The Best Free Content Writing Course to Improve your Writings

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Top Free Content Writing Courses
• Five Bonus Content Writing Course Online
• Conclusion
• Key Takeaways
• FAQS

Are you looking to be a content writer but not sure how to begin? There are many free online content writing courses available to help you improve your writing skills. These courses deal with creative writing, journalism and blogging, business writing, academic writing, technical writing, and resume writing. Whether you want to improve your writing skills or you are new to content writing, you can choose a course depending on your preference and skill level. This blog will list down the best free content writing courses to improve your writing skills.

Top Free Online Content Writing Courses

1. Media Writing and Editing 

This is an excellent content writing course by the Ohio State University via the Canvas platform. It’s a comprehensive course for students looking to learn writing, reporting, research, and other media techniques. It’s a virtual classroom training setting where students get a deeper understanding of how social media works. The course is taught by Nicole Kraft, a journalist for the Associated Press and Columbus Dispatch.

The Canvas platform has an easy sign-up process with clear instructions. Once you’ve created an id, you can immediately sign in and start your class. The course consists of 11 modules and a final project to write a news story. The completion of the writing course will vary depending on your commitment. Free content writing courses like these will help you improve your writing skills and help you learn new media techniques.  

2. Perfect Tenses and Modals

There are numerous free content writing courses available for all levels, so you can choose the best one that suits you. The University of California offers the Perfect Tenses and Modals course, Irvine, via Coursera. The course is perfect for those who already have a grasp of the language. It’s designed to help students improve their writing and speaking skills. The course consists of intermediate verb tenses, and students will also learn about the common modal verbs. The course is engaging and fun, with a lot of entertaining videos. Once you’ve completed the course, you can also add a certificate of completion for a small fee.

3. Academic English: Writing Specialization

The University of California, Irvine, offers many courses to learn content writing to help students improve their language and writing skills. The Academic English Writing Specialization course is delivered via Coursera and includes the following:

• Getting started with Essay Writing
• Grammar and Punctuation
• Advanced Writing
• Introduction to Research for Essay Writing

The time to complete this online content writing course is three months. Students can also participate in a final graded research paper project with the paid version and add a certification for a nominal fee.

4. Academic and Business Writing

Offered by the University of California Berkeley via edX, this content writing course is designed to help students better grasp the language. This course will allow students to brush up on the structure, vocabulary, grammar, publication, and editing skills. The platform has some of the best courses to learn content writing you can find online.

The Academic and Business writing certification is a five-week course that focuses on the various writing styles and shows students how to edit their work. So, right from videos, writing assignments to essays and quizzes, you can get all of this entirely free when you enroll for the course. You can also get a completion certificate at the end of the course for ₹14,953.

5. Business Writing

One of the top courses online, this business writing course is offered by the University of Colorado Boulder. Offered via Coursera, the course helps students improve their business communication and writing skills. In this 13-hour course, students learn:

• How to use some simple tools to improve their writing
• How to take care of organization and structure to get your message across in an effective way

The free online course provides the right platform for students to move forward into graphic designing and presentation.

6. Storytelling in the Workplace

Storytelling has become a popular concept in the writing industry over the past few years. So, what does it mean? It simply refers to the narratives we use in presentations, emails, product launches, and other forms of communication. Compelling storytelling is essential to put your message across and tailor it according to your specific audience. This course is offered by the Rochester Institute of Technology via edX. In this course, you will learn:

• The principles of compelling storytelling and how you can use them within your organization
• How to tailor messages to target your audience
• How to write and structure your content to create the right impact

The content writing certification course is an introductory curriculum and takes three weeks. You can also add a complete certification for a nominal fee.

7. Creative Writing: The Craft of Plot

Offered by Wesleyan University, this content writing course is via Coursera. It’s one of five in the Creative Writing Specialization. It introduces aspiring writers to the most challenging storytelling aspect – the plot. You will learn to craft the plot, structure events correctly, and edit your work. The course takes approximately 6 hours to complete but can vary depending on your time and schedule, as you can reset your deadlines accordingly. Students can get a certificate of completion and participate in assignments and projects for a nominal fee.

8. Copywriting Quick Start: Top Free Writing Tools and Hacks

Udemy offers this copywriting course. The learning platform has various free content writing courses that provide an excellent learning experience for aspiring content writers. This is a 36-minute course that emphasizes the different tools for copywriters. The class includes the following:

• How to come up with blog ideas
• How to create eye-catching headlines
• How to create an impressive copy for advertising and marketing
• How to find the right words for any situation

This content writing certification is perfect for those looking to learn more about copywriting. It’s a short and informative course that is good for beginners. If you would like a certificate on completion, you can get one for a fee.

9. Make Your Writing Stand Out in Eight Easy Steps

This is another excellent content writing certification offered by Udemy for content writers. The course is a three-hour course that helps students learn practical skills like proper word order, word usage, sentence structure, crafting introduction, paragraphs, and conclusions. The platform offers learners the opportunity to take the course from their phones or computers. The course is designed to be informative and engaging.

10. Learn How to Write Blog Posts That Earn Real Passive Income

This is a three-hour online course offered by Udemy. The course consists of 25 lectures and seven sections that guide students on writing impressive blog posts that can generate a following. You can also learn about specific keywords your target audience uses and write influential blogs around popular and particular keywords. With the online video content course, you can learn to turn blog traffic into customers and discover the best blog-writing format.

These were some of the best free writing courses to learn content writing you can choose to improve your writings. Whether you are a fresher or looking to improve your skills, you can benefit from taking one of these free writing courses online. 

5 Bonus Content Writing Course Online

11. The Effective Writing Free Course by the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee via Swayam

This course in content writing aims at teaching effective writing. At the end of the course, the student will learn to write with clarity, precision, and subtlety with appropriateness and accuracy.

The course is a free content writing course, but registration is mandatory if you need a certificate.  After registering, you have to appear for an examination conducted by the institution at their designated centers. Announcements will be made once the registration form is open for the students. You will have to fill the online form and submit it after paying the exam fees of Rs. 1000.

12. Blogging For a Living

This blogging training course is a top-rated free content writing course by Udemy and the longest-running one among the best content writing courses. 

According to the latest industry research, 92% of companies who blog multiple times a day have acquired at least one customer from their blog. Blogs provide marketers an opportunity to convert traffic into money transactions. Therefore, blogs are the hub of social marketing. Corporations can improve their search engine visibility when blogs are incorporated into company websites. 

In this course, you can learn the techniques and concepts that can help you kick-start a blogging business. The different subjects taught in the course are the selection of the right blogging platform, sections of a blog, best practices of blog writing, building corporate sites on WordPress, various case studies, and much more.

13. Secret Sauce of Great Writing

The senior editor of The Wall Street Journal, Shani Raja, designed this online content writing course. During this course, you will learn the four main concepts of great writing — simplicity, elegance, clarity, and evocativeness. You will understand how professional writers write powerful and good prose. This online writing course will also help you know your weaknesses which can help to improve your writing significantly.

It will also provide exercises and online video content, questions and answers from instructors, and direct messages from the instructor himself. The course is intermediate-level and has 41 minutes of on-demand video from Udemy.

14. Craft Your Cover Letter

What is a cover letter? It is more than just a formal letter. Here is your opportunity to impress your employer. All organizations prefer a cover letter because it forms a critical section of your resume. If written well, it will give your employer a good first impression that will make you stand out among the tough competition. It is a good value addition to your resume as it grabs the reader’s attention and informs about your strengths which will gradually help you progress in the selection process.

Though this online content writing course is for beginners, the short course will teach you how to research the company values you are writing to, develop a good story and focus on your writing pitch. The course helps you understand the need for a cover letter in a resume and write the introduction, body, and conclusion of a cover letter.

The free content writing course by Udacity also makes available valuable learning content with interactive quizzes, instructor videos, practice exercises, all taught by industry professionals. This free content writing course is self-paced, and you will be given a certificate on completion.

15. Creative Writing Specialization with certification

Crafting a story is an art.

In this free content writing course, you will be taught three crucial elements of writing — story writing, essay narratives, and how to write a memoir. This is a specialized and free writing course by the end of which you will master the techniques of writing a great story with memorable characters.

During the course, you will also be analyzing and evaluating peer writing. It is a very efficient course for a beginner, or anybody, right from aspiring story writers to professional novelists.

The course by Coursera teaches how you must craft a plot, how to create a character, and describe the setting. It has a self-paced learning option that gives the student time to complete the course. HD quality videos, quizzes, graded assignments, and program assignments are some of the attractive features of this free content writing course. The highlight of the course is that it is available in many languages.

Conclusion

Content writers are always in demand. A career in writing is extremely lucrative if pursued correctly. A content writing certification course brings with it umpteen opportunities. The earnings of a good content writer are limitless. There are not many university courses that actually teach content writing as a skill. Read up on all the free writing courses and join as many courses as you can because this is a profession that gives you the comfort of working from home, too!

Key Takeaways

• If you want to be a content writer specializing in creative writing, journalism and blogging, business writing, academic writing, technical writing, or resume writing, your best bet to begin is via learning from an online content writing course. 
• Some of the best free online content writing courses available include Canvas’ Media Writing and Editing, Udemy’s course on writing blog posts, Creative Writing by Wesleyan University, etc. 
• It is important to do thorough research of these courses before pursuing them. Do check if they meet your requirement and support your current schedule. 
• Don’t just go for a course because it sounds great; understand the level of commitment you can afford to give at the moment and only then sign up for a course. 

FAQs