Over the last 10 years, I’ve written content for Forbes, HuffPost, Envato, Adobe, BigCommerce, Webflow, and many more publications.

Here’s the 7-step content production process I followed to create thousands of articles in the last decade.

1. Talk With the Stakeholders

Talk with the stakeholders. In this case, the Content Marketing Director and SEO team to better understand their needs, process, expectations, and deliverables.

2. Study the Brand and Content Guidelines

Review internal documentation, SOPs (standard operating procedures), and previous examples of work to better understand the audience, brand, mission and adopt the voice and tone, and preferred content format.

3. Research

Research the competition, identify target keywords and relevant terms, and prepare detailed content briefs to ensure it stands a chance to become the best piece on the topic in the world once published.

4. Write

Write engaging data-driven content. Brainstorm and propose multiple headline ideas.

Add relevant visuals and media (videos, infographics, tables, polls).

5. Optimize

Use leading content optimization software for SEO to include relevant keywords, terms, and questions.

Ensure clean content formatting, interlink strategic inner pages, and links to authoritative external sources.

6. Edit

Follow the editing checklist and cut the fluff, improve readability, fact check, improve flow and proofread.

7. Deliver and Improve

Deliver content on time in an agreed-upon format (Google Drive or directly in the client’s CMS) and make any edits necessary.

Once the client reviews deliverables, implement the feedback, improve the process, and keep shipping top content.

Writer Interview Questions

Here are some questions I ask when interviewing writers:

1. Are you familiar with WordPress?
2. Do you have image editing experience?
3. What’s your SEO knowledge?
4. Have you used Clearscope?
5. Are you comfortable with Google Docs?
6. Can you prpvode multiple rounds of edits?
7. Are you OK with asynchronous communication, I don’t do calls?
8. Do you have experience following content guidelines and checklists?
9. How does your research process looks like?