5 online writing lessons i had to learn the hard way

Online writing is such a novel concept that no amount of preparation could have warranted your success. You have to dive in, make mistakes and improve.

But certainly there are lessons you would want to know before going in to prevent burnout, creative block and self-doubt.

Here are five lessons I had to learn the hard way that I believe would be valuable to you as a new digital writer.

1. Your niche is the last thing you need to worry about

Finding a niche is one of the first things you are advised to do before creating content online.

Surely, it’s a great way to position yourself and make it easier for your audience to find and engage with you.

But from the standpoint of a viewer, you don’t consume just one type of content, do you?

You wouldn’t hop on TikTok looking for only writing tips and insights. You’d love to see travel stories, learn new recipes, or find crochet inspirations.

You are multi-dimensional.

Your content should be diverse as well.

2. But not too diverse…

That being said, as a viewer, you wouldn’t be interested in an account that posts completely irrelevant things.

Business insights on Monday, easy overnight oats recipes on Wednesday and a standup comedy snippet on Friday confuse the hell out of your audience.

So yes you should aim for content diversity, but make it relevant and valuable for your viewers.

The simple way to make sure you’re not off track is:

• specify your target audience (age, occupation, location etc.)

• pick 1-3 topic(s) your audience would be interested in and you are most confident to write about as your content pillars

For example, my target audience is 22 to 35-year-old full-time employees who are looking to start their online writing journey and make money doing what they love.

Having done some research and also being part of my target audience, I figure my content pillars would be writing, side hustle and building a healthy relationship with yourself amidst the chaos of everyday life.

Clearly defining the main focus of your content from the get-go is vital to get the message out to the right audience.

I made the mistake of over-diversifying my content on Medium and I’m sure some of my followers are so puzzled by the amount of articles about writing thrown at them when they initially signed up for travel stories.

To help you avoid making the same mistake, I’ve put together a free worksheet called The Online Writing Navigator, which essentially is a writing strategy for you to kickstart your journey right.

To get this free template, subscribe to this newsletter!

The worksheet will be in your mailbox in a few seconds.

3. Write daily, even if you don’t publish

By the time I publish this article, I have already stopped writing daily for nearly 3 months.

Since the practice has been scattered, when I sat down at my desk to write again, I stared at the keyboard for at least 20 minutes before coming up with the first sentence of this post.

In fact, this single article took me about 5 days to finish, including the hours spent procrastinating, self-blaming and overthinking.

It’s one thing to learn a new skill.

It’s another to maintain and improve it.

Even if you don’t publish daily, write every day.

Write in the morning. Write before you go to bed. Type on your Notes app when you’re commuting to work. Putting pen to paper to disconnect from the digital world and look inward.

Write down your blog ideas. Journal your day and what you’re grateful for. Outline your article and come back tomorrow for the first draft. Use your Threads/Twitter (it will never be X to me) account as a brain dump and publish your thoughts there.

“But I don’t have the time.”

That’s what I told myself as a full-time employee as well.

But here’s the thing about making it as an online writer: you don’t find the time to write, you make the time to write.

4. Adopt the “So what?” mindset

Since digital writing and making money writing online are such new concepts, there are groups of people who wouldn’t be able to fathom the idea of you wanting to be a digital writer.

They’ll bombard you with questions and criticism to “shield” you from the instability and danger of the virtual world and lead you back to the safe and stable world of grinding from 9 to 5.

They’ll tell you that there’s no way you’re going to make it.

Here’s the thing: if people say you’ll succeed, you won’t. Not without consistent hard work.

Why should you care if people say you’ll fail?

Over the past three years of publishing online, I’ve learned to reply to skepticism with “So what?”

• “You’ll be judged by user238565930.” - “So what?”

• “Nobody is going to follow someone with so little expertise.” - “So what?”

• “Writing is dead.” - “So what?”

Care less about the naysayers.

Adopt the “So what?” mindset and keep publishing.

5. Online writing is a long game

Success stories are well-loved but for some reason, failure stories don’t get the same amount of affection.

Even the most successful and famous people online take years to get where they are. MrBeast didn’t start out with 10 million subscribers. Justin Welsh didn’t begin with a cult following. Nicolas Cole and Dickie Bush didn’t build a whole business within a month.

If you’re determined to succeed as an online writer, you have to realize it’s a long-term game.

There’ll be days when you get no likes, views or comments.

There’ll be days when you’d want to give up and use your spare time on other activities that bring you immediate joy.

You’ll have to write 100 horrible pieces of content before finally becoming better.

You’ll have to consistently write and publish for months before you get your first dollar.

You’ll deal with the fear of being judged, imposter syndrome and self-doubt.

You’ll face online trolls, hate comments and discouragement from people you know.

But it’ll be worth it.

Takeaways

If you’re embarking on the exciting adventure of online writing, welcome, we’ll have so much fun.

And here are a few pieces of advice for the trip:

• Don’t worry about your niche, just write

• Diversify your content but make it relevant for your target audience

• Write daily even if you don’t publish

• Reply “So what?” to the skeptics

• Know that you’ll have to be in the writing world for the long haul

Make sure to get your FREE online writing strategy by subscribing to my newsletter and receive valuable writing tips and lessons on how to maintain your well-being while writing online & build a healthy relationship with yourself.

Until next time!

Yours,

Chau