Publishing is as easy as pushing a button -- quite literally. All we have to do is press a button and our content goes flying out across feeds and pages, syndicated seven ways to Sunday.

Publishing, however, is a privilege, not a right. Just because we can publish anything, doesn’t mean we should. Like Uncle Ben told Peter Parker in “Spider-Man”: “With great power comes great responsibility.”

So don’t sling your content around as carelessly as Spider-Man slung his first webs. Before hitting the shiny “Publish” button, there are several questions we should ask ourselves:

To whom am I speaking? Who is my audience?

Before we can know what to say, we have to think about who we’re saying it to. What message is appropriate? What tone do we use? What are their concerns, sensitivities and needs (more on that in a second)? Understanding our audience will shape meaningful content.

What do I hope this will achieve?

Are we publishing because it’s Thursday morning and we always publish on Thursday morning? Or because it’s Thursday morning and we haven’t published in four weeks and we’re freaking out? We should push the button with a goal in mind. The more our publishing is guided by intent, the more successful we will be.

Whose problem does this solve? Whose need does this meet?

Content is not a wholly self-serving enterprise. While we need to have a sense of the goals we want our content to help us accomplish, successful content is found in the sweet spot between our goals and our readers’ needs. The only way our content will gain traction with our audience -- and thus have a chance of serving our goals -- is if it serves their needs, as well.

Is this relevant? Is it interesting?

Our content has a lot of work to do. It has to compete for attention with every other page and pixel out there. So to win the day, it has to be worth the reader’s time. Be surprising. Be informative. Be timely. Be compelling. Be exceptional.

What's the reader’s next step?

Content should drive action. We don’t publish just to fill space, and we can’t expect our readers to consume our content idly. Thinking back to our goals, we want the reader to do something that will advance them. Thinking to the reader’s needs, we want to give them a path where those needs are met.

Will this spur engagement?

We want our content to start a conversation. Have we enabled it do so? Have we built in hooks to get the reader asking questions and making connections? Are we making people curious? Are we making them feel something, thus encouraging them to react?

How will I encourage people to share?

This doesn’t happen by tweeting a link suffixed with “Please Retweet.” For content to be shared, it has to be shareworthy. It has to matter to people so much -- because it makes them think, laugh, cry, reconsider, learn, whatever it may be -- that they are implored to share it with the people that matter to them.

Ultimately, content that matters is shaped by careful consideration of all of these questions. Don’t be tempted by the shiny button. Put in the work to get the most out of what you publish.