Content Editing Tips: How to Make your Content ‘Wow’

This post is an ultimate guide of content editing tips to make your content error-free.

But why you need to edit your content?

Why Content Editing is Necessary?

You have completed your writing task. But are you sure about the quality of your content?

Or afraid of your credibility?

Every writer, whether a newbie or experienced, faces these types of fears. Therefore, content editing is an integral process of the writing job that must be done thoroughly.

By just converting your thoughts into words would not help or satisfy your client.

Your content has been created for the audience and it must serve them.

Therefore, it should be edited to make it free from all errors and meet the specific requirement of the audience.

Once you finish your writing, follow these simple content editing tips to transform your content from ‘Meh’ to ‘Wow’!

Let’s start with the first tip!

20 Content Editing Tips to Make your Content ‘Wow’

Leave the content for sometime before you edit

That’s the most imperative of all content editing tips.

You have just completed your writing task. And are about to immediately start content editing.

But Wait!

This can lower your editing skills because your brain was fully engaged in the writing process. You can’t point out your mistakes, big or small, assuming everything to be Okay!

When you come back, you will notice freshness in your brainstorming and new ways of modifying your content.

Quickly review your content

Isn’t that true? If the food is not presentable, you won’t feel like eating it.

Same goes for your content. Quickly scan your content and see how it looks!

Are the words and sentences logically connected?

Are paragraphs properly arranged?

Are the headings or subheadings properly matching the text below? Do they relate to the requirement given by the client?

Is there an abundance of text in one part of the article and another part is left with smaller pieces of wordings?

Often, most people only try to read the headings without reading the whole content.

A quick scan will give you a better idea and guide you on how to proceed with the rest of your content editing.

Always look for spelling mistakes

An upcoming deadline can increase your typing speed, usually more than the normal. This can cause mistakes in the spelling of the words.

Look for the keywords

Mark this content editing tip!

You have started your content editing process, but do not consider your keywords!

This is not a good idea.

Ignoring them may cost your website in search engine rankings.

However, avoid keyword stuffing. Google can easily discover that and penalize your website.

Do you fulfill the SEO guidelines?

SEO is not only about keywords. Other factors count in it too.

Know the SEO tips for beginners to Google boost your website

While editing your content, make sure you fulfill all these SEO guidelines.

Hitting too hard for the search engine techniques or neglecting the SEO, both can cause your website to downgrade in the search list.

Also, remember not to deviate from your content’s main idea while applying these SEO guidelines.

Is your content in sync with its purpose?

Always keep in mind the purpose of your content during the editing process.

Why you wrote this content? How it contributes to the requirement of the readers?

Keeping these things in mind will help a lot to frame your content editing strategy.

Remove the unnecessary text

Always look out for text that gives no additional information or gives repeated information.

Why?

It can make the readers feel that you have no further information and are just trying to fill the page or the word count.

Check your facts

All content editing tips fail in front of this one.

If you state a fact in your post that can’t be proved or which doesn’t exist, you are making a fool out of yourself.

Your readers can easily pick up such instances. They won’t mind if you write less, but can’t tolerate false or erratic information.

This can make a bad impression on the readers and will drop your website as a source of information.

Pay attention to the Introduction and Conclusion

Introduction and Conclusion are two major parts of any content.

These two parts reflect the outline and the main idea of the article. They can either propel the readers to read on or hit the back button.

Many readers read the Introduction and Conclusion first before reading the whole article.

So pay special attention to these two important parts when editing your content.

 Are the images relevant?

Now days, use of images is increasing day-by-day. And they are an integral part of SEO.

When using images, make sure they are relevant and reflect the main idea and theme of the post.

Also, the heading or the description of the image should be relevant.

Improper images will confuse the readers and they’ll bounce back from your content page.

Replace difficult words with easy ones

Complex words are difficult to understand. As more and more readers try to skim the page, these words can greatly consume time for understanding and can affect the user experience.

So make sure to use simple, easy to understand words instead of the difficult ones.

Replace long paragraphs and sentences with shorter ones

Large piece of words with detailed explanations are boring and often skipped by the reader.

So learn to present your information in small paragraphs making your audience engaged.

Break down your lengthy sentences and paragraphs into smaller ones. This makes the user comfortable and easy to read through.

 Know the level of your audience

Content editing tip you can’t afford to miss!

It’s always a good idea to keep in mind the level of your audience during your content editing procedure.

It will help to chalk down your ideas and path for content editing. If you don’t do this, the article simply makes the reader uninterested because he or she already knows about the content you are delivering.

Or the content will be higher than their mindset level and difficult to understand.

Make your language certain

Use a tone and language that leaves a impression on your readers.

Confusing language and tone can make the reader double-minded, and they will leave your site to find information from elsewhere.

Check for the client guidelines

Every client has a guideline or requirement that must be followed in your content.

It can range from the material of the content to its style. Also, it may include:

Headings and Subheadings: They give you the headings and subheadings. Sometimes they limit the number of subheadings so you can’t cross that limit.

Word count: It can include the total word count, the total number of paragraphs and the size of the paragraphs.

Keywords: Often the client supplies you with the keyword. Make sure to insert them as per the guideline.

Style and Format: It includes the size (number) and the font to be followed throughout your document. They also inform about the spacing between the two lines and the paragraphs.

Additionally, they can give guidelines on how to submit the document. It can be in the format of an MS Word file or other forms.

Use grammar and spell check tools

You can use tools that automatically correct your grammar and spellings like Grammarly.

Content editing sometimes gets difficult as your brain does not recognize any errors or faults in your writing. So chances you can skip them quite easily.

Grammar and spell check tools can help you in this situation. They are easy to use and most of them are free of cost.

Also Read: 12 Free Tools for Content Writing

Try to do content editing in a different style and environment

What I mean here is to change the way the article is presented to the brain, so it can spot any difference in it.

This way you help your brain erase the previous image of the content and see it in a different way.

You can do this by taking a printout of the article or changing the font size.

Read it out aloud

Read your article aloud. This will help you in getting ideas about your article first hand.

Any change in the tone, style, and information can be easily recognized. Also, poorly connected words and sentences are easily found out.

Ask others for help

It’s the best idea to hand over your article to your friend or colleague, and have their suggestions.

Apart from content editing, this will also help you in crafting your skills as a writer.

Don’t spend too much time on content editing

Content editing is crucial to make your content free from errors.

But how about over-editing your content? Repetitive editing will waste your your time and you won’t meet your deadline. You may also move away from the main idea of the content.

Always stop editing your content when you have utilized your available resources and used your full capacity.

Conclusion on Content Editing Tips

Content editing is an integral part of writing without which a writing piece has no meaning. So don’t rush through your content editing process.

Use these 20 content editing tips to easily transform your content and make it ‘Wow’ in the eyes of your readers.

So, which content editing tip will you apply first?