The byproducts of content writing conquer almost every corner of the internet.
Do you think I’m exaggerating? Well, I do exaggerate in general but not this time. Everything you read on the internet was written by someone and there’s a big chance of that person being a skilled content writer.
There is content that was written by Mr/Mrs. Let-Me-Give-This-A-Shot-Because-How-Difficult-Writing-A-Few-Words-Can-Be but let’s just say their content isn’t effective as it should be.
If you are someone who knows nothing about content writing other than that it exists and is interested in learning it because these 5 signs have made you confident to give it a shot, you are at the right place. These are the three main steps I followed to learn content writing for free and now I write content and get paid. Ha! Rags to riches baby!
The 1st Thing I did – Following actual “free” courses on content writing.
I used to click on free content writing courses only to be prompted to enter my credit card number, and I absolutely hated it.
Let me share some actual free courses from which you can learn without any strings attached.
1. English Writing Skills by Alison
As a total beginner, investing a few hours in this course helped me to understand the basics such as writing styles and how to use them.
Having completed this course, you will be able to:
- Explain what writing is and the various writing styles that are used.
- Determine various writing triggers and how to write for an audience.
- Discuss some writing styles and the information they are intended to convey.
- Describe how to write a story by combining different writing styles.
2. Technical Writing Essentials by Alison
Technical writing is one of the many subdomains of content writing and this course will help you understand the essentials of technical writing. Although you might not want to write technical content, it is better to have a thorough understanding of every area that is relevant to content if you want to be sharp in everything you write.
I didn’t want to follow this course because I did not expect to be heavily involved in technical writing but believe me, I’m glad I did enroll in retrospect.
Having completed this course, you will be able to:
- Explain what writing is and the various writing styles that are used.
- Determine various writing triggers and how to write for an audience.
- Discuss some writing styles and the information they are intended to convey.
- Describe how to write a story by combining different writing styles.
Alison is a fantastic resourceful website where you can find free Online Courses With Certificates & Diplomas. Don’t forget to take a look around there to find more useful free courses that will help you with content writing.
3. Content Marketing and Blogging Tutorials by Ahrefs
I’ve learned so much from watching videos on YouTube, and one of those things is how to write content obviously.
There are plenty of free courses on YouTube and this has to be the most informative one so far. They teach us about content marketing strategies, blogging, and how to apply content strategies in real content writing settings.
I highly recommend checking this entire playlist before getting serious about writing because this thoroughly covers the digital marketing side of content writing. I learned a lot about SEO from Ahrefs, including how to use it to improve the effectiveness of content. So be sure to read through their other incredibly useful content as well.
4. How to start blogging? | Blogging as a Career Option | Blogging Tips | Great Learning by Great Learning
You will learn how to start writing your own blog and how to meet the requirements that must be met before writing a single word. Most people get into content writing to primarily write blogs and if you are one of them, this is the one for you.
5. Coursera
Coursera is an online learning platform that provides self-paced guided projects and on-demand courses on various topics. To provide courses, the platform collaborates with universities and corporations such as Amazon Web Services, Google, and IBM. They have a plethora of courses on writing that will assist you greatly.
The 2nd Thing I did – Reading well-written blogs and re-writing them.
This was a total game-changer.
I was able to lay the groundwork for my career as a content writer by taking free courses and watching YouTube videos but to be completely honest, I still had NO IDEA how to put most of what I had learned into practice.
That’s when I realized I needed to start writing blogs myself rather than just reading about them. I was still a beginner, so I had no idea what to write about. Do you know what I did? I started reading popular blogs and I re-wrote them while slowly analyzing them.
It gave me insight into how blogs are structured and, more importantly, my sad attempts to replicate some of the best bloggers in the world gave me hope that maybe one day, I’d actually become a good content writer.
These are some of the websites I followed and they helped me to kick-start my content writing journey and my career. Make sure to read them, rewrite them, feel bad that your work isn’t as good as the original, and repeat the process until you despise content writing. (I swear you wouldn’t hate it for more than 5 minutes)
The 3rd Thing I did – I wrote as much as I could.
Regardless of how many courses you take or how many blogs you read, it all comes down to how much you put what you’ve learned into practice.
Set aside some time to practice the tips and techniques you learned after finishing a course or book. You will undoubtedly gain more knowledge and, more importantly, grow your content-writing skills.
Don’t skip practice, please. There isn’t much to elaborate on this step really.
