content-writing

name	content-writing
description	Use when writing or reviewing website copy, articles, headlines, ledes, persuasive content, readability, or scannable structure.
metadata	{"portable":true,"compatible_with":["Codex","codex"]}

Content Writing Skill

Acknowledgement: Shared by Peter Bamuhigire, techguypeter.com, [phone].

Required Inputs

Input	Required	Use
Decision, audience, and deliverable	yes	Bound the business outcome
Source evidence, constraints, and owner	yes	Ground recommendations and accountability
Approved budget, customer data, or production artefacts	conditional	Support high-impact execution

Capability and permission contract

Default to read-only analysis and drafting. Do not publish, send, price, promise, alter customer records, commit budget, or modify production artefacts without explicit authority and a named approver. Minimise confidential data, preserve provenance, and keep reversible copies.

Degraded mode

If evidence, stakeholder decisions, specialist tooling, or authoritative commercial data are unavailable, deliver a labelled draft, checklist, or decision memo. State what was not verified and do not claim approval, publication, financial accuracy, or customer acceptance.

Decision rules

Condition	Action	Stop condition
Output creates a commercial, customer, or delivery commitment	Obtain named approval before release	Authority or terms are unclear
Evidence supports a reversible draft	Produce it with assumptions and owner	Required evidence conflicts
Tooling or data is incomplete	Specify validation	A final executable artefact is expected

Domain Anti-Patterns

• Inventing customer evidence, prices, benchmarks, or approvals. Fix: cite the source or mark the gap.
• Publishing or sending a draft without authority. Fix: retain draft status and name the approver.
• Hiding assumptions inside polished prose. Fix: expose them beside each affected decision.
• Polishing presentation while the decision remains unclear. Fix: resolve audience, owner, and acceptance criteria.
• Treating unavailable tooling as passed validation. Fix: record the unassessed check.

Use When

• Copywriting and content creation standards for website pages, blog posts, and all written copy. Covers headlines, ledes, readability, niche vocabulary, scannable formatting, and persuasive structure. Cross-cutting skill — apply whenever...

Workflow

• For premium products, websites, proposals, or sales assets, write content that proves authority, qualifies buyers, supports SEO/GEO and digital PR, explains value in business terms, and leads to a concrete next action.

Evidence Produced

Category	Artifact	Format	Example
UX quality	Page copy review	Markdown doc covering headline, lede, body, and CTA per page against the content-writing standard	docs/content/page-copy-review-checkout.md

References

• Use the references/ directory for deep detail after reading the core workflow below.
• Pair with premium-software-product-execution when copy must support premium pricing, buyer trust, service packaging, sales follow-up, or website-as-marketing-asset requirements.

Professional copywriting standards for website copy, blog posts, articles, and all written content. This is a cross-cutting skill — apply these principles whenever creating or editing text for any page.

The Reader-First Rule

Every word exists for the reader, not the writer. Before writing anything, answer:

• Who is the reader? What do they already know?
• What are they looking for? What problem brought them here?
• Why should they care? What benefit do they gain?
• What proof would make them believe us?
• What action should a qualified buyer take next?

Write for the reader all the time. That is what separates content that converts from content that gets ignored.

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Headlines & Titles

The headline is the most important element. Five times as many people read the headline as read the body. If the headline fails, everything below it is wasted.

Headline Rules

1. Promise a benefit. Headlines that promise benefits outperform those that don't.
2. Give news. Readers seek new information — new products, new methods, new insights.
3. Select your reader. Flag down the people you want. If writing for banana farmers, put "banana farmers" in the headline.
4. Be specific. "How to Increase Banana Yield by 40%" beats "Tips for Better Farming."
5. Long headlines that say something outpull short headlines that say nothing. Never sacrifice clarity for brevity.
6. Write the headline AFTER the content. Only then do you know the full scope and best angle.
7. Telegraph in simple language. Readers do not stop to decipher obscure headlines.

Headline Formulas That Work

• How to [achieve desired result]: "How to Store Bananas for Maximum Shelf Life"
• [Number] Ways/Reasons/Steps: "7 Steps to Higher-Quality Matooke Flour"
• Question that mirrors the reader's problem: "Is Your Banana Crop Vulnerable to Fusarium Wilt?"
• News/announcement: "New Banana Cultivar Resists Black Sigatoka Disease"
• Direct benefit: "Reduce Post-Harvest Losses by Half with These Storage Methods"

What to Avoid in Headlines

• Clever wordplay the reader won't get
• Headlines that could apply to any topic (too generic)
• ALL CAPS for entire headlines (harder to read)
• Clickbait that the content cannot deliver on

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Additional Guidance

Extended guidance for content-writing was moved to references/skill-deep-dive.md to keep this entrypoint compact and fast to load.

Use that deep dive for:

• The Lede (Opening)
• Readability
• Niche Vocabulary (Thematic Depth)
• Scannable Formatting
• The "So What?" Test
• Attribution as Authority
• Unique Value Proposition
• Features vs Benefits
• Structure Templates
• Keeping Eyes Moving
• Writing Styles
• Takeaways
• Additional deep-dive sections continue in the reference file.

Quality Standards

Copy must be accurate, audience-specific, readable aloud, supported by named proof, and free of claims the source material cannot substantiate.

Outputs

Artefact	Consumer	Acceptance condition
Reader-ready copy or copy review	Page owner, editor, or campaign team	The headline names a credible benefit, the body supplies proof, and the CTA states the next action without inventing claims