Freelance writers do run out of words sometimes (to be honest, most of the times)

Yes, you heard it right.

Writing thousands of words every day isn’t a piece of cake. Even the most artistic and creative minds start using fluff words at the later stages of their writing — That’s unhealthy for their portfolio and clients.

Therefore, It is necessary to know the words that you should avoid as a freelance writer. These words are so much used that they have lost their effectiveness.

1.      In Order To

“In order to recover fast from the injury, you should rest.”

Does it sound wordy? Yes, it is.

Because of the unnecessary use of “in order to,” the sentence has become longer and less crispy. Freelance writers make use of this word to meet the word count when losing it.

In most of the situations, ‘to’ can simply be used instead of ‘in order to.’

2.      Really

“This dress looks really good.”

When emphasizing, writers mostly rely on the word ‘really,’ which is fine in most of the cases, but its excessive use can simply turn off the reader at some point.

If you want to emphasize something, try to do it in a single word. For example, ‘excellent, marvelous, gorgeous, etc.’

The list doesn’t end here. You can always use thesaurus whenever you’re short of words.

3.      Think

“I think that this case study will help a startup boost their sales.”

Sounds a little less authoritative, right?

When a freelance writer is creating a technical guide or authoritative copy, she should avoid using an insecure tone. It decreases the content value, and the text becomes less trustable.

You can simply skip the ‘I think’ part and let the rest of the sentence as it is.

4.      Awesome

“You have done an awesome job!”

Honestly, ‘awesome’ is one of the most overused words ever.

The readers have become used to it and do not get easily inspired because the word has lost the meaning due to excessive usage.

Changing ‘awesome’ with its synonyms such as ‘brilliant,’ ‘stunning,’ and ‘stupendous’ will do the trick.

The end goal of an exciting writing piece is just to become unique and readable.

5.      Very

“I saw a very big elephant in the zoo this morning.”

Focusing back to the wordiness, ‘very’ is often overused just for the sake of meeting word-count.

I know you want to sound impactful, but using ‘very’ in every next sentence isn’t a good idea at all. Instead of using ‘very’ every now and then, start using words that people are less familiar with. That word will automatically build a major impact on the audience.

In this particular case, of example, ‘very big’ can be replaced with ‘giant,’ ‘huge,’ and ‘massive.’

6.      Words Ending with ‘-Ly’

“He played the shot beautifully into the covers.”

Here I mean to avoid the adverbs, the words that describe a verb.

I’m not saying that you should avoid them at every cost. It’s just a difference of a gold-plated and pure gold. Which one would you go for?

The people want to picture the text with a solid background. Adverbs do help the cause, but they are less appealing than the actual storytelling.

7.      A Lot Of

“There are a lot of career opportunities for you as a Spanish copywriter.”

Don’t forget the actual message of your writing piece when running after the word count. You’ve to deliver the actual value in the form of words rather than stuffing irrelevant words.

Also, what is actually ‘a lot of,’ does it look like a statistical figure? Does it produce any value for your content? If not, then drop it.

8.      One of

“One of the most common mistakes copywriters do is not including CTA.”

A well-reputed copywriter always picks his side.

Do not cover your content up in ‘one of the most common’ or ‘one of the best.’

Let your audience know you are confident about your claim.

9. Just

“Just do what you’re good at”

‘Just’ is a vague method of delivering your message, and most copywriters do agree on this idea.

Whenever you feel like using ‘just’ in your text, drop it, and be direct with your readers. They do not want to read any single word which doesn’t offer value to them.

The Final Words

You do not remove these words from your brain, just think twice when you are going to use them and look for a more original way to say the same. If you still feel that you need them, go ahead.

Keep in mind, freelance writing pieces are valuable only when the words deliver the exact information. Writing is an art in which you have to think of each word and place it where it impacts the most.

Becoming a better writer was never easy…

It will take time, you have to keep practicing.