Top 3 Traits To Look for In a Professional Content Writer for Effective Content Writing

Content Writing

Content that helps a business stand out amid the clutter and noise. Content that moves prospects closer to a sale. Content that can become a powerful differentiator for your company.

And businesses often have a tough time finding the writers who know how to create that type of content over time.

One of the reasons I think organizations struggle is that they don’t always know what qualities will make for a genuinely productive, profitable hire. And as you might guess, I have a few strong opinions about that.

So, here’s what I think you should look for when you need to hire a content professional to create the marketing that will move your business forward.

A professional content writer has a strong, confident writing voice

Strategy, marketing, and persuasion techniques can be taught (that’s what we’re here for). Voice, on the other hand, develops over time and needs to come from within a creative, intelligent, sensitive human being.

While a solid writing voice can be developed over time (here’s how), your writer won’t ever get there without a lot of passion and commitment. Talent doesn’t hurt, either.

Look for a writer whose work is interesting, funny, smart, perceptive, and convincing. Look for someone whose writing you just like to read.

Some have it and some don’t. Insist on hiring the one who does.

A professional content writer has a solid grasp of spelling, grammar, and usage

Unless you have the bandwidth to add a content editor to your team, your writer needs to have a solid grasp of usage, spelling, and all those mundane issues that can make us look silly when we get them wrong.

Your writing candidates should get their feathers ruffled when someone uses it’s for its. Every writer occasionally makes a typo — but for a professional, that should be rare.

A professional content writer understands the elements of content that sells

There are plenty of writers out there who can write a pleasing sentence or paragraph.

But a content professional also understands how content can move prospects smoothly down the path from stranger to interested prospect to delighted customer.

She understands headlines and why content gets shared. She knows what type of content works well in blog posts and what’s better saved for a landing page or an email message.

A professional content writer has a commitment to quality and ongoing education

If content is important to your business, you need a professional, not an interested amateur.

Raw talent to write is important, and an understanding of strategy is important. But you also want to find someone who takes the profession seriously — as a profession — and continues to sharpen and refine his skills.

From search algorithms to social platforms to what types of headlines are performing well these days — professional writers need to stay plugged in to what’s changing in our profession.

A serious content professional also takes the initiative to become an authority in the topics he writes about. He interviews experts (some of whom might be within your company), performs independent research, pores over industry journals, and talks with customers.

Digital Marketers India (DMIn) offers professional and SEO friendly content writing services. To know more about our content writing services, visit http://digitalmarketersindia.com/content-writing-services/

You may also drop us a line at sales@digitalmarketersindia.com to discuss your content writing requirements.