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Content Writing for Beginners: Steps for Creating Compelling Content That Converts

A guy writing in a huge paper and pencil representing this article about content writing for beginners

Are you new to content writing? Or maybe you’ve been doing it for a while but feel like you could be doing better. Either way, there’s always room to improve when it comes to creating content that converts.

Learning how to write content that is compelling and speaks to your audience can be a challenge, but it’s worth it. After all, content is one of the most important aspects of any online business.

If you’re not sure where to start, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. In this article, we’ll give you the steps to start content writing for beginners.  By the end, you’ll be on your way to creating content that converts like a pro.

Why Content Writing is Important

Before we dive into the steps on content writing for beginners, let’s take a step back and talk about why content writing is so important.

In today’s digital world, content is king. Your website, blog, and social media platforms are all opportunities for you to share your message with the world. And if you want people to stick around, that content needs to be good.

Think about it this way: content is the foundation of your online presence. It’s what helps you attract new visitors, build relationships with your audience, and turn those readers into customers.

In other words, content writing is essential to the success of your business. And that’s why it’s so important to learn how to do it well.

Content Writing vs Copywriting

Some people get confuse content writing with copywriting. And, while they are similar, there are some significant variances.

Both content writing and copywriting aim to persuade the reader to take the desired action. But content writing takes a more subtle approach.

While content writing can be used to promote a product or service, it’s not as sales-focused as copywriting. Content writing is more about providing value and building relationships.

It’s about creating content that educates, entertains, or simply informs the reader. And often, content writing is used to build trust and credibility with an audience before they’re ever asked to make a purchase.

Copywriting, on the other hand, is all about making a sale. It’s direct to the point and often uses persuasive language to get the reader to take action.

While content writing can be used to support sales goals, it’s not the same as copywriting. And knowing the difference between content writing and copywriting can help you create content that is more effective and targeted to your audience.

So now that you know the difference between content writing and copywriting, let’s move on to the content writing steps.

Steps on Content Writing for Beginners

Ready to start writing content that converts? Here are some steps to start content writing for beginners:

Understand your audience

The first step to creating great content is understanding who you’re writing for. After all, you can’t write content that appeals to your audience if you don’t know who they are.

Some questions to ask yourself:

  • Who is your target audience?
  • What are their interests?
  • What are their pain points?
  • What kind of content do they already enjoy?

Answering these questions will give you a better idea of what content to create and how to craft it in a way that appeals to your audience.

Choose a topic

It’s time to pick a topic when you’ve determined who you’re writing for. This can be one of the hardest parts of content writing, but there are a few ways to make it easier.

Start by brainstorming a list of potential topics. Then, narrow that list down by considering things like:

  • What’s popular in your industry right now?
  • What content would be most useful to your audience?
  • What content do you have the most knowledge about?
  • What content could you create that would be unique and interesting?

Once you have a few potential topics, it’s time to choose the one that will be the best fit for your audience and your business goals.

Do some research

Now, you already have some knowledge about your chosen topic. But before you start writing, it’s important to do some additional research. This will help you fill in any gaps in your knowledge and ensure that your content is accurate and complete.

Use Google and other search engines to find articles, blog posts, infographics, and other content related to your topic. As you’re doing your research, take note of what content is most popular and why.

This will give you some ideas for content that you can create that will be both useful and popular with your audience. You can also get more helpful information through research to make your content even more valuable.

Create an outline

After you’ve done your research, it’s time to start creating your outline. This doesn’t have to be anything fancy – a simple bullet-point list of the topics you want to cover in your article will do. 

But having an outline will help you stay focused as you’re writing and ensure that you cover all the important points. This is an important step in content writing for beginners and pro writers alike to create content that is well-organized and flows smoothly.

Create a catchy headline

One of the most significant aspects of your content is the headline. After all, it’s the first thing your audience will see and it will determine whether or not they decide to read on.

When creating your headline, make sure to:

  • Keep it concise
  • Use keyword-rich phrases
  • Make it interesting and attention-grabbing
Coschedule's Headline Studio helps in content writing for beginners to analyze their headline's effectiveness.

If you want to test your headline’s effectiveness, you can use a tool like CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer. This tool will grade your headline and give you some suggestions for how to improve it.

Write engaging content

Now it’s time to start writing your content. As you’re writing, keep your audience in mind and make sure that your content is engaging.

Some things to keep in mind:

  • Use short, simple sentences
  • Write in an active voice
  • Use strong verbs
  • Avoid jargon
  • Be sure that your content is both informative and engaging

Use a tone that is appropriate for your audience and business. For example, if you’re writing content for a formal business website, you’ll want to use a more professional tone. But if you’re writing content for a personal blog, you can be more informal.

Add keywords in strategic places

As you’re writing your content, it’s important to use keywords in strategic places. This will help your content rank higher in search engines and ensure that your audience can find it easily.

Some tips for adding keywords:

  • Use them in your headline
  • Use them in the body of your article.
  • Use them in your meta descriptions
  • Use them in your images alt tags

Bots are looking for content that is keyword-rich, so it’s important to use them sparingly and only in places where they make sense.

Edit and proofread your content

Once you’ve finished writing your content, it’s time to edit it. This step is important to ensure that your content is error-free and easy to read.

As you’re editing, pay attention to things like spelling and grammar mistakes, sentence structure, and overall clarity. If you’re not sure whether or not your content is ready for publication, you can always have someone else take a look at it for you. 

Grammarly's Google Chrome extension settings

There are tools available, like Grammarly, that can help you catch errors in your content. Grammarly is a free tool that will scan your content for spelling and grammar mistakes.

HemingwayApp editing tool checking some issues and quality of article

Another tool you will need when you proofread your content is HemingwayApp which will help you with your sentence structure and overall clarity.

Readable's readability tool to check the readability score and grade level of content writing for beginners

You can also check your content’s readability using Readable’s readability score checker. It’s a great tool to help you ensure that your content is easy to read and understand.

Check for plagiarism

Plagiarism is a serious issue in the content writing world. Not only can it get you into trouble with your audience, but it can also get you into trouble with the law.

To avoid plagiarism, make sure to cite any sources that you use in your content. There are several guidelines accessible online if you’re unsure how to reference sources.

Duplichecker's tool that helps in content writing for beginners to check plagiarism on some parts of their article.

You can also use a plagiarism checker to scan your content for any unoriginal content. One of the most popular plagiarism checkers is Duplichecker. It’s a simple tool that you can use for free to check your content for plagiarism.

Write and write and write

When you’re first starting out, it can be difficult to know how to write content that’s both interesting and engaging. However, the more you write, the smoother it will become.  Continue writing and you will improve your content writing skills.

The most important thing to remember is that content writing is a process. It takes time to learn how to write compelling content that converts.

While you continue working on your writing skills, make sure that the best practices of content marketing are also being applied to your content strategy. This means publishing high-quality content on a regular basis, promoting your content through social media and email marketing, and measuring your results so that you can continue to improve your content over time.

Conclusion

Content writing is an excellent way to establish trust and credibility with your target audience. By following these steps on content writing for beginners, you can create content that is both interesting and informative.

Remember that content is king and if you can provide content that is valuable to your audience, they will keep coming back for more. So don’t be afraid to get started and just write. You will get better at writing as you write more.

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