Research, Compile, Consider, and Write

How do you approach your next writing task?

Everyone has their own direction, but my approach tends to stay similar whether it's a blog post, a homepage, a presentation deck, or something else entirely.

In short: research the subject per your audience, compile the information into one place, consider your specific target within that audience, write it all, and then edit.

Research

Read, watch, listen, ask questions, and keep digging to gather more information. Your existing knowledge, understanding, and the actual task will determine how much you need.

Compile

Start listing and gathering valuable information, notes, thoughts, ideas, statements, phrases, and keywords into one document. This paints a bigger - if rather messy - picture of your content data.

Consider

Take a clear look at who your target audience actually is, what you want to achieve with this piece, and what type of message you're looking to produce.

Write, Then Edit

From your compiled document or brain dump, resist perfectionism and put together a rough draft. Write it all, organize it, and edit - then edit some more.

This process could be extremely short or take forever. But just get started and then get better. It's simply a way to get everything onto the page - and then work to fine-tune the message, copy, and content from there.