Category Archives: Good Business

Imposter Syndrome: What it Is and Tips to Overcome It

You see a job ad that sounds perfect. It’s exactly the kind of job you’ve been wanting. But then you scroll down to the list of required qualifications. It’s long. It’s intimidating. You’re starting to worry it’s not even worth trying to get this job. It’s obviously meant for someone better than you. 

Or you see a conversation about rates in your favorite freelance writers’ group and marvel at the numbers other people mention. You can’t imagine ever being good enough to confidently throw out a rate that high. 

These feelings come from the same place: imposter syndrome.

It’s a problem that plagues people across industries and in all kinds of roles. And it’s dangerous. It keeps people from taking opportunities they deserve, drawing reasonable boundaries, and charging the professional rates their work is worth.

I was recently a guest on the Deliberate Freelancer podcast with Melanie Padgett Powers to talk about my experiences with imposter syndrome, and tips for how to overcome it. 

Listen to the full conversation here.

What is Imposter Syndrome?

Imposter syndrome is the worry that you’re not good enough, without any evidence that’s the case, and often in the face of evidence to the contrary. In professional scenarios, it means doubting your abilities in areas where you actually have an impressive amount of skill and knowledge. 

For freelancers, it can take the form of entering into client relationships with a feeling that you’re lucky to be hired—like the client’s doing you a favor. For employees, it can mean a fear of speaking up to voice your opinions, worrying that your contributions aren’t valuable.

Across the board, it leads to professionals failing to ask for what they’re worth financially, and leaves people vulnerable to exploitation and mistreatment by those willing to take advantage of a lack of confidence. 

What Causes Imposter Syndrome?

Imposter syndrome can affect anyone, but it does tend to show up more often in those with less privilege in our society. Cultural power dynamics play a role in who feels the most comfortable taking up space and voicing opinions. 

For me, being raised in a patriarchal culture as a woman contributed to the imposter syndrome I had in my early years in the professional world. My default is to be people pleasing, which too often translated to feeling guilty about drawing reasonable professional boundaries with clients, or asking for (what I now know to be) standard professional rates. 

That doesn’t mean imposter syndrome is specific to any one gender, although I do believe it’s more likely to affect those marginalized in our society in some way. The line “aspire to the confidence of a mediocre white man” is an adage for a reason—those that can expect power and respect from the world around them as a given are less likely to doubt themselves. Whereas those living in a world that constantly demands they prove themselves worthy of basic respect are prone to internalize that messaging.

The root causes of imposter syndrome relate to a lot of much bigger issues in our society—capitalism, racism, patriarchy, and ableism, to name a few examples. But as individuals we can tackle our own feelings of imposter syndrome while continuing to live with the power dynamics that create it. I don’t have to personally topple the patriarchy to beat my own imposter syndrome (although that doesn’t mean I won’t try).  

7 Tips for Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

1. Pay more attention to the positive voices in your life than the negative.

One of the dirty tricks our minds play on us is amplifying negative feedback, while downplaying positive. Most of us could have ten people telling us we’re awesome and one saying we suck, and that one person will take up more brain space than the other ten combined. Changing that balance takes intentional work. 

Learn to listen to the people that give you positive reinforcement. Trust that they know what they’re talking about. 

And when you receive negative feedback, walk away from it for a bit to get some emotional distance. Once you’re past the initial gut punch, come back to it with fresh eyes. Is it constructive feedback that you can take to improve? Is it actually telling you that you suck and you’ll never make it as a respectable professional? (Hint: it’s probably not.) And if it’s not constructive—if it’s mean or patronizing—is it something you should be treating as legitimate measure of your worth? (Hint: probably not).

2. Collect and save testimonials and recommendations.

This helps with the first step. Any time you get an email with positive feedback, save it and pull it back up on the days you’re doubting yourself. When you have clients or employers that like your work, ask them to send over a few lines about it.

LinkedIn allows you to send a request to people you’ve worked with asking for a recommendation. It’s quick and easy for them to do, and gives you a collection of positive words to pull up anytime those negative thoughts creep in.

And for freelancers, testimonials do the double duty of being a confidence booster when you need it and a marketing tool you can add to your website. 

3. Take stock of your experience.

Another good exercise to tackle when you’re facing imposter syndrome is to sit down and write out a list of jobs, projects, or clients you’ve managed. Similar to what you do when writing a resume (but it can be messier since it’s just for yourself), list the skills you developed and put to use, and any goals you accomplished in the process. Tally up the years you’ve spent doing a particular type of work.

If you’re new to the professional world or a particular field, the list can be about what you accomplished in school, volunteer roles, or extracurricular activities. Chances are, you’ve still built up some useful skills and knowledge that are worthy of respect. You don’t have to be an expert with decades of experience to bring value to a job or project. If you know you possess solid research skills, a willingness to learn, punctuality—whatever your list of top attributes are—put those down in writing in this step.

4. Dump toxic clients and bosses.

While you can work on giving more space to the positive voices in your life than the negative, if you have a toxic boss or client, their voice will be loud and persistent for as long as they have power over you.

If you’re a freelancer, one of the biggest benefits of working for yourself is the power to be picky about who you work with. If you have a client that’s all negativity, all the time, end things as soon as possible to open up room in your calendar for better clients. 

Note: I’ve spoken on this topic before! Get some advice on how to break up with bad clients here.

If you’re in a job with a toxic boss, this is a lot harder. I get it. But make looking for new opportunities a top priority in your off hours. A toxic boss can do serious damage to your self confidence, and there’s a real epidemic of bad managers out there. Do what you can to keep their voice from piercing your self esteem for as long as you have to stick it out, and commit to getting out of there as soon as you can. 

5. Build your professional network.

Personally, I know that how other people see me has an influence on how I see myself. When I realize that people I think are impressive professionals see me as smart and experienced—it’s a lot easier to see myself that way. If you’re not yet at a point in your career where you have a professional network around you that views you as an experienced and legitimate professional, get to work building one!

While in-person networking opportunities are out for the foreseeable future, you can still make professional connections with virtual opportunities. Twitter chats, virtual networking meetups, Slack communities, Facebook groups—take advantage of the online communities that exist in your field to start making more connections.

Put in the work to build those relationships and suddenly, one day, you’ll look around and realize people see you as an expert in your field. And once you know that’s what people you respect see when they look at you, it will bolster your own view of yourself. 

6. Make a habit out of professional bravery.

Apply for that job with intimidating qualifications. Send over that proposal with rates so high they make you uncomfortable. Apply to be a speaker at that industry conference. Send a pitch to that publication you think is way out of your league.

You may get rejected. In fact, you’ll almost certainly get rejected some of the time. But trust me that even some of the best and most brilliant people in your field get rejections too. The more brave choices you take, the more likely you are to get a “yes” on at least one of them. And when that happens, it will definitely boost your confidence. 

7. Invest in improving your skills.

If you’re genuinely concerned that your lack of self-confidence may reflect a lack of skills or knowledge, then fix that. Sign up for a course or hire a consultant in your field. Getting feedback from a proven expert should be enough to convince you that you do actually know what you’re doing and you are good enough. 

If you can’t afford that, then dive into all the free resources you can find in your topic area. See if you can find free courses that provide a certification in your industry, or highly-regarded books that provide valuable insights you can learn from. 

The best antidote to worrying that you don’t know your stuff is committing to learning as much as you can.

Imposter Syndrome Can Be Beat

While it took me years to get here, I’m confident now in my professional knowledge and abilities. I’m much more comfortable charging professional rates, drawing boundaries, and saying no to clients that aren’t a good fit—all things that require a level of confidence that’s hard to reach with imposter syndrome. If self doubt’s holding you back, start doing the work to overcome it. Trusting in your self worth will improve your career and your personal life. 

To hear more on the subject, listen to the Deliberate Freelancer episode here.

How to Give Good Content Writing Feedback

content writing feedback

Updated May 2022

We’ve all had the experience before. Someone delivers information in a way that makes clear they think you’ll know exactly what they mean, but you’re stumped. You are just not following what they’re saying to you at all.

This is one of the quirks of communication that everyone deals with at some point. Something can be so clear and obvious in your own head that you think expressing it to the person in front of you (or on the other side of that email) is easy, but what’s clear to you is confusing and muddy to them.

Freelance writers know the feeling of being on the other end of that email well. Most of us have had multiple experiences of hearing feedback from clients that doesn’t tell us what we need to hear in order to understand what the client means.

It’s tricky providing feedback well, but having a good relationship with any writer you hire depends on it. And giving good feedback early on in the relationship will help them learn what you’re looking for, so you won’t have to do as much work later on.

To help you effectively get what you’re wanting from a content writer’s work, here are some tips on how to give good content writing feedback.

1. Read the whole thing.

To start, you want to make sure your feedback is accurate and that means taking the time to read over the entire piece of content they’ve submitted. And really read here—don’t skim.

It’s embarrassing for you and awkward for the writer if they have to point out that you’ve asked them to add a section that actually already exists further down the page or with a heading you didn’t recognize. On top of being awkward, it wastes everyone’s time and you both have better things to do.

2. Get to it quickly.

I know you’re busy, but if you sit on a blog post or white paper for weeks, or worse, months before sending your feedback, that particular piece won’t be fresh in you content writer’s memory. It’s both harder and less efficient to make good updates if they barely remember the piece and the research they did for it anymore by that point. And some freelance content writers (this one included) put feedback deadlines in the contract, so you may miss your chance to get updates altogether if you wait too long.

So give yourself a deadline. Commit to reading over the piece and sending your feedback within a week or two of receiving it. And get it on your to-do list even sooner, if possible.

A note here: any reasonable person you work with will understand that life sometimes gets in the way. So if you your kid gets sick or you have a plumbing emergency that takes over your life for a few days, take the time you need! Your writer should understand. Just try not to make a habit out of slow response times.

3. Be specific.

While it’s obvious to you why the wording in that third paragraph just doesn’t sound right, or the overall tone of the piece doesn’t work—your content writer can’t see into your head. You have to explain it in terms that clearly communicate how to make the changes you want.

A few tips to help you do that:

Avoid general language.

Feedback like “this section doesn’t really work” or “this isn’t clicking” only tells someone that you don’t like what you’re looking at. It doesn’t tell them why. Sure, your writer could re-write that section to be all new wording. But if they don’t understand what you don’t like about it, there’s a good chance they’ll end up repeating whatever issue wasn’t working for you the first time.

Saying something instead like “the tone in this section is too formal” or “this sentence is too long, which makes it hard to follow” actually gives them something to work with when making changes.

Make notes and changes in the text itself.

Microsoft Word and Google Docs both provide features for tracking changes and adding comments within a document. This makes it possible for you to comment directly on specific wording or sections that demonstrate the issue you’re addressing. If you think some of the wording is muddy or confusing, point out specifically where you see that happening rather than expecting the writer to be able to figure it out. If you think there are claims in the piece that need to be better backed up with sources, point out which ones.

Matching your feedback to the particular pieces of the content it applies to will help the writer see clearly what you mean. They’ll learn both what sort of changes you’re looking for now, and how to avoid making those same mistakes in the future.

Provide examples of what you’re looking for.

Particularly when it comes to issues of tone and style, it can be hard to communicate exactly what you want using descriptive terms. If you can point to other blog posts or content pieces—whether on your own website or elsewhere—that illustrate what you’re looking for, it can help a writer figure out the right approach to take.

Pro tip: Even better, provide a style guide upfront that covers this territory. A good style guide increases the chances a writer will get things right on the first try, saving you both time in the editing process.

4. Be respectful.

Clarity is a big part of the good feedback equation, but respect is just as important. When you hire a professional content writer, treat them with professionalism.

What that means, in practice:

Negative feedback is ok, but tone matters.

That doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to provide criticisms. Anyone working in a creative field should have enough of a thick skin to take (respectful) criticism of their work.

Hopefully, the line between constructive criticism and being insulting or mean is clear to you. If it’s not, let someone else in your company be in charge of providing feedback for now and maybe consider therapy or communication classes to learn the difference, because it’s a pretty important life skill to have. I don’t mean that in a snide way, but as genuine advice.

Saying “this writing is awful” or “don’t you know anything?” isn’t helpful, but saying “this piece could really use some more work, could you take some time to do a little more research and find some data or case studies to back up your points?” is perfectly reasonable.

Keep things professional.

This relates to tone, but is worth saying on its own. Don’t yell at a content writer because you don’t like their work. Don’t insult their intelligence or use vulgar language to describe what you think of it. For the love of all that matters in this world, do NOT use racist, sexist, or ableist slurs in your response.

Every content writer you hire, whether they’re a freelancer or employee, is someone with a career and their own professional contacts. Know that if you’re the client or boss from hell, it will hurt your reputation.

Remember: writing is subjective.

One of the really cool things about language is that there are a lot of right ways to say the same thing. Someone can have a writing style that doesn’t work for you, but is still perfectly good writing. Remember that your opinion on this subject is not the objectively correct opinion.

When you’re paying for someone to write for you, you’re allowed to have an opinion on the writing—of course you are. But don’t frame your feedback as though you know the right way to say things and your writer is clearly wrong for not choosing the wording you would have. If you do, you’ll come off as arrogant and patronizing.

Instead, approach your feedback as an exercise in helping your writer understand how to come around to your preferences for style and tone—or better yet, the preferences you believe your audience has for style and tone. After all, you may be the client, but they’re not actually writing for you.

Final Words

A good working relationship with a freelance content writer can be extremely beneficial to your company and your content marketing program. Good feedback is an important part of being able to keep the writers you hire for the long term and get them to a place where they know how to deliver the kind of content you’re looking for. It’s worth spending time, especially early in the relationship, providing specific and respectful feedback to any writer you work with.

Should Your Marketing Take a Political Stand?

In spite of the old saying to avoid talking politics and religion at the dinner table, politics has always been a topic that made its way into conversations in all sorts of contexts (not all of them appropriate to the topic). But this past November, for people in the United States in particular, it suddenly became much more difficult not to talk about politics.

The current political climate is more polarized than ever and inspires strong emotions from people on both sides. In response, some brands have seen it as an opportunity to be more open about their politics.

It’s a risky move.

On the one hand, making politics a part of your marketing message can inspire more loyalty from the customers who share your politics. But as a number of brands have seen in the past few months (and to a lesser extent, before as well), it can also provoke boycotts from those who oppose the politics you purport.

Worse, if your attempt isn’t thought through or comes off as inauthentic (or both), you can end up driving away both sides at once. Pepsi got a serious lesson in that with its recent ad starring Kendall Jenner which made a tone-deaf attempt to capitalize on the Black Lives Matter movement.

But sometimes the risk does pay off and expressing your politics can help you gain a closer connection with your customers – something all brands hope and work so hard for. It’s tricky, but it can be done.

Here are few important guidelines you have to follow if you want to get it right.

Consider your audience.

The first rule of marketing in all contexts has to be given proper weight in considering how to address politics in your marketing as well. If your audience is predominately conservative and you take a liberal stand, or vice versa, you’ll be alienating the main people who buy from you.

If you know your business doesn’t really share the values of your target audience, then you’re better off steering clear of any political messaging altogether. If you have a pretty good idea that you and your customers are on the same page, then openly addressing political issues in your marketing could be a savvy move.

Thinx knows its audience is mostly young, mostly female, and mostly progressive in their politics. As a result, it can safely base the brand’s marketing newsletter entirely around feminist issues and trust that their customers will be more likely to nod their heads in agreement, rather than get angry at seeing politics they don’t relate to represented.

thinx

Thinx has a specific enough audience (people with periods – so mostly women under a certain age) that they have it easier than most brands when it comes to knowing how their customers are likely to respond to political messaging. If you’re less sure of how your audience will respond to a political message, consider doing some customer research before taking that step.

Note: If your brand feels that your political views are important enough that it’s worth taking the risk of losing some customers, then that’s another issue entirely. If you’re prepared to risk profits to stand up for something, then it may be ok to skip that customer research and just go for it.

Be thoughtful.

Any political messaging that’s built into marketing has to be authentic. If it seems like you’re trying to take advantage of a political moment that affects people’s lives in a significant way, you risk inspiring cynicism and anger rather than the sense of camaraderie you’re hoping for.

Penzey’s declared their opposition to the Republican party in clear terms back in November, fully expecting the move to be a risk, but clearly making the case for why they felt it was an important move to take in an email to their subscribers.

They did receive some angry responses, but the email ended up being the most shared email they’d ever sent and most of their email subscribers stuck with them.

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The message they sent made it clear that they really thought through the decision of taking this step. They worked out what they wanted to say and how, and crafted their message in a way that made where they stood clear.

And they tied it back to the brand by pointing to the larger culture of cooking: “The kindness of tens of thousands of generations of cooks created our humanity, but racism, sexism, and homophobia can all very quickly unravel all the goodness cooking puts out into the world. As the voice of cooks, we will never sit idly by while that happens.”

This wasn’t a blind grab for attention by referencing something in the news, it was smart, well thought-out marketing that took a risk, made a stand, and paid off.

Be ready to put your money where your mouth is.

Saying you back a particular issue or cause can let your customers know where you stand, but actively donating to that cause or showing a willingness to take steps that could lose you money in support of it tells your customers so much more.

Patagonia is a brand that appeals to people that love the outdoors – a group which has a big overlap with people who care about the environment, for obvious reasons. It makes a lot of sense for them as a company to take a stand for the environment. And their website puts their opinions on the subject front and center.

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But they’re still a brand out to make money and it could be easy for their customers to roll their eyes and see their mentions of environmental issues as pandering.

It becomes harder for customers to maintain that kind of cynicism when they see the company  put their money where their mouth is with their $10 Million for the Planet Initiative. The company committed to donating all their sales from Black Friday to grassroots organizations working on environmental issues. Their customers came out in droves that day and helped the brand make over $10 million to give to a good cause.

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The move showed their customers they were prepared to do more than just talk.

 

Addressing political issues is decidedly not a good move for every brand. But if you consider your audience and carefully think through both the how and why of taking a political stand, it could be worth it for your brand. In this political climate, it’s definitely a risk, but it’s one that could lead to a stronger connection with your audience, a more meaningful positioning for your brand, and the moral sense of doing something that matters – not a feeling that regularly comes with marketing work.

Why Content Writing Requires Empathy

What are the most important skills a content writer needs? Some of the obvious answers that may first come to mind are:

content writing requires empathy

Image via recitethis.com

  • Knack for language
  • Ability to research
  • Understanding of how to format content for the web
  • Ability to write easy-to-read content
  • Ability to create a content calendar and stick with deadlines

The two answers that came up the most often when I asked content strategists what skills the best content writers possessed were creativity and curiosity.

All of that matters. Good content writing requires a pretty significant skillset. But nothing on that list would be enough to create compelling content that people want to read without the skill that’s arguably most important of all: empathy. You probably won’t see it show up on a resume or the list of qualifications in a job ad, but without empathy, nothing a content writer produces will resonate with the target audience.

The Case for Empathy in Content Marketing

Marketers talk a lot about how important empathy is, but often in other terms. How many times have you heard your marketing colleagues use the phrase “know your audience.” It’s an easy thing to say, but empathy can actually be really challenging. It’s not something that’s taught in school. Most businesses don’t exactly cover it in their training. Trying to truly understand what someone else is thinking and feeling is difficult.

Our default mode is to view our own perception of the world as the most obvious, natural way to see things. It’s just how we’re wired. Getting outside of our own heads in order to figure out the differences in how others see things takes effort and practice.

No one’s arguing against empathy in marketing, but not many organizations are putting it front and center. Probably in large part because it is so much harder than it looks. It’s easy enough to think you know your audience, but much harder to actually go the extra mile to really understand them.

How Can Someone Get Better At Empathy?

Image via Natalie CollinsThat poses the question: what can we actually do about it? First and foremost, read.

If there’s one main way to flex our brain’s empathy muscle, it’s to get inside the heads of other people through books, short stories, and articles. Fiction and non-fiction are both good for this. Through reading, you can take a ride through the mindset and perceptions of the writer or character and learn about the experiences of others.

Devoting more time to reading is great advice for anyone who cares about becoming empathetic (or becoming a better writer in any format). But there’s a whole set of other steps you can take to become more empathetic to your particular audience.

Find them online. Then just hang out and listen.

Look for forums, social media groups, and blog comment sections where your audience hangs out. There are so many spaces online today where people share their thoughts and feelings, if you can figure out where those spaces are for your audience then you’ll have an easy glimpse into the kinds of questions and concerns they have.

Talk to your salespeople and customer service reps.

There are people within your company working directly with your customers and prospects every day. Your salespeople and customer service representatives hear first hand what your target audience is thinking about, the issues they’re facing, the questions they commonly have and the kinds of problems they regularly deal with. All of that information can help you understand your audience better and craft your content calendar based on the topics they actually care about.

Look to your data.

Marketers have more data today than they ever have in the history of the profession. You likely already have at your fingertips loads of information on what your prospects are searching for, the terms they use, and the types of content they’re most commonly seeking out. Data can seem dry and impersonal, but with the proper analysis, it can provide content writers with important insights into the minds of your prospects.

Revisit and refine your personas semi-regularly.

Personas shouldn’t be a project you tackle once and then leave alone. You’re constantly learning more about your audience – what issues they care about, what types of content they respond to, what topics they’re discussing online – your new insights should make their way into the personas you have. Commit to revisiting your personas at least once or twice a year to improve upon them based on new information.

 

Empathy is a crucial skill to have as a content writer, but more importantly, it helps people to become better human beings. When you make an effort to understand what other people go through and how they feel, becoming better at communicating and treating people with greater compassion are natural side effects. The same skill that will make your content more relatable and successful will pay off in your life far beyond the effects it has on your work.

7 Essentials for Quality Content Writing

A little while back, I asked a number of content strategists to share their tips on what makes a great content writer. They shared a lot of great insights, but they tended to fall more on the ideological side of things, citing curiosity and creativity as top attributes of the writers they worked with.

For anyone interested in succeeding as a content writer, those are hugely important traits to have, but there are also some specific steps and skills related to the technical process of content writing that those of us who have been at it a while learn over time.

For those of you who could use more specific, in-the-weeds tips on improving your content writing skills, these are the top suggestions I offer.

1.    Read (a lot).

This is a good tip for anyone who wants to be better at any type of writing. Don’t necessarily stick with

Image via kaboompics.com

Image via kaboompics.com

reading the type of writing you’re doing – just be a prolific reader all around. Fiction, non-fiction, magazine articles, blog posts – it’s more important that you read anything you can find that’s by good writers who use language well than it is that you read things that are in the format you’ll be writing in.

Spending time with the work of great writers is how you learn what kinds of words and sentence structures work well together, and what kind of language and writing styles feel awkward, haughty, or needlessly obtuse. Gaining a clearer picture of what you like to read will help you shape your own voice as a writer and replicate what works so well when other writers do it.

2.    Do the research.

You can’t write about something you don’t know about. Well, you can, but it will be needlessly difficult and come out sounding like BS (cause that’s what it will be). The first step to every writing project (unless it’s on a subject you already know inside and out) has to be spending time on research.

I spend more time on research than I do on writing. Unless I don’t do enough research, then the writing is like extracting teeth – slow and painful. And the results won’t end up any better for the extra trouble that goes into it.

3.    Actively work to empathize with your target audience.

Empathy requires work. It seems simple to say that different people see the world differently, but in practice it feels unnatural to us. The golden rule we’re taught as kids is flawed because how I want to be treated isn’t always how other people do. My interests aren’t always the same as my audience’s. My values aren’t necessarily the same as theirs. Etc. Etc.

That means understanding your audience –getting inside their head to figure out what they’re thinking and the kind of topics and writing they respond to – is an extra step that quality content writers have to make and a skillset in and of itself.

One of the greatest gifts I can come across in my research as a freelance content writer is a blog post with members of my target audience offering up their opinions in the comments, or a LinkedIn group where the people I’m writing for are active participants in the discussions. Or even better, a conversation with someone that’s in my target audience. The more you understand about your target audience – their wants, needs, concerns, values, interests – the easier it will be attain the level of empathy needed to write effectively for them.

Quick side note: this is something else that reading helps with. Learning about other people’s lives through nonfiction or getting inside the heads of characters different from you in fiction is a practice in empathy. The more reading you do, the more you stretch the empathy muscle you need to flex when it’s time to get inside the head of your target audience. (I’m not alone in thinking this – no less than POTUS himself agrees!)

4.    Pay attention to formatting.

You have to understand how people read and how their reading habits change on different devices and in different contexts. You’ll find a lot of variety in the particular preferences different people have when it comes to content consumption (some people vastly prefer short-form content, others are much more likely to take the time for quality long form; some are more likely to click on a video, others will opt for text every time).

This makes things complicated, but there are certain online reading preferences that are widespread enough to count on:

  • Headlines must be enticing. If no one ever clicks, they’ll never read anything you write. There are too many tips and opinions on what makes a good headline to get into here – but rest assured it’s important and worth spending time on.
  • People skim. Either to find the information they need faster or make sure they’ll like your content before committing to read the whole thing. Using headlines, bullet points, and lists helps make it easier for them to consume your content the way they want.
  • Visuals matter. I don’t just mean including images in your content (which is good form), but the layout of your content and how easy it is to read is important. You don’t want your writing to look cluttered on the page, leave plenty of whitespace so your words are easier to take in.

Start paying attention to the formatting on the blogs and other online publications you like best. If they’re popular sites, you can bet they’ve paid careful attention to what people respond to and are putting thought into how best to format every post according to reader preferences.

5.    Write at your best time of day.

When I try to write at 4 pm it’s soooooo tedious and slow and the work ends up needing more clean up in the proofreading phase. That’s because by late in the afternoon, I’ve usually used up a lot of my brain energy for the day. Writing requires a lot of focus and energy. Even if conventional wisdom says we have eight hours of work in us every day, few people could pull off eight productive hours of writing five days a week – it just takes too much out of you.

You want to figure out how to structure your day so that the work that requires the most energy falls into the hours of the day when you’re usually the most productive. It won’t always work out perfectly (I do still find myself having to do writing at 4pm some days), but at least having an idea of what those best writing hours are so you can plan as best you can will pay off.

6.    Track how you work.

This relates to #5, you want to understand your process and habits inside and out. Paying attention to how you do things is the first step to figuring out what works best and how to structure your work productively. Here are a couple of examples of how this has paid off for me:

  • Outlining – I used to poo-poo all the advice that insisted that outlining was crucial to writing. It time-trackingwas something I rarely did for the first year I worked as a professional content writer and my work was fine without it. But I realized over time that it made the work easier and better. By starting to create outlines for every piece I write in advance, my productivity and the organization of my content pieces has definitely improved.
  • Understanding where my time goes – I mentioned earlier that a lot of the time I spend on a piece goes to the research part of the process, and if I every try to spend less time researching, I spend more time writing. Tracking my time helps me make sure I don’t overload my days and that I do my work in the most efficient way possible (e.g. don’t try to jump to the writing before adequate research has been performed).
  • Carbs – This one’s personal, but I’ve noticed that whenever I have carbs for breakfast or lunch, I spend a chunk of the day drowsy and unproductive. How much I get done and how good it is has a direct relation to what I eat. So carbs are now for dinner and weekends only.

7.    Proofread (at least twice)!

It’s last on the list, but oh so important. You have no idea how many embarrassing errors or just awkwardly written sentences I’ve caught when proofreading. You never want to send that on to a client or publish it for the world to see. Ideally, someone else should also be reviewing your work before it gets published, but even so, read it at least twice before passing it along. Make one of those readings out loud – you get a better feel for how well your sentences work when you hear how they sound.

I can tell when I read something that hasn’t been proofread (or adequately proofread). You probably can too. It will make you look bad if you let a lot of sloppy errors or bad writing through. This is one of the most important tips I can provide to make sure you avoid that.

 

 

These are my experiences and I expect that most other professional content writers would agree with this list (with maybe a few things to add). Most people have the capacity to become better writers. Reading a lot and getting feedback on your writing will inevitably lead to growth in your skill. If being a better writer isn’t really a goal you have (not everyone needs to write well in their work), you can always hire someone to help.