Content Writing - A Career?

Imagine yourself sitting on a beanbag or on a crouch without much of pressure and writing all that comes to your mind... Playing with words, making new sentences, enjoying vocabulary along with a cup of hot tea or coffee, and in addition being paid for the job. Isn't it fascinating?
Yes, this is the job of a content writer. Just enjoying writing and getting paid off. Who said you cannot be paid off just for your passions? Content Writing is one such field in which one can earn in his/her leisure time. More and people have started taking this as a primary job than just a part-time job.





Let's understand what is Content Writing all about and what are the pre-requisites for this field and other challenges....


What is content writing?

• As the name suggests content writing is nothing alien, it's just writing about something specific and relevant, targeting some specific audiences.
• Sometimes it can be writing about any topic catering to a wider audience also.
• Content writing is the art of needling through the words and structuring them in such a way that they appeal to the masses.
• SEO and Content writing go hand in hand. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, will refer to it back later in the post.

Often Confused terms:

1. Content Writing
2. Copy Writing
3. Technical Writing
4. Creative Writing

lets us walk through the basic differences amongst the above four, basically contrasting in between themselves...

Content Writing vs Copywriting:

• A shorter version of content writing, up to the mark.
• Concise and appropriate for advertisements.
• It's a shorter way of storytelling.
• Mostly it is translating or summarizing content writing.
• Mainly done for marketing purposes.

Content Writing vs Technical writing:

• It's is a specialised type of content writing which involves using excellent technical aptitude regarding the specific technical domain.
• Involves simplifying complex technical terminology into simpler words so that common person can easily understand.
• Content writing may or may not be topic specific but Technical Writing needs to be specific technology related.

Content Writing vs Technical writing:

• Creative writing mainly consists of writing for recreational purposes.
• It is stepping stone for broadening imagination.
• Consists writing posts for practice purpose or for a personal blog.
• There is no bondage about the topic, one can write about anything.

A Buzz Word: SEO

• Stands for Search Engine Optimisation.
• It is a process of optimizing a website so that people can easily find it via search engines like Google.
• Making your content highly visible so that the Search Engines could easily grab them and display in results.
• It goes hand in hand with Content Writing as SEO is one such thing with takes the content towards the audience.

Some tips to advance in the field:

• Decent command over the Language.
• Punctuations and grammar should be sound.
• Must have the adequate reading habits.
• Must be calm and composed under pressure, i.e., must know how to manage deadlines.
• Handsome sentence formation, catchy phrases usage.
• Ability to bind the audience just by wordplay.
• The person should be Mozart in the field.(just joking).
• Be original and relevant.
• Know the audience.
• If the person is handy with SEO, WordPress and link building then chances are brighter.

Some difficulties in choosing this as a career:

• Not that much respect for content writers in the Indian society.
• Mostly Freelancing jobs are available at the moment.
• Salary and perks are also not too high.
• One needs to be exceptional in the field to move ahead.
• Lack of good readers and interests.
• Lack of originality and boxed imagination.
• No specific office hours, the irregular schedule can disturb sleep cycle and messes up health.

Some Advantages:

• Learning is never in vain.
• Enhances vocabulary and writing-typing skills.
• One can take it as a secondary source of income too.
• Highly skilled professionals are paid handsomely.
• In long run it helps is gathering some respect and name in the Society.

Some recent opportunities:

• More and more companies are hiring freelancers for this particular job.
• Internships and training are also organised for the interested people to compete and gain exposure.
• Companies are also immerging which supply content writers to different companies.
• Site monetization using Adsense is trending. One just needs his/her own website which must be hosted on some hosting service.One just needs to put on some advertisements and wait for the people to click on them and earn a respectable amount of money...

Conclusion:

• Content Writing is one of the most trending and pleasing freelancing job available right now.
• Lots of employment opportunity.
• If someone wants to earn money just by writing and expressing then this is the right platform.
• Good command over language and some knowledge of SEO is enough for making a career in this field.
• One should surely give this a try if one is passionate about writing.

Hope, I was able to provide some of the necessary information about the topic in brief as possible... Please feel free to comment below if you want to interact or suggest some improvements.

 Keep writing!

 Keep reading!

-Utkarsh Sharma

.