The most important thing you're doing with your content is communicating your meaning or message to the reader, so that they understand it. Of course, you also have to make sure you know what the reader is searching for in the first place. If you are not providing the information that they are after, you can be as clear as you like but it will be the wrong content for them.

1 Head first. You must get your meaning clear in your head first or you'll have nothing to communicate to someone else. Plan your ideas, map them out or list them but get them set out objectively before you start to write. Organise them so the meaning will be clarified. If your ideas are disorganised your message will be lost. So start with yourself first, after you've decided what the reader wants to know about.

2 Edit ruthlessly. When you've written your content, leave it for a while. Come back to it and look for mechanical mistakes like spellings but, more importantly, mistakes in sense. Cut out anything that doesn't move your meaning forward. That idea you had for an example might have seemed good at the time but now looks out of place and doesn't help the reader to get the meaning fast and clearly.

3 Add in. On the other hand, no doubt other ideas come to you as you're doing the editing. Add them in where appropriate as long as they add to the meaning and are not just bits of extra information that would be nice to include but don't add to the meaning you want to convey. At that point, you could go through the process of leaving it again and editing later to get greater clarity. Always remember the reader. They want to know how the content will help them and they want to know quickly.