Content Writing Tutorial for Beginners : 2023

Introduction:

Content Writing Tutorial For Beginners: It’s December! The last month of the year. We are counting down on our fingers to enter 2022. Just a few days left and we will soon welcome the new year 2022. The year 2021 can be called a ‘Year of Internet. The companies, schools, colleges, organizations, agencies, markets, have shifted to digital platforms. Those who haven’t yet, are also planning to shift soon else they will be out of the race. 

An underlying fact is that Internet users are growing every year, and the year 2022 will push this graph for the content writing profession as well. 

At the outset, I will congratulate you on your inquisitiveness towards Content Writing. 

Are you a beginner in the field of content writing and struggling to get your content writing career a kick start? Are you looking for a content writing tutorial for beginners? You have clicked the right page, this blog will cater to all your needs. 

A beginner in any profession carries a lot of confusion and uncertainty regarding the scope and practicality. You are no new to this challenge that every beginner faces. The content writers are overloaded with doubts, hesitations and fears at the start of their journey. Invest your precious 15 minutes in reading this blog and clear your doubts, which will help you grow in content writing.  

Content Writing Tutorial for Beginners in 2022:

Content writing is the best friend of the Internet. How? 

Anything that you search on the internet, has to be provided with the content first. Whether it be audio, video, text or any images; all have the content as the core element. 

It is mandatory to understand the content before we go into the details of content writing. 

Content

The content is any information, experience or creativity that you communicate to your audience. It aims at inspiring, educating, entertaining and convincing the audience. 

The content can be either digital or non-digital. There was a time when content was more popular on non-digital platforms like magazines, newsletters, articles, reports, books, hoardings, banners. With the passing of time and the internet revolution, digital content has taken over. 

Content Writing:

Here, content writing refers to the digital world. Content writing has many advantages over traditional/non-digital writing: 

1. Scope for Revision: Due to the format of digital content, it can be edited, revised at any given time. That’s why you can constantly improve your content and create the best one.  While the traditional content once finalized and printed has zero scopes for improvement. 
2. Outreach: A larger audience is available at one go on a digital platform, it has a greater outreach. The audience need not be physically present. 
3. Interlinking: The digital format can be interlinked to various other data, images, information that makes the content more reliable, authentic and credible. 
4. Accessibility: The online data is just a click away. A click brings all the data within seconds. Anyone who has an active internet on a mobile, laptop, the tab is eligible to access the content. 
5. Influence: The likes, shares, comments on the content makes a bigger impact on the audience.  

You will find a myriad of content writers writing every day, the huge content posted every day. Strategic content writing will save you from being lost in the crowd of unknown content writers. 

Here is the content writing tutorial for beginners. The steps to follow:

Select a Niche:

Select a topic that interests you. A non-interested topic will never deliver the best of you. You should have at least basic knowledge about the topic. The more knowledge you have the better it is. You can always have more than one topic for your niche. 

Research:

A writer must possess the skill of a researcher. Research skill is an integral part of writing. Thorough research of the topic is needed before you start writing. Dig all the information you can, and the more you get deeper into the topic, the better is the research. A topic that is well researched adds value to your content. Any content with references, data, facts stands out from others. The authenticity is proved through the well-researched facts. Such content and hence the content writer automatically wins the trust of the audience.  

Structure:

Create a framework for your content writing, which includes the headline, body of the content and conclusion. Divide the body into subpoints and start putting your ideas into this format.

Eye-Catching Headline: 

The headline is a call to your content/blog/article. If you can’t drag your reader’s attention for 2 seconds, your article will not be read. An article not being read is as equal as not being written. All the efforts will go into the trash and join those millions of unread content.  Invest your time in creating a powerful and striking headline that can trigger the emotions of a reader to click your content. 

Create a Hook:

You have passed the first exam if you make your headline read. But, the work is still not done. Now it’s a challenge to hold the readers’ attention for another 15 seconds that will compel her/him to read more. Start with a bang-on sentence, a surprise element, a question or an interesting fact that acts as a hook to engage the audience for another 10-15 minutes. The attention span of your reader is 8 seconds, so you have those 8 seconds to get your audience hooked. 

Maintain originality:

Once your framework is ready, start writing in your style. Don’t copy the writing style of other influential writers. You can never create your own identity in content writing by following this bad practice. Every individual is unique, every writer is unique, hence every writing will be unique. Original content is liked the most. You can follow any tone- Witty, sarcasm, formal, neutral or serious as per your requirement and type of content. The Internet is intelligent and can track even if one sentence is copied. There are many plagiarism checker tools that show the percentage of plagiarism. Duplichecker, Plagiarism Checker, Small SEO Tools, Copyleaks are a few free plagiarism checker tools. 

Conversational tone:

In the case of a blog/article, use conversational tone ‘I’ and ‘You’. When a reader reads the article, s/he should feel that the writer is conversing with the reader, which will keep the reader engaged and create an impact on the readers’ mind.

Command on language:

Whatever the language, be it English, Hindi or any other, you should have a command of it. If we talk about content writing in the English language, you have to continuously work on your language skills- vocabulary, grammar, punctuation etc. It doesn’t mean that all difficult words need to be thrown into your content. Use the right vocabulary in the sentences. Keep the language simple. Get over the misconception that every beginner has to use difficult words in making the content more powerful. Keep the vocabulary simple and easy to understand. Brushing up your language skills is key to effective content writing. 

Short Sentences:

Don’t use long sentences in your writing. Short sentences are easy to understand and the readers get confused and lost in long sentences.

Active Voice:

What was taught to you first in your childhood, counting 1 to 100 or 100 to 1? 1 to 100. The logic behind this is that it is easier to learn the counting from 1 to 100 than the back counting. Likewise,  it is easier to read and understand active voice sentences than passive voice. Try to use active voice sentences in your content writing. 

Purpose:

There has to be a purpose for writing the content for your audience. The purpose has to be clear. Don’t confuse yourself, stick to that purpose till the end of your writing. 

Keyword:

A writer must have basic knowledge of SEO. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. You would have written a top class article, but it may still go unnoticed on google if the keywords are not used appropriately. Google reads keywords and it ranks the sites/blogs/articles as per the usage of keywords. So, learn keywords, phrases and apply them to your content naturally. Neither overstuff nor underuse. 

Conclusion:

The conclusion has to be in sync with the introduction. The issues raised in the introduction need a concluding statement. The concluding statement must roll out a carpet for a call to action. A call to action will engage the audience to your content for a lasting time. 

Edit: 

Once you complete your first draft, review the whole content. You might need to change the sequence, flow, tone, language, words etc. Editing is considered the most critical part of your article/blog/content. Even the renowned writers never publish their first draft. At least two edits are required before presenting your post publicly. The edits will minimize the scope of errors in the content. 

Proofread:

Proofreading your content for spelling and punctuation errors. 

Publish:

Publishing/sending the final content is the easiest of all. Click the publish button with full confidence.

Develop Portfolio:

You must have heard the word ‘Portfolio’ every now and then. This is an important element in building your brand as a writer. Developing your own personal brand as a writer is a must-have. The more you show your work, the more you get recognition as a writer. 

Creating personal blogs and websites is the best stage to get work. You don’t have to spend a single penny to build your blogs. There are many websites that offer free websites and blogs. Once you have worked on your website for a few months then, you can shift to paid websites to get additional benefits. Wix, WordPress, Medium, Ghost, Blogger, Tumblr, Weebly, LinkedIn are a few free blogging sites. 

Tips for effective content writing:

Flair for Reading:

The first step to writing is reading. Does it sound strange? Indeed, all writers are readers. If you don’t love reading, you can never love writing. Writing starts from reading, you cannot write unless you read. Reading will improve your language, vocabulary and style of writing. It is important to understand the reader’s perspective before writing. This will give you ideas about what you like as a reader and what not, building you a stage in creating good content for your readers. Reading every day will make you write every day. 

Flair for Writing:

You have to fall in love with writing if you wish to excel in content writing. Content writing just as a profession will not let you walk longer in this field. Sooner or later the burden of writing may spoil your content. 

Updated knowledge:

The writing industry is continuously evolving. A reader likes reading that goes with the trend. A writer must have up-to-date information about the latest trend and specifically, extensive information about niche-related topics. 

Observation:

A writer integrating observation skills can do wonders with the content. Be on observation mode, you never know which idea will just click your content. 

Share:

If you are writing a blog/article, be proud to share it on social platforms. The purpose is not to boast but to let the world know about your efforts and creativity. It will boost your confidence. 

Welcome your critics:

Be prepared to get positive and negative feedback. Both have a role to enhance your writing. Positive feedback will push your confidence and negatives will correct your mistakes. Welcome both the comments with full positivity. 

Follow other pages:

You will find famous blogs/pages on social platforms and can follow these pages. You can select blogs that are related to your niche. You should know what your competitors are offering and what’s pitching the readers. Knowing your competitors will improve your writing. You will get a lot of writing tips on such pages. 

Join community groups:

There are certain whats app, telegram, Facebook, Instagram groups for bloggers that are made for the sole purpose of connecting all bloggers to one page. There is no joining fee. Joining such a community is a simple job that promotes your writings not just in India but across the globe. You will easily get the solution to the writing issues faced by the bloggers. 

Join a course.

Many times, we plan but can’t incorporate regularity and sincerity to start the first step towards content writing. Enrolling on a course has many benefits. It will install the initial sincerity in you to take up content writing professionally. It will also equip the beneficiary with the desired content writing skills that can’t be gained otherwise from any other platforms. 

There are great quantities of Institutes that offer content writing courses. It would be indeed a challenge to choose the best among them. If you ask my personal choice, I would suggest you register with Henry Harvin Education, for a content writing tutorial for beginners.  

Henry Harvin Writing Academy  : Content Writing Tutorial For Beginners

Henry Harvin is an ed-tech company, based in India and US that offers programs for upskilling and reskilling. It has a customer base in 97 countries. It is ranked amongst the top 100 tech companies in India. This institute has received recognitions from Hindustan Times, Business World, Statesman and Hans India. 

The Henry Harvin Writing course has been positioned the top rank in India by Prime Insights, Higher Education Digest, Best Course News and Yugasa. The content writing course of Henry Harvin is a course that is unique from others in the following ways:

The 9 in 1 Course 

Key Features:

1. The training offered is a live session, it is interactive based on theory and practical.
2. Assigning projects on writing will be an ongoing activity throughout the training. Feedback on the assignments will be given. 
3. You can choose to do an internship for a minimum period of 2 months, you will submit blogs/articles each week that will be published on various sites.
4. A certification post the completion of the training and another certificate on completion of the internship will be issued that will add value to your resume. 
5. Placement support is the fifth point that is covered under 9 in 1 course. The Institute provides weekly notification about the job. 
6. Access to E-Learning, where the student can avail study material, assessment tests, quiz to enhance learning.
7. Bootcamps brush up other skills of the student. Online weekly sessions are organized on topics like resume building, presentation, negotiation skills.
8. Access to Hackathons.
9. You will get a gold membership for one year, where you can get all the benefits. 

The duration of the course is 36 hours. 

Benefits of the course:

1. Converting thoughts into powerful writing.
2. Creating basic designs (image, logo e.t.c) to support content.
3. Strategy to engage the target audience with your content. 
4. Launching website and personal blogs.
5. Learning different types of content.

Course content: Language and Internet skills, business writing, marketing writing, technical and research writing, academic writing, creative writing, email writing, copywriting and content strategy. 

The course fee is 15,000 rupees. 

I hope you cleared many things by now after going through the content writing tutorials 

Conclusion: Content Writing Tutorial For Beginners

Content has evolved over the years. The content cannot be separated from the business. 

Every business has recognised the role of good content. Content writing is a tool in business that generates leads. Nowadays, all companies are hiring content writers and offering them handsome salary packages. So, if you are worried about your career that’s not the subject of concern. The challenge is to mark your presence, create your identity among thousands of writers. That is also not a challenge if you are serious about your content writing career and ready to put in all your efforts. 

As per Turnto’s research, User-generated content tops the strategy used in business to influence the decision making of purchasers. Now, you realize this is the power of effective content. But, just content will not solve the purpose, only effective content will do that. 

Content writing is no rocket science. This article sums up the content writing tutorial for beginners. Apply all the tips and steps for content writing and stand out from the rest. Just remember one thing – ‘Love reading! Love writing!’ before you start your plunge into the content writing profession. Believe in yourself, start with a positive mindset. Writers have done it, writers are doing it. You will do it too. All the best to new writers. 

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