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Many organizations view technical documentation as a cost center—a necessary expense rather than a revenue driver. We know that’s not the full story. Your content is often the first and most frequent touchpoint for users, making it a powerful tool for building customer loyalty and trust. To change the perception, you need to change the conversation. This means setting content writing goals that tie directly to broader business outcomes like customer retention and product adoption. This article provides a framework for defining and achieving goals that reposition your content as a strategic function, proving its value far beyond the support queue.
Tying Content to Broader Business Goals
Effective content writing isn't just about crafting beautiful sentences; it's a strategic function that powers business growth. When you set goals for your writing, they should connect directly to the larger objectives of your organization. As one expert notes, "The primary goal of content for businesses is to support the customer journey and drive profitable action." This means every piece of content, from a blog post to a technical manual, has a job to do. Whether it's building trust, generating leads, or supporting existing customers, your words are the engine. Aligning your personal writing goals with these business outcomes ensures your work has a measurable impact and demonstrates your value to the company.
Building Brand Awareness and Trust
Consistent, high-quality content is the foundation of brand authority. When customers find accurate, helpful, and clear information every time they interact with your brand, they begin to trust it. For technical documentation teams, this is paramount. Clear instructions, well-defined glossaries, and easy-to-follow guides reduce user frustration and build confidence in the product. This trust extends beyond the product itself, creating a positive brand perception that makes customers more likely to listen to your marketing messages and recommend you to others. Your goal as a writer is to be the source of that clarity and reliability, making every piece of content a trust-building interaction.
Driving Website Traffic Through SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is how new customers discover your business. Your role as a content writer is to create the material that search engines and people are looking for. To do this effectively, you need to "optimize content with relevant keywords to rank highly on search engine results pages and attract visitors looking for solutions to their problems." This involves understanding what questions your audience is asking and creating comprehensive answers. For technical content, this could be anything from troubleshooting guides to feature explanations. When your documentation ranks for these specific queries, you attract high-intent users directly to your website, turning your help content into a powerful customer acquisition channel.
Generating and Nurturing Leads
Content can also be a powerful tool for lead generation. This often involves creating in-depth resources that provide so much value, users are willing to exchange their contact information for access. The strategy is to "develop content, often gated assets like e-books or whitepapers, that requires visitors to provide their contact information, thereby adding them to your sales funnel." For a technical audience, this could be a detailed whitepaper on industry best practices, a case study, or a webinar on a complex topic. Once you have that contact information, you can use targeted content to nurture the relationship, guiding potential customers toward a purchase decision with helpful, relevant information.
Enhancing Customer Loyalty and Support
Your content's job doesn't end after a sale. In fact, post-sale content is critical for customer retention and loyalty. Excellent documentation, tutorials, and knowledge base articles empower users to solve their own problems, reducing the burden on support teams and creating a better customer experience. The goal is to "create content that resonates with existing customers, making them feel understood and valued, which leads to repeat business and referrals." When customers feel successful using your product because of your clear guidance, they become advocates. This is where a robust Component Content Management System (CCMS) becomes invaluable, allowing you to efficiently create and manage consistent, reusable content that supports customers at every turn.
Goals for the Individual Content Writer
While aligning with business goals is crucial, your personal and professional growth as a writer is just as important. Setting specific goals for your own development not only makes you more effective in your current role but also opens doors to new career opportunities. Focusing on improving your craft, deepening your knowledge, and understanding your potential career paths will make you a more versatile and valuable asset to any team. This journey of continuous improvement is what separates good writers from great ones, allowing you to tackle more complex challenges and produce higher-impact work over time.
Improving Core Writing Skills
Every writer, no matter their experience level, has room to grow. A great starting point is to "focus on mastering specific elements like using active voice, improving structure with topic sentences and better conclusions, or eliminating common errors like run-ons." Set a goal to master one or two of these areas at a time. For example, you could dedicate a month to writing exclusively in the active voice or focus on making your opening paragraphs more compelling. By breaking down the craft of writing into its core components, you can make steady, tangible progress that elevates the quality of all your future work.
Developing Niche Expertise
General writing skills are valuable, but deep subject matter expertise can make you indispensable. A powerful career goal is to "dive deep into a specific industry or topic to provide expert insights and become a thought leader." For those in technical communication, this could mean becoming the go-to expert on a particular software, mastering the principles of structured authoring with DITA XML, or understanding the nuances of a specific regulatory environment. This specialized knowledge allows you to create content that is not just well-written but also deeply insightful and accurate, establishing you as a trusted authority in your field.
Mapping Your Career Progression
The title "Content Writer" is a broad term that encompasses many specialized roles. Understanding these different paths is the first step in steering your career in the direction you want to go. As one career guide points out, "Content Writers can specialize in various roles such as SEO Content Writer, Technical Writer, Copywriter, or Content Strategist." Each of these paths requires a unique blend of skills and offers different challenges and rewards. By identifying which path aligns with your strengths and interests, you can set targeted goals to acquire the necessary skills and experience for your next move.
SEO Content Writer
An SEO Content Writer specializes in creating content designed to perform well in search engines. This role goes beyond basic keyword usage; it involves understanding search intent, analyzing competitors, structuring content for readability and featured snippets, and building internal links. A key goal for someone in this role is to stay current with ever-changing search engine algorithms and master the tools used for keyword research and performance analytics. Their success is measured by metrics like organic traffic, keyword rankings, and conversion rates from search.
Technical Writer
A Technical Writer’s primary goal is to make complex information clear and accessible. This role is essential in industries like software, engineering, and medicine, where accuracy and clarity can have significant consequences. Technical writers excel at translating jargon-heavy source material from subject matter experts into easy-to-understand instructions, guides, and manuals. A major career goal for a technical writer is often to master structured authoring and content management tools that enable content reuse and multichannel publishing, allowing them to create and maintain documentation at scale.
Copywriter
A Copywriter focuses on the art of persuasion. Their goal is to write compelling text—or "copy"—that inspires a specific action, such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or booking a demo. This type of writing is found in advertisements, on websites, in email campaigns, and on social media. To excel, a copywriter must master tone of voice, understand consumer psychology, and be able to craft powerful headlines and calls to action. Their success is directly tied to conversion rates and the overall effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
Content Strategist
A Content Strategist takes a high-level view of an organization's content. Instead of focusing on individual pieces, they are responsible for the entire content lifecycle, from planning and creation to management and governance. They develop the frameworks and workflows that ensure all content is on-brand, effective, and aligned with business objectives. A key goal for a content strategist is to implement strong content governance models, conduct content audits, and use data to make informed decisions about future content investments. This role is about building a sustainable, scalable content operation.
How to Set and Achieve Effective Goals
Knowing what you want to achieve is one thing; creating a plan to get there is another. Many well-intentioned goals fail because they lack a clear structure for execution. As writer April Dávila explains, "Setting writing goals needs more than just excitement; it needs thought, clear plans, and a system that fits your life." The key is to move from vague aspirations like "become a better writer" to a concrete, actionable plan. By focusing on process, breaking down large objectives, and building in accountability, you can create a system that not only works but also adapts to your professional life.
Start with Process and Strategy Goals
Instead of focusing solely on the outcome (e.g., "get 10,000 pageviews"), start by setting goals around the processes and strategies that lead to that outcome. This puts the focus on actions you can control, like research and distribution, rather than metrics that can be influenced by many external factors. A process-oriented approach builds good habits and ensures you're consistently taking the steps necessary for success. This shift in mindset makes your goals less intimidating and more achievable on a day-to-day basis.
Audience and Keyword Research
All effective content begins with a deep understanding of the audience. Before you write a single word, your goal should be to "find out what words and phrases your audience uses when searching online." This involves using SEO tools, talking to customer-facing teams, and analyzing competitor content. By making research a non-negotiable step in your process, you ensure that every piece of content you create is relevant and has a built-in audience waiting for it.
Content Promotion and Distribution
Creating great content is only half the battle; you also need a plan to get it in front of the right people. Don't let your work sit idle after you hit publish. A crucial process goal is to "share your content on social media, send it to email subscribers, and consider republishing it on other sites." For technical content, this might mean ensuring it's integrated into the product's UI or promoted to users through release notes. Make distribution a formal part of your content creation workflow.
Break Down Large Goals into Actionable Steps
A big, ambitious goal can feel overwhelming. The best way to tackle it is to "break down big writing goals into smaller, easier-to-manage steps (like yearly, quarterly, and weekly goals)." For example, if your annual goal is to become an expert in a new subject, your quarterly goal might be to read three key books on the topic. Your weekly goal could be to write one summary article or spend two hours interviewing a subject matter expert. These small, consistent actions build momentum and make the larger goal feel much more attainable.
Be Specific and Use a Timeline
Vague goals lead to vague results. To make your goals effective, they need to be clear and time-bound. It's important to "set specific goals with a timeline: Your goal should say what you want to achieve and by when." Instead of "I want to improve my writing," a better goal would be, "I will complete a technical writing certification course by the end of the third quarter." This specificity gives you a clear target to aim for and a deadline to hold yourself accountable to, making it much more likely that you'll follow through.
Stay Accountable but Remain Flexible
While structure is important, so is adaptability. Life and work are unpredictable, and sometimes your priorities will need to shift. It can be helpful to "think of your goals as intentions rather than strict deadlines." Share your goals with a manager or a trusted colleague who can help keep you on track, but don't be afraid to adjust your timeline or even the goal itself if circumstances change. The purpose of goal setting is to provide direction and motivation, not to create a rigid system that causes stress. Stay committed to the direction, but be flexible on the path.
How to Measure Your Content's Value
We found that 72.3% of respondents in our survey aren’t measured on specific content goals, leaving 27.7% being measured. When you’re trying to find the value of content, but aren’t measuring anything, that’s a problem. Why get measured in the first place? Proof of success leads to departmental growth. Technical documentation teams have the tendency to fade into the background enough already. Taking the initiative to quantify success ultimately helps documentation teams step into some of the limelight they’ve long deserved. However, in order to succeed, you need to have appropriate goals and those can only be established and evaluated again by measuring key metrics that your business values — revenue, customer success, etc. When considering the things to measure, it’s important that you are aligned with the rest of the organization, something that isn’t always the case. In fact, another survey breakdown post looked at what organization decision-makers value versus what technical communication teams value and found a misalignment of priorities. Revenue growth was the highest prioritized driver of company decisions whereas revenue growth was the lowest prioritized driver of technical documentation decisions. We get more into why that misalignment isn’t good in this post: 33% Of Writers Can’t Report Their Own Value – Here’s How to Start
What Are Your Content Writing Goals?
Technical content will have different goals per organization or product, but the overarching purpose of content remains the same: show the value of your product (what it can do) and teach people how to become better users of your product (how it can do it). This is true whether your writers feel equipped for the task or not.
Related — Survey Breakdown: 40-50% of TechDocs Teams Lack The Necessary Tools For Success
In business terms, when your organization does these things successfully, this translates into revenue. Two immediate questions come to mind when thinking about measurable content goals.
- Has our content generated revenue?
- Are people pleased with our content?
Two questions, one quantitative, one qualitative. These are measurable with a little bit of work, so let’s get to work.
How to Connect Content to Conversions
This is the big one revenue. It’s the number that company decision-makers are looking for when we talk about proving value. Unfortunately, revenue generation is hardly the first thing to come to mind when we think about technical documentation. But, we should start. Respondents in our survey reported that revenue generation is the most difficult metric to report, and it’s our goal to fix that. Think of the people reading the documentation for a SaaS product. Chances are, They’re reading with purpose and intention, not leisurely or out of boredom. They’re curious if that product will solve a problem. If it does and if the documentation shows it, that documentation just influenced a buying decision. And you should track that. Using Google Analytics (or similar tools), you can set a tracking code on your documentation site in a way that shows how many people viewed your documentation before asking for a demo or trial or filling a contact form. Don’t stop tracking there; once those leads transfer to sales, it’s time to track even further. Identify:
- Which documentation visitors ended up making a purchase?
- What is the ratio of visitors to leads?
- What is the ratio of visitors to sales?
- What is the average deal size for a documentation visitor turned sale?
- How do these numbers compare to visitors who only visit marketing web pages?
With some time and attention to detail, you might find that your documentation efforts are actually a significant source of revenue. That makes asking for a raise, increased budget, or more say in company decisions a little easier. When you track, assign, and can prove the revenue your documentation influences, you solidify the real value of your content in terms that decision-makers are most concerned with. But value doesn’t stop with hard numbers.
Measuring a Wider Range of Performance Metrics
While connecting content to revenue is a powerful way to demonstrate value, it doesn’t tell the whole story. The impact of great technical documentation is often felt in other critical areas of the business, like customer success and operational efficiency. When you measure key metrics that your business values, you create a more complete picture of your team's contribution. This means looking beyond sales figures to understand how your content helps customers succeed and reduces internal strain. One of the most significant ways technical documentation provides value is through support ticket deflection. When users find answers on their own, they don’t need to contact your support team. You can measure this by tracking reductions in ticket volume for topics you’ve recently documented. Another direct approach is to measure user satisfaction on the documentation itself. Simple feedback tools like, “Was this page helpful?” can provide immediate insight into your content’s effectiveness and prove that your work saves the company significant time and money.
Gather User Feedback with a Measured Survey
They’ll certainly tell you! They’re a wealth of untapped information. Sure, it’s a bit more difficult to parse anecdotal evidence, but it’s no less useful. Tracking your content that influences lead generation and sales shows you what content works best for the buying process. Asking customers about your content will generate feedback that can identify content gaps in ways that revenue influence data cannot.Revenue generation is important, but it’s not the end-all-be-all of content value. Customer education and knowledge experience are an important part of your content’s value proposition. It also tells your customers that you value their input and encourages customer voices to help guide the creation of the very content they’ll be consuming! In the end, proving value needs to have both ends of this data spectrum. Because content that’s truly valuable proves its worth both with people and profit.Download the full survey here: Measuring the Value of Technical Communications Survey 2021
Frequently Asked Questions
My team has never tracked metrics before. What's the simplest, most impactful goal to start with? Instead of trying to boil the ocean, start with a goal you can directly influence and measure easily. A great first step is focusing on support ticket deflection. Work with your support team to identify a common, recurring issue. Then, create a clear, comprehensive piece of documentation that addresses it. You can then track the number of support tickets related to that specific issue to see if it decreases after your content is published.
How can a technical writer realistically contribute to revenue goals? It's easy to think that revenue is purely a sales and marketing function, but technical content plays a crucial role. Potential customers often review documentation to determine if a product can solve their specific problems before they ever speak to a salesperson. Your goal is to create content that clearly demonstrates the product's capabilities and use cases. When your documentation helps a prospect realize the product is a perfect fit, you have directly influenced a purchasing decision.
Is it better to focus on improving my writing skills or on learning business metrics? This isn't an either/or situation; the two are deeply connected. You can't achieve significant business outcomes with unclear or inaccurate content. At the same time, beautifully written content that doesn't address a business need won't prove its value. A good approach is to tie your skill development to a business goal. For example, if the company wants to improve customer onboarding, you can set a personal goal to master writing clear, action-oriented instructions for that specific set of content.
What's the difference between a process goal and an outcome goal, and why does it matter? An outcome goal is the final result you want, such as "increase website traffic by 15%." A process goal is the specific, repeatable action you will take to get there, like "perform keyword research for every new article." Focusing on process goals is more effective because you have complete control over your actions, not the final outcome. By consistently executing your process, you build the habits and foundation that make achieving the outcome far more likely.
Our leadership only seems to care about hard numbers. How can I make a case for the value of qualitative feedback? Frame qualitative feedback as the story behind the numbers. While metrics like ticket deflection show what is happening, user comments and survey responses explain why it's happening. This feedback gives you direct insight into customer frustrations and content gaps. You can use this information to make targeted improvements, and then present it to leadership as the strategic intelligence you're using to drive those hard numbers in the right direction.
Key Takeaways
- Tie your writing goals directly to business results: Frame your work in terms of its impact on key objectives like customer retention and lead generation to prove your team's strategic value.
- Specialize to accelerate your career: Move beyond being a generalist by choosing a specific path like technical writing or content strategy and building the deep expertise that makes you indispensable.
- Create a structured plan for success: Break large goals into smaller, time-bound steps and track your progress with metrics that matter to the business, like support ticket deflection and influenced revenue.
