9 best practices for creating meaningful content

To create impactful and valuable content, consider the following best practices:

1. Reflect your organization’s goals and user needs
2. Understand how users think and speak about a subject
3. Communicate clearly and effectively
4. Be useful and purposeful
5. Keep content up-to-date and factual
6. Ensure accessibility for all users
7. Maintain consistency in style and design
8. Optimize content for search and navigation
9. Consider content requirements for site design and structure

1. Reflect your organization’s goals and user needs
   Understand your audience’s needs and preferences through market research, user research, and web analytics.
• How to Do Market Research: A Guide and Template (HubSpot)
• What is Web Analytics? Definition, Examples, & Tools (Amplitude)
  
  
2. Understand how users think and speak about a subject
   Create content that resonates with your audience and aligns with their language and preferences. This will also help improve your SEO efforts.
• How To Create Content That Resonates With Your Audience Long After They’ve Viewed It (scoop.it!)
• Free SEO Course (HubSpot)
  
  
3. Communicate clearly and effectively
   Embrace plain writing principles to ensure your content is easily understood by your audience.
• A Guide to Using Plain Language in Writing (grammarly)
• Writing Clearly and Simply (WebAim)
• Plain Language (Termium)
  
  
4. Be useful and purposeful
   Focus on providing valuable information and omit unnecessary content.
• Creating Purposeful Content: A Checklist (Alexandra Leo/Medium)
• These 6 Types of Content Will Boost Your Traffic and Engagement. Here’s How to Do Them Right (Buffer)
  
  
5. Keep content up-to-date and factual
   Regularly update your content with the latest information and archive outdated content.
• Keep your content fresh and up to date! (Yoast)
• How Updating Your Old Content Can Help With Your Rankings (Neil Patel)
  
  
6. Ensure accessibility for all users
   Make your content accessible to everyone, regardless of their abilities or disabilities.
• Web Content Accessibility Guideline: Writing Resources for Authors (WCAG)
• A Web Accessibility Checklist to Make Your Content 100% Compliant (HubSpot)
  
  
7. Maintain consistency in style and design
   Adhere to style guides and design principles to create a cohesive and engaging user experience.
• Design Consistency Guide UI and UX Best Practices (UXPin)
• Why design consistency is important throughout your website? (KeentoDesign)
  
  
8. Optimize content for search and navigation
   Ensure your content is easily discoverable both internally (through website navigation) and externally (through search engines).
• The Art of Content Optimization: The Complete 2023 Guide (Semrush Blog)
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide (Google)
  
  
9. Consider content requirements for site design and structure
   
   Allow your content to drive the design, structure, and functionality of your website.
• Why You Need Content Driven Web Design (Engenius)
• Why Content Is Such A Fundamental Part Of The Web Design Process (Smashing Magazine)