As a blogger, you probably tend to stick to what you know. You have a particular passion or area of expertise, and you use this to your advantage to craft well-written, informative, and entertaining content. But every now and then throughout your career, you might be tasked with writing a piece on a subject that you know absolutely nothing about.
Perhaps you have been hired by a client to write a detailed write-up of their company, or you are working on a freelance basis for an agency, dipping in and out of various topics each day.
Whatever the reasons, blogging about an unfamiliar topic presents multiple challenges. It’s difficult to write fluently and articulately when you know very little about the subject matter, and you run the risk of making mistakes or missing out crucial information.
But to be a world-class writer, you need to be able to get out of your comfort zone. Although you might be more comfortable writing about books, fitness, or running a business, learning to research and explain complicated subjects can make you a much better blogger.
3 Helpful Tips For Creating Content Outside Your Area Of Expertise
1. Immerse Yourself
Before you can start writing about it with authority, it’s essential to immerse yourself in the subject and gain a deeper understanding. It’s not enough to just read another blog and rewrite the text, as your writing will suffer from a lack of comprehension. For example, if you’re writing on behalf of a truck delivery company, you’ll need to find out more about the industry.
Whatever topic you’ve been tasked with writing about, read as many books, articles, and news stories about it as possible. Make sure you read up on different viewpoints and opinions to get a nuanced understanding of the issues and keep up to date with the latest developments and trends.
It is also helpful to follow relevant people on social media and subscribe to their newsletters. You will soon become an expert in the subject and this will show in the quality of your writing.
2. Don’t Plagiarize
The worst thing you can do when writing your piece is to rewrite another article in your own words. Your blog will suffer by comparison and won’t offer anything new to the topic.
Instead, you should thoroughly research the subject and write down notes on the most important facts, quotes, and arguments to include in your own writing. You should then create your article from scratch, incorporating these details along the way.
3. Fact Check
If you make any factual errors in your writing, your inexperience will become glaringly obvious. For this reason, you should take special care to fact-check any figures, quotes, statements, and statistics you have mentioned.
There is so much content on the web that is inaccurate and poorly-written, and you don’t want to add to this junk pile. You can use search engines like Factbrowser to check the veracity of your information, or you could enlist the services of an industry expert to proofread it.
Sticking with what you know is great advice when crafting new content for your blog or a client but learning how to expand your area of expertise will help your readers plus gain you more potential writing jobs. Master the skill of researching and writing about a variety of topics and that skill will reward you in many ways for years to come.
