Avoid correcting misspellings, typos, sentence structure, or grammar—just type, type, type until your brain excavates all musings. You can use this creative writing skill for all kinds of work, from personal blogging and copywriting to essays and work emails.

The Difference in Writing for the Web vs. Just “Writing”

Writing is a skill that needs to be developed over time. Think of writing as any other professional sport, and you are a rookie player trying to reach the championships. As an athlete, you must train to perfect your craft.

And in 2020, just a few months ago, I created and launched a writing course just for teaching you internet writing standards. It’s a huge market need. Over 90% of our writing applicants at Express Writers don’t know how to structure and write for the internet.

Learn to Write Like a Pro: 9 Lessons that Will Help Your Writing Seriously Shine

1. Tools: How Writers Set Themselves Up for Success

Not only does this save memory on your computer, but now you can look at your screen without being overwhelmed.

2. Very Important: Set Routine for More Success

3. Before Writing: Research, Outlines and Structure

Content writers often learn to write on a variety of different subject matter. As the author, you must become an expert on the topic at hand and adjust your tone as needed. Every professional writer also becomes a professional researcher. You start as a student, and then transform into the teacher. A main part of learning to write is sifting through the internet to source from new, relevant and informative information that applies to your topic.

4. During Writing: Creating Engaging Content

All it takes is one word to begin and you’ll find your fingers swiftly typing away, and for this stage of writing, you should let them. Try to avoid editing yourself as you go. You can refine after you get your ideas down.

Creating engaging content doesn’t mean succumbing to cheap tactics without providing any quality material. Solid content is the opposite of clickbait. While “50 Proven Ways to Lose 10 lbs by Next Week” is appealing, a reader quickly loses interest once they figure out it’s just an ad for a diet pill.

• Put your audience first. You’ve probably heard the expression, “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.” Try reading your blog through someone else’s perspective. Write for the reader above all else without getting bogged down by the latest SEO trends.
• Use a persuasive (not overbearing) tone. Online content is written with the purpose of selling an idea, brand or object. However, as a content writer you are not the typical salesperson. There is no need to convince the audience with flashy gimmicks. Find out what’s important to your readers and use those factors to support your arguments.
• Catch the reader with your hook. With the average attention span at eight seconds, you have limited time to keep your viewers reading on. Learning to write a killer intro for a blog or webpage, will grasp your reader’s attention. Don’t be afraid to make it conversational, be funny or start with a shocking statistic.
• Make it personal. The small, intimate details are what will set your writing apart from anyone else. It brings your anecdotes to life and allows the reader to feel like you are sharing something with them. It’s the difference between writing, “I went to the grocery store to pick up some chips” and “I went to HEB to snag a bag of Salsa Verde Doritos.” The details are what makes your writing you.
• Demonstrate your examples. Another common use of this phrase is “show your work.” If you say that popsicles are the number one snack for adolescents, then prove it. Provide readers with relevant links and sources to support your claims. Practice what you preach by giving readers no other choice than to believe you.

5. After Writing: Editing, Proofreading and Optimizing

What comes after the big task of writing, distinguishes great writers from the rest. The after writing stage is just the beginning of the editing stage. Editing is a crucial part of every writing process, especially when it comes to creating online content.

As a content writer, your work is two-fold. The content first and foremost needs to be high-quality, engaging writing. However, it also must be optimized to rank high in search engines. The editing process provides the time to refine headings, check your use of the keyword, hit the target word count and optimize the rest of the document based on the client’s needs.

6. Realize that Learning to Write Never Stops

Think of your newly formed writing mind in the same way as you would six-pack abs. Once you see definition, you don’t just stop and declare you’re done. Do that, and all of your hard work will quickly cease to exist.

learn writing

Writing is a skill that involves using text to communicate important ideas. The study of writing equips students with highly transferable experience in academic writing, essay writing, business communication, creative writing, storytelling, and more. From a technical standpoint, writing also helps students cultivate high-level reading comprehension skills and proper grammar knowledge.

edX offers a plethora of some of the best free online writing courses for new writers. Students interested in learning how to write or who want to gain basic writing tips for improving their writing have access to a wide range of academic courses available online for beginner level, intermediate, and advanced students.

Are you a hopeful writer who has always wanted to write a novel? Take creative writing courses and register for How to Write a Novel: Writing the Draft, an intermediate course currently offered by University of British Columbia. Move from outline to draft, and learn how crucial craft lessons from MFA faculty on scene design, dialogue, character development and plot can help you reach your writing goals.

Taking a writing course and developing stronger writing skills isn’t only beneficial to MFA candidates. Strong writing skills can also help prepare you for a career in fundraising. Learn how to increase your impact, innovate, and overcome often static funding through various fundraising and grant writing approaches by registering for Michigan University’s introduction to Grant Writing and Crowdfunding for Public Libraries.

If you simply need to brush up on your writing skills as you pursue other college-level courses you can also focus on the fundamental principles of essay writing through UC Berkeley’s intro to How to Write an Essay.

Jobs in Writing

Clear writing and communication skills are highly sought in a range of industries, including advertising, publishing, law, development work, and web design, making a writing background attractive to many potential employers

Taking an online writing courses will give students the communication skills they need in a career as a technical writer, digital copyeditor, or even author. With creative writing degrees, online writers workshops, and certificates from online writing classes or programs, students from all backgrounds get exposure to different kinds of writing, such as descriptive writing, and learn to give and receive critical feedback.

Currently, a search of “writing jobs” yields over 300,000 results for open positions ranging from Content Writer for online resources to a role as Elementary Reading and Writing Tutor, for those more interested in getting into the education field. Of those writing roles over 100,000 offer competitive salaries of $50,000 a year or more. Whether you’re interested writing a bestseller or giving yourself a competitive advantage in another field, strong writing skills are in high demand, making writing a highly marketable skill.

Common mistakes and problems

Using English
UsingEnglish.com provides a large collection of English as a Second Language (ESL) tools & resources for students, teachers, learners and academics. Browse our grammar glossary and references of irregular verbs, phrasal verbs and idioms, ESL forums, articles, teacher handouts and printables, and find useful links and information on English. Topics cover the spectrum of ESL, EFL, ESOL, and EAP subject areas.

Copywriting 101: An Introduction to Copywriting
This tutorial is designed to get you up and running with the basics of writing great copy in ten easy lessons. Afterwards, you’ll get recommendations for professional copywriting training, plus links to tutorials on SEO copywriting and writing killer headlines.

A Guide to Writing Well “This guide was mainly distilled from On Writing Well by William Zinsser and The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. Other sources are listed in the bibliography. My memory being stubborn and lazy, I compiled this so I could easily refresh myself on writing well. I hope it will also be helpful to others.”

Headlines and Trigger Words

Common mistakes and errors

Writing tips from experts

Practical tips

References:

https://expresswriters.com/learn-to-write/
https://www.edx.org/learn/writing
https://writer.com/blog/how-to-write-better/
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/06/50-free-resources-that-will-improve-your-writing-skills/