Jimmy Rodela© olly / Dollar Photo Club
Question: What do you get when A-list bloggers like Pat Flynn and Neil Patel (and many other rockstar industry leaders) take the time to share their 1 best writing tip to improve your content marketing results?
MASSIVE VALUE!
That’s what I’d like to share with you in this post. I’ve contacted a select group of elite bloggers and industry leaders asking them for their 1 best writing tip and they’ve been very kind enough to share.
If you’re looking for expert advice on how to improve your writing skills so you can DRASTICALLY get better results from you content marketing efforts, then this post is definitely what you’re looking for.
Lets get started!
Neil Patel from NeilPatel.com and Quicksprout.com
“As you tend to write more, you’ll find that your vocabulary skills will improve. For that reason you’ll unintentionally start using words and phrases that your readers may not understand. So before you publish a post, have a random person read your content and ask them if they are able to understand the purpose of your blog post.
This will help ensure that your content reaches a much broader audience, which will help you increase your traffic and social shares.”
Pat Flynn from Smartpassiveincome.com
“The best way I’ve been able to improve my writing skill is to ask people for feedback. The advice I hear directly from others about what I could do to improve sticks like glue and always helps to guide me moving forward. I ask my colleagues and people who I know are experienced writers, and I also ask my readers as well. It can be scary to give people permission to give you feedback on your writing but like with anything, if you want to master something, you cannot do it alone..”
Jeff Goins from goinswriter.com
“My one writing tip would be this: write about what you’re struggling with, something you’ve failed at, and maybe others have struggled with that too. Maybe they will relate to your failure. And that can lead to trust. Which can lead to all kinds of other things. But without people trusting you don’t have much, if anything at all.”
Darryl Stevens from DigiTech Web Design
“Read as much as you can – consistently.
Especially for writers, the benefits to be had from reading is quite monumental! The more you read and add to your stock knowledge, the more your mastery over your niche grows. When you have mastery over something, you are then able to express your ideas clearly and simply.
Being able to explain your ideas clearly and simply is something that a lot of writers struggle with it. Unfortunately, these two things play a crucial role as far as keeping your readers hooked to your content. If your readers find your content hard to understand, chances are good that they won’t continue reading.”
Vinny La Barbera, Founder / CEO of imFORZA
“There is certainly no shortage of writing tips on the web and I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve tried them all.
Of all the great tips that have been shared though there has been one writing tip that has truly resonated with me and continues to keep me focused.
Before I reveal that tip – some backstory first…
My original writing process, which I absolutely dreaded but stuck with for a couple years, was to write mechanically as if there was some formula for the perfect piece of copy. Articles produced from this process were getting visits, comments and shares, but I never truly felt satisfied with my work.
To be more specific, I felt like someone else commandeered my body and wrote those articles for me.
I got so frustrated and stressed out about writing that I unknowingly forced myself to stay away from it for a good 6-7 months.
Then, I had an epiphany – probably inspired by one of the many great writers I follow…
I’m just going to write how I speak.
This has become the one tip that continues to help me enjoy writing – whether professionally or personally.
This tip seems like common sense, and so easy, but it takes patience and discipline to not only get to this point but to also maintain it.
One trick that has helped me to maintain my true, authentic voice throughout my copy is to read a paragraph out loud to myself. If I feel uncomfortable or unnatural reading my own words, then I know I’ve strayed from my own voice.
Give it a try….at least once. You might be surprised with the outcome.
Now if I can just figure out where to find more time in the day to write more…..”
Daniel Scocco from DailyWritingTips.com
“The most important concept you need to understand to become a better and more prolific writer is that writing and editing are two separate processes. If you are constantly reading your sentences, deleting words and re-writing things, you are trying to do both things at once, and this is a bad idea. First you need to write, simply dropping down the words as they come to your mind. once all the words are there, then you will start the editing process, and that is where you’ll make sure that your thoughts are clear and logical, that your sentences are concise and correct, and so on. one trick you can use to force yourself to only write is to turn your monitor off while you are writing a piece. That way you will only be able to move forward!”
Murray Newlands from murraynewlands.com
“My greatest tip would be to share unquote original personal insights and stories which help the readers relate to the message you are trying to convey. There is a torrent of great advice being shared all day. I got my green as an alien of extraordinary ability by getting lots of press, I did this through sharing personal stories and those of others. Those incites helped my readers who shared my content and my site took off.”
John Rampton from Johnramtpon.com
“Just do it. Most times you put off your writing till the last minute and have to rush out the door something that that you’re not proud of. This isn’t something you should do. Just start writing, the more you write, the better you’ll become. Practice makes perfect. Along with that I recommend that you throw in odd topics to keep your brain fresh. When you have a brain fart, get outside and take a mental break.”
Steve Morgan from SEOno.co.uk
“If you’ve written a new blog post and it’s ready to publish, I often recommend sleeping on it – i.e. instead of publishing it right away, come back to it another day and re-read it with a fresh head. I’ve often found that I’ve re-written chunks of it for the better and also caught a ton of spelling and grammar errors. Of course, if you work in an industry where you have the publish fast (such as journalism) then this mightn’t apply, but if it can wait a day or two then it can be worth doing so in my opinion.”
Matt Janaway from mattjanaway.co.uk
“Write for the reader and not search engines. Show empathy to the visitors and understand the website audience. only then can you really provide a world-class piece of content.
Remember that a good article is not just about the link. It’s about relationships. Relationships with webmasters and also relationships with the websites visitors. These people should be your audience and you have to wow them. If you provide them with an incredible article, they can easily become a brand advocate for you.”
Mark Schaefer from businessesgrow.com
He is a college educator, marketing consultant, keynote speaker, and the author of four books including Social Media Explained.
Writing tip:
“To stand out in this information-dense world, you need to be original. To be original, you have no choice but to be yourself. Does that seem obvious? It’s not. It took me years to figure that out. Being yourself takes courage. I am still working on this and probably always will be. Take a close look at the most successful bloggers out there. They add themselves to the story. Nobody has your unique set of life experiences. In that respect, you have no competition as a writer — if you have the courage to let it show.”
Jennifer Lawson from theBloggess.com
“Write, write, write. Then delete half of it. Even if it hurts.”
Bonus tip! My writing tip.
Jimmy Rodela, from GuildofBloggers.com
If you’re struggling with having the writer’s block, a trick you can use is to list down as many questions as you can. You will then use these questions as the layout to your write-up.
Note – onLY write questions that you feel your readers would ask. This will ensure that your write-up’s content actually answers your reader’s questions thus providing value.
Once you’ve typed in a good number of questions and have provided a comprehensive answer to them, you’d have almost already completed your first draft. Simply add an opening and closing paragraph and your first draft is good to go.
It’s time for action!
The quality of your write-ups can make a world of difference to your content marketing campaigns. Learn from the proven and tested tips that these experts have shared to skyrocket your results now.
If you have questions, ideas, or additional tips that you’d like to share, please do so in the comments section below.