How To Not Suck At Writing

Whether you’re a founder, creator, or small business owner, building an online presence is essential to growth.

Content is the fuel of your money-making engine. It attracts leads, convinces them to stay longer on your website, and converts casual passers-by into loyal customers.

Without content, your business won’t run.

But how to write content that doesn’t suck? That’s what this article will discuss. Dive in, and don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments.

1. Aim to attract your ideal readers

It’s called ‘personal’ branding, but no one wants to read whiney rants or personal stories.

The hero of your story is not you. It’s the reader.

You can’t write as if you’re penning your thoughts in a journal. Every word must cater to your reader. A great content piece should either:

• educate,
• entertain, and
• inspire the reader.

If your content doesn’t do any, it won’t bring you results.

2. Maintain professionalism

It’s cool to be casual in your approach, but it isn’t cool to be unprofessional.

If your content contains:

• ALL CAPS
• extra ‘!’ — !!!!
• multiple ‘r’ after ‘super’ — superrr
• emojis, unless it’s a social media post

It might get on the reader’s nerves.

Website content, articles, and newsletters are supposed to be formal write-ups to engage with your audience. They are great ways to showcase your personality. But you need to treat such mediums with respect. Being whimsical in your approach will only alienate readers.

3. No use of fancy words

Many writers think fancy words make them sound smart.

But readers are smarter. They can tell if you used the Thesaurus for writing every sentence.

Here’s a rule of thumb: Write as you speak. Your content should feel as if you’re talking to the reader.

You’re not writing to get accepted into some literary journal. Your goal is to make your brand stick in the minds of your readers. Fancy words don’t help this in any way.

A trick that works for me is reading out loud before publishing. Any word that sounds off, I delete it immediately.

4. Don’t use extra words to sound smart

Delete these words from your content:

• very,
• ever,
• thus,
• never,
• however,
• moreover,
• thereafter.

Your writing will be crisper without these words.

5. Don’t write for everyone

Your content carries immense power when it’s written for one person.

But when you try to mold it for everyone, it ends up being written for no one.

Don’t fall into the trap of aiming to be universally liked. Instead,

• Niche down to find your ideal audience.
• Understand what keeps them awake at night.
• Solve the pain points with your content.

This is the way to grow as a writer in 2023.🚀

Final words

Growing a presence online requires you to create content that captures the attention of your target audience and makes them stick around.

In 2023, when so many writers are worried AI might take over their jobs, it’s essential to develop a unique voice. Your content needs to reflect your personality, and only well-thought-out words can do that.

Summing up, here’s how to write content that doesn’t suck. TL;DR:

1. Make readers the hero of your content
2. Maintain professionalism in your approach
3. Don’t use fancy words just for the sake of it.
4. Remote extra words. Fillers can be killers.
5. Write for an audience of one.

What else would you add to this list? Let me know in the comments.

Love writing but don’t know where to start? Join my FREE 5-day course. It’ll teach you the framework of being a highly-paid writer that took me 5 years to master.