How to Become a Content Writer & Earn a Living with Zero Experience

As content marketing becomes one of the fastest growing options for customer acquisition, the increasing demand for well grounded content creators has inspired digital marketers as many are finding ways to become a content writer for websites and brands.

But, really, becoming a content writer for blogs is not easy. In times like this, where there are hundreds of how to guides, without real depth and ideas on how to achieve your goals, getting to find a real head way to get started has become a challenge for many aspiring writers.

The few who have been able to start have in some cases found it difficult to find relatable real life experiences and insights to guide their journey or figure out how to compete with AI writing tools like ChatGPT and so on.

As a writing coach, I’ll be sharing with you in this post, some of the core lessons and insights I’ve garnered, the skills and ideas you’ll need to navigate your writing journey and of course, the key strategies you’ll have to put in place to guarantee success.

What is Content Writing?

Content writing is the art of writing relevant, valuable and engaging posts and sharing it with a specific audience, in order to achieve a specified outcome.

It is an aspect of content marketing which largely involves the use of written texts like blog posts, emails, ebooks and other text based content for digital marketing purposes.

As a content writer, one of your primary responsibilities is to plan, research, write, edit and publish web content across specified platforms, for the purpose of informing, educating or entertaining a specific audience so you can achieve a particular goal.

This is the unofficial job description of a content writer and this is part of what you’ll be doing, most of the time.

What is Content Marketing About?

Content marketing is the holistic process of creating and sharing useful, engaging and informative content to a specific audience in order to achieve a clear marketing outcome.

While content writing is focused on creating written content, content marketing encompasses all kinds of content used for digital marketing purposes including videos, audios, text, infographics, etc.

The purpose of both content writing and content marketing is to lead a potential client towards taking a specified action, after viewing the content.

Steps to Become a Content Writer

The first step to become a content writer is to understand what content writing is all about, be able to create valuable and engaging content that will transform your audience from mere readers to paying customers and then learn how to manage content.

The moment you can do these, then you have what it takes to become a successful content writer.

In the following paragraphs, I’ll be sharing with you, the 7 proven steps to become a content writer, even if you’re just a beginner.

Learn Content Writing

To become a content writer, you must be a writer.

No you don’t have to become a Chimamanda Adichie, Stephen King or a William Shakespeare but you can’t become a content writer without knowing how to piece together a few meaningful sentences in a clear and compelling way that someone else will want to read.

So, start with the basics. Learn content writing. Learn how to write for a web based platform and online environment like websites, blogs, social media handles etc.

There are chances your learning curve will get easier if you’re already an experienced writer. But even at that, you still need to learn the rudiments of writing for the web to gain full mastery of content writing.

On the other hand, if you’re completely new to writing, there are some free and paid writing courses you could take that will give you the needed grooming on writing.

And most of the time, these courses will provide you with the needed community rapport, mentorship and support you’ll need all through your journey to becoming a content writer.

Find your Niche

Another important step you’ll take as far as your aspiration to become a content writer is concerned is to find a niche.

A niche is a specialized segment of the market or kind of client you can choose to focus on as a brand.

Instead of writing content for just about any kind of business or clients, it’s best you find a particular niche, industry or sub niche early, get so good in that niche and build a brand around it.

For example as a content creator writing for tech and digital marketing industry, instead of targeting digital marketing clients as a whole, you can focus on a sub niche like search engine optimization and then create content for clients in that sub niche.

Doing this makes it easier for you to scale faster. And with this strategy, you can become an established content writing authority in your preferred sub niche much more easily, if you know your onions.

To make finding a niche easier, try to run a personality assessment to understand the area of writing you’re naturally drawn to. Also, your research should cover the market generally so you can have a good understanding of the high paying writing niches etc.

Alternatively, you can try different niches in your early days, if you have a lot of time on your hands or you’re not sure about the area of writing that interests you. With this you’ll eventually find what works for you, while still learning about writing generally.

PS: For beginners, it is always best to go for a niche that is not too crowded or find a sub niche with a little or few established experts.

Optimize for Visibility

The idea about becoming a content writer is to write content that will attract improved visibility and traffic to your clients.

And one of your most formidable tools for this strategy is to have a good grasp of search engine optimization and learn how to optimize your content for SEO.

Of course knowledge of Search Engine Optimization may not be stated as a must have for some content writing jobs but your grasp of SEO will determine if your services as a content writer is providing the needed returns on investment or not.

So, in a nutshell, to become a content writer, you must understand how to optimize your content for a better visibility if you really want to create an impressive result for your clients.

In fact, do not just aim to become a writer, plan to become an SEO writer. With this you stand a better chance to write result driven content that can get you a higher pay, compared to ordinary content writers.

Thankfully, there are courses and tutorials on SEO that you can read up to improve your knowledge and even get certified as the case may be.

Be Good at Keyword Research

You can’t become a content writer without having a decent keyword and general research skills or being able to carry out the very basic search for ideas that can lead to conclusive deductions.

Yes! Understanding keywords research is crucial as this knowledge will guide you towards creating content that will actually get positioned to deliver on client goals.

No, it’s not hard. With just a decent grasp on how to look for and find valuable and relevant information that will benefit your target audience and how to use them in your posts in the most succinct and engaging ways you’re good to go.

Also beyond content writing, your research skills will be needed when it comes to getting to know, identify and work with audiences to find out content that works for them and how to present it the way they want.

It’ll also work for you when you plan to find out brands to work with as clients and how to communicate the messages that matter to these audiences.

Write Great Content

To become a content writer that’s well read, you have to write great content that’s better by far. There are no two ways about it.

You can start with using your social media handles or other popular platforms to build an audience base, learn the rudiments of writing and get instant feedback while building your profile.

A lot of established content writers started out this way. And what this does for you is that it builds your muscle throughout the learning phase of your content writing endeavor. And you can also use this period to build a brand.

While taking this step, be sure you’re creating great content – The kind of content that will not merely add value to your audience but one that separates you from the crowd out there.

PS:  While using these other platforms to test the waters with your writing skills, be sure you’re clear about what you want as a content writer and follow through with that consistently. Do not fall into the trap of writing just about anything unless you’re writing as a hobby.

Create a Portfolio

Now that you’ve started writing actual content, it’s time to create a portfolio and get your name out there as the content writer that you are. But be sure you put the first things first, starting with the following;

• Brand Name: Starting with choosing a brand, be sure you choose a brand name that easily resonates with you and your target clients. Learn how to create a brand here.
• Brand Voice: Although this might not be very clear at the initial stages, as you continue to write, you’ll evolve a distinct brand voice that will be unique to you. But, whatever the case, start with intentionally choosing a brand voice that your target audience will identify with since you’re writing for them.

If you’re targeting clients with a largely younger audience, understand the kind of writing voice that will resonate with them. Same with brands that target professional clients.

These are some of the things you’ll learn at writing schools like the ones we host at Smart Content College.

• Profile Bio: Use a short, sweet and compelling profile bio that will describe what you do and how you do it across all online platforms. Ditto for your pictures and shared images, everything should project your brand and brand goals.

Promote your Brand

To become a content writer, people really need to know that you’re an actual content writer. So, there’s need to promote your brand and get the word out there.

Starting with your social media, identify the top social media platforms with a large number of your target audience, build a presence on that platform and get to promote your brand.

Use strategic strategic social media marketing to share valuable and engaging content with your audience on those platforms.

Create a website where you’ll display services, portfolio and everything that has to do with your brand at a one stop spot. This has a way of improving your credibility with clients.

Ask for feedbacks from clients when you work with them. And also, do not forget to display your reviews, nice feedback and testimonials as social proofs, whenever you have them.

Also, do not fail to use storytelling as part of your marketing strategy to showcase your work and promote your brand.

Final Words

It’s very possible to become a successful content writer in Nigeria or anywhere in the world if you use the strategies I just shared with you.

A lot of content writers started with zero experience. So, if you’re ready, you can always get started while building your brand into a content powerhouse. .

But in addition to what you’ve read so far today, if you want to distinguish yourself as a content creator then you must be willing to learn, to make mistakes and grow through the process. This is very crucial.

Be willing to understand, and use storytelling and copywriting to deepen your writing in a way that will create meaningful connection with your audience while enhancing your ROI.

Get a good grasp of content management and in addition, never forget to read widely both for learning and for pleasure.

Doing these and more will get you to becoming a successful content writer. But to make your journey even faster, sign up for our content writing certificate course here. Let’s walk all the way with you, to transform you into a successful content writer.

Now, it’s over to you. What’s your biggest challenge as a content writer? Drop your comments below.