Elna Cain

Freelance Writer & Blogger

9 Simple Ways on How to Improve Your Writing Skills

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So, you want to be a writer and make a living out of this.

I write for small businesses and I also am a blogger. So, I consider myself a professional writer since I make a living as a writer now!

If you’re interested in doing online writing, then it’s important that your writing skills are great…amazing..brilliant!

It’s true though – that you can get started as a freelance writer with no experience. But, you are wondering, how to improve your writing skills.

Anyone from anywhere in the world can do this, but they need to be able to effectively write in English and be able to write coherently and for an online audience as well.

I’m not the greatest writer out there, but I do know how to write effective copy that my clients love. To help you as a new writer, here are strong writing tips you can adopt in your writing process to help you become a better writer.

How to Improve Writing Skills As a Beginner

1. Write Every Day

One of the best writing tips I can give you is to write every day. You need to practice writing to become a better writer. Can you write about anything? Well, yes, you can.

I own several blogs and write about various topics from parenting tips to pregnancy tips to freelancing tips to budgeting tips.

The fact that I’m writing online content in various topics helps me maintain my writing skill and helps me gain more experience writing for an online audience. As a new writer or freelance writer, it’s probably best to kill two birds with one stone by writing every day in your niche.

This can help you build your writer portfolio and improve your overall writing skill.

Other ways to incorporate writing every day is to write social media posts. If you have a Twitter profile or a Facebook profile, start creating a post a day and write two or three sentences on what you’re promoting or doing.

This can help you with copywriting techniques and paring down your words to fit a social media post.

2. Create an Outline

On of the best ways to improve your writing skill is to create an outline of everything you write.

This is especially true if you land a freelance writing job.

Clients want a coherent and complete post, so having an outline can help make sure you include everything your client wants.

For me, I think about what I want to write about and create subtopics and then other ideas I want to write about. For more help, you can see how other freelance writers and bloggers develop their writing process.

3. Read What You Want to Write About

Okay. Reading can also help with improving your writing skills as many of you know. This is the same for freelance writers. If you read what you want to write about – your writing niche – then you’ll effectively become a better writer overall.

Why?

Well, you’ll understand your niche better. You’ll also read from other bloggers and writers and marketers on their take on your writing niche. How do they talk about the popular health food called Keto bombs, for example?

You also get to read how these writers use their words and write sentences for an online audience. All of this can help you develop your writing skills.

When I began as a freelance writer, I read a WHOLE LOT about freelance writing and blogging.

I absorbed HOW each blog post was written, how they structured their sentences and the type of language they used into my own writing.

4. Choose Simple Words

Keep it simple, Sam (K.I.S.S)!

You may think you sound smarter if you use complex words – but that’s not true.

In the online world, you want your writing to be at a 4th-8th grade reading level.

That’s right!

There’s no need to write a blog post like your thesis paper for college. In fact, that probably won’t help you gain blog traffic or clients.

What’s better is to ditch those big fancy words and use simple, yet effective words when you write. It’s almost like you’re writing as you would be talking – just without much slang and ums.

5. Convey Your Message Easily

Clients want smart writing that’s engaging and will capture their message perfectly.

As a writing tip, you need to learn how to convey that message from your client easily in your writing. This means not being too wordy when describing things.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I’ve been known to be a tad wordy at times in my writing, but I think I make up for it with my ease of writing.

That’s why it’s important to have that first draft. Write and then let it sit.

You have to take the time to transform that first draft into the article you’ll submit to your client. This may mean cutting entire paragraphs, or changing ideas around.

6. Avoid Filler Words

Filler words like: that, very, just, really, etc.. are just that..filler.

There is no need to add those extra words in your sentences, unless it’s there for intention. I work hard not to have those extra filler words and I often do, but I’m still editing my work and trying to catch all those extra words before I hit publish!

I know I’m not the best writer. I don’t have an English degree. But, that hasn’t stopped me from making a living as a writer! If I can do it, you can too!

There’s a balance of using enough words to convey your message. This will take time to develop and help you improve your skills as a new writer.

7. Keep Sentences and Paragraphs Short

 

If you’ve noticed in this blog post, I’m generally writing one sentence paragraphs.

This makes it easy for you – the reader – to read my content. If you want to become a freelance writer and write online, then write shorter paragraphs and shorter sentences.

Online users don’t have the best attention spans, so make your writing easy on the eyes!

8. Invest in an Editing Tool

I personally use Grammarly for all my edits online. From blog writing to client pieces to social media posts and more.

It’s my go-to editing tool and has helped me fine-tune my writing. As a freelance writer, one of the tools you need is an editing tool. You may think you just need a proofreader like your partner or friend, but I also urge you to have an editing tool first.

For me, I edit my writing with Grammarly, proofread it myself and then have my husband read it as  final read through.

9. Just Write

The first step to help you improve your writing is to just write and keep on writing. Try not to edit while you work (I still do this) and let your creative juices flow. After I create my outline, it’s much easier to just write it all out.

Since I blog every day, I am used to writing a lot and it’s getting easier and easier to… just write!

Bonus: Spend Time On Your Headline and Introductions

One of the best ways to improve your writing skills is to take the time for your introductions.

Your headline and introduction will be the first thing people will see on social media or as soon as they click over to your post from Google or from other sites.

While there are amazing headline templates you can use, you don’t have to be soo fancy to have a really good headline.

What I like to do with my headlines is to:

  • Use Juicy Words (simple, easy, fast, brilliant, amazing, quick, etc.) – these are adjectives and superlatives that you can inject in your headline for more click throughs.
  • Highlight the benefit – What will people get out of your post? For this one, it’s improving your writing skills.
  • Identify a person – for many of my headlines I identify who this post is for – beginners, freelance writers, new bloggers, etc..

Additional things you can add to your headline:

  • Numbers
  • Year
  • Calling it an ultimate guide or comprehensive guide
  • Using top, best

Now, your introduction is what will hook a reader to keep on reading and you can do this easily with bucket brigades. A bucket brigade is keeping the flow and upping the curisotity factor.

So this might look like –

“I know what you’re thinking….”

Doesn’t this make your WANT to keep on reading? That is the power of a bucket brigade in your introduction. You can even use it as the first sentence.

Become a Writer Today!

Now is the time to become a freelance writer and get paid for your writing! How great is that?

Let me know your best writing tip to help other freelance writers become better writers!

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About The Author

Hi I'm Elna and I'm a freelance writer and mom blogger. I help people just like you become a profitable freelance writer. Within 6 months of starting my freelance writing business from scratch I was able to earn a full-time living as a part-time freelance writer while taking care of my twin toddlers. Check out my free email course Get Paid to Write Online and learn the steps you need to take to be a freelance writer.

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Comments

  2. Marchelli

    Hi Elna! Thank you for the tips. I’m a ESL. My native language is Spanish. I consider myself an excellent writer in my native language, and my goal is to be as fluent in English. Definitely, practice is the key to be successful. I will start working on my outlines and social media posts as you recommended. Again, thank you for inspiring me!

    Reply to Marchelli

  4. Vicky

    I have read your post and I like this very much as it is in very simple language. Thank you so much to share a simple ways to improve writing skills. Though I am scared to write about any thing but I will try now with your extrema valuable ideas.

    Reply to Vicky

    • Elna Cain

      Hi Vicky,

      Thank you so much for stopping by! Glad you enjoyed this post on how to improve your writing skills. Yes, you don’t need to do hard things, just simple things like using simple language will go along ways!

      Reply to Elna

  6. Felix Adeoye

    This is a simple, easy to understand guide on writing skill. I’m one of your current students. I now have confidence to begin my freelance writing business. Though I still have a bit of fear, what I learned from your course – Write your way to 1st $1k has improved my confidence a lot. Thank you Elna.

    Reply to Felix

  7. Mohsen

    Actually, I am a writer who can write short stories in my native language. what about when I come across a new idea and try to convert it to words In English. Nothing good is happening.

    Reply to Mohsen

  8. Adebayo

    Hi Elna!
    I really appreciate your stated steps in writing on this writing skill. I prepare and look forward to becoming a product of your school of idea.
    Bayo

    Reply to Adebayo

  9. Edmand

    Dear Elna,
    Thank you for compiling these tips, I am beginning my writing career and this is a very good start. I have done several email responses and I think critical readers have always found many errors… Time to start is now 🙂

    Reply to Edmand

  14. Shubham

    Hey there! Thank you for the blog. It helped me a lot. You have an easy-to-understand and helpful writing style that made things a breeze for me. I will now implicate all your tips and will let you how’s that working for me. Really appreciate the work.

    Reply to Shubham

  15. Nikhar Khan

    This post was well written, simple yet informative and very helpful. Your post sounds like listening to you more than reading as if you were talking to me one to one. I am inspired by your post and impressed by your writing. You changed my perspective about using fancy words. After reading your post, I see the difference that how easy writing feels more refreshing, light and relatable in reading. Thank you for sharing this. Cheers!

    Reply to Nikhar

  16. Sonali

    Hey! I am actually a content writer but I think I have lost the touch now and I do need to get it back. I love writing, your blog did help and the way you have written it’s amazing. For me, it’s hard to focus these days to read anything on the internet but yours I read it one go. Kudos to you!!

    Reply to Sonali

  17. Frederick W Zdanowicz

    Hi, Elna. Very informative article. I read a lot of job posts and general descriptions of what content writing is, and invariably using tools like HTML and JavaScript comes up. How do content writers use these IT languages?

    Reply to Frederick

  18. Maria

    I recently developed a new habit – write something every day, be it a sentence, paragraph or a simple idea. I got back to reading too. I hope to improve my writing so I can actually start to make a living out of it. These super tips will definitely help! Thanks!

    Reply to Maria

  19. Lucy Lee

    Elna, You are very right about writing more to become a better writer. It’s true that practice makes perfect. I write for Nursingwritingservices.com and I must say that writing every day has helped me become a better writer over the years. Most people believe that writing is an easy task, but the truth is that writing is an art that one must strive to perfect with each passing day. Extensive research is also a very key point for anyone who might be an academic writer like me or might be considering to become one. Thank you Elna for the great tips!

    Reply to Lucy

    • Elna Cain

      Hi Lucy!

      Thanks for your comment! Yes, writing can be a challenge to figure it out. But, the best tip I can give you is to just write. Let it flow out of you and later you can tweak it and improve it! Thanks for stopping by!

      Reply to Elna

  20. Noreen Gallagher Brennan

    Elna

    I appreciate you and the simplicity of the post. It is the encouragement. I am keen to pursue freelance writing as I live between countries. Ireland and the USA. Financially things are difficult because of changes in my circumstances right now. I love free help. It is great and I am encouraged to pursue this freelance writing as a source of income.

    Reply to Noreen

  21. Emma Seshoka

    That’s actually True what you said Elna, reading what you want to write about make you familiar with your niche, relevant topics and the style of writing . Same as writing everyday. Success is not only a result of hard work but consistency as well. What a Great Post 🙂

    Reply to Emma

  25. Erika

    Hi Elna,
    Thank you for another actionable post! Right now number 9 speaks to me loud and clear.

    Getting into writing every day, even just a little bit, helps me to know that making a living with my writing *is* possible. And like you indicated, the more we write the easier it becomes to write more!

    In his book The Slight Edge, Jeff Olson makes the point that small actions we do on a consistent basis make all the difference.

    His point is that small actions are just as easy *not* to do, and so we often skip them. This also makes all the difference but in the wrong direction.

    Your tip to just write is a small step in the right direction. Thank you for the post!

    Reply to Erika

  26. Elisa Writer

    Great article! I am sure that it is really useful and interesting for many writers.
    English is not my native language, but I do my best to learn it. I’ve been wanting to be a freelance writer for a long time, but I feel a lack of skills and experience in writing. What advice would you give me? How can I achieve a sufficient level of knowledge of English so I can work as a freelancer or blogging? I would really love to hear your answer. Thank you in advance.

    Reply to Elisa

    • Elna Cain

      Hi Jacqueline!

      Thanks for coming over to my new post! Glad you enjoyed the writing tips to help you become a better writer! Practicing does make you a better writer so try to incorporate writing every day!

      Reply to Elna