Technical  Communication  

Web  Content  Strategy  

+  

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