Become a Better Writer With These 51 Best Articles About Writing

What does it take to be a great online writer?

Well … lots and lots and lots of practice.

But you can give yourself a leg up by immersing yourself in great online writing.

If you want to be an awesome content creator, online writer, social media Shakespeare, or freelance writer-for-hire, you can learn SO MUCH from the great online writing that exists out there today.

I compiled a list of my very favorites to give you some tangible advice on how to write online and some examples of what great online writing looks like. I hope you find this list helpful. For me, everything I’ve learned about online writing has been self-taught. I majored in journalism in college. There wasn't a content marketing degree back in the day! So I read a ton online and squirreled away my favorite lessons.

Now, I'm emptying my swipe file for you!

What you see here is everything I've got—including lots of old standbys (we’re talking 10 years old, which is lifetimes in Internet time) and plenty of fresh advice.

If you want to learn more about writing for the web, content marketing, and the most persuasive way to communicate online, you’ve come to the right listicle!

Start here: The nuts and bolts of web writing

1 - Stock & Flow: The Ideal Writing Mix for Your Online Content

by Robin Sloane, Snark Market

The gist of Robin’s article goes like this: “Stock” is your evergreen, tentpole content that draws traffic from the moment of publish to the end of time. “Flow” is the filler, the stuff that keeps your blog churning or your social media streams full.

2 - Every Copywriting Formula Ever (or The Ultimate Guide to No-Pain Copywriting)

by Joanna Wiebe

This list of 51 best writing articles could have just as easily been a list of 51 best Joanna Wiebe blog posts. She is the world’s best copywriter, and her blog is bursting with fantastic resources for online writing, like her post

3 - In praise of writing on the Internet

by Celine Nguyen

This post contains all the advice Celine did NOT take when she started writing online. My favorite:

Celine Nguyen

I didn’t tell anyone about my newsletter.

4 - If Don Draper Tweeted: The 27 Copywriting Formulas That Will Drive Clicks and Engagement

by Kevan Lee, Buffer

Shameless plug! I wrote this article, but I didn’t really write it. All the formulas listed in this blog post are the incredible work of super smart writers and advertisers that I’ve curated over the years. It’s all them, none me.

5 - 25 Lessons from 25 Months of Content Marketing

by Gregory Ciotti

All 25 lessons in this post are great, but one of my favorites is this: Don’t forget about “solved” problems. For instance, in the case of Men’s Health magazine, they found that the market for fitness information was so great that their “solved” headlines can work over and over again. So they keep using the same headlines!!

Men's Health magazine cover headlines


6 - My All Time Favorite Blog Post And Why It's So Great

by Jason Miller

Jason’s post on LinkedIn offers a great review of the factors that go into an all-time great post. Here is a sampling of what Jason loves about great online writing:

  • Unique voice

  • Easy to read

  • Has personality

  • Has fantastic visuals

  • Useful and inspiring

7 - Minimum Viable Personality

by FakeGrimlock

Here’s the post that Jason Miller references as his “favorite blog post” of all time. It’s written from the point of view of a dinosaur!

8. Master This Copywriting Formula to Dominate Any Social Media Platform

by Demian Farnworth, Copyblogger

This article is great if you want to get deep into one can’t-miss formula for writing on social media or blogs.

9 - Why Content Marketing Fails

by Rand Fishkin

It’s an article wrapped in a slide deck with amazing takeaways for articles. If you work backward from the title (Why Content Marketing Fails), you’ll have a pretty awesome case for How Content Marketing Succeeds.

10 - Why I'd consider starting a blog

by Zoe Ashbridge, HubSpot

Perfect for beginners, this article on HubSpot’s site explains the obvious (i.e. what is a blog) but is so chock full of useful videos and explanations that it’s a fantastic starting point to anyone who is interested in writing online.

11 - 5 Breakthrough Techniques For Running A High-Traffic Blog

by Kohl Blotske, CoSchedule

12 - Agile Content Marketing: How to Attract an Audience That Builds Your Business

by Brian Clark, Copyblogger

13 - How to Boost Your Blog Post Production Speed by 600%

by John O'Nolan, Ghost

If you’re looking for a new blogging method, give John’s a try. (As the CEO of the blogging platform Ghost, John knows a thing or two about blogging and time management.) I was fortunate to stumble blindly onto many of the techniques he mentions here (ideas, outlines, etc.) when I was writing lots and lots as a content creator. I would have been better off finding his post first!

14 - 59 Marketing Diagrams That Explain Digital Marketing

by Orbit Media

The first 17 marketing diagrams in this list are all about content marketing. The other 42 are pretty great also (they’re just not about writing).

15 - Publish Your Blog Post Without SEO, and 1000s of Visits Will Be Forever Lost

by Rand Fishkin for ProBlogger

16 - 11 Common Blogging Mistakes That Are Wasting Your Audience’s Time

by Henneke, Copyblogger

I use this post to check in every so often to make sure I haven’t fallen into any of these bad habits. Case in point, the need to publish daily is a constant mistake of mine.

The ingredients of great online writing and fabulous blog posts

17 - 28 Ways to Write Moneymaking Headlines by Noble Direct Marketing

18 - 5 Simple Ways to Open Your Blog Post with a Bang by Brian Clark, Copyblogger

19 - It’s Not What You Say, It’s How You Present It

by A.J. Kohn, Blind Five-Year-Old

After reading this post I was stunned to realize one big thing that I failed to consider with my writing: the readability (and scannability) of what I write. Now I often picture what a post will look like as someone reads/scans, along with the words I’ll actually be writing.

(How’d I do on this post by the way?)

20 - How I promote my content

by Harry Dry, Marketing Examples

I’ve heard it said that you should spend 50 percent of your time writing your content and the other 50 percent of your time promoting it. Promotion is huge! And Harry’s advice in this post is a wonderful place to start.

21 - 5 Strategic Messaging Frameworks Every Product Marketers Should Know

by Andrei Țiț

I love a good framework to follow.

22 - Joe Sugarman Triggers

by Neville Medhora, Copywriting Course

Joe Sugarman was a famous advertising copywriter who write a book (the book) about copywriting. All is explained in the blog post or in this video:

23 - 10 Content Ideas That Always Work by Tim Stoddart, Copyblogger

24 - Users are / People are

by Ted Hunt

This article is meant for product managers and software builders, but the principles apply just as well to online writers. Our writing always benefits from empathizing with our audience. This simple “Users / People” framework proves super helpful.

25 - On Building Emotional Capital

by Sari Azout, Every.to

And as a followup to the “Users / People” framework, this post by Sari doubles-down on the importance of emotional connection to your readers, audience, and community. Emotional capital > PageRank capital (you might say).

How to grow your audience as a writer

26 - 6666 tips on how I reached 6666 subscribers on Substack

by Alex Dobrenko, Both Are True

This post is full of great tips and silly asides, which are highly relevant (and entertaining) for anyone who is looking to grow a newsletter list or build an audience.

Alex Dobrenko

Break the rules - Write pieces longer than the run time of Oppenheimer who cares. Misspel stuff and make a mockery of anything that smells of import. Export culture. Add things into your lists that make no sense. But no matter when, get a little metal with it.

27 - Guest Blogging Strategies that Helped Grow 36,733 Email Subscribers by Gregory Ciotti

28 - From Ideas to Traffic Results: How We Run a Blog with 700,000 Readers Per Month by Belle Beth Cooper, Buffer

29 - How to get 2,000 Substack subscribers in six months

by Erik Hoel, The Intrinsic Perspective

30 - Squad Wealth

by Sam Hart, Toby Shorin, and Laura Lotti, Other Internet

This big long essay explains how Internet communities work, which can help explain how online audiences might find, read, and share your writing.

Manifestos on writing and creativity

31 - The Creators Code

by Hiut Denim Co, Medium

A short one from Medium, this 60-word manifesto is a superb reminder of why and how we do what we do.

32 - At iDoneThis, we believe in taking it slow.

by Walter Chen, iDoneThis

The slow web movement is something really close to my heart and, I believe, close for a lot of writers, too. Online writing runs the risk of being shouted down by the noise of a busy Internet. What the team at iDoneThis has shared is that there’s another way—a quieter, simpler way that might just improve the writing work we all do.

33 - The 5000th post*

by Seth Godin

In typical Godin fashion, this one’s brief. But it does outline several of the lessons he’s learned in reaching the 5,000-post milestone. To paraphrase one of my favorite parts:

Seth Godin

Don’t write because it’s your job, write because you can.

34 - I’ve been blogging for 8 years

by Jessica Hagy

A short, two-minute read, this fun piece on Medium hits on some of the unspoken truths of content marketing.

Jessica Hagy

When in doubt, err on the side of fun.

35 - Your Life in Weeks

by Tim Urban, Wait But Why

This one has little to do with writing other than a huge motivation to make each day count.

36 - How to Be Great

by Leo Babauta, Zen Habits

I wish I could copy/paste the whole thing right here so you could read right away. Every time I breeze through this one I want to go out and create something.

37 - Your Startup Is a Movement

by David Sacks

There’s a great deal of power behind tapping into a movement. This goes for startup-building as well as content creation!

Writing advice and inspiration

38 - What should you do to help your child pursue her dreams of becoming a writer?

by M. Molly Backes, Medium

M. Molly Backes

First of all, let her be bored. Let her have long afternoons with absolutely nothing to do. Limit her TV-watching time and her internet-playing time and take away her cell phone. Give her a whole summer of lazy mornings and dreamy afternoons. Make sure she has a library card and a comfy corner where she can curl up with a book. Give her a notebook and five bucks so she can pick out a great pen. Insist she spend time with the family. It’s even better if this time is spent in another state, a cabin in the woods, a cottage on the lake, far from her friends and people her own age. Give her some tedious chores to do. Make her mow the lawn, do the dishes by hand, paint the garage. Make her go on long walks with you and tell her you just want to listen to the sounds of the neighborhood.

It gets better from there (and before there, too). Molly is a teacher and author who certainly knows her stuff. I want to print this article out and hand it to every middle school child.

39 - How To Hack Writing: A Personal Essay

by Harris Sockel, Medium

Some really great, actionable tips in this one, going beginning to end with how to create a personal essay from scratch.

40 - How to Encourage More Creative Thinking

by Gregory Ciotti, Sparring Mind

Did you know: Dr. Seuss produced Green Eggs & Ham after he bet his editor he could produce an entire book using only 50 unique words.

41 - The 25 Greatest Quotes About Writing

via This Isn’t Happiness

Just a really great collection of inspiration. One of my favorites (from Kafka, kind of an ironic inspiration):

Kafka

Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.

42 - TikTok and the Sorting Hat

by Eugene Wei

A looooongform article all about TikTok, this one is a great example of how to write something that’s long and full of voice and holds someone’s attention. The points about TikTok are also relevant for content creators in an algorithm-heavy world.

Writing productivity

43 - Bring Sanity to Your To-Do List With the 1-3-5 Rule

by Timegram

Write down one big thing, three medium things, and five little things to do each day. Then do them!

44 - How to Stop Procrastinating by Using The “2-Minute Rule”

by James Clear, Quora

James is one of my favorite voices on productivity and getting more from yourself and your day. The 2-Minute Rule breaks down like this (lots more examples and background in James’s post).

  • Part 1 — If it takes less than two minutes, then do it now.

  • Part 2 — When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do

45 - The Origin of the 8-Hour Work Day and Why We Should Rethink It

by Leo Widrich, Buffer

This was the first Buffer blogpost I ever read—and boy was it a good one! It set me down a path for thinking of productivity in a whole new way, not so structured as before but rather an intuitive approach where I listened more to how and when my body would respond. I’ve squeezed out a whole ton of extra writing because of it.

General interestingness

46 - Pretty Much Everything I Know About the News Business

by Sean Blanda, Medium

Sean’s article touches on a lot of journalism topics that can also fit for online writers, too. Things like understanding an audience and even the aforementioned stock and flow concept get mentioned here.

47 - The 7 Things Writers Need to Make a Living

by Sonia Simone, Copyblogger

A list of intangibles—think: “love” and “confidence” and less “keyboard” and “thesaurus”—this piece from Sonia is hugely relatable for those of us who write regularly.

48 - Here’s How Maria Popova of Brain Pickings Writes

by Kelton Reid, Copyblogger

I could have picked any number of “Here’s How X Writes” posts from the Copyblogger series, so narrowing it down was hard. Read several, or them all. Maria Popova’s interview was especially fascinating because she creates so much writing content all by herself, and she’s so well-versed in the writing of others.

49 - Making Your Writing Work Harder For You

by Patrick McKenzie, Kalzumeus

You’re waaay into my treasures box now. This link is an archived newsletter of Patrick’s that contains so much good stuff on writing, blogging, and marketing strategies. For instance, should you place the date on your blogposts? What types of content should you be posting? Patrick’s answers will get you thinking.

50 - The 20 Best Lessons from Social Psychology

by Zach Hamed, Medium

Quick, bite-sized snippets of psychology lessons that can help you understand the behavior of the people you’re writing for.

51 - A Brief History of Bloggering

by Giles Turnbull, The Morning News

A fake history, for that matter. A really funny piece that, in its own satirical way, sheds some light on what online writing has become. A snippet (that doesn’t really shed any light but is a bit humorous):

Giles Turnbull

Depending on who you ask, the first bloggering happened in the late 1990s, when the web was still young, and clicking links to pages where you’d click more links was cool. This was in the days when the only use for an animated GIF was to tell people you were still working on your web page.

Bonus:

52 - Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle

by Elmore Leonard, New York Times

This piece originally appeared in the NYT in 2001, and it has tons of good takeaways for authors and writers in general. Stuff like “Never open with the weather” and “Never use an adverb to modify the verb ‘said.'”

53 - THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO WRITING BETTER THAN YOU NORMALLY DO.

by Colin Nissan, McSweeneys

Another fun one. Jokes. And a great one to end on.

 

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Kevan Lee

VP of marketing currently living in Boise, Idaho. I work with the lovely folks at Oyster. You can join my email list to get an inside look at marketing, branding, and team-building in tech.

https://www.kevanlee.com
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