Developing Your Content Creation Strategy

A website ought to be a thematic organism. As it grows and develops, you need to ensure that any new additions follow a basic visual narrative. But just as you wouldn't have a site where each page had a completely unique design, the content too should have a certain level of uniformity.

Whether you're a writer of copy or a producer of content, each project should start with three basic questions:

What does the company do? - By understanding the branding of the business, the ethos behind it and the industry they're in, you can develop copy that will match their message.

Who are their target audience? - Knowing who you're writing for is fundamental. Different demographics will have their own unique expectations, so you need to be able to tailor your language to suit.

What is the ultimate goal of the site? - It might sound simple, but how often have you been on an ecommerce site that fails to show you what they sell, how to buy it or where you need to visit? No matter what the purpose of the site is, you need to be able to optimise this.

These are the building blocks from which you can go on and create copy that will add real value to the website. They also represent the first part of your content creation strategy.

As with any form of strategy, you start out with a key objective and a plan on how to go about your work. However, strategies remain malleable, they are developed to provide a guideline at the outset, which may change as the project develops.

To give a simple analogy, imagine your content creation as a football (or soccer, if you will) match. Before the game the management must analyse the opposition, look at what's available to them and develop a strategy accordingly. Right from the outset something goes wrong, in football this might be a red card, a player gets injured or the team concede a goal, in content writing it could be a page or section of the site that has its dynamics changed or requires something completely different.

If you have a strategy in place, you already have the groundwork done; you just need to adjust it to suit the changes.

Strategy is also about cohesion. Whilst you may be working alone, as part of a team or under instructions from a third party, having a clear direction for each page as part of the wider site is essential.

Imagine, returning to the football analogy, each player had their own manager on the sidelines barking out instructions. Individually they may do reasonably well - more by luck than judgement - but collectively it will look like a complete mess. Creating killer content is all about focusing on the page at hand whilst also being mindful of the wider picture.

It can also be a case of horses for courses. Whilst you want to retain a theme right throughout a site, occasionally a page will come along that requires something different, which throws a sizeable spanner in the works. This is the equivalent of the opposition team bringing on a 6' 7" striker against your combative but diminutive defenders. Don't become blinded by the rigidity of a set plan, do what's needed before returning to the original strategy when complete.

So before you start out on your next content creation venture, consider your strategy first. Work out exactly what each page needs and start developing copy that meets the needs of the site as a whole.