Catherine Caine discussed the two vital attributes of quality content in a recent copyblogger post. And they are so important I feel the need to add to the debate. She says your content should be useful or beautiful. Think about it. If you are writing, recording or producing anything that isn’t useful, why are you doing it? And if it isn’t useful would anyone want to read, listen or view it? I think not. We have infinite choice on the web. So we can be very picky.
But how do you judge it’s usefulness or beauty? I think the answer is easy. Would you want to read it? Do you need the information? Does it help to solve a problem, give you something you didn’t have before or bring clarity to a topic you were hazy about? If not, don’t bother. Publishing content on the internet must not be a self-serving exercise or a blantant advertisement for your product or service. You have to think ‘what’s in it for me’. You must give before you receive.
Catherine has tips to help you decide if it’s useful. Write to suit your audience, be specific and write actionable content. What is actionable content? Most of the time you want your visitor to take some kind of action. This could be subscribe to an email newsletter, change their mind or put your recommendations into practice. But this requires you to decide what action you want your reader to take, which means it must be useful to them.
The question of beauty is a little harder to quantify. Catherine suggests it should be meaningful or pleasurable. Does it illicit emotions, have implications, inspire, entertain or get personal. Getting personal is often used by many of the great writers. Don’t we all love to read stories about other people, especially if the story mirrors our predicament? A technique copywriters use to their advantage in many sales letters.
If your writing isn’t useful or doesn’t help people, don’t write it.
