Checklist: Am I ready to click the "publish" button?

It stinks when you realize the new blog post or page you posted three days ago is a mess. How did you miss that mistake? Don’t kick yourself. Before you publish any new piece of content, go down this checklist to determine if your content is ready.

Quick Content Readiness Checklist

1. Is it primo copy? Does it have good spelling, grammar, punctuation and all those things your English teacher scrawled on the chalkboard?
2. Has it been formatted for your web audience? We talk frequently and passionately about helping clients write copy that works well on the web:
   • How to make long pages readable
   • Rewite, don't repurpose
   • "Is Anybody Reading This?" Webinar for writing for the web
   • 5 foolproof ways to get more people reading
3. Have you thought about SEO? Have you included a good meta description and page title? Are your images named logically? Read our SEO tips here.
4. Have you removed any hidden markup from Microsoft Word? If you copy and paste from a program like Word, hidden markup can break your page. 
5. Have you removed any test or placeholder copy or imagery?
6. Do you direct the reader to do something after reading this? Is there a good, clear call-to-action? What makes a good call-to-action? I'll tell you. 
7. Have you clicked on all your links to make sure they work? No broken links, right?
8. If you created a form, have you also written a thank you message that people will see after they submit the form?
9. Finally, publish your content and visit the page as a average visitor would. If your site visitors do not typically log in to view your content, log out to see what the page will really look like to them.

Remember, if you see a mistake at any time, whether on a fresh or old piece of content, it's always fixable with a few clicks. Don't be afraid to click "publish" but do use the checklist above to help you feel confident that what you're posting will look great on the first try.

[Image Credit: Alan Dean]