Don’t Let Your Ego Keep You from Writing Amazing Content

Ashlee Harris
Jul 21, 2017 · 3 min read

The difference between amazing content and poor-performing content is writing it for yourself and not for your user.

Whether you’re providing a product or service, crafting content that effectively serves user needs at every digital touch point determines the beauty and ease of your user experience and the success of your digital properties and overall organization.

Content creators sometimes run into the issue of developing content based on what they want, what they need, and their assumptions. So, how do you yank your ego out of your content?

Repeat: It’s not about me. It’s not about me. It’s not about me.

Wrapping your ego into your work is human nature. It is a part of the need for recognition we all have. To prevent this natural need from destroying your ability to meet your users’ needs, with every keystroke, ink dab, and word choice, think:

  • What does my user want?
  • What does my user need?
  • How do I make this easy for them?
  • Do these extra four sentences of fluff about how awesome I am answer my user’s questions or help them take an action?

Put yourself in your user’s shoes with tools

There are mountains of tools that can help content creators produce better content. The Hemingway app is a notable one. It allows a you to enter in your content and grades the readability of that content.

Some government employees who are responsible for creating content sometimes write using jargon, acronyms and formal or legal language focused on promoting their department or division. A tool like the Hemingway app could help employees avoid those pitfalls.

To test this, the City of Austin is working to develop a new content management system (CMS) and content workflow. One goal is to incorporate a Hemingway app-like module into our CMS so that content creators could immediately see their content’s readability and accessibility errors and correct them before publishing.

Ideally, this would help content creators focus on writing for the user and show how plain language makes it easier for the user to find the content they need.

Test. Rinse. Repeat.

The best way to test your own assumptions is to get your content in front of users and get their honest feedback. Develop a method for users to give you feedback using surveys, focus groups and interviews. It always helps to give users incentives for giving feedback.

If you develop a survey for feedback on your website, offer an incentive, if possible, like a $5 gift card, with completion of the survey.

Invest in users the same way they are investing in you. Your responses will be significantly greater than if you offer nothing but a “Thank you for your time.”

If you can’t offer something monetary, find a way to offer recognition to the user.

Use these tips to go from the “Egomaniac” to the “Gandhi” of content creation. Go forth!

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Ashlee Harris

Written by

Digital Content Strategist, City of Austin

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