At some point, every company will need to develop its own content. Whether it’s for an infographic or a blog post, you’ll eventually run into the problem of creating high quality content. Good content is difficult to produce, but not impossible. The more effort you put into your content creation strategy, the better results you’ll see. This article talks about how to create high quality content as a startup.
1) Make your guideline
One of the most important things that needs to be done before doing anything else is writing down what guidelines for your topic are. You can’t create something without knowing what it should entail first. If there isn’t already a set guideline. One should be created based on current knowledge and experience in the field in which it is dealing with.
2) Do your homework
Knowledge always comes before action, and the same goes for content creation. If you’re uncertain about what to write then do some research on your topic to fill in any blanks that aren’t already there. Having a wealth of knowledge may help you come up with interesting ideas or angles that can be used if needed as well. Make sure this is done first though because otherwise, it would defeat the purpose of doing research since it would likely lead to re-writing anyway which wastes time.
3) Talk about something everyone wants to know
If there’s anything that you’ve learned over the years. It’s that people love information–especially on things they don’t already know about. If your content answers a question or explains something that someone needs to know about. You’re going to have a lot more success than if it’s just another piece of content about an uninteresting topic. This leads us into the next step:
4) Make interesting and appealing titles
This is one of the most important parts of creating high quality content. A lot of people will judge whether or not they want to read your article by how it looks at first glance. So make sure you make a title that makes them want to click on your link. The whole point of having good content is having people share and talk about it because it’s good. Nobody will do that if they never see your content in the first place. With all this said though, don’t just try to appeal to everyone with your title because it can backfire if you do. If you’re targeting a specific group then it’s okay. Otherwise, find something that appeals to the largest amount of people possible without making too much wiggle room.
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5) Make sure it is adequately supported
If you want to create high quality content. Make sure it is properly supported by facts and evidence. So that no matter what your skeptics will at least know that this information comes from somewhere reputable. Also, make sure not to use subjective words like “better” or “best”. These are up for debate depending on who’s looking at them since there is no objective way of saying one thing is then another unless the two things are the same.
6) Have others edit it for you
Not everyone is good at spotting errors and typos. One of the best things that you can do to your content before posting anything is to have someone else look over it to make sure there aren’t any mistakes or parts that just don’t make sense. This will increase readability by a ton which makes up about 80% of your grade when it comes down to grading your content. If they find something wrong. Show them how it should be properly done so that later on they can edit other people’s posts as well. I’ve seen this happen plenty of times where someone posts something without editing it themselves first. Having someone who already knows what they’re doing should definitely be a priority.
7) Know when to stop
Everything’s better with moderation, and that includes high quality content as well. It should be enough information to let the reader know about your topic without going too far off on a tangent so it never ends up as a short read as well as not being so short that it feels incomplete or doesn’t address everything related to it. Not all content is meant for long reads. Though, if you have the time there’s no reason why you shouldn’t go into detail because this goes along with number six in terms of typos and mistakes which can help improve readability.
8) Annotate essential parts
Putting emphasis on important lines or words/phrases within an article helps increase their importance in your readers’ eyes. It’s important to do so whenever possible. You can use underlining or italicize words but I’ve found that using bold text is more effective than anything else since it’s clearer than the rest.
9) Make sure there are external links
This ties in with number three since you want to link out to sources that provide information about your topic. What this does is provide credibility to your article by citing someone else who is an expert in the field. If they’re trusted then people will be more likely to believe what you’re saying when you cite them. At this point, though just make sure not to overdo it. This is because having too many links makes your post cluttered and hard to read. Once again, moderation is key.
10) Grammar and spelling are important
Who the hell wants to read an article full of grammatical errors? No one I know for sure, so make sure that your content is free of simple mistakes like confusing “your” with “you’re” or accidentally leaving out a word in the middle because it’s hard to tell what was supposed to be there. All these little things add up in terms of making your post look bad, so do what you can to avoid them whenever possible.
11) Keep your readers in mind
We want people reading our work (especially if we get paid), which means doing whatever we can to make it appealing to others since this will help improve how many people want to read our posts. We all have different forms of writing techniques and styles, but if we can keep them as consistent as possible then people should be able to get used to it after a while which makes them more receptive to what we’re saying. If you want people reading your content then make sure that the flow is there so they don’t feel like stopping at any point along the way.
12) What separates good from great?
I’ve been doing this for years now. I still don’t think I’m too great at it. What exactly separates good writers from those who are considered “the best”? A lot of times we try to find out how we can become better without taking a step back and looking at our work objectively to find out what can be improved on. The best thing you can do is get other people’s opinions since they’re the only ones who really know what it’s like to read your content. So take their advice into consideration and don’t rely entirely on yourself when it comes to knowing whether or not your post is good enough.
13) Be Yourself
You have a personality that you should use whenever possible because this will help make your articles more appealing while also being easier to remember in the long run. Just keep in mind that while having a distinct personality is great you want to avoid being overly dramatic or exaggerated unless applicable since this doesn’t go along with anyone else’s style so trying too hard will actually have the opposite effect where people end up disliking what you’re saying because they can tell that you’re forcing it.
14) The Golden Ratio
The Golden Ratio is a classic technique that has been used by the likes of Mozart, Shakespeare, and da Vinci (to name a few) to help make their work as appealing as possible by using set ratios in their projects. While there are different theories about this topic nothing has yet to be confirmed so I’ll just leave it at that for now since I don’t think many people would care much about the finer details anyway. All you really need to know is that this ratio can improve your content if used correctly so try out various settings until something clicks with you. If not then forget all about it and go back to whatever you were doing beforehand because the last thing anyone wants is for an article to be so long that people are more likely to stop halfway through just because it takes too much time.
15) Keep Writing
I think I’ve made my point clear enough here. For those of you who didn’t get the memo then I’ll just go ahead and say it one more time. Write as many articles as possible while still trying to improve upon them by making small changes over time. The most important part about writing isn’t anything related to what we’re actually saying in our posts. Instead, it’s all about having a good attitude that will make your work more interesting and easier to read. If you can do this then people will want to read your articles more often which will improve both your blog and overall writing skills.
16) Flexibility is Key
As I mentioned earlier. It’s best to go with the flow without trying to force anything. Since you’re more likely to end up creating something that people won’t want to read in the first place. This is due to how unnatural it might sound. You don’t have to write everything as fast as possible or force yourself into a schedule where you do it every day. This will only make things harder on yourself if you can’t keep up with how other people are writing.
The most important part about being flexible is being able to change things up however, you see fit since there are always going to be changes that come along over time whether we want them to or not. If you can’t accept this then there’s no point in trying to become a better writer because all of your articles are going to sound the same as a result since they’ll have the exact same format with minor tweaks here and there.
17) Read!
I know that some people might think it’s boring to read books all day every day. Reading is actually one of the best ways for you to learn new things. Which may or may not apply directly to what you’re writing about at any given time. Even if that isn’t the case then it still pays off since reading will make your vocabulary larger by default. This will improve nearly every aspect of your content no matter what kind of topic it is related to. Even if you don’t think this will make a difference. I can assure you that it will, but like most other things in life. You need to invest your time into improving yourself if you want to start creating high quality content.
18) Don’t Write For Others
While I understand what people are trying to say when they say not to write for others since some people might try and give you advice that ends up turning out poorly. I also know that there’s a way around this. Simply put, don’t let their words get to you and ignore them by going on with whatever it is you were doing beforehand without even acknowledging that they exist at all. This seems harsh, but the only reason anyone would actually bother giving feedback on our posts is because they want to turn you into something that you’re not. So there’s no point in even listening after a certain amount of time unless it can improve your overall attitude for something specific.
19) Don’t Censor Yourself
When I first read this title I thought about censorship inside my own work. This is definitely one aspect that needs to be avoided at all costs. I also think that there’s more to the story than what meets the eye. One might believe that by censoring themselves they can actually create content related to nearly any topic possible with relative ease.
However, if you go about doing this then people won’t take you seriously due to how forced everything might sound along with your lack of commitment towards anything within your articles since these things are what most people will base their opinions around. Needless to say, things like this can end up weighing heavily on your mind and make it harder for you to keep going which is why I suggest removing these kinds of restrictions whenever possible so that you can let loose and see what happens.
20) Editing Is Key!
No matter how well you think you’ve written something or even if everything in your article sounds fine. When it comes down to it there’s always going to be some room for improvement when looking back at the work we create just before saving our documents in order to upload them onto sites such as WordPress. The reason behind this is that we’re more likely than not just reading over the content we’ve put together without actually taking a second to think about everything we have written which is why editing your work is so important since you won’t realize the errors within your work until it’s too late.
Conclusion: Creating High Quality Content
Remember that even if you don’t agree with something or if there are things in this guide I’ve failed to mention. You can always find ways to improve whatever it is you’re working on. Do this by following these simple guidelines on how to create high quality content and practicing whenever possible. Anyone who says they know what the best way of doing something is hasn’t seen or experienced enough throughout their life to be considered an authority on the matter which is why being able to perfect our craft takes time no matter how many guides someone decides to write about improving writing skills. Each person writes differently just as everyone reads differently. Keep these things in mind whenever you feel like people are trying to tell you how to create your content.
Thank You! Good luck!
This article on how to create high quality content took about 2 hours and 30 minutes to write. This includes the time it took me to research some of the things I didn’t know. This kind of writing is a great workout for my brain. This helps me improve long term by forcing my brain to think harder than it normally does. We should all take our time out of the day and write an article on something we’ve been meaning to get off our chests or learn more about. Writing is like anything else. If you don’t use it then you’ll lose it plain and simple. So make sure that you spend at least thirty minutes to an hour each day writing or researching something that could potentially help you in your future in creating high quality content.
