Post on 17-Jan-2015
description
Technical Communication
Web Content Strategy
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Content strategy is an emerging discipline, one that technical communicators should be aware of.
http://content-strategy.meetup.com/
WHAT IS CONTENT STRATEGY?
Still wondering?
“Content strategy is about publishing.” – Erin Kissane "Content strategy is to copywriting as information architecture is to design.” – Rachel Lovinger "Ultimately the content strategist’s central question is this: what strategies can I implement to improve the content?” – Tom Johnson
WHAT DOES WRITING HAVE TO DO WITH IT?
Kristina Halvorson Content Strategy for the Web
“Most of the content on the web is text. Text instructs, guides, informs, confirms, communicates, connects. [Text] is the most complex kind of content to produce, and it’s the easiest to lose control of.”
WE CAN DO BETTER.
Karen McGrane "Content Strategy for Everyone (Even You)”, Interactions
“Ever wonder why so many websites feature dense, unreadable prose? Force you to navigate through pages of brochure copy and legalese? Look like they backed up a truck full of PDFs and dumped them in the content management system?”
Most web projects start with design and functionality, leaving actual content for subject matter experts to take care of.
Planning is focused on the launch of a web site, not on the life of a web site.
Even the most brilliantly written/designed content can be lost if it does not fit the delivery vehicle.
The existing process is flawed.
TECHNICAL JARGON AHEAD!
CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Confused? Think of it like this …
A Web Content Management System (WCMS) is a software system which provides website authoring and administration tools designed to allow users with little knowledge of web programming languages or markup languages to create and manage the site's content with relative ease.
wikipedia.org
When things are difficult …
… technology makes things easier.
Starting a website used to be difficult.
Design
Hosting
Coding
Writing
“Webmasters” required many tools in order to design, code, and deploy a site.
Content management systems put all these tasks behind a user-friendly interface.
CMS Design
Hosting Coding
Writing
Now anyone can publish on the web.
(Anyone.)
Web teams can package an empty website template (design + code) and quickly hand it over to subject matter experts.
The subject matter experts use the simple CMS entry tools to add content (no code or design skills required).
There was increased site consistency (branding) and sites could be updated often.
Everyone was happy.
Businesses quickly adopted the CMS model.
Except…
The content was crap. mostly
Many web projects follow this process.
• Layout • Visual Branding
• Coding (HTML, CSS, Javascript) • Testing
• Content Management System • Maintenance & Optimization
Experienced web teams use a more formal process.
• Goals & Requirements • Audience & Purpose
• Information Architecture • Site Map
• Layout • Visual Branding
• Coding (HTML, CSS, Javascript) • Testing
• Content Management System (CMS) • Maintenance & Optimization
When did we write all this important text?
• Goals & Requirements • Audience & Purpose Discovery • Information Architecture • Site Map Structure • Layout • Visual Branding Design • Coding (HTML, CSS, Javascript) • Testing Development • Content Management System (CMS) • Maintenance & Optimization Delivery
Right before the site launch.
A CMS reinforces the existing process.
Discover Design Develop Deliver
A CMS with a functional design template is handed off to the site owners as a packaged product.
All the “work” is focused on building the tool, not what goes into the tool.
Content strategists suggest a new process.
• Audit existing content, Analyze, and Plan for the Creation, Delivery, and Governance of content
• Information Architecture • Site Map
• Content Management System • Content Creation and Delivery (into CMS)
• Layout • Visual Branding
• Coding (HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc.) • Testing
• Maintenance & Optimization • Content Governance (Lifecycle)
WHY WILL TECHNICAL COMMUNICATORS MAKE GREAT CONTENT STRATEGISTS?
Tom Johnson I’d Rather Be Writing (idratherbewriting.com)
“Content strategy is clearly gaining momentum as a discipline alongside other disciplines related to tech comm, such as content management, information architecture, usability, and information design.”
Web content often uses three rhetorical modes.
Persuade
Engage
Inform
Technical communicators can apply rhetorical principles to creating web content that is
Actionable
Appealing
Clear
This semester, we surveyed the following topics.
Collaboration with local experts
Discovery of organizational culture
Document design
Analysis of audience and usability
Ethics of persuading readers to action/acceptance
Editing for clarity (“less is often more”)
Important abilities of a content strategist include
Collaborating with stakeholders
Listening to content owners
Auditing existing content
Asking “Who cares?” and “Why?”
Tying content to business objectives and user tasks
Implementing editorial calendars
THE BOTTOM LINE.
daniel spillers
“We are learning how to be thoughtful and effective communicators. Becoming a content strategist would also let us plan and control the entire lifecycle of any content we create: how it is used, changed, and retired.”
DANIEL SPILLERS
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
writeme@almostdaniel.com
@almostdaniel
almostdaniel.com