One of the questions that I get asked a lot is “Where do your ideas for content come from?” as a content writer I am responsible for creating so many different and varied pieces of text each month that it’s often difficult to explain just where the ideas come from. One day I might be writing about personal injury claims, the next telephone systems, the next emigration and then perhaps also writing about financial services – a whole array of topics.
At the end of the day, the basics of writing are simple – make sure you’ve done your research and ensure that you know your audience. It’s also crucial to have a good understanding of your audience, and this comes with time. When you start with a new client there is so much to learn, but once the foundations are in place you will often find that it becomes easy to develop your knowledge base and therefore quickly and effectively create content for your client.
So where do the ideas come from?
Although in many situations I am given titles and subject ideas, this is not always the case and this is where a little creativity comes in. To be honest I have never been a creative person, when I was young art class was my least favourite, and I couldn’t draw to save my life, luckily it’s not an artistic creativity that I’m talking about. Creativity with text is all about finding something unique and different that hasn’t been tackled before and making it interesting.
Sometimes the ideas for content creation will be the result of a great deal of research and sometimes they will just pop into my head at any time, either way once I have the basic idea it gives me a great base to work from.
How do you put ideas together on a page?
Once I have determine exactly what I want to write about, the next task is tackling how I’m going to write it and this can often be the most challenging part. Creating a structure which suits the client and is original can often be challenging – you want something that people want to read rather than just a plain load of text on a page. The way that you put your text together can either draw in a client or lose one and this can play an important role in content creation.
How do you write about a range of different topics?
With a number of different clients to cater for, the topics that I write about on a daily basis can be completely different, so I need to take into account the needs of each client and ensure that I target them specifically. As I become more experienced with a client, writing for them tends to become a great deal easier as I expand my knowledge base of a specific category.
Although the learning process can often be somewhat difficult and potentially overwhelming, once you work through the hard yards the results are effective content, targeted to the needs of your clients, enabling you to work effectively in your given role.
