Online Content Strategy Survey Template

A popular format is not a content strategy on its own. First find the question your audience is trying to answer; then decide whether a short explanation, comparison, example, or walkthrough would help. Use this seven-question SurveyLegend template before building the next editorial plan.

Invite people from the intended audience, including occasional readers, before choosing the next set of articles or resources. Name one subject area so responses do not drift between unrelated interests. The survey asks what to create next, not whether a visitor completed a task today. Use SurveyLegend's website feedback template for that separate question.

A 1999 paper by Iain Middleton, Mike McConnell, and Grant Davidson proposed a university website model beginning with “identifying who the site is serving.” Its abstract describes website analysis and a literature review, not a test of modern content formats. The university website study supports the audience-first framing here; it does not establish current search-ranking factors or validate this questionnaire.

Use the seven questions below. Every field is optional and always visible. Select one answer where choices are listed; leave any irrelevant written answer blank.

Respondent introduction:
Think about the subject named above and information that would be useful to you in the next month. All questions are optional. Describe your own needs without including account details, confidential work or other people's personal information.

Keep the first question open so the editor's preferred topics do not determine every answer. SurveyLegend's article on open-ended questions explains how written answers can reveal needs that fixed choices miss. Do not insert your planned article titles before this question if you want unprompted needs.

Use a subject the audience recognizes, such as maintaining a community garden rather than sustainability in general. Keep depth separate from format: a reader can want detailed text or a concise video. If a format is unrealistic for the publisher, remove it before sharing rather than suggesting it will be produced.

Plan your next content cycle around audience questions, practical tasks, and usable formats. Copy this prompt into an AI assistant to draft the questions. Review the draft, then build and customize the survey in SurveyLegend before sharing.

Group the first answers by the question being asked, not just repeated keywords. Read each alongside its intended task and starting knowledge. A beginner comparing options may need a different article from a regular practitioner troubleshooting a step, even if both mention the same topic.

Create a small set of candidate briefs with a reader question, necessary detail, example and delivery format. Check whether a suitable existing resource can be improved before commissioning a new page. Treat format choices as stated preferences, not proof people will consume or share the finished content. Report whose needs you heard, which groups may be missing, and what the publisher chose to address.