Towards Exceptional Content

Description
This PDF file identifies mutual characteristics that have been found throughout outstanding pieces of content. Each tip explained, this PDF will guide you through the do's and don't's of content creation. Here's a brief outline of the first 5 points as a taster:

What you produce should contain an actual opinion and an explanation on how you see things.

What you write must do something, whether this is to convince, advise, or encourage. Focus yourself on something specific to have a better effect. Be clear on your desired outcome for this piece of work.

Understand the requirements of your readers and create your content around them. Think of a beneficial action that will achieve an immediate advantage. Aid the reader in carrying out the ideas that you have suggested.

Plan how you're going to measure your own performance. Everything you produce should come alongside a plan for which you'll follow for tracking and measurement purposes. Not everything you produce will have the same objective. Some pieces will be aimed at a large audience, and others not so much. Measuring carefully is important; if you mess it up you'll find yourself going by incorrect knowledge from incorrect results and badly carried-out experiments.

Adapt your content to match the mechanisms of human behavior
inherent in each medium. Get real about what works and design
your content to complement the strengths of each format. Explore
every channel and pick the right fit.

Try out different formats to decide what works the best for your readers. Adapt content to suit.

[Written by James Buckhouse for Sequoia Capital]