuming. But it offers you the time to nourish your penmanship.
4. Add Qualification
Though content writing doesn’t require high qualifications, the demand for specific niche experts is always high. For example, content writers with expertise in dissertations and academic niches always get paid generously. You need qualifications and certification. To be a content writer of one such niche, it is advisable to gain a niche-specific qualification.
5. Certification Schemes
Same as the fourth point, content writers can always increase the weightage of their resume by joining short-time or online skill-enhancing courses on digital marketing and content writing. These certificates add value to your credibility after your graduation or post-graduation degree.
Top 10 Tips to Becoming a Content Writer
If you aspire to become a renowned content writer, here are the top 10 tips for you-
- Become a voracious and intensive reader
- Focus on your networking
- Indulge in strong research before writing a content
- Maintain your presence on social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.
- Expand your horizon and accept all niches of content writing
- Embrace all the changes, accept new information, and be prepared to evolve with the changing online world.
Conclusion
Content writing is a promising segment to advance in your career. The demand for content writers has never been more since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. If you have a knack for research and a good grasp of vocabulary and grammar, this is the future for your career.