What Is Content Writing and Why It's Important [Beginners Guide]

Have you ever thought, "Why does everyone spend so much time and resources on content writing?" 

Or, for that matter, "What is content writing?"

Answers to both questions relate to how people consume information nowadays.

Every day more and more communication is made over the internet. 

The same goes for information in any shape of documents, articles, music, movies, social media, cover letters, etc.

Today we will discuss how content writing goes hand in hand with the information you share.

In addition, we will talk about why content writing is important and why you should consider implementing it to your business to help you generate new customers.

Let's begin.

What is Content Writing?

Content writing is the process of planning, writing, editing, and publishing digital documents. 

The same definition can be used for hard copies, but in today's digital age, colloquially, it is related to online documents.

Content writing covers a wide range of end products, such as blog posts, social media posts, videos, etc.

What Are the Main Types of Content Writing?

Content writing comes in different shapes and forms. Your strategy dictates what type of content you will use and what platform is best suited for sharing.

So here are the most common types of content writing:

1. Blog Posts 

Blog posts are one of the most common types of content writing.

Blogs are long written texts that help you present your idea with an in-depth explanation behind it, yet short enough for people to get the information they are looking for in a reasonable time.

2. Social Media Posts

Social media posts are a dynamic way to create content and share your ideas, knowledge, and news with your audience.

The whole point behind social media is connecting with your audience, partners, and potential customers, so they are perfect for starting discussions with. 

Short and punchy posts that provide value and contain links to your main page can generate a lot of engagement.

3. Newsletters and Emails

Email lists allow content marketers to create ads with a higher level of personalization.

With emails suited to smaller groups of people or intended "just" for one person, they help you outreach your audience directly.

On the other hand, newsletters are content more focused on connecting with people familiar with your work and notifying them about it.

The main goal of newsletters and emails is to help us retain a loyal base of customers, and communicate with them “one on one.”

4. Video Content

At first glance, video content does not have a place in this list, but if you want to create an even midrange video, you need to write content scripts for it.

Scripts are just one part of the content needed for creating video clips or live podcasts.

In the case of infomercials or simple clips, text used by the narrator is a crucial piece.

5. White Papers & Ebooks

White papers are long-form articles focusing on deep diving into a selected subject.

Since White papers are focused more on education and problem-solving, they will include more technical details and examples for resolving described issues.

Writers need to balance the dry technical side of the subject and creative writing.

6. Brand Journalism

Brand journalism promotes brands using initiatives, plans, or policies as the center of the article.

Stories should lure in readers wanting more involvement with the company with the same goals.

Benefits of Content Writing

High-quality content can generate a large number of positive effects on the product or service you want to promote with it.

Let's visit the most important ones:

• Brand recognition - Online content helps you build and maintain brand recognition. Unlike traditional promotion strategies, online content is always available for anyone looking for your service, product, or product category.
• Generates organic traffic - Content developed within SEO guidelines can help you generate more traffic from search engines.
• Engages potential customers - High-quality content helps you build engagement with customers and peers in the same niche. 
• Building credibility - People can easily judge your competence in a subject when reading your content.

Why Is Content Writing So Important?

Content writing has become one of the most important aspects of growth that can generate customers at scale nowadays. 

This is because the quality of content on a website or blog can make or break its popularity. Good quality, informative, and keyword-rich content will attract more website visitors, leading to more business opportunities. 

On the other hand, poor quality and uninteresting content will drive them away and never return.

Let us discuss why content writing is important for anyone engaged in online business.

1. Engage and Communicate With Your Audience

The content you create is an excellent way of starting conversations. People who find your content relevant will comment, share, and cite. 

Content showing your competence can lead to people wanting to start discussions with you and meet you better, learn more, ask for advice, etc.

These conversations will help you meet your audience in an environment they feel comfortable and open to discussions.

2. Generate Leads and Sell Products or Services

Your content creates opportunities with people on opposite sides of the globe. Every connection you create is an opportunity for collaboration. You can make sales only if people know about you and your product. People usually are not fans of ads and commercials. Furthermore, some people have developed distrust towards them. So, content like blog posts is a great and non-salesy way to present your product. 

3. Improve Your Organic Search Rankings

We are living in a digital era ruled by search engines. 

According to PolleThePeople number 1 search result on Google takes 34% of organic traffic.

The top advice from all seasoned content writers is "Make your content Search engine optimized."

Part of your search engine ranking results is calculated from how your content is written and structured and how it serves the people’s search intent.

Another segment is how other people react to your content. 

For example, a high number of visits, time spent consuming content, or a number of citations can be a significant boost to your rankings.

4. Build Brand Awareness

Building brand presence is a long process of starting conversations and placing advertisement content on different platforms.

Per Datareportal, 63% of the current population uses the internet.

Expressed in numbers, that is more than 5 Billion people with up 170 million new users monthly. 

‍

From statistics like this, you can see that there is always someone that needs to become more familiar with your brand. 

Keeping your content available and up to date can go a long way in introducing products to the world.

5. Increase Your Website Traffic

Website traffic can be divided into two different groups: visitors and consumers/customers. 

According to Statista.com, nearly 30% of web traffic across the globe is generated from search engines. 

Still, 70% of people surf websites via recommendations on social networks or are customers loyal to the brand.

Conversions from the first to the second group are almost 100% using the high-end content you share. 

What Is the Main Role of a Content Writer

The main goal of a content writer is to share knowledge, ideas, and promote a product, company, service, or web page by creating written content. 

Content writer's work starts much earlier than the first word is written. 

Content planning, audience, keyword, and topic research are crucial steps before any writing starts.

Well-written content is often a product of a large team of writers collaborating due to the amount of work needed to create a single piece of high-quality content.

How To Become a Content Writer

To get into content writing and start creating an excellent end product as a writer, first, you need to develop some skills and learn the process of it.

So here are the most important steps toward becoming a solid content writer:

• Research the topic you are writing about. This includes researching keywords you seek to target within the search results.
• Learn how to structure your writing and create a blog post outline that is easy to consume.
• Create a content plan, both micro on the level of one document and macro for the whole campaign.
• Learn the best SEO content optimization practices to help your content generate organic traffic.
• Ensure to structure your sentences properly, make them easy to read, and error-free.

Boost Your Content Writing Skills Using the Textcortex Add-on

We hope this article helped you better understand what content writing is and why it can be important for businesses that want to adapt it into their marketing strategy.

Even if you're not a natural writer, you can create excellent content with the help of AI writing software in no time. 

One such useful tool is the TextCortex Chrome extension.

What is TextCortex?

TextCortex is a use-case module-based AI-powered writing tool that can help you generate almost any type of content you need.

TextCortex offers a wide range of features that can help you kick off your writing skills very quickly, by allowing you to:

🎯Rewrite the original text for better clarity and readability

🎯Provide a concise overview of the original piece

🎯Increase the length of your sentences to provide more detail

🎯Turn random ideas into complete sentences automatically.

🎯Alter the narrative voice to suit a variety of purposes.

🎯Write in a different language to reach more readers.

🎯Produce blog posts based on a five-word prompt.

🎯Produce a variety of content types (60+ and counting)

To use the TextCortex add-on, you need to highlight the text you entered. 

Once the rewriting menu shows up, you can either choose one of the available rewriting options or click the purple bubble to access AI templates.

‍

‍

TextCortex can take on a large portion of your writing process when you are on a tight schedule or want to spend more time improving other parts of your content.

Even when you are an experienced writer, you can run into writer’s block situations. 

In these situations, TextCortex helps you get started and create content at scale.

If you want to polish it, you can use the rewriting feature to have a new take on the subject without losing the original idea. 

‍

‍

Go ahead and test TextCortex's abilities with 10 free daily creations, and see how TextCortex simplifies all your content writing tasks.

Keep Learning

How To Learn Content Writing in 2023 - A Beginner's Guide

SEO Content Writing Checklist - 6 Points To Keep In Focus

5 Best Content Writing Apps Every Writer Should Try