5 Things To Consider Before Creating Content

We all know the saying these days that “content is king”, but what is the point of creating content that no one is going to read? There is continuous content and data creation taking place across the world, so it is crucial to make sure that your piece of content stands out among the rest and doesn’t just fall flat, never to be seen again.

Headline

The most important part of a piece of content is the headline. The first thing you need to think about when coming up with a headline for your content is “would this headline make me want to see more?”.

Too often the headline is neglected and often when a reader only has that information to go on they will simply ignore the piece of content and it won’t get a second look. If you are struggling to think of a catchy title for your content then step away from it for a bit, ask someone with fresh eyes and sleep on it if you need to.

It’s worth the wait to ensure that when you finally publish your content it will attract the traffic and buzz it deserves.

What Type Of Content You Are Creating?

When people mention the word “content” most thoughts instantly turn to an article or informative blog post, but that doesn’t have to be the case. There are many different types of content and sometimes stepping outside the box is the key to a successful piece of content.

When you have decided what your content is about, then think how it would be best received, as an article? Or maybe as a visual infographic? Maybe you don’t even know the answer to the content piece you want to write about and therefore a survey or quiz would be more appropriate? Open your mind up to all the different kinds of content you can create before you fire straight into writing a standard article.

What Is The Purpose Of Your Content?

It’s important to step back and ask yourself why you are creating this piece of content. If you can’t think of a reason then it is probably not worth creating in the first place as no one is going to look at it. Consider carefully what the purpose of your content is, will it educate people? Make people laugh? Entertain people? When you have finished creating your content make sure it delivers the intended purpose and hasn’t gotten lost along the way.

Who Is Your Content Aimed At?

When creating your content, it shouldn’t be aimed at everyone and anyone, it is important to have a target audience. As they say, if you cast your net wide you will catch lots of fish, but will they be the right kind of fish? You need to be more specific in deciding who exactly you want to focus your content on and have a clear picture of the demographic the content is intended for.

How Will You Get Your Content Seen?

How are your target audience going to find out about your content once you have published it? There are usually two main ways that people discover content online, either they look for it on a search engine, in which case they are already in a mind-set where they want to look for a specific topic themselves and will find it anyway, or they discover it through social media; from a friend recommendation or review, or social search. Understanding your target audience’s approach to search is empirical in deciding how to promote your content.

Use your social media channels to link to your content and even send it to those you think will be interested in it. Building up a strong network of industry professionals will ensure you already have the right type of people there to push the content to. Engage and share your content in relevant forums, but be sure not come across as spammy by only sharing links to your own material.

Develop your AuthorRank on Google Plus, by linking your Google Plus profile to your content you can gain authority in an industry which may result in your content being displayed further up the rankings.

So there you have it, five simple points to consider before you create your content. If you make sure you can tick every one of these off before creating and publishing your content then you should get some good engagement and traffic to your content from the specified target audience.