There are few things we want as severely as expressing ourselves and sharing our thoughts with others in life. But before you can write, you must learn how to read well (more than just high school reading). This is where L6 skills come into play. In this article, I’ll describe what they are and teach you a quick way of learning them if writing seems too daunting at first. One thing you must be able to accomplish if you want to be a good internet marketer is: You must be able to communicate in writing. Almost every sort of content production involves some form of writing. Written material is typically found in emails, postings on the blog, and books. In addition, however, you must create material and scripts for videos, podcasts, and courses.
I’ll tell you the truth. It’s doubtful that you’ll be successful if you’re a terrible writer. It’s a horrible reality, but it’s the truth. The good news is that you are most likely not a bad writer. Being one is a difficult task. At the same time, being a great writer is difficult. I wouldn’t call myself a great writer despite years of writing—it may be a decent one. The most important thing to remember is to enhance your writing abilities. You may discover what makes great authors’ writing excellent by analyzing their works. You may also improve the efficacy of your writing with practice, resulting in more traffic, subscribers, and consumers. You could spend hundreds of hours doing your study, or you could simply let me show you which writing abilities are the most crucial. Over the years, I’ve studied a broad range of top-tier authors (also excellent marketers) and discovered that they all have certain qualities in common. I’ll break down these abilities in this post, giving you instances of them in action as well as techniques to improve them. By the conclusion of this article, you should have a clear idea of how to improve your writing skills for the advantage of your company.
Abilities all writers should have:
1. Having a large vocabulary does not imply that you are a good writer.
Most people imagine great authors penning phrases full of arcane terms like aphesis and esculent. People who employ words like that, on the other hand, are typically awful writers. The size of a writer’s vocabulary is not the criterion. You can be an excellent writer if you have a solid tongue and grasp the foundations of grammar in the language you’re using. Even if you’re only learning a language, don’t rule out the possibility of becoming an excellent writer because you don’t know every word.
Bamidele Onibalusi, for example, is a successful blogger who writes in his second language.
Is their writing flawless in terms of grammar and vocabulary? No. Despite their lack of an extensive vocabulary, they can generate material that others like reading. There is a technique for us to measure the difficulty of writing. The Flesch-Kincaid grade level scale is what it’s called. It considers the number of words and a few other things to decide what grade level your work is appropriate for. I made this chart by pasting a few example blog entries into this readability score calculator:
The other three authors on this list, in my view, are all exceptional or excellent writers. Brian and Ramit, as well as myself, write at a fourth-grade level. Because our material isn’t very complicated, even a 10-year-old could read most of it. Although it is more advanced, Michael Hyatt’s writing is still at a grade 7 level. The main question is, therefore, “Why?” Because they write for the reader, not for themselves, excellent authors employ simple words and phrases. They may be interested in the nuances of the English language, but most readers aren’t. They want their knowledge most straightforwardly and understandably possible. It’s far simpler to read and comprehend short, straightforward phrases than it is to figure out what clandestine means (it means “done in secret” if you’re wondering). Oh, and there’s another writing advantage simply: you’ll be able to write considerably quicker. You use simple language—usually, the first words that come to mind—rather than hunting for the “perfect” term. These are usually the terms that your audience will comprehend quickly, so they’re an excellent pick. How do you put this into practice? It’s an effortless talent to learn: just write. Instead of hunting for more sophisticated terms, jot down the first things that spring to mind while writing anything. If you make a mistake, don’t worry; you can quickly repair it later when you edit.
2. Do you give a damn about how your readers feel?
Poor authors engage in several activities. Some authors write what they would want to read. Others try to seem as clever as possible when they write. It’s not about the reader in any case. It’s more about “look at how brilliant and amazing I am” rather than “look at how clever and awesome I am.” Only a few individuals are interested in this method to make it work for them. When authors concentrate only on themselves, their work loses its appeal. These authors either improve over time as they become more aware of their errors, or they blame the readers for failing to identify excellent material. Now I have to ask you a difficult question: Do you consider the reader first while writing information, or do you consider how to make yourself appear the best (as the author)? It isn’t always one or the other. Your response may fall anywhere in the center (i.e., sometimes you focus on yourself). The simple solution: If you’ve seen an area where you can improve, it’s pretty straightforward to capitalize on it, at least in principle. The answer is to learn to empathize. Empathy is defined as the ability to grasp your readers’ point of view, including their issues, interests, personalities, and other significant parts of their life. Empathy takes time to develop, and I’m not sure you’ll ever be able to master it.
However, excellent writing demonstrates empathy. The finest writers use hearts to select the best approach to educate their readers and comprehend what they need to hear (to solve their issues). Some audiences want clear answers, while others require step-by-step instructions, and still others just a gentle push in the correct direction. Empathy in action: It is evident when authors fully understand their audience and then devote their full attention to writing that will benefit them as much as possible. Take a peek at Seth Godin’s blog article. In around 100 words, he uses the word “you” or variants of it ten times. The reader is the focus of this article.
The topic of the article is being enthusiastic about your job. This is an issue that many bloggers discuss. The majority of people would have focused on how their personal business experience led to realizing that they needed to care more. But that would have been deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly Seth, on the other hand, concentrates on the reader’s life. First, he describes the situation in detail using the reader’s language to express it. After that, he provides a one-line answer. What about James Clear, for example? He’s another fantastic author. His articles aren’t based on data from Google’s Keyword Planner. They’re based on queries he receives from his audience.
He understands that for every individual who expresses dissatisfaction or recognizes a problem, there are a hundred more in his audience who are dealing with the same problem. As a result, James speaks in the language of his readers so that other readers may empathize and feel as if the information was written just for them. There is no other way to do this but to write exclusively for the reader. The problematic aspect — cultivating empathy: It’s simple to tell you to cultivate compassion, but doing it requires a lot of deliberate work. But it’s also not a case of all or nothing. Just because you don’t fully comprehend your audience doesn’t mean you can’t understand them in part. Your writing will improve as you become more adept at empathizing with your readers. I recommend using the five-step procedure below to practice this ability and gain empathy. It should be done every time you generate content:
1. What issues (and related issues) do your audience have with [choice of topic]?
2. How severe are these issues (severe? or are they simply mild aches and pains?)
3. How would you convey these issues to your readers?
Outline your content using steps 1-3. First, create an introduction and headlines that a reader will not only comprehend but will also notice and say to themselves, “I was just thinking about that!”
4. After you’ve finished writing the material, go over each sentence/paragraph and ask yourself, “Does my reader care about this?” If not, either reinstall it or remove it entirely.
5. Go through all of the feedback you receive on your work (whether it’s a blog comment, a review, an email, or anything else). Try to figure out why a reader likes or dislikes it.
Use these five steps to create an essential checklist that you may refer to every time you write. If you do, you’ll discover that your material begins to resonate more and more with readers. Your readers will be more interested in reading your content and will be more engaged as a result. You’ll get reader comments expressing their views and opinions, which will be full of fantastic content ideas (I get great suggestions all the time from my readers). Finally, when it comes to your company, this resonance is critical since it communicates to the reader that you are aware of their needs. When you design a product, customers understand that it was made just for them and will fulfill all of their demands and desires. Empathy is a talent that will help you earn more money in the long run.
3. Great authors don’t appear out of nowhere.
Consider some of history’s greatest writers: Shakespeare, Hemingway, Neil Patel (maybe one day). It’s vital to remember that great authors were not born that way, regardless matter who you think of when you think of great writers. Although writing is more abstract than math or programming, it is a talent that can be acquired just like any other. At one time or another, every great writer struggled to form a coherent phrase. They all had one thing in common, though: a desire to be a great writer. Right now, you should assess if your desire to improve as a writer is sufficient to propel you to the level you want. You’ll have to write for several hours every day if you’re going to be the most acceptable writer you can be. To be the greatest, you must possess these qualities. It’s still challenging, but not as difficult, to be one of the finest writers who is also a marketer. You should continue practicing for at least 10-20 hours every week. But the most crucial thing to decide is whether or not you want to improve your writing skills. Determine your objectives, and then determine what you’ll need to accomplish to achieve them. If you’re going to be a blogger, for example, start by looking at your favorite blogs. To access my earliest postings, go down to the bottom of Quick Sprout’s blog page and click on the “last” button. And if you do, you’ll see that my first blog article was published in 2007:
Are you willing to produce 2-3 articles each week for eight years if you want to achieve my present level of success? And then you go on to write over 300 guest posts? I promise that if you are willing to put in the effort, you will be highly successful. How to pay your dues methodically: If you just state to yourself, “I’m going to publish a blog post every day for the next three years,” you’re unlikely to follow through. You must create your mechanism to hold yourself responsible. The first step is to figure out what you need to become the writer you want to be. Then, make a new document that expresses exactly what you think you have to complete.
Consider the following scenario:
The second step is to create a timetable that you can adhere to. Your schedule determines this. You have more freedom if you have more time to devote to writing.
Here’s an example of what it may look like:
Regardless of the circumstances, I will write and publish every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You have a strategy, but you need to make sure you stick to it. Step 3 is to devise a method for holding yourself responsible. It’s pretty simple to avoid writing a post since the difference will be negligible in the near run. However, in the long run, it may make a significant impact. So, how are you going to hold yourself responsible? There is no right or wrong answer, but be sure that you will face substantial consequences if you don’t follow your strategy.
For example, if you miss a post, you may say:
- You’re about to make a $50 donation to a charity.
- Then, you’ll do something you don’t want to do.
- You’ll send an embarrassing secret to a friend or family member through email.
You’ll have no trouble writing when you’re motivated. On the other hand, this accountability strategy will keep you on track even if you aren’t feeling particularly inspired. So you should now have a basic yet effective writing strategy:
This should be printed and posted someplace you will see it at least once a day (at least until you develop good habits). Finally, forget about the outcome and concentrate on the process. The reason for this is that to get the most out of your writing, and you must focus as much as possible on the writing itself. The goal of this writing strategy is for you to focus on the process rather than the outcome. You don’t have to be concerned about whether or not you’re doing enough to become a good writer. since you’ve already figured out what has to be done. If you simply concentrate on sticking to your strategy, you can almost guarantee that when you’re through, you’ll be a very excellent and successful writer. So, while you’re writing, don’t worry about traffic statistics or other metrics; simply concentrate on writing healthy—the results will follow.
4. “I would have written a shorter letter if I had the time,” says the author.
Many renowned authors have been credited with saying the remark, but it seems to have been spoken originally by Blaise Pascal. The message is quite profound, regardless of who uttered it. When we discussed how to write using simple words, I suggested jotting down the first words that came to mind. When you do this, you’ll often use more words than necessary. And the reason this is the negative thing is that it dilutes your content’s value. Consider this: your material contains a message that your readers will find valuable.
I’d use a simple formula to describe the intensity—or quality—of writing:
Value / Length = Intensity
The intensity decreases as the length of your material increases (assuming the value remains constant). If you want to motivate your readers to take action, your writing must leave them speechless. It must deliver value quickly enough for people to feel like a light bulb has gone out in their minds. To put it another way, your writing must be intense. The more superfluous words you use, the less intense your report will be and the more negligible effect your material will have. Seth Godin, once again, is a superb example of a high-intensity essay. He makes every word count. Although he writes brief pieces, he provides a lot of value to his readers, which causes them to have strong emotional reactions:
As you may have observed, I uniquely approach my blogs. They usually are at least 4,000 words lengthy. I need to stuff them with value since they’re so lengthy. Whereas Seth’s material is more strategic (big picture thinking), my pieces focus on particular methods and putting them into action, which takes longer to explain. However, my articles are generally considerably longer when I initially write them, even between 4,000 and 6,000 words. I trim them down and eliminate as much “fluff” as possible. You have a lot of length freedom with blog entries. You don’t in other types of writing. You usually only have a limited amount of space (often less than 100 words) in emails or landing pages to provide as much value to your readers as possible.
Every statement in the above example discusses a product feature or a benefit. So what’s the best way to get rid of the “fluff”? To become a competent editor, just like any other talent, you must practice (you could hire one if you wanted). To practice, look through your material sentence by sentence and see if there’s a better method to communicate your point.
Consider the following sentence:
Some marketing methods, such as email marketing, are more effective than others.
could be shortened to:
Email marketing has the highest return on investment of any marketing medium.
That simple alteration reduced the sentence’s length from 13 to 10 words and clarified its meaning. That’s a reduction of 23% in size. You’d wind up with a 2,300-word piece if you took a 3,000-word article and reduced every phrase by that amount. Although it is shorter, the enhanced intensity will have a more significant impression on your readers. Here’s a great article on specific tweaks you can make to make your writing more powerful to get you started.
5. This is something I’ve never seen in a brilliant writer.
What do most writers do to be ready to compose an article? They do some Google research before compiling their findings into an article. This isn’t necessarily a negative thing, but it’s a sure way to create stuff that’s quite similar to what’s currently there. The finest authors I’ve come across can write about any issue in their field and give it a distinctive spin—and perspective. Aside from being unusual, that extra something is also intelligent and adds to the reader’s value. Great copywriters have a broad range of expertise, according to Eugene Schwartz, author of the renowned copywriting book Breakthrough Advertising. They may be described as jacks of all crafts. Great authors read widely and put their knowledge to use in various subjects. They all would have a high degree of curiosity and an open mind if I were to reduce it down to particular characteristics. For example, they may create an article on social networking sites marketing and use the example of going up a mountain to help the reader understand the point they’re making. Bryan Harris of Video Fruit is one marketer that excels at this. In the introductions of his pieces, he frequently shares personal tales. But he always comes up with a brilliant, wise way to relate it to his main point:
Ramit Sethi, another well-known marketer, often uses real-life anecdotes in his blog posts and emails. For example, he offers baseball and government officials as examples in an email on “unconventional strategies to succeed,” for example:
The importance of links: These unexpected connections are significant because they allow you to connect your ideas in a new language. Specific topics will be tough to express no matter what niche you’re writing for. Perhaps you’re attempting to explain to your readers how to write in a conversational tone and why it’s more fascinating to them. If your readers don’t grasp what you’re saying, rereading it won’t assist them. When you make a point in a new context, it frequently becomes more apparent. In terms of writing in a conversational style, you may relate a tale about being bored during a lecture because the professor merely read his slides to his pupils rather than conversing with them. That will demonstrate your thesis in a manner that most people will recognize. So, how do you go about doing it? This talent is abstract by its very nature. You’re drawing connections that other people wouldn’t think of on their own, and that’s what gives your work a distinct perspective.
You’ll need two items to do this:
- The more life experiences you have, the more connections you will build.
- Practice – These connections will not come easy to you at first. Force yourself to develop five relationships you might utilize to convey your argument while writing about a problematic issue. You will automatically recognize excellent prospects over time.
And when I say “experience,” I’m referring to various experiences.
Always be willing to try new things:
- travel
- enroll in a culinary class
- reconnecting with old friends
- enroll in an online course on a topic you’ve never studied before.
Simply said, you now have a compelling incentive to study or do everything you’ve ever desired.
6. Do you want to be a great writer and remain that way?
Adaptability is the last characteristic that the most acceptable writers (in a marketing setting) possess. Each kind of material has its peculiarities. Although your writing style will be similar in most cases, the finest writers understand how to customize their work for each media.
When I say medium, I’m referring to content types such as:
- blog posts
- emails
- Books on Kindle
- social media
I could give you many examples, but consider Danny Iny, the creator of Firepole Marketing.
He’s authored several courses in the past, including:
He has, however, published hundreds of blog and guest entries. On top of that, he uses social media to interact with his fans and customers:
And, as if that weren’t enough, he just launched a new book, in addition to several others:
Great writers keep up with the change and understand how to write for various mediums and audiences. As an example, consider me. You’ll notice that many of the earlier Quick Sprout entries are just 500-1,000 words long. However, as blogging has evolved, so have effective writing methods for the areas I cover. Longer articles did better; thus, virtually all of my postings are above 4,000 words. Every post tries to provide the last word on a particular subject. How can you train yourself to be adaptable? You must learn to adapt constructively to changing situations by definition. And, since things change so quickly in the marketing business, it’s even more critical. The first thing you should remember is that adaptation comes second.
First and foremost, you must develop your fundamental abilities. In practice, this implies that you should choose one primary writing format and devote as much time as possible to it. That’s how you’ll learn all there is to know about it. Blogging is a terrific place to start for most people. You may go on to the following format, whether it’s email, social media, or something else after you’ve put in the time and effort to learn how to produce fantastic blog entries ultimately. You may still compose emails or other material during this time, but your primary attention will be on the first style you’ve selected. Then you’ll turn your attention to the second medium. The second important conclusion is that you should constantly look for what’s next, whether it’s new media or changes within an existing one. If you see recent content become famous (for example, video content and podcasts recently), give it a go since you can always learn something from it to improve your writing. You should constantly be experimenting with new strategies to reach out to your audience.
Conclusion
No matter what field you work in, being a brilliant writer will be very useful in the future. Even if you’re not an experienced writer now, practicing will help you become one: all great authors had to start somewhere. I promise that if you follow the methods outlined in this essay, you will be an exceptional writer in a few years. Then, you may put those abilities to work in whatever way you choose, whether to get more followers, subscribers, a better career, or increase your sales.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the skills that every writer should have?
A: A well-developed sense of self, empathy for others, a deep understanding of human nature, and the ability to synthesize information.
What does a writer need to learn?
A: A writer must learn to conduct thorough and creative research. They should also take in information from various sources, synthesize it into something new, and then share that with the audience.
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