7 Best Ways to Improve Your Writing Skills to Monetize it Online

What helped me to earn over $ 33,000 and gain over 26 K followers on Medium

Writing is the most essential skill in the digital economy. We all create a copy daily. And if you do not monetize your writing, you leave money on the table.

It does not mean you have to be a professional writer. But if you want to be successful in any niche, you need strong writing skills.

I have a background in science (Ph.D. in Animal Cytogenetics). However, scientific writing is very different than online writing. I had to unlearn and relearn writing.

After leaving academia, I started a couple of blogs without any success. And it took me many years to see some improvement in my writing.

I could do it much faster, but I did not put any time and effort into improving my writing skills. I naively thought that I could use a scientific writing style in blogging. How wrong was I.

I started writing regularly on Medium at the end of June 2022 and became a 2x top writer in entrepreneurship and productivity. I earned over $33,000 for writing on Medium and gained over 26 K followers since.

I will share what helped me improve my writing skills and achieve my results.

Nail your headlines

Headlines influence whether or not someone will read your story. The title determines 80–90% of your content consumption. You can write a great story, but without a clickable title, it is miles wasted. Make your headline worthy of your readers’ attention.

To make an intriguing headline, apply the following principles:

• Use numbers to provide meaningful takeaways
• Use emotional adjectives to express your reader’s dilemma (e.g., effortless, enjoyable, accessible, fantastic, essential, absolute, odd)
• Use unique reasoning to show what the reader will receive from the post.
• Use trigger words (what, why, how, and when)
• Make a big promise (and deliver — there is nothing worse than failing your audience)

I always start with the title and sometimes change it many times until I am satisfied. I use the tool to check out the score and craft engaging titles. More about it at the end of the article.

Read regularly

I read more than at school and during my academic years. But now I am more picky than ever. I stop reading if I don’t like the book. I try to give it another chance, and if it doesn't work, I give up. Until the next time…

I read mostly business, self-development, and psychology-related books. My last year's favorite books were “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle and “Eat That Frog” by Brian Tracy.

I began 2024 with “The Almanack of Naval Ravikant” by Eric Jorgenson. I am so hooked. Not only because I am a fan of Naval Ravikant but also because the book is written very well.

But never limit yourself to one niche. Every human is naturally curious and has many interests. Reading a variety of genres can improve your writing skills. It exposes you to different techniques and writing styles.

Reading different genres allows you to learn and apply what works and doesn't in your writing.

To improve your writing skills, follow your curiosity and interest and read books about many topics.

Practice writing every day

Practice does not make perfect, but it makes you a better writer. Perfection is very often a disguise for procrastination. And progress is only achieved by doing.

If you want to achieve any serious results, you must write daily. Make a commitment that you write at least 1,000 words daily. This is the fastest way to see results. Otherwise, you will postpone writing.

And later becomes never in most cases.

Nathan Barry (the creator of Convert Kit) wrote 1,000 words every day for more than 600 days during the start of his internet enterprise. And today, he earns almost $40 million every year.

Writing on Medium is a perfect starting point to improve your writing. And the advantage of this platform is that you can write about any topic on the planet.

Or even invent your own niche.

There will be days when you do not want to write. This is normal. But do the bare minimum, at least.

There are days I don’t want to write at all, but I do. Life is not supposed to be easy and painless.

It is like going to the gym or doing yoga. It can be painful but gratifying in the long term.

And if you do not choose your pain, somebody else will assign you one. So choose wisely.

Forget what you learned at school

Traditional education fails in all aspects of adult life. We are taught memorizing, obedience, and fitting into the system like trained monkeys.

Writing online is nothing like what you were taught at school.

“You can learn from anything. But for example, when you go back to school, 99 percent of the term papers you did, books you read, exercises you did, things you learned, they don’t really apply”. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson

Write as you talk and write what you want to say simply and clearly. Many people who pretend to be clever throw a bunch of information and terms (they very often) do not understand themselves.

I sounded like myself after about 25,000 words.

If you want to get good at any skill, you need to practice. I used to work with some athletes, and the amount of work and effort they put in daily is unreal.

But if you can go through the traditional school without learning any practical skills, you can write daily to develop skills that will benefit you in the digital economy. And earn you real money.

Use free (or paid tools)

The main purpose of online writing is to communicate with readers. You can forget about most of the rules you learned at school. But to communicate clearly, do not break all grammar and spelling rules because nobody will understand your writing.

That is where some tools come in handy.

The top 3 tools I use practically every day are:

• CoSchedule: Write captivating headlines.
• Grammarly: Write without spelling mistakes.
• QuillBot: Write any sentence in many different ways and summarize the text.

You can try other ones . Whatever works the best for you.

Invest in learning

There is an abundance of information about writing and courses. There are many great free and paid courses.

I regularly use free and paid resources. I never regretted spending money on training and improving my skills.

One of the differences between rich and poor people is that rich people see spending money on courses as an investment. When you have a specific skill set, you can lose all your money and rebuild your business repeatedly. It is a skill.

Edit and revise your work

The writing style of each individual may vary. But what I have learned from my teachers and mentors about writing is:

Write, edit, and revise your work on different days.

I don't know how about you, but once I am in the flow, I write a bit like a possessed person. I throw all my thoughts on the keyboard. And I love that state. I put a lot of energy into it, even when I write a landing page copy.

Copywriting is more about psychology than writing. That is why you should read different genres that will help you in writing, including philosophy.

If you want to want to be a good marketer, study human psychology.

I usually edit my texts no earlier than 24 hours after writing the first draft. I cut what is not necessary. Some writers cut even about 30 % of their original text.

I am not sure how much I usually delete, but if you want any advice, just remove all the fluff. Your readers will appreciate that.

Sometimes, I delete a lot and add something new to the text. It depends on the topic. It is up to you how deeply you want to explore the topic.

And finally, I revise my text, usually 2 or 3 days after editing. At this stage, I usually only correct some grammar and spelling mistakes.

And that is it. It is pretty simple but not always easy.

Conclusion

Writing is the most essential skill in the digital economy, regardless of your niche and expertise. If you can write effectively, you can sell your skills and expertise much better.

Even if you don't consider yourself a writer, you still produce copy daily, and if you do not get paid for writing, you leave money on the table.

The simplest and most effective methods to improve your writing skills are:

• Nail your headlines. The headline will determine 80–90 % of whether your story will be consumed, especially for emails and landing pages.
• Read regularly. Follow your curiosity, explore different genres to improve your style, and see what works and does not.
• Practice writing every day. Aim to write a certain amount of words every single day. Stick to your goal no matter what.
• Forget what you learned at school. Online writing is about communicating your thoughts and message simply and clearly.
• Use free (or paid tools). Use them to correct spelling and grammar to communicate effectively.
• Invest in learning. Learn continuously from free and paid courses. Paying for an excellent course is an investment in your skills.
• Edit and revise your work. Never write, publish, and revise on the same day. Wait at least 24 hours after writing and then edit it. Delete the excess and stick to what is interesting. Then revise 2 or 3 days later.

Once you are happy with the text, do the same repeatedly. Submit it or hit the publish button.

When you do it regularly, it will become your second nature, and you will miss it.

I wish you lots of small and spectacular success in your writing.

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