While the article in question is not primarily about writing good content, it’s got a few gems for those trying to create it. The most pertinent for me was:

Every time you publish an article on your website, ask yourself: “Would anyone share this article for any reason?” If the answer is “no” then you should not publish the article.

Now there are a few recommendations that I don’t love, mainly because I find them tiring on sites I read so don’t want to be pushing them on my regular readers.

It’s not about what you know, it’s about what you know that’s also profitable. Starting a website about free poetry will probably never make you any money, even if you rank number one for most of the related keywords. (Emphasis mine)

If the main goal of the site is strictly to make money then I suppose you can’t go wrong with the above suggestion but I’ve got to wonder if you’re going to get burnt out writing for something ‘profitable’ where you have some knowledge but have little real passion for.

I could write about building vinyl decks, plumbing, electrical work, forming and framing houses since I’ve done all of those jobs at one point or another in my 32 years on earth. The reality is that I don’t have any particular passion to write about them. I do enjoy good honest physical labour and I love helping friends out on their renovations, but writing guides on how to perform home maintenance would bore me. I could see that a site about home renovations would even make money, but I’d never be dedicated enough to actually make it happen. No point in me working on it then.

I suppose that this also comes down to knowing yourself. Some people could write consistently about a topic they have little passion for, simply because they would make money at it, I’m not one of those people. I know I would never follow through on it, along with many other styles of business I tried and realized I loathe. No matter how much money a friend makes selling MonaVie I’d fail because I simply hate the work involved doing it.

So write good content, make sure that it’s something someone would share, and know what ventures are actually suitable for you.