You’ve probably noticed that, over the past several years, brands seem to have finally accepted that ‘creating content’ is a high priority.

Unfortunately, this widespread acceptance has led to a great deal of substandard and mediocre content being distributed online.

When it comes to setting your content marketing efforts up for the best chance of success, there are far more ‘boxes to tick’ now than there were a decade ago. Your audience is savvy and know what they want. They also know how to quickly spot content that’s not relevant or delivering any value to them.

So, not only should brands be delivering high levels of value and quality through their content, but there is also a more recent precedent regarding conveying authenticity. This is all in addition to keeping accessibility and inclusion in mind when developing content, of course.

Five basic principles

How words are ‘stitched together’ can be very subjective. For example, an article crammed with jargon, technical, or industry-specific language might be high quality in the eyes of some, while other readers might feel it’s too hard to digest and makes them feel a bit alienated.

With all of the above to consider, content and copywriters can quickly start to feel a bit overwhelmed when trying to work out what quality content means.

Everyone’s experience with creating content is different, but I think that there are, at the very top level, some basic principles for digital content creation that will always stay the same. They can act as an ‘acid test’ for every piece of content out there.

They are:

✅ Value

✅ Accuracy

✅ Writing for the end reader

✅ Uniqueness

✅ Optimisation

1. Value

First and foremost, what your content actually offers the end reader has to be one of the most important considerations when you’re creating content. When people start reading something — even from the first headline — they’ve started doing so because they’re looking for something; whether that’s information, guidance, inspiration — or even comfort and reassurance.

It means that what you’re creating really needs to hit those notes of being useful and relevant for your intended audience. If the content has no real value, what’s the point of it being created in the first place?

🔎 Related: How to instantly create better content

2. Accuracy

Sometimes, something can appear to be really good — it reads well, looks credible, it’s spot-on in terms of tone of voice… but it’s actually flawed because it misses the mark with the real meat of the content. The all-important facts. The truth. The numbers. The specific piece of advice. The backbone.

Accuracy matters.

So, do that extra reading around the subject. Use those investigatory content tools to uncover interesting third-party sources you can draw on. Do some deliberate digging.

There is, of course, another kind of accuracy to be noted here, and that’s ensuring that things are spelled correctly, typos are avoided and formatting is stylistically spot-on (for example, making headings/sub-headings clear).

3. Writing for the end reader (not yourself)

Something we writers can be guilty of on occasion is a bit of self-indulgence. I’m totally guilty of this sometimes. Being wrapped up and immersed in your own views, preconceptions and assumptions can really dilute or even distort the end read for your audience. Also, think of your clients; they are counting on you to create something which really resonates with their prospects or existing customers — they’re not actually looking for your opinion on the matter.

In order to stay on track when it comes to keeping your end reader in mind, you need to be able to keep assessing and checking your draft content at various points throughout the drafting and editing process, to see if it’s still meeting the brief. Try to use objective eyes as much as possible. Ask a peer for their opinion if need be!

4. Uniqueness

No prizes for guessing what this principle is all about. The key to producing content that truly engages people often lies in how unique and relevant that content is. Is it bringing something different or exciting to the table, or not? Is it reworking something else, but giving it a fresh new spin? Is it as simple as coming up with an original metaphor so that you avoid using cliches?

Suffice to say, to stand a chance of your content really striking a chord with the end reader, real consideration needs to go into it; no matter whether it’s a one-off social post or a lengthy whitepaper.

We all have different approaches for this, and that’s fine. I know that I often take some time to reflect on a brief or the task at hand (particularly if I have too much free rein from the client!), and then I’ll usually give it some space to ferment in my head (admittedly, this can border on becoming procrastination).

It’s like the transient filtering of ideas, down to a final cut. It’s then, when I’m confident about the approach and angles I’m going to use, that I’ll finally jump in, put fingers to keyboard, and start crafting something.

5. Optimisation

There are so many ways you can cut this one. There’s optimisation for search engines of course, but you could also look at optimisation in the context of user intent.

For example, have you fully understood what it is the end reader might have questions on/their pain points, and addressed these thoroughly throughout your content?

You could also look at it from the point of view of accessibility; i.e. have you optimised the online media your content is going to end up on? Will the content be as easy to read and understand as possible? Is the format responsive on a mobile? What about your font choice—and the size of that font? It all counts.

What I’ve set out above is my own opinion on what makes content, good content. Hopefully, this article can help you in some way when it comes to reflecting and refocusing on what’s important when creating content in future.
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