A lot of people enjoy writing while others struggle to create well-written content. Everyone can learn how to make their writing skills better; there’s always a way to do so. Content writing is both an art and science. There are rules to be followed and the creativity to make the content enticing to read.
Make your Writing Better: 5 Tips to Consider
When writing content, it’s always best to consider the important elements needed to come up with an interesting composition. Those include grammar, sentence construction, paragraph style, proper word usage, and others.
Below are some writing tips you can apply to be able to improve your writing skills:
1. Be concise and specific. Create sentences that are not too long. If you can express an idea as concise as possible, it will be better. It is a rule followed especially when you’re dealing with technical writing. The average sentence length is a maximum of 14 words. The shorter would be better, as long as the idea is completely stated.
Example:
Too many ideas:
Content writing is included in online marketing. Video marketing also falls in the same category. Online marketing strategies are important to be learned by people doing online businesses.
Concise:
Online marketing strategies such as content writing and video marketing must be learned by online entrepreneurs.
In addition, use words that are easy to understand. In case you need to include a technical or scientific term, make sure to include its definition. Examples:
The people were shocked by the colossal damage caused by the sudden conflagration.
Rewritten:
The people were shocked by the big damage caused by the fire.
2. Avoid common sentence errors such as comma splice, and run-on sentences.
A comma splice happens when two independent clauses are connected only by a comma which is not enough to state a complete thought. There are several ways to correct a comma splice such as adding other punctuations or words to convey the main thought of the sentence.
Example 1:
Comma Splice:
All employees are watching the presentation, the assistant supervisor prepares the Christmas gifts from them.
Correct:
While all the employees are watching the presentation, the assistant supervisor prepares the Christmas gifts from them.
Example 2:
Comma Splice:
Search engine optimization (SEO) has been an effective tool in online marketing, more and more entrepreneurs are utilizing this to promote their products and services.
Correct:
Search engine optimization (SEO) has been an effective tool in online marketing. More and more entrepreneurs are utilizing this to promote their products and services.
3. Avoid writing and using a fragment.
A fragment can be a group of words or a dependent clause that may look like a complete sentence.
Example:
Fragment:
After choosing an intricately-designed craft for her newly-furnished office.
Sentence:
After choosing an intricately-designed craft for her newly-furnished office, Ms. Dizon decided not to call another interior designer.
4. Review your written piece for spelling and grammatical errors. Some writers are not cautious on their written piece that they neglect some grammatical and spelling errors. Make sure to read the whole content or use tools to review it. Even a single letter that is typed incorrectly will cause a major glitch.
See the big issue that may happen from the example below:
The board is not reviewing your proposal to have it approved by the end of the week.
Wherein, it should be:
The board is now reviewing your proposal to have it approved by the end of the week.
5. Focus on your target readers. Good content needs not to be broad. As a matter of fact, it should be specific and written for a target niche. No matter how good the content is, as long as it does not reach the right audience, your effort will be wasted.
Examples:
If your target readers include people in the corporate world, they would be interested to read content about productivity, success habits, new trends in marketing, and more.
On the other hand, if your target audience are home-based moms, then you can write on topics about parenting, gardening tips, easy-to-do recipes, etc.
Improving your writing skills may seem difficult at first. However, with the right mindset and the motivation to make your writing better, it will be easier. Practice and follow the above-mentioned tips and you’ll be on your journey to becoming a great writer!