17 Content Writing Examples, Samples, and Formats

The demand for content is insatiable. Nearly every small business, brand, blogger, and content marketing agency needs fresh, SEO-optimized content on a weekly – and sometimes daily – basis. If you’re considering launching a freelance web content writing career, stay tuned, because in this post we’re going to cover several content writing examples from a range of major industries. You can use them as guidelines to help you practice your content writing skills, or as inspiration for creating your own portfolio of writing samples.

Let’s jump in!

Content writing samples for beginners

In this section, we’ll look at samples of several major types of content writing, including SEO content, social media content, technical writing, and more.

Examples of SEO content

SEO content writing is a type of web writing that aims to influence search engine algorithms with the ultimate goal of ranking higher for a specific search query.

Example use cases for SEO writing include any scenario where a business’s goal is to drive traffic, leads, and customers via an Internet search. For example:

• Webpages such as service pages (e.g., “residential painting services Chicago”)
• E-commerce product descriptions, category pages, and buying guides
• Blog posts, including listicles, ultimate guides, tutorials, reviews, etc.

SEO writing follows on-page optimization best practices, including:

• Targeting one primary keyword (i.e., search query) per page
• Including secondary keyword phrases (i.e., related phrases with same or similar searcher intent as the primary keyword) throughout the content
• Including the primary and secondary keywords in key places throughout the content, such as the SEO title tag, H1 tag, first paragraph, subheadings, image alt tags, body copy, etc.
• Building external links to external relevant and authoritative sources
• Building internal links to related articles on the same website using appropriate anchor text
• Including elements such as subheads, bullet lists, images, etc.
• Avoiding over optimization or keyword stuffing
• Covering the topic comprehensively and avoiding “thin” or unoriginal content

If you frequently write web content, consider using DIY SEO software to help you keep track of the above on-page optimization tasks.

It’s important to remember that while SEO content is optimized for search engines, it should also be written with human readers in mind. For this reason, SEO content often includes elements of copywriting designed to persuade or convert readers, such as calls to action (CTAs).

The following are examples of SEO content writing:

The 8 Best Teas for a Sore Throat: Chamomile, Mint, and More (Artful Tea). A blog post targeting the keyword “best tea for sore throat” to sell tea products for an e-commerce store.

The Best Outdoor Pizza Ovens (Wayfair). Another example of a “best” post showcasing a variety of products on an e-commerce website.

How to Optimize Images for WordPress and Improve Your PageSpeed Score (WP Rocket). A technical tutorial targeting the keyword “how to optimize images for WordPress.” This blog post provides useful information to readers while also framing its product – in this case, a WordPress plugin – as a solution to their problem.

How to Choose a Hammock (REI). A typical example of an e-commerce “buying guide.” Instead of recommending products in the body of the post, the writer has opted to include calls to action (“Shop” buttons) throughout.

Original Kettle Charcoal Grill 18″ (Weber). A basic e-commerce product description with a bullet-point list outlining the features and benefits of the product. This is a typical sample of SEO content writing with copywriting mixed in.

Deck Painting (Wow 1 Day). A landing page for a company that offers a variety of painting services. In this content writing example, notice how the company is targeting a multiple very similar keywords in the subheadings (“deck painting,” “professional deck painting services,” “deck painting contractors,” “deck staining”, etc.). The post concludes with a call to action to book a free consultation.

In each of the examples above, note the primary keyword and secondary keyword phrases being used naturally, albeit strategically, throughout the content.

In addition, some of the examples include a FAQ section that borrows the questions from the “People Also Ask” section of the search results page. This is by design, to ensure that the topic is covered comprehensively and to increase the chances the article will rank when a searcher types in one of these questions.

Many freelance writers start their careers in the area of SEO content writing. With the vast number of websites, blogs, and online product catalogs increasing by the minute, the opportunities here are truly unlimited.

Examples of social media content

Unlike SEO content, social media posts don’t necessarily have to be written according to SEO best practices (although it doesn’t hurt to keep keywords in mind).

Instead, social media content should be optimized for engagement, such as likes, comments, shares, and clicks, as these are the behaviours that social media algorithms use to determine a post’s reach.

When writing for social media, consider using the following elements to increase engagement:

• Hashtags. Some social media platforms, such as Twitter and Instagram, make use of hashtags to connect their post to a specific entity, theme, or trending topic. This way, anyone who searches for the hashtag will be able to find the content more easily. For instance, many brands use a brand hashtag at the end of each post or tweet.

• @usernames. If you share an image or blog post, consider “mentioning” (tagging) the people who are featured in it, or others who might be interested in it.

• Links to your blog or website. Give your followers a good reason to click on your links by continually providing value with the content you share. And don’t forget to use a link shortener like Bit.ly to make your links look more appealing.

Other ways to increase engagement include asking your followers questions, conducting polls, running contests, using calls to action, offering promo codes, sharing attention-grabbing images or videos, or using humour.

Unlike with SEO writing, there are no real rules for creating social media content (other than minding the maximum character count for each platform, staying on-brand, and protecting your or your client’s reputation!). So, there’s a lot more space to get creative, be clever, and even sprinkle in some emoji if that’s your thing.

The following two samples of social media content demonstrate how much room there is for variation in the format of a post, even on the same social platform.

In this example, The Honest Company creates a (rather long) Instagram post encouraging their followers to engage with the company’s profile for the chance to win a prize.

Pabst, on the other hand, seems to favor a much simpler approach to their social media marketing, with an Instagram post that simply says: “fancy.”

Examples of email content

Specializing in email copywriting can be a lucrative path for freelance writers. Many businesses and e-commerce operations rely on email as a primary marketing and sales channel.

As an email copywriter, you might be responsible for writing one-time email blasts or developing entire nurture series and even building out sales funnels. Therefore, email content writers must have solid copywriting skills.

If you’re interested in learning how to write email content, the best way to get your hands on some samples is to sign up to several email newsletters in your industry and pay attention to what they’re doing well.

Also, consider following and learning from these top email marketing experts:

• Ramit Sethi
• Noah Kagan
• Joanna Wiebe
• Sujan Patel

Examples of technical content

Technical writing often conjures up mental images of user manuals with complicated diagrams and tiny print. But nowadays, “technical writing” often translates to technical blogging.

So if you have a knack for processes or concepts clearly and concisely, a freelance career as a writer for tech websites might be a great fit for you.

Below are some examples of technical content writing:

• How to Clean Your Car’s Engine (Car and Driver)
• Take screenshots or screen recordings on Mac (Apple)
• How to resize your images (Adobe)

Industry-specific content writing samples

For more inspiration, check out the following content writing examples from specific industries:

• Fashion: 10+ Simple Outfits with Light Blue Jeans for Men. Article for a fashion affiliate site targeting keywords like “outfits with light blue jeans,” “what to wear with light blue jeans.”

• Education: Lesson summary: Introduction to Macroeconomics. An example of e-learning content. Note the use of bold and italic text, tables, bullet lists, etc., to aid learning.

• Food: Baked Potato. An SEO-optimized baked potato recipe. Looks delicious! Food bloggers are notorious for rambling on for days before getting to the actual ingredients and recipe. This gives them the opportunity to bulk up their content with a lot of SEO-friendly phrases such as “how long to bake a potato,” as you’ll notice in this post.

• Finance. How to Improve Credit Fast. An SEO-optimized how-to post for a finance affiliate site.

• Hotel. Where to Celebrate New Year’s Eve in Melbourne. A smart piece of content marketing by a hotel, complete with a call to action at the end of the blog post.

How do beginners write content?

The first step before beginning any new writing project — say, as a sample for your writing portfolio — is to get clear on the following points:

• Objective. What is the ultimate goal of your writing project? Is it to teach readers a new skill? Sell a product? Grow an email list? Drive traffic for a target keyword?

• Format. What type of content are you writing? A sales page? An SEO-optimized blog post? A Facebook post? What is the structure and word count?

• Audience. Who is the target audience? What industry or niche are you targeting? What’s their knowledge or experience level with the topic you’re writing about? What’s their job title? Etc.

Next, prepare a content brief or outline incoming any subheads, main points, and bullet lists you want to include. To speed up the writing process, consider including a target word count for each subhead so you don’t end up going over your target word count when you write the article.

Finally, write the content, making sure to follow SEO guidelines if applicable.

Download our beginner content writing samples PDF (English) for an example content brief and its corresponding article, plus an on-page SEO checklist.

How do I become a content writer with no experience?

If you have no previous freelance writing experience, don’t despair: You can create your own portfolio of writing samples from scratch. This is exactly how I landed my first writing clients.

The truth is, most prospective clients either don’t care or won’t ask about your previous writing experience. They only want to know that you have a working knowledge of their industry and can communicate that knowledge clearly in writing.

So don’t let a lack of experience stop you from achieving your dream.

Here’s how to get up and running as quickly as possible:

Choose a niche. If you specialize in a certain industry, such as finance, or a specific type of writing, such as email copywriting — or both — you can charge higher rates for your services.

Write 1-3 samples. Just 1-3. Don’t overthink this. You really don’t need 20 different samples across 20 different industries to start getting paid to write. As noted above, remember to determine the objective, format, and audience of your writing sample at the outset. Then get writing!

Create a website to showcase your portfolio samples. This step is optional but recommended. I also recommend getting a domain name and web host and building a self-hosted website with WordPress.org (not WordPress.com). There are plenty of WordPress themes made for showcasing freelance portfolios.

Decide on your rates. Again, don’t overthink this, as you can always change your rates later on. Just make sure not to set them too low. Look around at what others are charging in your niche and start there.

Start pitching your services. You can cold email businesses in your industry, reach out to SEO and content marketing agencies, or use writing job boards and freelance sites like ProBlogger and Upwork.

What does a content writer actually do?

Content writers create SEO-optimized content for businesses and marketing agencies. Typical writing assignments for a content writer include blog posts, website pages, e-commerce product descriptions and buying guides, and social media posts.

Clients will often provide a content brief or outline for the writer to work from. The brief will usually include the following information:

• Primary keyword
• Secondary keywords
• Type and purpose of content (blog post, social media post, etc.)
• Target audience
• Formatting instructions (subheads, bullet lists, etc.)
• Brand style guidelines, such as tone
• Required word count
• Any calls to action that should be included

In addition to writing skills, content writers must have a working knowledge of SEO best practices, and ideally some copywriting experience as well. They may also be required to collaborate (typically remotely) with editors and project managers, so good teamwork skills are a plus.

What are good writing sample topics?

If you need inspiration for creating your writing portfolio, consider creating some samples for one or more of the following major content writing niches:

• Fashion (e.g., “what to wear with sweatpants”)
• Education (e.g., “how to write a thesis statement”)
• Food (e.g., “how to boil eggs perfectly”)
• Finance (e.g., “best credit cards for travel points”)
• Hotel (e.g., “things to do in san diego with kids”)

See content writing samples for each of these niches earlier in this post.

Final thoughts

I hope these content writing examples sparked your creativity and opened your eyes to the many possibilities that are out there for freelance content writers. Too much information can be overwhelming, though, so remember not to overthink it. Start creating your own portfolio of samples today so you can start getting paid to write as soon as possible.