Bite-sized chunks of info from Vancouver-based freelance copywriter/web editor Rob Mathison, including recent projects, info/articles, links, and interesting stuff found on the web. And a picture of a doughnut.
I'm available for freelance/contract work.
Web content strategy. Got one?
“Content isn’t king anymore - it’s more like the emperor. Content is the start, middle and end of your online marketing story and is critical to virtually everything you do.”
The phrase ‘Content is king’ has been bandied around for a while as the Web has developed. Despite that, content creation - the words portion at least - would too often be left until the last minute in web projects - even very large web projects.
The content that time forgot
I often found myself being called in after a website’s launch to edit old content that had simply been shoehorned into the new website design. Like an explorer discovering lost tribes in the Amazon jungle, I would find myself stumbling over old content that time forgot.
The best reason I can think of for this is that the visual and interactive capabilities of the Web as a medium pushed written content down the list of priorities.
It also used to be thought that people don’t read online, when in fact of course they do - just differently. And people really didn’t give much thought to who would own or update the content on a regular basis. Or how it could be repurposed to help with their marketing efforts.
In other words, they didn’t have a content plan or strategy.
“Content informs design; design without content is decoration.”
- Jeffrey Zeldman
Times they are a’changin’
Things are changing though. A characteristic of today’s effective websites is clear, well-written, easy-to-navigate and helpful copy and content - see Evernote, Mint, 37Signals, Spotify, Apple and ZenDesk as just a few good examples.
If it doesn’t interfere with the flow of information and fits with the brand, there’s room for some humour and clever lines, but the overall aim is to convey important messages (benefits, features, brand story, calls to action… ) in a clear and engaging way.
As well as the actual words, people are now more aware of the role content plays in the overall user experience on a website, including navigation. I used to do just writing and editing, but these days I find myself getting asked to contribute much earlier in website projects - through design agencies or by the client - so I can conduct an audit and provide an input into navigation labels, IA, content repurposing for marketing, etc.
Keyword research and the placement of keywords in visible page text - while still keeping the copy readable – and within the meta data is also more important than ever.
This seems to be how the role of ‘Web Content Strategist’ (sometimes aka ‘Web Editor’ or ‘Web Content Officer’) has emerged to become a more integral part of web projects rather than an after-thought.
Got a website. Now what?
Like ‘content strategy’, it’s hard to escape the phrase ‘content marketing’ these days. Pretty much any respectable list of digital marketing predictions for 2011 included ‘content’. Here’s one example from E-consultancy.
As well as being integral to website development, content is now a recognized cornerstone of a good online marketing strategy.
That strategy might require content to be produced, repurposed and distributed via email, a blog, keyword-optimized articles, whitepapers, Twitter, YouTube, etc to engage with an audience, drive traffic, retain customers, and generally contribute to the overall marketing effort.
So, do you need a web content strategy?
While a content strategy is essential for larger websites with a lot of regularly updated content, the benefits also apply to smaller businesses and websites - just on a smaller scale.
Whether you are a business, a designer or a small agency designing and building a new website or updating an existing site, ask yourself these questions:
- Who produces the content and when?
- Who plans it?
- Who owns particular sections or subject areas?
- Who approves it?
- Who updates and reviews it?
- Who writes the meta data?
- Who makes sure other content is keyword-optimized?
- Who does the audit and inventory of the existing copy?
- Who writes the style guide?
- Who trains the client in web writing for ongoing updates?
- Who writes the behind-the-scenes yet essential user content, such as error pages, email notifications and other user copy?
- Who produces the blog or email newsletter editorial calendar?
If you are based in Vancouver and don’t know the answers to these questions, a chat with a web content strategist in Vancouver could be a good starting point.
