10 Tips to Level Up Your Content Writing

Have you ever had a moment where someone told you something so simple, yet so eye-opening you never forgot it? For me, it was during my first ever university course for academic writing. 

“I never want to see the word ‘it’ in your essays,” he said. 

That was the first time I learned “it” was a weak word. At that moment, I also understood that the best writing isn’t just entertaining or easy to read. Good writing is clear.  

For the last decade, writing has been my passion. I’ve worked with businesses, entrepreneurs, and even accomplished journalists as a writer and editor. And over that time, I’ve learned there are 10 specific ways to improve your writing – aside from never using the word it. 

Do all this, and you’ll be better than 90% of other writers out there. 

#1 – THINK ABOUT CONTENT STRUCTURE. 

The most difficult mistake I see in writing is a lack of structure. Oftentimes, people think of writing as creative and chaotic. And in the first draft, writing can absolutely be that way. However, after a few revisions, you want your work to be organized. If the structure doesn’t make logical sense to you, it won’t to your reader either. 

Now, you shouldn’t write a high school essay, but here is a lose formula to keep in mind: 

• Hook – This is your first sentence, and it’s designed to get readers’ attention and keep them wanting more. 
• Introduction – Explain the situation and set the 5 Ws of the situation. (Who, What, When, Where, Why?) This comes from journalism and is excellent practice no matter what you’re writing. 
• High-Level Discussion: This is where you get more detailed and granular. Add more data and explore the topic like how this has a greater impact. 
• Pivot: This is where I speak to the reader’s problem and hint at a solution. Then, it’s easier to naturally bring up the company. 
• Boilerplate: This is a small paragraph or sentence that doesn’t usually change much.  
• Final CTA: Finally, you want to add a Call to Action. What’s next? 

#2 – BREAK IT DOWN INTO STAGES. 

Now, another issue is not with the writing itself but in how you approach it. In the past, I’ve worked with businesses who had extremely sparse briefs for their writing team. As a result, writers can misunderstand the goal. They skip the outline phase and go right into the writing.  

Unfortunately, when that happens the editor then has to rework most of them. And if it’s really bad? Then they’ll rewrite the whole thing. 

Instead of doing that, break your writing into 4 key phases: 

1. Researching 
2. Outlining 
3. Writing 
4. Editing 

#3 – DON’T LOSE THE AUDIENCE IN THE INTRODUCTION. 

Another common mistake is to forget your audience. Far too often, content writers are writing generic advice that their audience already knows.  

For example, let’s pretend you’re writing a blog as a software company for a video editing tool. In this blog, you’re targeting video editors who work on short films. In fact, I’ll pull up the first blog on the search results and show you the introduction: 

If you’re an indie filmmaker, you already know making a film is rewarding. This sentence is obvious, boring, and does nothing to pull me through to read the next sentence – let alone the rest of the paragraph. Instead, you want to write in a way that makes them curious, engages, or inspires. 

Here’s what I would do: 

“Depending on how picky you are for audio, color grading, timing, and special effects, professional video editors spend at least one hour editing per minute of film. So, how can you save time spent editing? By using the best video editing software on the market.” 

Usually, this happens because the writer doesn’t know much about the industry they’re writing about. When hiring a writer, it’s worth it to choose one who has knowledge about your industry. And if they don’t? Well, make sure they are an exceptional researcher. 

#4 – USE CONCRETE LANGUAGE THROUGHOUT.

Let’s take a quick sidestep. Do you like poetry? Personally, I love it and if you do as well, you know that there are two types of language in our writing: concrete language and abstract language.  

Here’s the difference between them: 

• Concrete language is more specific and often tangible because it’s based in the real world and uses some of the five senses. 
• Abstract language is broader and intangible because it’s based on concepts of ideas. 

Now, both are useful, but some writers struggle to use concrete language. We write at the high level, but we forget to be more specific and descriptive. Luckily, it’s an easy problem to solve. Just add more data, examples, statistics, and engaging adjectives. 

#5 – THINK ABOUT THE PLATFORM. 

While many brands will have the same audience overall, different segments of your audience will congregate in different places on the internet. Your Twitter posts aren’t necessarily going to sound the same as your company blog. 

That’s why I always recommend that brands create a brand voice guide or a style guide. In your brand voice guide, you can write out the different tones of voice you might use on different platforms.  

#6 – USE RELEVANT EXAMPLES. 

Nothing confuses readers more than a non-sequitur. Oftentimes, writers will use examples in their writing that aren’t logically connected to their industry. This isn’t the end of the world, but if you want to write better, you need to watch out for non-sequiturs. 

• Non-sequitur: A statement that does not relate logically to the previous statement. 

For example, I read a website for a restaurant’s blog that used a statistic example talking about video games to explain a point. While some restaurant goers care about video game others don’t. Of course, there are times to use analogies to illustrate a point, but if it’s not an example your audience relates to – then try something else. 

#7 – AVOID VAGUE LANGUAGE. 

Next up, time to erase a few words from your vocabulary. Vague language generally causes confusion as well as a lack of clarity. While ambiguity has a time and place, if you’re being vague without that specific goal, then you’ll lose your reader. 

A few common vague words to avoid are: 

• It 
• Them 
• People 
• Stuff 
• Thing 
• Some 

The only time you should be vague is when you’re intentionally trying to be mysterious and evoke curiosity in your audience. In this ad from 1959 by Volkswagen, they’re using ambiguity to get your attention. This ambiguity then forces you to read the caption to understand what they are talking about. 

#8 – ADD MULTIPLE TYPES OF MEDIA! 

When it comes to blogs, emails, or social media posts – all the best content is so much more than just words. Don’t be afraid to include other types of media in your content.  

Adding a diverse mix of media is one of the simplest ways to boost engagement in your written content. For example, Databox found that Facebook Ads with video have a much higher engagement rate. And that applies to other types of content too. 

If you want to spice up your content, add elements like: 

• Images 
• Memes 

• Tables  
• Bulleted Lists 
• Graphs & Charts 
• GIFs & Videos 
• Audio 

#9 – CUT THE FLUFF! 

After you’ve done most of the hard work, it’s time to cut out the useless chunks. Fluff is the writing that doesn’t add any value because it’s obvious, redundant, or irrelevant. If you work with a content editor, then this is their job. However, good writers are also capable of editing their own work. 

Tip from Tory: Use Ctrl + F to find conjunctions like “and” and “or” because sometimes there are two nouns or phrases that are redundant because they serve the same purpose. 

Here are a few examples where I cut the fluff:  

#10 – USE PROOFREADING TOOLS. 

Nothing sucks more than catching typos all over your final draft. The last step is a simple one, but lazy writers will skip it. Always remember to run your words through an AI tool to remove typos, complex jargon, and break up hard-to-read sentences. 

Some of my favourites are: 

• Grammarly 
• Hemingway Editor 
• Semrush’s Writing Assistant 

No matter what content writing you’re doing, there are ways to improve it with a few simple tweaks. Regardless of whether it’s an email, blog, or social post, these tips can help ensure your words are organized, clear, and concise. 

Need help marketing your growing business?

At HyperPop, we’ve curated a team of expert marketers, writers, and designers with decades of experience. Reach out and let’s hype up your marketing.  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Victoria Fraser, Content Manager 

Victoria has been a writer & storyteller ever since she could hold a pen in her hands. Since 2020, she’s worked with dozens of brands and agencies on their copywriting assets. Now, she’s bringing her creative ambition to HyperPop. With over 7 years of academic and professional writing, she’s got a range of experience writing words that engage, educate, and inspire.