2. Planning Your web content
Presented To IABC Waterloo
March 21, 2013
Jonathan Woodcock

3. Overview
Provide a summary of major work tasks for developing effective website content Provide information about resources to help with website content planning and development

4. Major tasks AKA: 10 easy steps to effective web content
Identify target audiences (visitors to your website)
Conduct web content analysis (content audit/inventory)
Conduct competitive analysis
Define website visitor content requirements
Specify area business requirements
Plan web information architecture (sitemap/navigation)
Prepare website content
Obtain required training
Prepare project management plan
Create web content update and maintenance plan

5. Identify target audiences
Identify the target audiences of your website: Who are your current visitors or who is this website for?
List target audiences
Organize content by target audiences
Write audience-specific content
Create and use personas
Your website is not for you!

6. Create personas
Name: made-up name, representative of audience Picture: representative stock photo, or shadow image Relevant demographic information: age, major interests/responsibilities, other relevant info Main goals and tasks: what s/he is trying to achieve on your website

7. Conduct web content analysis
Helps you:
Know what content you have and need
Identify content audiences, topics and types
Tip: Who should do the content analysis?
Also called a web content audit or web content inventory

8. Content Analysis
Assess what content exists (ROT = Redundant, Outdated, Trivial)
Itemize what content needs to be generated

9. Conduct competitive analysis
Assess the competition
3-5 comparators is often enough
Can be as simple as 3-5 things that you like/worked, and 3-5 things that you don’t like/didn’t work
Identify patterns for user expectations
Navigation
Specific content
Standard terminology
Establish common language for stakeholders
Encourage thinking as a user
Don’t reinvent the wheel

10. Define content requirements
Know your website visitors’ questions
Conduct needs assessments/focus groups/surveys
Know your website visitors’ language
Ask your coworkers what questions they get asked regularly by phone or by the same audiences (visitors)
Check your analytics on existing sites for common search terms

11. Draft preliminary content
Question: What are the requirements for admission? Heading: Admission requirements Answer: The admission requirements vary by program. List of links to admission requirements by program.

12. Content Plan
Page tables used to establish priorities at a page level, assigning components of the strategy to each page
Can serve as a writing brief as well as a record
Update and maintenance plan included
Less content intensive sites could use the Content Inventory revised to include further detail

13. Specify area business requirements
Identify what website visitors need to know but don’t know they need to know
Connect their language to your information
Solve the common problems by leading them to the correct information
Include relevant ‘about us’ information
An about section on your site is probably the most work for the least traffic – but still required.
Emphasis on the relevant to your audience

14. Plan website information architecture
Define your web information architecture (sitemap/navigation)
Make sure that your information architecture works with the web design

15. Obtain required training
Technical Training
Are you using a content management system (CMS)? What implications do your content types have for your writers?
Who needs what access? Who is managing access?
Training for web content
Are your content maintainers web writers?
Are they aware of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and it’s implications for the web?

16. Prepare website content
Now you are ready to prepare your content!
Use your sitemap (information architecture) to guide your website content writing
Use your website visitor requirements to create your website content (this is the starting point)
Write/add the other content that is required (business area requirements; content analysis)
Remember key web writing guidelines - write accessible, scanable, SEO content
Obtain images/create graphics for your website

17. Prepare a project management plan
Our typical Web Content PM Plan contains:
Project Schedule
Content Strategy
Content Inventory
Competitive Analysis
Information Architecture
Content Plan (Page Tables or Inventory)

18. Content Strategy High level overview, answering:
Who are our audiences?
What do we need to say to them?
How do we need to say it?
What are we trying to do?
Provides a reference point for content questions
Provides a framework for measurable goals

19. Project Schedule Identify key tasks and dependencies
Assign work-time estimates
Review with stakeholders
Establish real timelines

20. Create web content update and maintenance plan
How often should the website be updated?
What are your business cycles?
What are your user patterns over time?
Are you committing to dated content like blog, news or events?
The Web is never done.
Make content somebody’s job.
Manage your content (Hint: this is different from your content management system)
Include maintenance in the project management plan and schedule to keep it mind throughout development.

21. Key Lessons Communicate with ALL stakeholders early and often
Establish clear priorities and expectations
Establish clear understanding of timelines and revise with input from key dependencies

22. Key Lessons
Photography and graphics are content but should be treated as special
Include as separate work tasks in schedule
Establish separate inventory
Capture art direction guidelines where appropriate

23. Key Lessons Internal stakeholders love their FAQs
“We get great feedback about our FAQ!”
Almost always from internal users needing a reference document, that belongs on your intranet.
“We collated all the user questions and organized them by user type and theme, it’s even searchable!”
There’s already a name for this: a website.
Remember: Your website is not for you!

24. Jonathan Woodcock @jbwoodcock jonathanwoodcock.me
QUESTIONS?
Jonathan jonathanwoodcock.me