Content Strategy for

Library Websites

Rebecca Blakiston

@blakistonr

User Experience Librarian

University of Arizona Libraries

DESIGNING FOR DIGITAL

February 26, 2015

@design4lib

Hello!@blakistonr

Librarian

Instructor

Facilitator

Project manager

User researcher

Content fanatic

Providing good content is an essential part of our library mission…

and yet our locally-curated web content is often totally neglected.

Introducing content strategy

“Content strategy plans

for the creation,

publication, and

governance of useful,

usable content.”

- Kristina Halvorson

@halvorson

Audit

By understanding what we have, we can better plan how to manage what already exists as well as plan for the future.

Libguides?

Tutorials?

Videos?

Images?

Online exhibitions?

Digital collections?

News stories?

Blog posts?

Social media?

Catalog?

Login pages?

User accounts?

Discovery tool(s)?

Interlibrary loan system?

Associated websites?

Associated applications?

Define your goals and scope.

Create a spreadsheet.

• Pull a page list from your content management system.

• Follow links from your homepage, then follow links

within web pages.

Identify your content.

If you find a page such as

library.edu/info/software

See if there is a page at just:

library.edu/info

homepage childgrandchild

Do site searches for common search terms.

Check content captured in Google Analytics.

Document your content.

Title Responsible

Department

Web Writing Usefulness Relevancy Audience

Events Marketing Good Average High Community

Collections Collection

Managers

Average High Low Faculty

Newspapers Research

Services

Just awful Average Medium Graduate

Students

Evaluate your content.

Content Audit Questions

Clean up what you find.

Duplicate content?

Design or display problems?

ALL CAPS? Unnecessarily long page titles?

Unnecessary description? Outdated content? Extra spacing? Red text?

Jargon?

Incorrect use of headers?

2011-2012:

200+ pages deleted

2014:

100 more pages discovered & deleted

Be transparent and get buy-in.

Here’s what we

found. Here’s how

we want to make

things better.

Let’s talk.

Analysis

By analyzing our current environment and defining our website objectives, we can set a strategic foundation for future directions.

Content must have purpose.

How does your web content contribute to your mission,

vision, strategic plan?

What do users want and need from your content?

Sample vision:

We champion student and faculty success by giving them access to the spaces, technology, collections and expertise needed for their research, teaching, studying and collaboration.

Review current maintenance & oversight processes.

Departments•Responsible for big

sections on the website

•Can draft & update pages

Department

webmasters

•Responsible for page updates

•Varies by department (not every dept. has a webmaster)

Website Steering Group

•Responsible for publishing and deleting pages

Identify any training & documented expectations or accountability for content.

How often is content created, updated, or deleted?

Create standards for your web content.

Strategy

By establishing an effective and efficient content strategy, we ensure that our website content is and continues to be useful, usable, and findable.

Remember to (again) consider your scope.

Goals

1. Content focused

2. Accessible

3. Usable

4. Findable

5. Familiar

6. Engaging

7. Understandable

8. Credible

9. Human

Write actionable and measurable* goals for your website.

*Metrics for content are hard, but not impossible.

Further define your

audience & their goals.

We will capture your ideas then send to all staff for a sort.

helpful

friendly

reliable

people-focused

traditional

unmoving

fun

Who we are

fun

Establish a voice & tone.

future:easy-to-use

cutting-edge

consistent

engaging

people-focused

now:knowledgeable

friendly

helpful

academic

customer-focused

but never:exclusive

static

old school

traditional

quirky

Identify the players.

Define content roles and responsibilities.

Role Responsibility

Requestor Requests new content, content edits, or content

deletions

Provider Provides content for publication on the web

Manager Edits, improves, and manages the lifecycle of web

content

Reviewer Reviews content before it’s published on the web

Publisher Publishes content to the web

All content needs a

responsible party.

Use your content inventory.

Clearly define responsibilities for

those who actually

manage content.Evaluating

Creating

UpdatingImproving

Deleting

Content manager expectations:

• Stay aware of policies, procedures, standards, workflows

• Ensure all content meets standards and follow standards for new content

• Review all content regularly, no less than once every six months

• Create new content• Use Google Analytics to make decisions• Attend trainings• Communicate changes in content• Be open to & respond to feedback

Requestor requests a page

Provider creates content

Manager creates web page

Reviewer approves web page

New web page is created

Establish a workflow for

creating a page.

Content Manager determines page should be deleted

Content Manager communicates with stakeholders

Content Manager removes or updates all internal links, determines if a redirect is necessary

Content Manager sends deletion request to Publisher

Publisher deletes the page

Establish a workflow for

deleting a page.

Create a process around how

content gets updated.

And only create what you can

maintain.

Point People

Establish workflows for

specific types of content.

Provide resources

and substantive training.

Communicate often.

But efficiently. About important stuff.

Write like a human.

Think like a robot.

Sara Wachter-Boettcher

@sara_ann_marie

Make sure technology

(specifically, your content

management system)

supports it all.

Stop allowing bad things.

• underlines

• red text

• large headers

• Right justification

Enter event data once.Current events sort by date

Events move

when they're

over

You don't need to worry about formatting

content - it's all handled globally.

Structure your content.

Create a content model.

Relate content.

Learn more

Library Juice Academy: Developing a Website Content Strategy (4-week online course, October 2015)

Blakiston, R. Developing a Content Strategy for an Academic Library Website, Journal of Electronic Resources

Librarianship, 25:3, 175-191. 2013.

Halvorson, K. Content Strategy for the Web second edition. 2012.

Kissane, E. The Elements of Content Strategy. 2010.

Questions