Given at UXPA-DC's User Focus Conference, Oct. 19, 2012

1. Content Strategy
That Fits
SMALL MEDIUM AND LARGE
Carrie Hane Dennison @carriehd
Lorelei Brown @beezy
#userfocus

2. Self-test
Do you have Do you know
 A list of search terms?  When you need to update your
site?
 Analytics?
 Who is responsible for the
 A list of site content? content?
 A standards/editorial style  What words everyone is using to
guide? describe your
company/product/offering?
 Target audiences?

3. Content Strategy
AUDITS, STRATEGY, GOVERNANCE
 Audits – LISTING
 A list of content on your site.
 What wordseveryone is using to describe your
company/product/offering?
 Search terms?
 Strategy – PLANNING
 When you need to update content.
 Defined audience.
 How content builds a relationship with your
audience.
 Governance – MAINTAINING
 Define who is responsible for the content.
 Standards/editorial style guide?
 Know who’s the sheriff?

4. Why Bother?
 Reasons WHY you’re doing this – a plan
that everyone can agree on (more or less)
 Ways to measure if the plan is working
 Guidelines to prioritize work
 Less overhead time figuring out what you
need to do
 More time spent engaging your audience

5. Audit – You Are Here
You can’t know how to get where you’re
going until you know where you are.
 SMALL
 Start with top level pages and key
‘strategic content’
image of map with  Note seasonal/response content
"you are here"
 MEDIUM
 Add audiences, purposes, start evaluation
 LARGE
 List every page

6. INSERT EXAMPLE OF
AUDIT
 screen shot of NGAUS content inventory

7. Audit Outcomes
 Catalog of what’s there
 Condition of the content – good, editable,
redundant, terrible
 What’s missing

8. Strategy – We Are Going
There
What’s the route you’re going to take to get
there?
 SMALL
 Define who we’re trying to reach and what they
want to know.
 MEDIUM
 Map pages and paths to user tasks
 Find pain points
 LARGE
 Group content to pages
 Consider IA/functionality revisions

9. Strategy Input

10. Strategy Input

11. Strategy Outcomes
 Strong guidelines for producing content.
 Hit the ground running – we’re already
ramped up.
 Common understanding for designers,
developers, marketers….everyone.

12. Ggovernance – We’re Here!
 SMALL
 Define how something gets on the site
 Write a basic site calendar
 Assign content ownership
 Create an archive policy
 MEDIUM
 Write a visual and editorial style guide
 Include voice, vocabulary, etc.
 Create workflows
 LARGE
 Form a governance board that meets quarterly
 Coordinate website and other communication
channels
 Get a place at the table

13. GOVERNANCE EXAMPLES
 Screen shot of giant spreadsheet of terror

14. Governance Outcomes
 Standards and process
 Unified voice
 Content is audience-focused

15. Getting Started Activities
 Assess the situation
 Audit
 Get baseline metrics to measure changes
 Find Partnerships
 Coordinate editorial calendars
 Record decisions
 Build buy-in

16. Keep Going
 Altruism: Build credibility by being
helpful
 Communicate bite-sized, what’s-in-it-for-
me numbers and facts
 Make it easier to produce and post
content
 Self-Interest: Show value by being helpful
 Track saved manhours from your team
and other teams
 Save happy emails