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Content Strategy after the content inventory is determined.

This week I read “Content Audits: A Heavy Lift for a Huge Payoff” by Erin Schroeder. And it was surprising how perfectly this article ties into my self-made anxiety.

I’m working on a client project where we already have a full content inventory. Everything is listed out. We know what exists. But we haven’t started the audit yet—and I don’t know what we’re going to find.

That’s the part that makes me feel anxious.

The inventory looks complete, but it doesn’t tell me if any of the content actually works. It doesn’t show what’s useful, what’s repeated, or what’s outdated. I can make guesses based on experience, but right now, that’s all they are—guesses. Until I start reviewing the content, I won’t know how much needs to change or where the biggest issues are.

That uncertainty is what has been slowing things down.

This article helped me move past that.

What stood out most is how simple the process is. Every piece of content leads to one decision. It either stays, gets updated, gets removed, or gets combined with something else.

That structure is what I was missing.

I don’t need to know what I’ll find before I start. I don’t need to map out every issue ahead of time. I just need a clear way to handle whatever shows up. That shift makes the work feel more manageable. Instead of trying to solve everything at once, I can focus on one piece of content at a time and decide what happens next.

When I think about starting the audit now, it feels more straightforward. Some content will clearly still work and won’t need much attention. Some will need small updates to improve clarity or fix inconsistencies. Some may no longer serve a purpose and will need to be removed. And some content will probably appear in multiple places and need to be combined into one clear version.

I don’t need to know where those things are yet. I just need to be ready to make those decisions when I find them.

Even though the article focuses on website content, this approach applies to any audit. The format might change, but the process is the same. You don’t fully understand what you’re working with until you start reviewing it. What matters is having a consistent way to respond to what you see.

Another thing that helped is the focus on usefulness. The article keeps bringing the work back to whether content actually helps people do what they need to do.

That gives me a simple way to stay grounded when things feel unclear.