As you write your article, keep in mind what you are trying to accomplish. You want to motivate people to take some action, like clicking a link or buying something.
How can I help them?
What would they think of me?
These questions are helpful for creating an interesting piece of content without actually being subjective. It is more of a prompt than a written question.
More often than not, a story will happen when someone wants to buy something. People are either unable or unwilling to put forth the effort to try to understand another person’s perspective before making a decision.
This becomes very clear when we talk about how decisions were made. We call this The McDonaldization of America.
McDonald’s has gotten pretty good at selling burgers. They have formulas for everything they do. From their restaurant architecture, to recipes, to serving sizes…they have formulaic processes with little room for experimentation or change.
While everyone eats burgers, no one really likes eating fast food. But despite having so many people willing to eat his burgers, McDonald's continues to make money because of their strict processes and way of doing things.
The same thing happens when it comes to writing articles. Processed journalism seeks to eliminate any thought, resulting in lower quality stories that rely on research and fact checking.
In his book “Customer Onboardment: Learn How to Gain New Customers Day After Day,” Dan Kennedy suggests that companies focus on serving their customers’ needs first.
He believes that trying to sell people things directly is not effective because they probably have only needed our services once or twice before.
So how do we know what needs to be served? Kennedy says that going back to when someone started using a product or service is key to determining what type of products and services they will need in the future.
By thinking back to why they had past needs and see if those reasons still apply today, you can determine what type of needs people will want help with tomorrow.
Writing with emotion rather than fact is probably one of the best things you can do for your copy.
You want your stories to be true, of course, but even better if they’re self-fulfilling. Your audience will believe them more because they’ve heard it from someone who must have felt it to be true.
Your stories should let your readers know what you want them to get out of your article or book. They shouldn’t worry about whether they already feel like this person.
Rather, they should hope that she (he) can give them something wonderful. A smile, a laugh, an experience. Something that makes their day just a little bit happier or stronger.
That kind of writing comes from a place where you don’t actually care about the outcome so much as you do about sharing yourself with others openly and generously.
It takes a while to learn how to write in this way, and there are no tricks. Only hours and hours sitting in front of the computer reading other people’s blogs and tweets and online magazines and products.
Most people focus their copy writing efforts on content related to their products or services. However, that isn’t the only thing you should be focusing on.
If you want to improve your writing skills, you must have something other than product or service-related information in your articles. No one wants to read about your products or services; they are too focused on the issue at hand – how to use your products or services.
Your goal as a writer should be for readers to understand and learn something new through your words. If they don’t learn anything new from your article, then why would they click away from the page and go back to read it?
It is much harder to develop non-product/service information if you don’t know how to make it more interesting and educational. Your audience is going to need to connect with what you say you will do when they click on your article.
Writing is an extremely effective way to connect with your audience, but it’s also important that you write in your own voice. Your message should come from the heart when you write.
If you go out there and spam your content all over social media do not expect great results! You will lose followers and their trust very quickly.
It takes time to build a relationship through words so stay consistent and let people know what you are up to. They will slowly find yourself more popular if they like you which will be beneficial down the road.
You can gain friends and fans by being friendly and leaving comments on other peoples blogs and pages. Thank them for their time and attention and make them feel good about whatever they have written.
Put effort into your work and your connections will take care of themselves. Overcoming obstacles brings benefits along with challenges.
Being confident in who you are and your skills makes you more comfortable in your role as author or speaker and helps others see you as an authority.
When you talk about your experiences and ideas, you give insight based on real knowledge which adds value to anyone you speak with. People may even tell their colleagues or friends about how you helped me out.
Giving away free stuff creates buzz and interest in your page and name. After you promote something someone else gives you traction, help them out by promoting their stuff too.
Letting people know you're looking
Even if you aren’t much of a writer, practicing your writing skills can boost your confidence and help you become more comfortable with what you are doing. Learning to write is often one of the greatest difficulties people have when trying to learn something new.
Practicing writing reaps several benefits for everyone, including enhanced creativity, better control over emotions, and improved communication skills. Below are some examples of written practices that can help you strengthen your writing skills.
Some things to practice include:
How would you describe this document in just a few words?
Which word could you use instead of “never” or “always”?
What label best describes this news article?
Can you define the topic sentence of this paragraph?
Paragraphs like the one above can be used as quick lessons or reminders to keep you motivated about writing. You can also try watching videos online to increase your comfort with writing.
There are many free video tutorials available for learning how to write. Plus, writing blogs is a great way to build trust with other members of the community and gain knowledge.
It will also help you develop ideas into well-written articles and stories. Now let’s look at some ways to improve your writing skills.
After you’ve finished your writing, it’s time to find a publisher. However, published writers these days have proven that no audience is too small or too large for them to write successfully.
Most writers produce their manuscripts in electronic form (computer files are usually best). If you need help with formatting, there are many free website programs available to make your manuscript look its very best.
Finding a publisher who can publish your book takes some effort too. Most publishing companies require a completed ms before they will proceed with publication.
So how do you go about finding a publisher? How do you convince them that your book would be a success?
There are several things you can do to increase the chances of publishers taking an interest in your project. One way is to index existing books on Amazon.com. if you want to use online distribution, that is absolutely possible.
But first, decide which market you want to address. Do you know any bloggers or web personalities interested in the genre you plan to enter? The more connections you make through social media networks, the better chance you have of getting someone to read your book.
If you want local distribution, try to organize a sale at your home office. You can also offer prizes to the people who buy your book. These giveaways tend to cost money, but if you think they would attract people to your book, then give them a shot.
Another option
Even if you are an expert at something, there aren’t many people who would pay to have what you know delivered to them in a clear way for $25-$35 per article.
There are thousands of copywriters out there with experience writing articles that can help them tell their story better than they can – and yet we don’t see any brands paying top dollar for content marketing services.
The truth is that plenty of established brands do not have a single writer among them and even those that do will still find it easier to hire talented individuals rather than trying to recruit people from the general population.
That is because making recommendations comes down to one thing: experience.
More often than not, when you are looking to buy a book, you will be asked about whether you want to read an author who writes fiction or non-fiction.
Likewise, when you are discussing hiring someone to work for you, salary is usually the main factor you look at while deciding how much you are willing to pay.
You may also ask questions like “how many books did she write last year?” or “what was his publishing date?” But beyond that, you are taking a risk by recommending just anybody.
There has got to be a reason that he or she is now seeking employment, and that reason is going to be their own personal mission which includes why they are working hard and what they believe
There are no concrete requirements to become a good writer, but it is important that you keep developing your skills through education and training. You can learn from other writers, from books, and by practicing creating original content.
There are two types of writing professionals- fiction writers and nonfiction writers. If you’re interested in being a fiction writer, then you could choose between writing fantasy or science fiction stories.
If you’re more intrigued by nonfiction writing, then try designing narratives for a new magazine or reporting real news stories for a newspaper.
By devoting yourself to studying both narrative craft and visual communication, you will also be better at marketing when you graduate. Developing these qualities is an excellent way to add value to your work and grow your reputation as a writer.
