Are you thinking of using content writing as the primary process for marketing your business? Has your current content writing strategy fallen short of its objectives? Are you planning on hiring content writers for your digital marketing team? Maybe you’re planning on becoming a content writer.
Whatever your needs are, one thing’s certain. Content writing is an activity that requires specific hard and soft skills to deliver the desired results because it is a discipline.
Like other disciplines, content writing requires the right technical training and the ideal personality attributes to become proficient.
If you’re qualifying content writers for your business, put off hiring until you read this article.
What Is Content Writing?
Content Writing is creating, editing, and publishing text-based material such as blogs, articles, newsletters, product descriptions, website copies, and manuals to accomplish a particular set of marketing goals.
Content writing can be a tool for both traditional and digital marketing strategies. However, we will focus on it as an effective component of any digital marketing campaign.
For this reason, the important content writing skills we’ve identified in this article apply to content that’s published on the Internet.
8 Important Technical Or Hard Content Writing Skills
“I know how to write. That means I can become a content writer.”
Yes… and no.
Yes, because writing is the fundamental skill to becoming a content writer.
No, because content writing, especially writing content for online consumption, is an entirely different skill.
Acquiring the technical skills through formal learning or on-the-job training will give you the tools that will help you become a successful content writer. However, you must be made of the “right stuff” – the soft skills or personality attributes that make you want to succeed as a content writer.
If technical or hard skills give you “what” you need, soft skills will reveal “who” you are as a content writer. You can’t have one without the other.
Let’s start with arguably the most important hard skill you need as a content writer.
1. SEO
Optimizing means enhancing something more useful, efficient, and effective.
Thus, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is exactly what it says – a process for enhancing content to make it easier for search engines to find and index useful web pages for searchers.
It won’t matter if you graduated with honors in English, Literature, or Journalism. If your content isn’t optimized for search engines, it can’t be found by those who need your information.
SEO uses different tools and techniques to optimize content. The most important of these tools is the strategic use of keywords, the most commonly used terms by users to launch a search.
For example, to find this article, the keywords you used to launch the search query might have been any of the following:
- Top content writing skills
- Important content writing skills
- Best content writing skills
- Key skills for content writing
Keyword research will identify search terms that have the highest monthly volume. Embedding these high-volume search keywords in your blog or article will make it easier for search engines to find your content.
Here’s a link to an article we wrote titled “The Basics Of SEO”, which provides a more comprehensive understanding of SEO.
Contact us if you’re interested in optimizing your website and content for search engines.
In addition to building award-winning websites, we’ve planned, developed, and managed successful SEO campaigns for our clients.
2. Reading and Comprehension
As you’ll learn later in this section, research is another important hard skill. When you conduct research, you’ll read a lot about the topic.
Usually, a content writer will use 3 to 4 reputable sources of facts and information to substantiate figures and claims presented in the blog. A content writer will use more references for technical writing, such as manuals and guidebooks.
Reading is a hard skill that goes hand-in-hand with another one: Comprehension, or the ability to understand information.
Sometimes, a content writer will encounter a topic that isn’t among his core competencies.
He’ll read research materials that contain unfamiliar terms, scenarios, case studies, and industry jargon. It will take him time to develop a good understanding of the subject matter.
Excellent reading skills coupled with a high level of comprehension will help flatten his learning curve faster.
3. Active Listening
Communication is a two-way street: Talking goes one way, and listening the opposite.
As a client, you have a different way of articulating information compared to other clients. The content writer must possess active listening skills or the ability to listen, process, respond, and retain verbally relayed information.
As a content writer, you can make costly mistakes if you misunderstand the client’s instructions. It’s fine if you have a hard time understanding your client.
If your client is a foreigner who speaks with a diction you’re not familiar with, it can be hard to keep pace. As we mentioned in “Reading and Comprehension,” if you’re not knowledgeable about the topic, there will be a learning curve to overcome.
Active listening requires the content writer to be engaged in the conversation. If the statement isn’t clear, immediate clarification is sought, and a feedback cycle is created and continues until the matter is clarified.
4. Research
Earlier, we mentioned that content writing involves a lot of research. We briefly touched on subject matter research, or the search for relevant, useful, and valuable information about the article’s subject.
A content writer might also perform other types of research:
- Keyword Research
The content writer will use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMRush, Ahrefs, Google Trends, and Keywords Everywhere or a combination of these tools to find the best, most effective, and highest-ranking keywords on a particular search topic.
- Topic Research
You can’t just write about one topic in your industry. To keep readers engaged, you must create content on a wide range of topics they’re interested in.
For example, if you’re in the health and fitness industry, a content writer will create a spreadsheet that identifies high-search volume topics such as weight loss, building muscle, diet and nutrition, supplementation, weight training, and cardio exercises.
- Market/Industry Research
If you work in real estate, banking, finance, or technology, you create content highlighting industry trends and developments.
Your audience might include investors, speculators, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, startup founders, computer programmers, real estate agents, traders, and other stakeholders in these industries.
5. Social Media
Social media might not be a ranking factor in Google’s search algorithm, but it remains an effective platform for distributing content.
It’s estimated that 5.17 billion people will use social media daily in 2024, representing 63% of the global population. Typically, people spend an average of 2 hours and 23 minutes on a social media platform, almost 15% of a person’s waking hours.
The combination of volume and duration makes social media a powerful medium for delivering content.
However, social media networks are communities that function differently from others.
For example, a post about the new Apple Pie ala mode in your restaurant might become viral on Instagram but go unnoticed on a business networking site such as LinkedIn.
Knowledge of social media will guide the content writer in selecting the right network for the business and in creating the type of content that will resonate with each community.
6. Knowledge of Various Types of Writing
As important as SEO is to find your content, effective content writing will come down to one thing: the content writer’s ability to write unique, useful, informative, and engaging material that will compel the reader to act.
The italicized words describe content that Google qualifies as high-quality. A content writer must know various writing styles and techniques to create high-quality content.
A good example is storytelling, which is one of the most powerful styles of content writing because it puts the reader behind the lens of the writer and creates an immediate emotional connection between them.
You can apply the storytelling approach when writing opinion pieces, sharing personal experiences, or creating marketing content that compels the reader to buy.
You might require your content writer to create other types of content and not just blogs. For example: Product guides, technical manuals, newsletters, product reviews, video descriptions, and e-books.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to content writing. A good content writer can adapt his skills to each writing project and consistently deliver high-quality content.
7. Data Analysis
Content writing combines art and science. It’s not just about the writer flexing his creative muscles. He must substantiate his writing approach with hard data or analytics.
Analytics provides the content writer with data that helps him understand his audience better.
- What are the demographics of his audience?
- Which blogs generated the highest level of engagement?
- How did your audience access your content?
- What was the average time on the page?
- How many unique visitors did your website receive?
These insights will guide the content writer in improving his content writing strategy. He’ll know which topics are worth exploring and which should be set on the wayside.
The content writer will have data to back up his decisions about blog length, posting frequency, the best keywords to use, and the most effective distribution channels.
8. Knowledge of Software
Gone are the days when you had to go to the public library to conduct research, take a walk through the park for inspiration, and spend sleepless nights hoping your article didn’t have spelling and grammatical errors.
Content writers have access to a wide range of software programs that can make the process easier.
Here’s a short list of important software programs a content writer must be familiar with:
- Grammarly – Grammar and spelling checker
- Copyscape – Plagiarism checker
- SEMRush – A keyword research tool
- Answer the Public – Topic research tool
- Pro Writing Aid – Scans your content, identifies sections that need improvement, and provides recommendations.
- Asana – Project management tool
When working with content writers, you must establish a workflow to guide them throughout the writing process. A few software programs can help you create a workflow.
For example:
- Asana – For communication, assign topics, update the status of the articles, and keep track of timelines.
- Google Docs – Word Processor for writing content.
- Google Sheets – Spreadsheets are where information about the articles is stored and updated.
- Slack – Communication tool where instructions, updates, and important announcements are made to all team members in real time.
Some content writers have a steeper learning curve when it comes to technology. Give them some time to get comfortable with your workflow.
6 Important Soft Skills Or Ideal Personality Attributes For Content Writers
You can easily find talented content writers with the required education, training, and experience.
The question is, “Can you work with them?”
You can teach SEO, keyword research, and data analysis, but you can’t teach professionalism, discipline, and patience.
Soft skills are the product of a person’s experiences. You can’t expect a person to change and embrace your ideal attributes overnight, in one month, or even one year.
For this reason, many entrepreneurs and HR professionals believe soft skills are more important than hard skills.
We’ve listed the six most desired soft skills for a content writer. After you’ve reviewed the list, feel free to add more if you believe other attributes must be prioritized when hiring content writers.
1. Adaptability
Adaptability refers to the ability of the content writer to adapt from one style to another. Perhaps a better word instead of “ability” is “willingness”. Content writers can be creatures of habit. You might run into a content writer who’s stuck in his ways and refuses to change his writing style.
What happens if your audience’s profile changes? What will happen if he writes a “How To” article in the same manner as he writes a technical report or a training manual?
If the content writer cannot adapt, his content won’t get the audience interested and engaged. The client will have difficulty encapsulating his vision, idea, and message in the content and effectively delivering it to his audience.
2. Time Management
According to a 2019 study by Orbit Media, it takes a content writer an average of 3 hours and 57 minutes to write a 1,236-word blog post. In comparison, it took content writers an average of 2 hours and 24 minutes to write an 808-word blog post in 2014.
The average length of a blog has increased over the last few years because there has been a greater demand for comprehensive content. Consumers want well-researched, updated, and useful information substantiated by facts and figures.
From the point of view of clients, there are timelines to be met. Some clients prefer frequent posting of blogs compared to others. A content writer must be able to arrive at a middle ground that balances the creation of high-quality content with meeting imposed deadlines.
Thus, to have time management skills requires two other skills – Organization and Focus.
A diligent and responsible content writer structures his writing schedule and sets a reasonable amount of time for research, creating drafts, quality control, and reviews without compromising the client’s timeline.
If the content writer is focused, he should have no problem keeping to his schedule.
3. Attention to Detail
Does the blog have internal and external links?
Was the main keyword used in the title and within the first 100 words of the first paragraph?
Did the SEO Meta Description include the main keyword, and was it written engagingly?
Was a CTA included in the blog? If so, was the CTA forceful or passive?
Are there errors in spelling and grammar?
These are examples of details that can influence the success – or failure – of a blog. If the content writer is negligent in attending to these important details, all of the work put into creating the blog might end up for naught.
4. Discipline
Content writing can be a fun learning experience, but it can also be monotonous, stressful, and tedious work.
If the content writer handles more projects than he can reasonably handle, he might be unable to maintain the quality of work because he is constantly pressured by deadlines.
The characteristic of discipline plays an important role in content writing because it keeps the writer even-keeled throughout the ups and downs of the writing process.
Discipline prevents him from taking shortcuts, such as paraphrasing original content to save time. It also keeps him committed to providing all clients with high-quality content and not favoring one client over another.
5. Patience
Content writers face a steep learning curve with every new project. They must adjust to the client’s preferred writing style, the SEO expert’s approach to content optimization, and the new submission process.
Patience will get the content writer to respect the learning curve. If he decides to force the learning curve to flatten, he will make mistakes that will cost the client. It takes patience and discipline to allow the learning to slope naturally.
Research is another area in content writing that requires patience. The content writer has to be mindful of the references that he uses to substantiate his content.
For example, if you’ve used SEMRush, sometimes you won’t extract many keywords – or any at all – from URLs that rank high in the SERP. You’ll have to go through the process multiple times until you’ve created an impressive spreadsheet of high-ranking keywords.
6. Collaboration
Content writing isn’t a one-man team. A content writer will often work with other professionals such as an SEO specialist, graphic artist, editor, keyword researcher, web designer, and digital marketer.
The content writer must be willing and able to collaborate with the members of the digital marketing team. Each professional will have specific requests, which the writer must accommodate respectfully and professionally.
In this regard, a content writer must be able to handle criticisms and suggestions from the editor, the digital marketer, and the SEO specialist. After all, everyone’s interest is in the success of the content marketing campaign.
Sometimes, disagreements occur, but these must be resolved properly without affecting the team’s performance or the submission timeline.
Conclusion
If you want to become a Content Writer or if you’re looking for content writers for your team, there’s one thing that you and the prospects must always do.
Practice, practice, practice.
Like all skills, becoming an effective Content Writer will require you to put in the reps—more reps in writing, applying SEO techniques, researching topics and keywords, analyzing social media behaviors, reading and learning about new subject matters, analyzing data, and learning software programs.
By turning these practices into habits, you will enhance all six key soft skills needed to become an effective Content Writer.
If you’re serious about content writing, you’ll need a website or a blog page to showcase your work. Contact us, and we’ll start the web design process right away.
If you enjoyed this article, we can create content for you as well!
