How to start writing [11 most powerful tips]

If you are a newbie who’s wondering how the hell do I get started with writing?Congratulations! I have written this post just for you!

Getting the first word, first sentence, first paragraph, and ultimately your first article/blog written is the most difficult part every writer faces when they are starting out.

Trust me. Been there, done that.

Even though, words come naturally to me.

Still writing my first article for a client was kind of a big deal for me.

I still remember.

How I panicked…

How I sweated…

How I repeatedly changed the intro of my write-ups…

How I used to call my mates to check out my article, and they had to swear many times, that they indeed found my write-ups good enough, LOL 🙂

One question that I am going to ask you is…do you suck at writing?

 NO, I am not trying to belittle you, or accusing you being an awful writer!

But I get lots of queries everyday stating the same when it comes to writing.

The most common complaints I hear are something like:

I am an awful writer!

I want to blog, but I am stuck at writing.

I want to hire a writer, but I just don’t have the budget to hire one, hence I want to learn writing.

And the most common phrase that I get to hear every second day goes like this:

“I suck at writing!”

I want to tell you something,

As much as the hype has been created about writing killer content. Writing is no rocket science.

Really, writing is the easiest thing to do once you learn the ropes.

In this post, I am going to share with you a lot of practical tips that will make the writing process easier for you, and before you know it, you will end up writing a full blog post like a PRO.

So without any further ado, let’s dig deep in and unleash the secret recipe!

1: Research is the key to success

Every write-up requires in-depth research. You can play around with words, but if your research skills are poor, then I have a bad news for you.

You can never achieve any success in writing.

Proper research is the back bone of writing.

Without your command on the subject, you can never appear trust worthy or authority on the subject.

If you provide your readers with wrong or out dated information on the subject, they will stop trusting you.

Hence research, go to different forums like Quora, Yahoo answers, public forums, Facebook pages, LinkedIn and ask as many questions as you want until you fully learn about the topic.

You can even interact with the experts of the field physically.

The point is to know the topic by heart before you start writing on it. Without doing your homework, your piece won’t look genuine.

The reader is smart enough today to jump to another blog or website, if he/she doesn’t find anything unique, but the same copy/pasted knowledge that’s already found on plenty of other websites already.

2: Spend most of your time on the intro and headline.

Now another useful tip that I have for you is to write a mind blowing intro.

I always spend 80% of my time crafting an impressive introduction and headline.

Your Headlines, subheads and bullets should have the following ingredients

1. It should appear USEFULto the reader,
2. It should have a sense of URGENCY,
3. It should be UNIQUE; and promising.
4. Be specific but effective.
5. Use odd numbers in your titles (they are proven to be effective).
6. Use adjectives for imagery.
7. Give a reason why should they read your content.

Your introduction can have the following ingredients to make it compelling.

Create a scenario related to the topic.

• Start with question.
• Share a fact, “Did you know…”
• Share a joke.
• Share your real life experience.

According to Copy blogger,

“Your headline is the first, and perhaps only, impression you make on a prospective reader. Without a compelling promise that turns a browser into a reader, the rest of your words may as well not even exist.”

3: Ask a lot of questions

Now one thing that really engages your audience is asking a lot of questions.

It really piques their curiosity. Just like,  remember how, “The suspenseful movie trailer from a particular move piqued your curiosity.”

Similarly, to keep your audience focused, you need to ask them a lot of questions.

Something that makes them think, ponder, curious to find out the answers.

Ask them common sense questions.

Ask them for their opinion.

Keep them involved so that they don’t lose interest and stay glued till the end of the article.

4: Share your personal experiences

Now never underestimate the power of sharing personal experiences or anecdotes.

It makes your audience relate to you and your experiences.

It makes you appear an ordinary person who is also capable of folly.

It helps fostering your relationship with your readers.

Share with them your failures and success. Share the lessons they taught you and how you became resilient.

Readers always feel an emotional connection with those writers, who share their life experiences and are truthful, rather than with those leaders who appear flawless.

Don’t look anywhere, just take inspiration from Jack Ma’s story, how he inspired so many people by sharing the course of his initial life struggles and his failure

Contrary to a popular belief that, one shouldn’t reveal his weaknesses or struggles, I personally think it makes people respect you even more.

Because they know you are not faking it.

You are for REAL.

And you have been through the solid shit in life, too.

You are a human with real struggles and not a bot.

5: Stay relevant, stick to the point

Staying relevant at all times is another tip that mostly fail to follow.

Just because you are sharing your struggles in life doesn’t mean you go off the track.

For e.g., the write-up is about cars, but you are discussing your daily life routine.

The topic is about backpack, but you are ranting about the stress of studies in school.

Don’t beat about the bush. Give the audience what they want.

If they are here to buy the product, provide information about the product so that helps in their buying decision.

If they want to talk about parenting, talk to them about parenting issues, stop ranting about your personal problems.

Just give them clear cut, straight answers.

Learn about the interest of your audience.

Learn about their intend before start writing.

No matter how well you write, but if it doesn’t satisfy user intend. It will be futile.

Your hard work will go wasted.

6: Use a lot of examples from daily life

It’s always easier to write about daily life issues or topics based on our own interest.

But tackling technical write-ups isn’t so sexy.

You need to write in such a manner that even a boring, less sexier topics becomes sexier.

You need to use a lot of daily life examples to pique the interest of your audience.

Dry topics are really difficult to write on. But then again, that’s what will turn you into a great writer.

Someone your future client would love to hire, and pay good rates too.

7: Add witty images

Now one think that most writers lack is, they do write witty content, but they don’t put special emphasis on images.

Long content with no images makes your content appear boring and mediocre.

You should have great images to compliment your write-ups.

It keeps audience more engaged (tried and tasted).

It also helps explaining your point of view in a better way.

The images in your article can have the following,

• Info graphics
• Screenshots
• Memes
• High resolution images related to the topic

8: Use a conversational style

Now the best tip that I have for you is always use a conversational tone.

Something you will thank me later for.

Come down to your reader’s level.

Use ‘I’, ‘You’, to adopt a conversational style.

Talk in a friendlier way as if you are talking to your best buddy.

• Crack a joke.
• Share a pleasant/bitter experience.
• Show interest in their problems.
• Sound empathetic.

In other words, develop rapport with your audience, which will later on bring more leads/traffic to your website.

Note: I am not asking you to be fake or pretentious. Genuinely, take interest.  If you sound fake or artificial, remember they are smart enough to know.

9: Write in simple language

Always write in simple everyday language, don’t complicate things.

Your audience is coming from all parts of the world. some maybe very smart, some maybe be average or below the average.

Don’t use flowery language or figurative language that’s hard for them to decipher.

Even if you have use certain terminologies, provide them with a translation or glossary.

The more they understand the message you are trying to portray, the better the chances of commutation, the better the communication is, better chances for your business to thrive.

10: Show support for your argument

Another great tip I have for you is always back up your claims.

For instance, don’t just say, “Vitamin D3 is good for your health.”

To back up your claim or argument, always mention the source or share a source to the  research to add value and relevance to your statement/argument.

This will make you appear reliable and authentic in the eyes of your readers.

11: Write short, crisp sentences

Writing short, crisp sentences is an art that many writers struggle to master.

The trick I personally use is, I write short sentences. One idea per line or per paragraph.

To write short sentences, you should make use of,

• Commas
• Semicolon
• Paragraph
• Lines
• Construct sentence in a precise manner.

Long sentences create ambiguity, and are less effective in delivering your message.

Whereas short, crisp, concise sentences just serve the purpose and deliver exactly the same message you want to deliver to your audience.

Short sentences also have fewer chances of grammatical errors.

They are easy to read and easy to understand.

Another great idea is to try to use more powerful words, that itself conveys the exact idea, instead of using many words for the same idea.

Conclusion

So those were some of the very basic tips to kick start your writing career. But we mustn’t stop learning at any stage of life. To become a better writer, you need to be a better reader at first. Reading and writing go hand in hand. Take out time from your busy schedule to read every day, and practice writing on daily basis, too.

If you follow the above writing tips along with practicing reading and writing, nobody can stop you from becoming a best seller author, wishing you best of luck for your writing journey, and happy writing, cheers!