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Creating engaging, interesting content is no easy feat. It takes time to produce good material, and most people start writing very slowly or not at all.
The more you write, the better you get. And that’s totally okay! Writing as part of your daily routine will make an incredible difference in your productivity and success.
But there are times when you need to do something different with your content. When you find yourself struggling to come up with new ideas or you just don’t feel like writing, it's a great opportunity to do a *content edit*.
A content edit is when you take what you already have and modify it – maybe by changing the tone, editing it, adding additional information, or completely revamping it.
Content edits can help you bring out the best in yourself or your business. They're also a smart way to use those idle minutes of down time.
This article will talk about some examples of why and how doing a content edit could benefit you. But first, let's discuss the three types of content edits.
Editing your existing posts to make them better is called content editing.
This can be done for several reasons, depending on what stage you are in with your writing career or what type of article you are trying to write.
Content editing can also be done at any time!
If you find your self stuck on how to start writing or you feel that your article does not sound natural enough, there’s no need to give up. You can always do some content edits to improve it.
There are many ways to do content editing. Some people even edit their own articles before publishing!
Here are some examples of good content editing.
The first thing most writers will do when they begin writing an article is check their spelling and grammar.
You should try to do this as soon as possible after drafting a sentence. This way, your brain has less chance to create unnecessary barriers by messing up along the way.
After doing this, the next step is proofreading. Proofreading looks more in-depth than just making sure everything is spelled correctly.
It includes checking if anything makes sense and whether the information was easy to understand.
Some other things that could fall under proofreading include looking at the tone of the article, if it sounds formal or casual, and whether the writer used appropriate vocabulary.
Sometimes, you will find that your audience is very busy doing one thing when they should be doing something else. They are spending their time and energy interacting with your content or posting comments and feedback about it.
This is called engagement.
Engagement is important because it shows how invested people are in your content and what you offer. While some interactions may seem trivial (people talking about things they like within your product field), other engagements can prove to be more significant.
These significant interactions include reading the article/content related to your business vertical as well as investing time in discussions or comments regarding the topic.
If there’s nothing specific mentioned in the article that someone needs to know, then they might need to read up on something similar so that they can! This is what we refer to as a content edit.
Content edits are good because it gives them new information while also creating a conversation. People love conversations!
What if I don’t have anything to add?
That isn’t a bad thing at all! If someone comes across an interesting piece of content that doesn’t really apply to them, they can quickly leave a comment telling the author off for not targeting this audience better. Or maybe they can add value to the discussion by sharing his or her own experiences or tips on how to improve the content.
Either way, it creates back link exposure which is a valuable asset for your site.
Another way to make your YouTube content more engaging is by revising existing videos or creating new ones! This is called a “content edit”.
You can choose to do this yourself, but it is very expensive if you have no experience editing videos. Therefore, most people hire professional video editors who pay them per hour to help produce their videos.
This is not only cost effective, but also better quality content as they have trained professionals helping you with the process.
There are many ways that an editor may revise a video. They may add or take away scenes, change the dialogue, include additional or deleted songs, use different filming styles, and so on.
Some of these changes will require a complete re-shoot which usually costs around $1,000 – $5,000 depending on how much footage there is.
These fees are typically covered under the budget for production that YouTube covers.
Sometimes, after reading an article or listening to a podcast episode, you feel compelled to comment about it. You might wonder if what the writer said made sense or if there were parts that could be improved.
The best way to provide feedback is to avoid comments like “That was good” or “Good job!” If you have no ideas of your own, simply say something such as, “Great story bro, hope you enjoyed that. Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to read” or something similar along those lines.
Your comments don't need to be longer than two sentences but they should contain enough information so the writer can either agree or disagree with what you said. They may also want to add more content or material of their own for an upcoming piece.
Sometimes, instead of creating new content or moving onto another topic, your site’s staff will choose to do something that is referred to as a “content edit.” This is when they take one article or piece of content and change some words around to make it sound more interesting or relevant.
The most common way this happens is if an employee notices that one particular article isn’t making much of a difference with its readers. They may feel that the message has been said so many times before and nothing changes.
So rather than having their audience give up on reading your site, they will pick apart what makes the article unique and add those features to create their own material.
This can be done by changing the wording, adding pictures or videos, giving additional information, or all of these things. It does not matter how professional the writer is because this tactic removes that barrier.
Sometimes after you publish an article, you find something wrong with it.
You may have written your intro or conclusion too quickly without giving yourself enough time to proofread. You could also forget to include references or citations that you planned to add later.
Any of these are examples of what we call content edits. They're not good things to leave in the manuscript pile because they hurt the overall quality of your writing.
Instead of leaving those mistakes for someone else to fix, go through your own work and remove or correct them.
This will give you more self-confidence as a writer and help you hone your editing skills.
"I've done this before and people have thanked me for doing it," says Erin Patricelli, writing coach and author of The Writer's Guide To Publishing. "It really helps their career.
It’s very important to do some quick checks of your content before editing it. This includes making sure nothing is off-topic, no grammar or spelling mistakes, and that all links are natural looking and professional.
After editing a piece of content, you should then take some time to review it. Does anything look weird or out of place? If so, try rewinding the video or slide to make it feel more normal and cohesive. Also, does anything seem overly promotional or persuasive? Shouldn’t every article be telling people something useful?
If you find any issues like this, roll back the edit and fix them! Sometimes, when you upload an article, there can be a slight delay in how fast it gets optimized and published.
Another crucial part of content editing is tone and style. You may have read some blogs that seem very dramatic or emotional. This can be annoying to read for more casual readers, and also sometimes a little too much for other people.
Other examples could be when someone wrote an article about how great their favorite movie was, which might influence you to watch it. Or maybe they talked about how their friend lost his/her job, which could make you feel bad for them.
Content editers take into account things like this to create a flow that is easy to follow and understand. They will usually use clear and simple language with logical bullets.
