Why do users visit a website? Most likely it's for the content. Then why is content strategy the most neglected aspect of user experience design? Delivering the right content to meet user needs requires attention throughout the process -- it must be planned, analyzed, produced, edited, managed, and maintained. Even though content is the centerpiece of the user's experience, it rarely gets the attention it deserves during site design and development. This workshop addressed how to integrate content strategy into the website design process, ensuring that the content that gets created is what users need.

1. WELCOME! Karen McGrane
karen@bondartscience.com
@karenmcgrane
+1 (917) 887-8149

2. Concept ruthlessly stolen from Heather Champ @hchamp
Via Flickr User swirlspice under a Creative Commons License 2

3. 3

4. 4

5. 5

6. 6

7. 7

8. 8

9. what
about
the art?
8

10. 9

11. 10

12. when do
we see
the art?
11

15. 13

16. WHERE IS
THE ART?
14

17. 15

18. 16

19. 17

20. DISASTER
STRIKES!
17

21. 18

22. 19

23. 20

24. 21

25. YOU WOULDN’T BUILD
A GALLERY THIS WAY.
22

26. WHY WOULD YOU BUILD
A WEBSITE THIS WAY?
23

27. TWO BIG PROBLEMS
24

28. “ Organizations invest tremendous resources on
developing the framework for a great user
experience — fabulous design, robust content
management infrastructure.
Yet when it comes to the content itself, there's
often a gap.
”
The end result is that the value proposition for
customers can't be delivered because the
content is insufficient, inadequate, and
inappropriate.
— RAHEL BAILIE
25

29. We already have
most of the content. Copywriting just isn’t
that big of a deal.
We can figure the
content out later.
We pretty much know
what we want to say.
Our marketing team is
handling the content.
Kristina Halvorson, Brain Traffic 26

31. Codename Logo Features Browse Our Sites About Us Sign Up Login Support
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blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore.
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diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna
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Find out more about:
Feature Name | Feature Name | Feature Name | Feature Name | Feature Name | Feature Name 28

32. Melissa Rach, Brain Traffic 29

33. Here be dragons
Melissa Rach, Brain Traffic 29

34. Here be dragons
Melissa Rach, Brain Traffic 29

35. CONTENT IS KING!
LONG LIVE THE KING!

36. OUR TIME TOGETHER
What’s Content Strategy?
Why Content Strategy?
How Does One Do Content Strategy?
Exercise 1: Product Strategy
Exercise 2: Content Planning
Exercise 3: Content Audit
Exercise 4: Content Modeling
31

37. WHAT WE TALK ABOUT
WHEN WE TALK ABOUT
CONTENT

38. 33

39. 34

40. 35

41. 36

42. 37

43. 38

44. via Margot Bloomstein 39

45. 40

46. “ Content Strategy plans for the creation,
publication, and governance of useful, usable
content.
Content strategy helps you understand not
”
only what content needs to be created and
published, but why.
— KRISTINA HALVORSON
41

47. CONTENT STRATEGY AT EBAY
Keri Majala 42

48. WHY CONTENT STRATEGY?
WHY NOW?

49. 1. CONTENT (MIS)MANAGEMENT
2. EVERYONE’S A PUBLISHER
3. ACTION, NOT AWARENESS
44

50. http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlaarena/3188139819/ 45

51. http://www.getittogetherinc.net/images/storage%20before.JPG 46

52. DON’T LET THIS BE THE FATE
OF YOUR WEB CONTENT
http://www.getittogetherinc.net/images/storage%20before.JPG 46

53. 1. CONTENT (MIS)MANAGEMENT
2. EVERYONE’S A PUBLISHER
3. ACTION, NOT AWARENESS
47

54. “ All companies, no matter what the size, must
start to think more like publishers than ever
before. Consumer behavior has changed
drastically over the past few years.
Customers are more accepting of content
”
from “non-media” sites and the barriers to
publishing are now non-existent.
— JOE PULIZZI
48

55. CONSIDER THE MASTHEAD
Writers
Copy editors
Art directors
Production staff
Various editors
Managing editor
Editor in chief
Ad sales
The Publisher
Publishers and Content Strategy from Jeffrey MacIntyre 49

56. CONSIDER THE MASTHEAD
Writers
Copy editors
Art directors
Production staff
Publishing is complex.
Various editors
Managing editor
Editor in chief
Ad sales
The Publisher
Publishers and Content Strategy from Jeffrey MacIntyre 49

57. “ If you're being asked to use your content in
more than one way, the “more” part might
include unfamiliar methods or technologies,
syndication or collaborative creation,
localization, social media or communities
”
and user-generated content.
— RAHEL BAILIE
50

58. Conversation Prism from Brian Solis 51

59. 1. CONTENT (MIS)MANAGEMENT
2. EVERYONE’S A PUBLISHER
3. ACTION, NOT AWARENESS
52

60. “ The essence of the Web is action. We go to
the Web because we have a task; there is
something we need to do; there is a problem
we need to solve.
”
What helps us do? What helps us act?
— GERRY MCGOVERN
53

61. THE ANSWER TO “WHY?”
IS AN ACTION
— LORELEI BROWN
54

62. We should have
a blog.
Our goal is to be seen
as a resource.
We want to
build awareness. We plan to create
a series of
educational articles.
Kristina Halvorson, Brain Traffic 55

63. “We can drive significant improvements in
customer experiences.
How? By putting more emphasis on using
content to help customers — whether it is
providing relevant information when customers
buy a product or delivering easy-to-use and
understandable content for customer self-service
”
Websites — rather than simply focusing on how
to create, manage, and search for content.
— FORRESTER RESEARCH
Use Persuasive Content to Improve the Customer Experience
56

64. HOW DO THEY DO IT?

65. “ Content strategy is a repeatable system that
defines the entire editorial content development
process for a website development project.
”
— RICHARD SHEFFIELD
58

66. 59

67. What
59

68. topics are we going to cover?
What formats are we going to use? (Blogs, video, charts…)
59

69. topics are we going to cover?
What formats are we going to use? (Blogs, video, charts…)
Why
How
Where
When
Who
59

70. topics are we going to cover?
What formats are we going to use? (Blogs, video, charts…)
does anyone care?
Why does this provide business value?
How
Where
When
Who
59

71. topics are we going to cover?
What formats are we going to use? (Blogs, video, charts…)
does anyone care?
Why does this provide business value?
are we doing to deliver the message?
How should we say it? (Tone of voice…)
Where
When
Who
59

72. topics are we going to cover?
What formats are we going to use? (Blogs, video, charts…)
does anyone care?
Why does this provide business value?
are we doing to deliver the message?
How should we say it? (Tone of voice…)
will we get the content?
Where can we syndicate the content? (Feeds, social media…)
When
Who
59

73. topics are we going to cover?
What formats are we going to use? (Blogs, video, charts…)
does anyone care?
Why does this provide business value?
are we doing to deliver the message?
How should we say it? (Tone of voice…)
will we get the content?
Where can we syndicate the content? (Feeds, social media…)
will this be published?
When will it need to be updated?
Who
59

74. topics are we going to cover?
What formats are we going to use? (Blogs, video, charts…)
does anyone care?
Why does this provide business value?
are we doing to deliver the message?
How should we say it? (Tone of voice…)
will we get the content?
Where can we syndicate the content? (Feeds, social media…)
will this be published?
When will it need to be updated?
is responsible for this content?
Who will maintain it over time?
59

75. 60

76. • What are my business objectives?
• What do my users want to do?
• What does my brand stand for?
Product Strategy
60

77. • What are my business objectives?
• What do my users want to do?
• What does my brand stand for?
De
sig
nS
tra
teg
y
Product Strategy
• How will users interact with it?
• How will it be structured?
• What will it look like?
60

78. • What are my business objectives?
• What do my users want to do?
• What does my brand stand for?
De
sig
nS
tra
teg
y
Product Strategy
• How will users interact with it?
• How will it be structured?
• What will it look like?
Technology
Strategy
• How will we build it?
• Who will maintain it?
60

79. • What are my business objectives?
• What do my users want to do?
• What does my brand stand for?
De te gy
sig tra
nS S
tra
teg te nt
y C on
Product Strategy
• How will users interact with it? • What do we want to say?
• How will it be structured? • Where will we get the content?
• What will it look like? • Who will maintain it?
Technology
Strategy
• How will we build it?
• Who will maintain it?
60

80. CONTENT STRATEGY
Product
Planning Sourcing Creation Governance
Strategy
Exercise 1
61

81. CONTENT STRATEGY
Product
Planning Sourcing Creation Governance
Strategy
Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Exercise 4
61

82. 62

83. “ ”
Build a better mousetrap, and the world will
beat a path to your door.
— RALPH WALDO EMERSON
63

84. “ beat a path to your door.
you’re still going to have to develop a
content strategy, if you want anybody to
actually buy it. ”
Build a better mousetrap, and the world will
— RALPH WALDO EMERSON
63

85. EXERCISE 1: PRODUCT STRATEGY
You have developed the proverbial “better mousetrap.” You’re clearly a
successful innovator. Now, it’s time to put your innovation skills to work
developing a content strategy to support your new product.
On the next page, answer the following questions about your new
mousetrap and its benefits:
Who do you want to buy your mousetrap?
Moms? Schools? Restaurants? Animal-rights activists? Rube Goldberg?
What values does your brand stand for?
Health? Cleanliness? Speed? Hatred of vermin?
How do you plan to make money?
Repeat sales? Subscriptions? Advertising?
64

86. EXERCISE 1 DISCUSSION
65

87. CONTENT STRATEGY
Product
Planning Sourcing Creation Governance
Strategy
CONTENT PLANNING
• What messages should be communicated?
• What content features will support those messages?
• What tone of voice should the site speak in?
• What new content do we need to create?
• How long will it take to source or develop content?
66

88. CONTENT STRATEGY
Product
Planning Sourcing Creation Governance
Strategy
Exercise 2:
Content Planning
67

89. EXERCISE 2: CONTENT PLANNING
You plan to create a website to promote your new mousetrap. What
content do you need to develop in order to show the benefits, get
people to engage with your brand, and persuade them to buy?
On the next page, answer the following questions about the content
you want to appear on your website:
What are the main categories or topics you plan to cover on the site?
Products? Shop? See it in action? Customer service?
What do you want to say about your product?
It’s Fast? Clean? Cheap? Environmentally-friendly? Easy-to-use?
What additional content features do you need to develop? Why?
CEO blog? Video? Podcasts? Social networking? Infographics?
68

90. EXERCISE 2 DISCUSSION
69

91. CONTENT STRATEGY
Product
Planning Sourcing Creation Governance
Strategy
CONTENT SOURCING
• What content currently exists on the site?
• What print content do you expect to reuse?
• What content is missing?
• Will new content be created or sourced from a third party?
• How will you migrate existing content to the new site?
70

92. WHERE IS YOUR CONTENT?
71

93. CONTENT AUDIT
Possibly the most important thing you can do to avoid scope creep and
minimize risk
_ Catalog web pages, print materials, all communications
_ Map content to business and user goals
_ Analyze the gap between what you have and what you need
_ Don’t draw boxes for content you don’t need, you can’t create, or no
one will maintain
Brain Traffic 72

94. CONTENT STRATEGY
Product
Planning Sourcing Creation Governance
Strategy
Exercise 3:
Content Audit
73

95. EXERCISE 3: CONTENT AUDIT
The success of your design beats out all others, and Acme Mousetrap
Co. — your nearest competitor — goes out of business. You purchase
the assets of the failed company, which includes the right to repurpose
anything from their website.
Refer to the content inventory on the next page, and determine:
Which content supports your business goals? Your users’ goals? Both?
Which content would you keep? Which content would you delete?
Do you have enough information to determine which content to keep or
delete? If not, how would get the information you need?
How long do you think it would take to get that information and make
those decisions?
74

96. EXERCISE 3 DISCUSSION
75

97. CONTENT STRATEGY
Product
Planning Sourcing Creation Governance
Strategy
CONTENT CREATION
• Who is going to write or produce all this content?
• What guidelines do we need to provide content creators?
• Who is responsible for reviewing, editing, and approving?
• What legal or regulatory approvals do we need?
• What quality control measures do we need?
76

98. CONTENT STRATEGY
Product
Planning Sourcing Creation Governance
Strategy
Exercise 4:
Content Model
77

99. EXERCISE 4: CONTENT MODEL
You know that it’s not enough just to put up a website for your
mousetrap. You want to place your product on other retailer websites,
like Amazon.com.
Review the attached examples of product pages from several online
retailers to determine:
What are all the different content elements that make up a listing?
You may want to go through each page and circle every element associated
with the product. Use the table on the next page to document them.
What new content will you need to create for these retailer websites?
What content elements are the same across all the sites? Are there any
custom elements you need to create for just one or two sites?
What content about your product will be created by someone else?
What gets created by retailers? What do users create themselves?
78

100. EXERCISE 4 DISCUSSION
79

101. CONTENT STRATEGY
Product
Planning Sourcing Creation Governance
Strategy
CONTENT GOVERNANCE
•What happens to our content once it goes up on the site?
•How often do we need to update the content?
•How will we know if the content is doing its job?
•What metrics can we use to track content performance?
•Should ownership be centralized or decentralized?
80

102. PARTING THOUGHTS

103. IT’S NOT ABOUT ADDING A NEW
SHINY OBJECT.
IT’S ABOUT DECIDING WHAT
YOU WANT TO SAY, AND WHY.

104. THINK ACTION,
NOT AWARENESS.

105. CONTENT STRATEGY IS TOO
COMPLEX TO BE SOMEBODY’S
“SOMETIMES JOB”

106. YOU, OR SOMEONE YOU LOVE,
MIGHT ALREADY BE DOING
CONTENT STRATEGY

107. HELP IS OUT THERE.
Google Group: groups.google.com/group/contentstrategy/
Google Knol: knol.google.com/k/jeffrey-macintyre/content-strategy/
Linked In: www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1879338
Slideshare: www.slideshare.net/
Conference: stcfrance.org/conference
86

108. THANKS! Karen McGrane
karen@bondartscience.com
@karenmcgrane
+1 (917) 887-8149