In content marketing circles, you hear the phrase “quality content” a lot. SEO advice stresses the importance of quality content.
That being the case, if your work involves buying content, selling content or creating content, it might be helpful to understand what quality content is.
There is no single definition of quality content. Here are a few stabs at defining it. I would love to hear your definitions in comments.
- Quality content helps you understand complicated ideas.
- Quality content reveals new ways to apply what you already know.
- Quality content sheds new light on old problems.
- Quality content connects the dots.
- Quality content compiles a lot of relevant information in a single work.
- Quality content deepens understanding.
- Quality content broadens understanding.
Obviously, you can’t incorporate all of these characteristics of quality into a single piece of content — that is, unless you are a really, really talented writer. Speaking of which, here are what some really, really talented writers say about writing.
“Good writing is like a windowpane.” — George Orwell
“I can’t understand how anyone can write without rewriting everything over and over again.” — Leo Tolstoy
“The reason business writing is horrible is that people are afraid. Afraid to say what they mean, because they might be criticized for it. Afraid to be misunderstood, to be accused of saying what they didn’t mean, because they might be criticized for it.” — Seth Godin
“When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me that you find it ‘creative.’ I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product.” — David Ogilvy
Over to You
How do you define quality content?