There’s a big difference between writing the occasional blog post and getting paid to write. These days, becoming a blogger is one of the easiest ways to earn a living as a freelancer. However, you can’t just write anything and expect to make your fortune. If you want to take your skills to the next level, then you need to commit to making your writing stand out.

With the new year just around the corner, now is the perfect time for bloggers to start practicing their skills and making sure that they get the most out of every post. Here are our top 8 tips to instantly improve your writing.

1. Write More

The first step in improving your blogging skills is to write as frequently as you can. The more you write, the better your writing becomes. What’s more, if you’re writing to fill your blog, the more pages you can add to your website, the better you’ll rank with the search engines. Search engines need plenty of content to crawl if they’re going to designate you as an authority in your space.

Pick a certain number of blogs that you reasonably have time to write each month and create a schedule for when you’re going to develop them. Once you have your plan, stick to it.

2. Be Concise

As a great writer, you’ll need to learn how to get beyond the fluff and focus on the things your customers want to learn about. Find out what the top trending topics in your space are, and cover those ideas on your blog, offering plenty of actionable advice on what your readers can do to achieve their goals.

Once you’re finished writing, go through your blogs and remove any information that’s not necessary. Remember to keep your sentences short and easy to read too!

3. Get Your Facts Right

Never make claims on your blog unless you know that what you’re saying is factual. The best way to ensure that you don’t make any mistakes is to link back to the people or sources where you found your information. Learn how to reference statistics and quotes in your content, and you’ll find that your blogs become instantly more credible.

4. Commit to Constant Learning

Blogging is a digital process that requires a knowledge of everything from grammar to SEO. If you want to stay ahead of the curve, then you can’t just rest on your laurels when you think that you’ve refined your skills. Instead, you need to commit to continually learning as much as you can about the world around you.

Look for courses you can take online to improve your skills, or mentors that you can connect with over LinkedIn who will teach you more about the blogging space.

5. Be Consistent

To stand out as a professional writer, you’ll need to move beyond being a “jack of all trades” and focus on a specific industry. Choosing a niche that you feel most comfortable writing about will define you as a specialist, and it also means that you can spend more time learning about a particular thing, rather than just brushing the surface of several different topics.

If you’re consistent with what you’re writing about, you’ll start to build up a crowd of dedicated followers who love reading whatever you have to share.

6. Know Your SEO

These days, you can’t be a great writer online, unless you know at least the basics of SEO. Unfortunately, search engine algorithms are constantly changing, so even if you knew a lot a couple of years ago, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have the information that you need today.

Figure out how to use SEO basics like keywords and links in your content and use those skills to increase the traffic to your blog posts.

7. Speak with Authority

Remember, when you find your niche, your aim will be to come an authority in it. This means that you need to show that you’re confident in your space and you know what you’re talking about. Speak with confidence by removing words like “might” and “maybe” from your copy.
Read through every blog you write and ask yourself whether it sounds as though it’s been written by someone with a strong history in the industry.

8. Be Persistent

Finally, remember that success as a professional writer won’t necessarily happen overnight. You’ll need to be committed to your craft if you want to see real results. Keep working hard, and you’ll reach your goals eventually.