How To Become a Content Writer In India – Practical Guide With Tools & Tips

Do you know how to become a content writer in India in 2023? If no, you must read this article till the end.

Learning anything has been made simpler today. You have the Internet. You can become a data scientist, researcher, designer, or content writer. Becoming successful at anything requires a lot of good energy. 

I have drafted this article keeping in mind everything that can be useful for you to become a successful content writer in India. This exclusive content writing guide will help you understand:

• How and where you can start content writing.
• Skills required to become a content writer.
• The amount you will be paid.
• How you will be paid.

and, just about everything that came to my mind. 

You know, even if you put up in India you can work remotely. I mean, International clients pay handsomely. 🙂

These options have been explored here as well. Know that creating great content is an art, and you are an artist. Just believe that you are. Now let us start from scratch. 

Side Note: Also, read Top Ten Content Writers in India and How To Start a Blog

Who is a Content Writer?

A content writer is someone who uses his/her best knowledge and crafts content for business. The content that speaks the essence of a business. They understand the psychology of other humans and know how to express themselves in words. 

But why would someone who has the best knowledge about his business look for a third party to express their thoughts? Well, they are experts at using words correctly.

They make the content that is search engine optimised. They know how to use the keywords and draft a story out of those. That story is crisp, witty and flowy. 

To know the scope of content writers in India read this report by India Today.

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Want to learn Content Writing? Get started for just Rs. 200.

How to become a full-time content writer

Because I wish to inform you of everything. Here you get a fixed amount of salary at the end of every month. You become an expert in one thing. Since you work under someone. Chances are that you would be writing for one niche. 

It can be considered as a career option. Read what Times of India said on the same. 

You would get the topics and will have to create content. Easy-peasy. Starting salaries of content writers in India are INR 20-25k. This is subjective to the quality and quantity of content you produce.
Content should be original, SEO, over 3000 words daily. Jobs are usually 5 days a week. Let us see some portals where you can get full-time content writing jobs.

1. Naukri

Chances are If you have worked before you know about this Naukri.com already. It is one of the best job providers in India. Finding jobs is pretty easy over here. 

Enter keywords like a creative writer, SEO content writer, content writer. Use the filters to get better results

2. Shine

Shine is a platform that is used by almost all the recruiters in India. Once your profile is complete over there you can apply at different jobs that are posted there. It does not charge anything from people who get hired. 

Worth considering if you are looking for a full-time content writing job. 

3. Times job

Times Job is a product owned and operated by The Times Group. This platform offers a lot of genuine ads about various jobs. You can register here as well. You get notifications about new job postings as and when they are uploaded. Notifications can be linked to your emails. 

It becomes important to register on these platforms when you start looking for a job. The more job options you have the better you can choose. 

4. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the most professional platform one can consider. Employers from around the globe are registered over here. They keep new job requirements now and then on this platform. If you have not made an account here. I’ll advise you to make one right now.

See for yourself, the professionalism I am talking about. The employers and employees post every relevant detail about their professional life here. This makes LinkedIn one of the most secure platforms to get in touch with employers and vice-versa. 

Learn about Forbes’ opinion on the same. 

Become a Freelance Content Writer

Freelancing is gaining a lot of importance in today’s time. Most of the workforce feels at peace when working as a freelancer. One can work and freelance side by side. There are a lot of benefits attached to it.

Becoming a freelance content writer is no different. It has its own perks as compared to working full-time. Some of the ways by which you can start freelancing right away are given here. Some of these platforms are content writer specific platforms. 

If you are new to this freelancing world, check out this detailed article that helps you to become a freelancer in India.

Facebook Groups 

Facebook as a platform has various content writing groups. The client posts the requirements and writers can pitch. Also, content writers post their niche and rates, and people with those requirements reach out. 

It is easy to use and free of cost. 

Some other platforms specially designed for freelancers are also discussed here. Content writers can register on them and connect with potential clients. Note that it doesn’t happen right away. 

Fiverr

It’s been over ten years since Fiverr came into existence. It is one of the most favoured online marketplaces of freelancers. Selling your content writing services is easy over here. Just do not expect to get clients the same day you register here. 

People Per Hour

People Per Hour is an online service marketplace. It functions along with Escrow. This means that the buyer and seller operate in a safe financial space. 

Escrow holds the payment of the buyer till the seller delivers the services. The freelancer can rest assured about their payment. The buyer can rest assured about this.

The hourly rates start at 8 US dollars and project per piece at 10 US dollars. It charges a service fee of 5% on the final billing amount. 

Flexjobs

Established in the year 2007, Flexjobs is a freelancing platform. It has a 95% rating on Sitejabber with over 5000 reviews. This platform offers both free and premium subscriptions.

Paid ones are monthly, 3-months, and yearly.

It is a low-cost subscription service provider. It offers genuine jobs. You can register here for a free trial that lets you view up to 5 remote jobs. It is advised to use the free subscription platforms initially.

FreeUp

FreeUp is an online service marketplace. It offers various services. A lot of freelancers register here and get hired under various projects. It provides 24/7 customer service to its freelancers and clients. 

Registration on Freeup is simple. You can access their data once you are registered over there. Several steps need to be cleared before you become a verified freelancer over here. 

There is no fee to use this marketplace. The users are US citizens and non-US citizens.  This site takes a 15% commission on the billing amount.

Craigslist

Craigslist is a list of jobs posted by employers. You can click on the job that resonates with you. The employer can look at your application and consider you for further inquiries. 

Some of the projects are listed by international employers over here. Hourly rate and per-project rates are subjective. There are no service charges by craigslist. One can explore different job offers here which are genuine. 

Since most of the clients are international over here, the payment is good. But remember that the quality of work can not be compromised here.  

Are you looking for cheap and affordable Hosting services? then Hostarmada Black Friday Deals article is best for you.

Blogging

Last but not least. If you are thinking of becoming a freelance content writer, this is something you should absolutely do. Starting your own blog. Self-publishing helps in establishing a brand. Establishing your name as a content writer is definitely going to help you. If you are working full time or part-time.

Almost every business today has its online presence. The more people recognise you as a content writer the better it will be for your career as one. 

Decide the niche you want to write in. There are food bloggers, nutrition, health, spirituality and so many other areas where you can start building your authority. The choices are endless. Deciding the niche is important and working consistently on your blogs is a must. 

Also if you need a discount on web hosting for creating a blog site, check out our Black Friday hosting deals.

Content writing intern

There is one more option that you can explore. An internship. It is actually a fun way of knowing the actual picture of any work. People do all kinds of internships. Summer internships, three weeks internship. You want to learn a new skill fast. Enrol in an internship. 

This is a way of making money too. When you can not work full-time but need some assurance of money every month. Just by spending a few hours every day. Some interns work two hours a day. Depending on the agreement between the business and the intern

Internships are great but not just any internship. A bad internship can turn you away from a gig that has been your favourite thing to do for a long time. So where should you look? 

Internshala

Internshala is a platform solely dedicated to internships. They work on providing students with a platform where students can brush up on their classroom skills. Internships start from a minimum of 2K.

Big corporations to small ones. People hire interns and get hired as interns over here. If you are a graduate from a renowned university you can fetch over 20K on Internshala. There are a lot of internships in content writing over there. 

You can simply sign up and look for one that suits you the best. Companies select interns on various criteria. You are advised to keep your profile up to date. 

Facebook too advertises internships on Facebook groups. 

How to Price Your Content As a Freelancer

Pricing your content writing services can be tricky. It requires thorough research of the market you are functioning in. Starting as a freelance content writer, you will need a portfolio. That portfolio will help your clients understand a bit about you.

Having a portfolio with at least 20 writing pieces might give you an edge to bargain better with your clients. Do understand that if you are functioning in a market where clients do not have a lot of budgets you are not advised to quote more. 

Experience plays an important role in quoting the services you provide. The more experienced you are the better you can fetch. Let’s understand how you can price though.  

Per Word

In India, freelancers that are beginners at content writing get ₹25 paisa per word to ₹50 paisa per word. Depending on the client and the quality of work they deliver. 

Once you get the essence of your writing. That usually comes after writing 40-50 articles. You can ask for ₹1 per word to ₹4 per word. This is an intermediate stage. 

Once you cross this stage you can demand ₹5 per word to ₹7 per word or even more. Your client would be willing to shell more. That is your authority stage. When you become an expert. 

These rates are subjective. A lot of factors play their role in deciding. 

Per Project

The second way of pricing your writing services is deciding the rates per project. Here the client is not concerned about the number of words you put in the writing. The quality of your work plays an integral role here. The client can offer 10K for 5 projects or 10K for one project. 

Clients give you the keywords and ask for blogs, articles, website content or any other writing with them. The time you deliver in. The quality of writing is SEO or not. Your experience with research, everything plays a role here. 

Generally, per project model is considered when you have established a good relationship with your client. When they know how you write. 

Skills Required To Become a Successful Content Writer

There are certain skills that if mastered can make you a good content writer. Some of them are not discussed but should be. The main skill to excel anywhere in life is to “believe” that you can. Some other, content writer related skills, from basics to expert level are discussed below.

Framework

The framework or the outline of all the content that you are going to pour into the article. Having all the skills that you need to be a good content writer won’t do any good if you lack a good outline. 

Pen it down, or start working on the framework as soon as you get the idea. Have H1, H2, H3 sorted. Generally, a good article contains one H1, three to four H2 and three to five H3. you can have more or less. It depends on the information you wish to deliver to your audience.

Idea

You think ideas grow in the writer’s brain. Well, they can. It is like meditation. The more you consume the more you can write.

After you get the idea. Write original. You could be great at copying. But as long as it is not original, you are nothing but a great craftsman.  

But trust me when I say that ideas start coming to you once you practice writing daily.

Creativity

What is creativity? It’s the art of making something with your special touch. Most people are born creative. You can always tap into creativity by spending more time with yourself. The creative writers grow fame, make names.

Language

Having a good command of language serves well for any content writer. After all, this is the medium you will use to convey your thoughts to the world. Along with that, the ability to express your thoughts in words. This will count too.

The way you weave the words.
Think about “a bird”. Okay. 
What about “ice cream”? 
Now, “a bird was eating ice cream from the cup”. Get it?
This comes with practice. I’m sure it will come to you.  

Research Skills

Do not dwell on any topic for too long. You do not want fluff. A well-researched article includes the sources of the information you are putting. You are making an article that can add value to your reader. Having 4000 words won’t do a thing if the article lacks the informative part.

*SEO Keywords

These are the words that decide where your content would rank. You want it to rank higher on the organic search. The way to do that is to fill your content with SEO keywords. Let us say you sell pens. “Pen” is the keyword here. 

Having the first-page ranking with just “pen” as a keyword will not be possible. Try for Blue-Cello-Pen-In-New-Delhi. These are long-tail keywords. 

Using a long-tail keyword gives your content a better chance to rank higher. SEO keywords increase the credibility of the article. This is where content and context get differentiated. This skill sets apart the expert content writers.

*WordPress

As a client, I would need the content in a way that is ready to publish. Like a 2-minute maggie noodle. I don’t want to do anything when I can pay well. I would like to hit publish and tada! If you know how to use word press, it brings a WoW factor. The client knows that he’s getting it all. 

The hyperlinks, the picture links, graphics, just about everything. As a content writer, this will give you an edge. To bargain a better price for your content. The client will be willing to shell a little more easily. 
Want to know how to use WordPress? Visit their site. Sign in. The interface is user-friendly. There are a lot of tools over there that you can explore for free.

Tools Every Content Writer Can Use

Good tools have the tendency to make any work easier. Provided you know about the tool and its usage.

There are certain tools that make the content search engine optimised. The article ranks high on google if the article has the potential to rank high. Original content would not do wonders if it has spelling mistakes in it.

Make sure your article has graphics. People scroll a lot on the internet. Having pictures make your article informative. While scrolling, it is easier to learn from pictures than from content. 

Before you hit publish, check the grammar, re-read the article, put graphics, hyperlinks to sources, links to mentions, check plagiarism and re-read the article one more time. To make this easier for you, we will be discussing three tools here.

Plagiarism Checker

Remember to create original content. No one needs copied content on the internet. To add value to your content use words that originate within you. No matter how basic they are. In fact, the more basic the better! 

Many plagiarism checking software are available online. You can check them out here. 

Small SE tools, allows checking plagiarism up to 1000 words for free. Search engine reports allow up to 1500 words. Quetext has a limit of over 3000 words. These were some of the free tools. 

Some other verified tools that are widely accepted are Grammarly, Copy Scape and Pro Writing Aid. Know that Google loves the original content and promotes the same.

Canva

Will you be interested in reading a 5000 word publishing that contains no pictures in it?

I can, I like reading. But generally, people like seeing pictures with content. Especially on the internet. The content gets pretty boring and long if it lacks graphics in it.

To solve this issue people use Canva. Getting graphics was a costly affair. Not anymore. Canva is an easy to use graphics application. It can be accessed on the phone or your system. It provides many free templates, customisation options. 

It is recommended to use Canva to create article related graphics. Try it one time, you would not regret it. 

Grammarly

Grammarly is a worldwide accepted grammar checking tool. Not just the content writers but people across the globe use it to write better English. Because what are words without grammar? 

Words make language. Language is certainly important, so is your grammar. Sometimes words sound the same but mean very different. As a writer, it is your duty that you convey the right message. Grammarly makes it easier. 

You can concentrate on writing, Grammarly will keep your writing in check.

Ginger is another tool that is used for checking grammar. 

How Can You Improve as a Content Writer

We keep learning till the day we die. Even doctors call their work practice. Do you know why? Because they keep learning something new every day. We are humans. We need some food for our brains every day. We want to keep exploring different options.

We want to grow better. As a human as well as a professional. 

Thankfully the internet space has a lot to offer. You just have to have the hunger to learn more. There are various courses on Udemy that can improve the content writing skill of a beginner as well as an expert. Some are covered here. 

• Better Business Writing Skill – This course covers the basics of writing. It provides you with all the tips and tricks to become a content writer. This is an affordable course. It is curated by Mark Morris who is a  Cicero Award-winning professional speechwriter. 

• Make a Website Using WordPress – This is a step by step guide. The curator is a self-taught designer from Ireland. The course has been taken up by over one lakh students. You can check the course yourself. I found it worth mentioning here. 

• SEO and its Basics – Remember the skills that give you an edge as a content writer. SEO is one. This is a free course. With over 4.5 stars rating. It is absolutely worth your time. 

• Secret Souce of Great Writing – Included this one because of its name. It is so luring. Would definitely enrol in this one the moment I finish writing this article. Also, it has an over 4.5 stars rating and more than one lakh students enrolment. 

You can check out other courses as well. This is just a glimpse. A lot of other course options are uploaded there. 

Don’t want to invest? Check out some of the best online certificate courses by the government.

Step by Step Video Tutorial For New Writers

I also have prepared a YouTube video where I have shared all my experiences, tips, tricks and tools as a content writer.

If you also want to learn YouTube along with content writing, check out: All about YouTube.

How to Accept Payments from International Clients?

Let us be honest. You and I, both know how better it is to work for international clients. They value their time as well as yours. Various platforms have been discussed in this platform where you can get genuine international clients.

Question is, how am I going to receive my payment from them? Well, some verified platforms can serve this purpose. Some are discussed here. 

1.PayPal

PayPal is one of the most trusted money transfer platforms. The money can be sent and received safely and securely. It is a widely accepted online payment system. I use it too. Want to try it for yourself? 

2.Payoneer

Payoneer is a legit US regulated company. Though it was banned in India due to some legalities it is functioning well right now. The money transfer is made easy via this platform.

3.Fiverr money transfer

The Internet is a place where one can get lost. Coming to a place like Fiverr gives relief. Fiverr has a system of keeping digital money. It keeps the buyer’s money till it gets verified to be paid to the seller. Once it is verified you can transfer the amount to your bank. 

This makes Fiverr a safe space for buyers and sellers. 

FAQ’s About Content Writing in India

Conclusion: How To Become a Content Writer In India

I would like to say that there are a lot of things one should consider when deciding to work as a content writer. Though it does not require any qualification, the journey isn’t easy. But then nothing is, or is it?

I’ll say…

Publish it. Let the world read it. It is alright if you take some time in learning all the skills. To use the tools. The important thing would be to start. 

If you have read it all, I adore you already. Do share your views on this piece if you wish to by commenting.

From my experience of content writing to date, I would also recommend you to create your own blog and start building a portfolio. Continue to practice and share your experience in the comments section below.

About The Author of DigitalVishesh

Vishesh Gupta

Founder of DigitalVishesh.IN

I am an MBA, A Certified Digital Marketer with 14 years of experience in Sales and Business Development.

I am a full-time Blogger, Affiliate Marketer, Digital Marketer and Web Hosting Reviewer. Being a certified marketer, I am now able to generate over 5000 page views for my blog “Daily”. Click to learn more about me here.

At DigitalVishesh, We are creating exceptional content for our clients, Promoting the brands in social media and search engines, Developing WordPress websites and Reviewing the popular web hosting companies.

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