What is Content Editing? 9 Key Tasks of a Content Editor

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What is Content Editing? 

Have you heard about Content Editing? If the term is new to you, this article will surely help you familiarize it. Content Editing is an important job role that goes hand-in-hand with Content writing when we speak about creating high-quality content. Any content, in the form of text, audio, video, graphics anything that is out for publishing has to undergo the Content Editing process. In this process, the editor makes sure that your content is free from grammatical errors, SEO-optimized, and compatible with your brand voice. The editor also assures that the content is easy to read, it is structured well, and has a smooth flow.

 9 Key Tasks of a Content Editor

Content Editing is the process that reviews content for its flow, readability, and ease of understanding. Therefore, writers who spend a lot of time writing articles, blog posts, social media content, etc, are likely to learn the basic skills of Content Editing. Let’s analyze what all things will a Content Editor has to keep in mind. Basically, a Content Editor has 9 key tasks. They are,

• Read the complete content to know the changes
• Study the range once again to check the flow
• Grammar and spelling check
• Do editing for the web
• Add media
• Fast-checking content authority
• Checks whether the content follows the in-house style guide
• Reviews whether the content meets the accessibility requirements
• Optimize for SEO

Proofreading, Copy Editing, and Content Editing- Are they similar?

Copy editing is the final polishing of the matter to be published. The word Copy refers to the ‘matter to be printed. In Copy editing, the editor retains the voice and meaning of the author. After the copy edit, the matter will be organized and readable and follows the publication’s tone and style guidelines. Line-editing is the other name for copy-editing. It also ensures whether the draft written is in British English or American English as per the requirements of the client. When the copy editor’s work is over, proofreading is the last step in the whole process of Content Writing. A proofreader is a special editor who works on the mechanical elements of the content. He checks grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, on-page layout, formatting, etc. Both copy-editing and proofreading fine-tune your final editing process.

Let’s look at the 9 key tasks of Content Editing below

1. Read the complete content to know the changes

This is a humble request to all the content editors before landing on the actual process of Content Editing. Go through the entire content, read it, and understand the pace of the writer. This is an important step often forgotten by Content Editors because of time constraints. While reading, the editor will come to know which all sentences and paragraphs need editing work. On the other hand, jumping straightaway into Content Editing immediately after receiving the content doesn’t do justice to the content as well. So, read first and then edit. 

2. Study the content once more to check the flow

Along with reading the content, it is equally important to check the overall flow of the sentences in the content. It’s better to ask some questions to yourself-like does the content have a structure? Will the reader be able to carry his thoughts while reading from one sentence to the other and be on his track? If you are able to find answers to these from the article, it means you have succeeded in this Content Editing task. The flow is a key factor while dealing with 2000-3000 word content as it helps in understanding. When the reader feels distracted somewhere, he skips reading and bounces back to other pages. Hence to keep him stay on our blog, we have to take care of a lot of things like this.

3. Grammar and spelling check

In Content Editing, error-free sentences play an integral part. Even if the Content Writer is not that keen on checking the grammar and spelling, the content editor is responsible to undergo that step. With the help of any good grammar-checking tools available online, they verify each and every sentence in the article. Grammarly, Smallseotools, Grammar check, Gingersoftware, etc. Further, the editor also has to check the sentence structure and voice. He has to make sure that active voice is more used compared to passive voice. Because active voice sentences give more clarity than the ones written in passive voice.

4. Do editing for the web

Writing for the web is something different from normal essay writing. Long paragraphs are very time-consuming and boring to read in online articles. For this reason, it’s elementary to cut down paragraphs and shorten each to a minimum of 100 words. If the content writer hasn’t paid much attention to this, the content editor has to break paragraphs and add suitable sub-headings. Above all, proper sub-heading distribution, sound use of transition words, and short and crisp paragraphs using simple words will definitely increase the readability of your content. In Content Editing, editors scan the entire webpage before publishing and check all these things along with the working of internal and external links.

5. Add media

In professional Content Writing and Content Editing, copying, and pasting images from Google for the blog doesn’t work. Surely, there will be copyright issues. Even if the writers give links to the images, this will happen. The content editor does the job of creating images and infographics needed for the blogs using Canva and such tools. Or he can browse sites like unsplash.com, Shutterstock, and Pinterest for free downloadable stock images. In addition to this, he should also validate the legality of videos in his blog. And, he knows who can help him in this regard, for example, a content creator like a podcaster, YouTuber, etc.

6. Fact-checking content authority

In your too personal blogs, you can write blah-blahs. But it is impossible to write whatever comes to your mind in professional Content Writing. You have to fact-check the information you collected several times. Anyhow, the clients will accept only authorized content. In this step of Content Editing, the Editor has to double-check that the data shared is not only correct but also fresh. For that purpose, the editor should be well aware of credible sites to verify the information. Any hint of plagiarism will destroy your credibility and reliability. There are free websites to check the plagiarism of your content- Semrush, Smallseotools, Plagiarism checker, Copyscape, Unicheck, etc.

7. Checks whether the content follows the in-house style guide

There is a conventional style guide for web publishers, which they have to follow while maintaining content. Journalists’ websites follow detailed style guides like the guardian, economist, and BuzzFeed style guide, widely used by the internet and social media. In Content Editing, it is vital for an editor to refer to the style guide and examine carefully whether the content follows the style guide. For instance, a website style guide may direct that all headings must be in Title Case and not in sentence case. In such a case, they will restyle any heading to title case if they’re wrong. 

8. Reviews whether the content meets the accessibility requirements

This is a prominent step in Content Editing. A content editor has to check that every article contains significant information for people with visual or other disabilities. Generally, he will add alternative text tags to images and videos and write captions, according to the latest World wide web accessibility guidelines. The Content Editor has to check all these even if the Content Writer didn’t take care of them. They will also rewrite the content that’s hard to read or understand, without losing its meaning. Meeting accessibility requirements is important before publishing the article. 

9. Optimize for SEO

It is an absolute fact that we can’t make coffee without adding coffee powder. Likewise, while talking about Content Writing and Content Editing, SEO(Search Engine Optimization) is the inevitable part of the content to be published. It determines the readability and accessibility of the content among the readers. There are a few factors to take into account for our content to display in the top list when a user browses something on the web. Optimization is a special and indispensable skill that a Content Writer should have. The article should qualify with normal keyword density i.e the main keyword should appear multiple times. The content editor adds it in URL, headline, sub-heading, and in body copy.

Content Writing Course

Besides this, there are many Content Writing Courses available online through which you can even get to know more about Content Editing, Copy Writing, etc. One such good option is Henry Harvin’s Content Writing course. After all, pursuing a Course in this field will doubtlessly offer you a bright career.

Henry Harvin

Ranked #1 among Content Writing Courses in India

Undoubtedly, Henry Harvin is the number one choice for those looking for the best Content Writing Courses in India online. The course is regarded as the oldest in South Asia. This Certified Digital Content Writing course includes 40 hours of two-way online live interaction sessions, assignments, projects, internship, and then the last step- the Certification. The certificate is globally recognized and with the course, you will get one- year of Gold membership at Henry Harvin Writing Academy. Alternatively, let’s look at the important learning benefits you can get from the course.

Course Learning Benefits 

• Acquire skills to write 30+ Content types and start earning from online projects
• Learn professional content writing techniques to attract native as well as International clients
• Learn technical skills to deal with CMS, blogs, and articles
• Pick up Graphic designing skills- to create logos, newsletters, brochures, and infographics
• Gain advanced research skills on any given topic and present your content appealing to the audience.

Brief Course Curriculum

Module 1	Language Sills
Module 2	Internet Skills
Module 3	Blog, Business and Marketing Technique
Module 4	Content Strategy
Module 5	Technical and Research Writing
Module 6	Academic Writing
Module 7	Creative Writing
Module 8	Copywriting
Module 9	Email writing
Modle 10	Legal writing
Module 11	Earn online and gain International projects
Module 12	Simulated Content Writing projects
Complimentary Module 1	Soft skill development
Complimentary Module 2	Resume writing

Conclusion – A Content Editor’s role and salary

If the piece of writing is too long, say 5000 words in length, it is likely for the writer to hire an editor from outside before sending it to their content editor. The same applies to anything that requires massive editing. Similarly, a content editor doesn’t work with the first draft of the early manuscript. In a nutshell, Content Writing is simply wordplay. If you can create a lot of content and put it through in an engaging manner, you are already on your way to being a great content writer. So in the case of Content Editing. According to Ambitionbox, the average annual salary for a content editor in India is 3.1 lakhs per annum. Many publishing houses in India are likely to hire expert writers who can edit, or proofread writing to make it presentable at the final stage. 

Recommended Reads

• 6 brilliant tools for Content Editing
• 5 brilliant Content Writing tips for beginners

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