Content design basics: 5 questions that will improve your content
When you start on a new piece of content, staring at the blank page, it can be tough to get started.
Here are 5 questions to help you get going, make the right choices for your users and improve your content.
1. What does the data say?
If you’re working on a big site, you’ll be able to use your site analytics to find out how your current users behave on your site. Find out things like:
- what search terms people use – both to find the page in the first place and once they’re on the page if they didn’t find what they were looking for
- which pages that are relevant to the subject you’re writing about get most traffic
- how long people spend on the page (and whether that makes sense, or suggests they didn’t find what they were looking for)
Even if you don’t have loads of traffic to your site there are other things you can do to find out what your users want. (And even if you do have a big site, you should still check out what the rest of the internet cares about.) With a little practice, it takes about 10 minutes to find useful things about your users through tools like:
2. Why do they want to know this stuff?
When we have something to write about, it’s always tempting to think about the subject, then structure the content around what makes sense for that subject.
For example, if you’re writing about jet ski, you might think about how much they cost, or how they work, or which makes most noise, or which goes fastest, or which ones can carry passengers. There are loads of ways to write about jet skis.
Your data research will help you understand *what* your users care about in the field of jet skis, but why do they want to know this? Normally people want to know something because they want to do something. They probably aren’t just idly browsing. They want to buy the right jet ski for them and they want to find content that will tell them what they need to know to make that decision.
So make sure your content meets the user need.
3. How can I make it easy to scan?
People scan content, they don’t read it. So you need to help them scan until they find the bit relevant to them.
Turn content into short, easily digestible chunks. Start the chunk with a subheading, use short sentences and paragraphs, use lists when you can (and keep the lists short). This kind of content works much better than a big block of text.
Find out more about reading patterns for web content.
4. What’s the action?
Users want to do something. That’s why they came to your content in the first place. You should therefore generally start your page heading with the verb that helps them realise they’re in the right place.
A verb tells your user what they’re supposed to do with the information you have on offer. This is much easier and quicker to understand. Consider these 2 ways of titling the same content:
- Jet ski engines and their problems
- Fix your jet ski engine
A user coming to this content probably isn’t just idly browsing jet ski engine problems, they probably want to fix their jet ski. The second title tells them they’re in the right place. The first one tells them, if they take the time to think about it, that they might be in the right place.
Also, when people search for some web content to help them, they usually use the verb. Including it in your title helps them find your content in the first place.
5. How can I say it straight?
Ginny Redish sees web content as a conversation with your user. Have you noticed how informal things have become compared with, say, 30 years ago?
If you write “Jet ski technicians with engine problems should first remove the front casing to expose the engine”, users have to first think “Am I a jet ski technician? I mean, I bought a screwdriver set but I’m not sure that makes me a technician.”
You’ve created an internal dialogue and introduced doubt before they’ve got to the important stuff. That slows the user down and risks them dropping away altogether.
Instead, write, “Remove the front casing of your jet ski so you can see the engine.”
If I’m reading it, I know you’re talking to me and I know what you’re asking me to do. There’s no extra cognitive load and I’m straight into the bit where you tell me how to fix it. And that makes me confident you’re going to help me do what I want to do.
