You’ve probably heard the term “content writing” kicked around the marketing sphere. Maybe you’ve seen people call themselves content writers or post about how content writing helps your business.
But what is this content writer? What kinds of content do they write? Can they actually help your business, or are they a waste of time? Those are all great questions, which I’ll answer in this post.
And why should you listen to me? Because I’m a content writer with two years of experience writing content for blogs in niches ranging from women’s lifestyle to stationery. That personal experience makes me uniquely qualified to help you understand this topic.
What Is a Content Writer?
A content writer writes content. Groundbreaking, I know.
But they don’t create content without a purpose, like a teenage blogger. Their job is to write content that educates, entertains, and gets sales for their client (that’s you). They provide value before coming in to make the sale.
What Does a Content Writer Write?
A quick LinkedIn search of content writers reveals they seem to write everything from blog posts to social media captions. If you’ve never worked with a content writer before, it’s confusing.
That’s because content writing is all those things and more. Any content published by a business, from blog posts to YouTube videos, is written by a content writer somewhere. We don’t have time to go into all of them in this post, but here are a few examples.
Blog Posts
Blog posts are one of the most popular types of content writing because they have so many benefits. They may look deceptively easy to write, but a good content writer spends hours creating a single post.
White Papers
A white paper is sort of a fancy blog post. But it’s filled with research to educate rather than entertain. White papers take special writing skills and are great for B2B and technology companies.
Scripts
Podcasts and videos produced by businesses might seem candid, but in reality, a content writer wrote a script for them. That script ensures the presenter stays on topic and gets to all their points.
Social Media Captions
A content writer or social media manager writes most company social media captions. They help make sure your posts are fun, relevant, and on-brand for you.
E-books
Have you ever signed up for an email list and got an educational e-book as a thank you? Someone wrote that, creating it to be helpful and valuable for subscribers.
What Does a Content Writer Do?
Okay, so you know what a content writer is and some of the things they write. But what does their job include besides, you know, writing?
#1: Research
In my experience, about a third of content writing is research. Researching your topic and audience. Doing keyword research to give your content the best chance of being found. Digging up sources or researching to find a unique twist for your post. It’s a vital part of the writing process so you can create content that gets results.
#2: Editing
Editing is where content comes to life. It removes useless sentences, off-topic tangents, and typos. Another large chunk of content writing is wrangling what we’ve written into a compelling, quality piece of work. If your content writer isn’t editing their work, you need to find a different writer, stat.
#3: Content Marketing
A great content writer doesn’t simply write words. They understand your content goals and work to help you accomplish them. They might even help you create content goals or set up a content calendar.
The Benefits of Content Writing
Now we get to the good stuff- how content writing helps you. Because yes, it has a lot of benefits, and you shouldn’t overlook it in your overall marketing plan.
Gain Website Visits
Ever wanted to get more eyes on your website? Try hiring a content writer to create quality blog posts, YouTube videos, or social media captions. That quality content will draw people to your website and keep them there.
Increase Google Ranking
Great content brings more visitors to your site. More site visitors equals better Google rankings. And by publishing fresh content frequently, you also tell Google, “Hey, this is an active website!” so they’ll crawl and rank it more often.
Customer Engagement
People don’t engage with bland content. They don’t like boring YouTube videos. They don’t read boring e-books. They don’t comment on boring blog posts. Quality content does the opposite, engaging your visitors and turning them into customers.
Establish Brand Authority
Anyone can set up a website and call themselves an authority on a specific topic. If you want to stand out and establish yourself as an authority on sustainable fashion or healthcare, you need to create content to back up that claim. By publishing lots of quality content in your niche, you’ll show visitors and Google you know what you’re talking about.
Boost Sales
Content writing may sell second, but when it comes time to sell, it’s hooked your customers so well they can’t say no. This might be through pitching your products at the end of a blog post or simply talking about your product enough to convince them to check it out.
Content writing is essential to marketing, especially as the online world grows. A good content writer is invaluable, and you should consider hiring one to increase your visibility.
If you’re an e-commerce company that wants to improve your blog, I’d love to work with you! Fill out the form on this page to set up your free discovery call and get great content ASAP.
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