A content creator is someone who delivers written or multimedia content (like audio or video or graphics) in both the online and offline worlds. Content creation comes in different forms. But the truth is that the format that you deliver the content in is less important than the information that you can deliver through that content.

But what does it take to become a good content creator? How do I become an exemplary content creator that others would look to for advice and opinions? (This article will focus on writing but all content creators and those who aspire to be one can learn from the following simple advice, most importantly you will see how you can monetise your content through Web Monetization). It all starts with what you do before you put your fingers to a keyboard.

1. Follow Trends and read the news daily Creating great content that really resonates with your target audience requires you to know what's going on in your industry. The goal of following trends is to create content around the topics people already consume and like. Since you can’t know with complete accuracy the topics people read—you’d need to spy on your competitors’ analytics, which is sort of illegal —you can use inbound links, shares, and comments as a proxy for popularity. Two tools you can use for such purposes are Buzzsumo and ahrefs. Both tools allow you to see what articles people share in the main social media channels. Then you can now centre your article on content on what people like, remember, the game is all about what they like not what you like.

2. Make sure you write daily: Successful content creators understand the importance of constantly flexing their writing muscles. Doing so helps them work through ideas that might be jumbled in their head and identify nuggets that could turn into fully realized ideas later. Successful content creators may not always be inspired to write, but they know something inspiring can come from their writing.

Get in the habit of writing by doing it daily or every other day. I'm not saying you need to write a polished, 1500-word essay on an industry-relevant topic daily. Rather, I'm talking about setting aside 10 or 15 minutes to jot down some thoughts and ideas. Figure out when your mind is the clearest -- for most people, that's after or during a cup of coffee -- and just free-form write. What did you read yesterday that stuck with you? What didn't you understand? Asking yourself those questions should start the flow.

3. Know Your Audience: Examine your own readers and viewers: What do they want that you're not yet giving them? What problems do they have that you can solve for them? Look at the following checklist to know your audience and also understand what they might want. You can think about their:

Age

Gender

Location

Family size

Job title

Salary

etc.

4. Use every opportunity to network: Successful content creators know their success is due not only to their passion, but also to those who taught them, inspired them, and pushed them to think in different ways.

This is one-way content creators grow into successful content creators. They've accepted the fact there's more to learn than what they already know, and they're open to new ways of thinking. Networking forces you to do just that. It's a time to listen to others' ideas and take them into consideration alongside your own.

Get in the habit of networking by seizing the countless opportunities you have to do it. They aren't called social networks for nothing! Spend some time on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to check out who the thought leaders are in your industry and follow them.

Once you do that, you can ease into in-person networking. If you're not a natural extrovert, the thought of networking can make you cringe. Make it easy on yourself and start small with colleagues. You already have something in common, so striking up a conversation in the kitchen or at your desks shouldn't be too scary.

5. Offer solutions: When you're just getting started as a content creator, you might already have the knowledge your market is looking for. For successful content creators, however, expertise isn't everything.

Want your audience to remember your content? Don't just recite the things you know -- explain why they're important and what your audience can take away from it. The people consuming your content aren't interested in just hearing you talk. They come looking to satisfy specific needs. Whether those needs are to solve a problem to simply increase their confidence in your industry, it's your job to put your market observations into terms they can understand and find lessons in.

6. Master Your grammar: Grammar is paramount to the success of a freelance content creator; it’s what separates amateur bloggers from professional word craftsmen.

You don’t have to take a course on grammar to master it, or read an entire dictionary, or go back to your high school notepad.

There are only a few key aspects of grammar you need to grasp so you can master it: i. Be careful with your punctuation. ii. Know How to use Adjectives and Verbs. iii. Use well-structured sentences. iv. Learn to use Grammarly: With Grammarly, you can easily take all your content pieces—essays, landing pages, sales pages, and articles—and edit them to improve their punctuation, adjectives and verbs usage, and active voice usage.

7. Learn the Art of Content Promotion: The job of a content creator goes beyond the writing itself. In a content-rich world where everyone and everything are fighting for your reader’s attention, you need to be as prolific at writing as you are at promoting your content.

I know many successful content creators who just write content. They can achieve success because, after hundreds of hours spent on writing high-quality content, people start to share it and promote it without the content creator’s intervention. I believe that’s a formula for failure.

It’s much better to be proactive and promote everything you write because, well, it makes your content get read more, shared more, and taken into action more.

In truth, there are just six ways you can promote a piece of content:

i. Through the act of getting links to rank your content piece in the search engines.

ii. Through the act of getting influencers (i.e., people with a lot of followers in different social networks) to share your piece with their audiences.

iii. Through online communities, like Reddit and Facebook groups.

iv. Through paid ads, like Facebook ads and retargeting.

v. Through your email list.

vi. There’s no sixth way, you only need to share my article. Hahaha.

8. You need to Monetize your content:

The latest and easiest way to monetise your content is through Web Monetization, with this method you'll be getting paid as people read or view your content. Check this article to know more What You Need to Know about Web Monetization it's fast and simple. You can also read Victoria's and Michael's articles on Web Monetization for depth understanding, to read their articles click here and here respectively. And to know many other ways to make money with your content click here

Thank You !!!