Self-Help Guide

Content Strategy: Plan & Maintain Website Content

This self-help guide walks you through the process of planning the right content to meet the goals of your website. It also provides some things to consider regarding the maintenance of your website content.

Content Strategy Website 1 [1]

Plan Your Content

KNOW YOUR GOALS

Establish Objectives

Identify Stakeholders (Lynda Video 2:01)
https://www.lynda.com/Content-Strategy-tutorials/Identify-understand-stakeholders/473877/509291-4.html [2]
Setting Successful Website Goals and Objective
https://www.blitzmediadesign.com/blog/2014/05/setting-successful-website-goals/ [3]

Define Business Requirements

Is Your Website Needed?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10412216 [4]
BBC article

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

Identify Audience Members

Determine Audience, Outcomes, and User Needs
https://alistapart.com/article/audiences-outcomes-and-determining-user-needs [5]
Define an Audience (Lynda Video 1:53)
https://www.lynda.com/Content-Strategy-tutorials/Define-audience/473877/509292-4.html [6]
Develop Fact-based Personas (Lynda Video 3:40)
https://www.lynda.com/Content-Strategy-tutorials/Develop-fact-based-personas/473877/509294-4.html [7]

Conduct User Research

A Five-Step Process for Conducting User Research
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2013/09/23/5-step-process-conducting-user-research/ [8]
Complete Beginner's Guide to Design Research
http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/complete-beginners-guide-to-design-research/ [9]
User Research Basics
http://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/user-research.html [10]
Conducting a Focus Group
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~rkrueger/focus.html [11]

Define Audience Requirements

Illustrating the Long Tail
https://moz.com/blog/illustrating-the-long-tail [12]
Web Analytics for Content Planning
http://meetcontent.com/blog/web-analytics-for-content-planning/ [13]

IDENTIFY CONTENT NEEDS

Inventory and Audit Your Content

How to conduct a content audit
http://uxmastery.com/how-to-conduct-a-content-audit/ [14]
A Complete Content Audit and Spreadsheet Template
https://blog.bufferapp.com/content-audit [15]
6 Steps to a Comprehensive Ongoing Content Strategy Audit
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/6-steps-comprehensive-ongoing-content-strategy-audit/91129/ [16]
Automated Link-Checking Tool
http://validator.w3.org/checklink [17]
(w3c.org)

Conduct a Gap Analysis

The Content Gap Analysis
https://www.sitecore.net/company/blog/421/part-2-the-content-gap-analysis-identifying-the-gap-between-the-content-you-have-and-the-content-you-need-4085 [18]
Super Quick Content Gap Analysis
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/content-gap-analysis/ [19]

Select an Appropriate Platform

COPE: Create Once, Publish Everywhere
http://blog.programmableweb.com/2009/10/13/cope-create-once-publish-everywhere/ [20]

DEVELOP A WORK PLAN

Define Roles and Responsibilities

Defining Roles and Responsibilities
http://contentstrategy101.com/contents/implementation/methodology/defining-roles-and-responsibilities/ [21]
Get Your Content Out of the Drawer with Governance
http://uxmag.com/articles/get-your-content-strategy-out-of-the-drawer-with-governance [22]
RACI Chart Template
http://racichart.org/raci-templates/ [23]
Project Team Roles and Responsibilities
https://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/project-team.html [24]

Discuss Measures of Success

Web Analytics for Content Planning
http://meetcontent.com/blog/web-analytics-for-content-planning/ [13]
Choose a Web Analytics Tool
https://www.lifewire.com/top-blog-statistics-trackers-3476176 [25]
Understand and Use Google Analytics
https://it.umn.edu/technology/google-analytics [26]

Content Strategy Website 2 [27]

Create Your Content

ORGANIZE YOUR CONTENT

Design Your Content Structure

Understanding Your Site Structure
http://webstyleguide.com/wsg3/3-information-architecture/3-site-structure.html [28]
An Intro to Metadata and Taxonomies
http://blog.braintraffic.com/2012/03/an-intro-to-metadata-and-taxonomies/ [29]
Card Sorting: A Definitive Guide
http://boxesandarrows.com/card-sorting-a-definitive-guide/ [30]
A Simple and Indispensable Template for Content Marketing Distribution
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/05/content-marketing-distribution-template/ [31]
How to Put Together an Editorial Calendar for Content Marketing
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2010/08/content-marketing-editorial-calendar/ [32]
Building the Case for Taxonomy
http://boxesandarrows.com/building-the-business-case-for-taxonomy/ [33]
Planning a Taxonomy Project
http://boxesandarrows.com/planning-a-taxonomy-project/ [34]

Curate Sources

Content Curation: The Ultimate Guide
http://www.buzzergy.com/content-curation-guide/ [35]
Considerations for Special Higher Ed Content Types
http://meetcontent.com/blog/considerations-for-special-higher-ed-content-types/ [36]

Make Page Tables

Creating Better Web Content with Page Tables
http://www.kendallcopywriting.co.uk/content-strategy-applied-creating-better-web-content-with-page-tables/ [37]
From Page Tables to Content Templates
http://marketeer.kapost.com/from-page-tables-to-content-templates/ [38]
Example Page Table
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KCOL-uSsL4ywHklSLBucx7YNxTNlNzwHOH_zc5QJwyU/edit [39]
(Google doc with template)

WRITE FOR THE WEB

Establish Voice and Tone

Choose Your Voice and Tone
https://content-guide.18f.gov/voice-and-tone/ [40]
Finding Your Voice and Tone
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/08/21/finding-tone-voice/ [41]
The Impact of Voice and Tone on Users' Brand Perception
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/tone-voice-users/ [42]

Use Plain Language

Plain Language Checklist
http://centerforplainlanguage.org/5-steps-to-plain-language/ [43]
A Process for Using Plain Language
http://www.usabilityinciviclife.org/plain-language-is-a-process/ [44]
US Government Standards for Plain Language
http://www.plainlanguage.gov/ [45]
(plainlanguage.gov)
Outlaw the Phrase "Social Media" at Work
http://www.webinknow.com/2012/11/outlaw-the-phrase-social-media-at-work.html [46]
Write Actionable Content
https://health.gov/healthliteracyonline/write/ [47]
Using Appropriate Words
http://www.kingcounty.gov/help/editorial-style-guide/plainwriting/appropriatewords.aspx [48]

Create Usable Content

Creating Valuable Content: An Essential Checklist
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2011/04/valuable-content-checklist/ [49]
Hemingway Editor
http://www.hemingwayapp.com/ [50]
Write the Best Titles for Content Marketing
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/12/checklist-content-marketing-titles/ [51]
5 Reasons Why No One Is Reading Your Email Newsletter
http://www.copyblogger.com/email-newsletter-response/ [52]
Testing the Usability of Text
https://gathercontent.com/blog/testing-the-usability-of-text [53]
Federal Government Content Guide
https://pages.18f.gov/content-guide [54]
(developed for the government but useful for everyone)

APPLY STANDARDS

Make Your Content Accessible

Accessible U
http://accessibility.umn.edu [55]
University of Minnesota Accessibility website
Accessibility Basics
http://www.contentstrategy101.com/contents/creating-useful-information/accessibility/ [56]
Government-wide Section 508 Accessibility Program
http://section508.gov [57]
Accessibility Evaluation Resources
http://www.w3.org/WAI/eval/Overview.html [58]
The Mobile Content Mandate
https://karenmcgrane.com/2014/01/13/the-mobile-content-mandate/ [59]
Free Accessibility Tools Roundup
https://medium.com/bread-crumbs/free-web-accessibility-tools-round-up-b83a33797789 [60]
Accessibility Quick-Reference
http://webaim.org/resources/evalquickref/evalquickref.pdf [61]
Experiencing Dyslexia: An Example
http://geon.github.io/programming/2016/03/03/dsxyliea [62]

Adhere to Regulatory Compliance

Copyright Information and Resources
https://www.lib.umn.edu/copyright [63]

Adhere to Brand Standards

University of Minnesota Web Standards and Best Practices
https://university-relations.umn.edu/resources/web-standards-and-best-practices [64]
University of Minnesota Brand Standards
http://university-relations.umn.edu/our-brand [65]

LAUNCH YOUR CONTENT

Test with a Soft Launch

Soft Launch - Defined
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_launch [66]
Why You Should Always Soft Launch
https://spacechimp.io/why-you-should-always-soft-launch/ [67]

Go Live

Site Launch Timeline and Checklist
https://www.dtelepathy.com/blog/business/the-ultimate-website-launch-checklist [68]
Blog Launch Strategy
http://thinktraffic.net/the-launch-strategy-that-will-give-your-new-blog-unstoppable-momentum [69]

Content Strategy Website 3 [70]

Sustain Your Content

ASSESS YOUR PROGRESS

Do a Project Debrief

10 Things to Include in a Project Post-Mortem
http://www.business2community.com/strategy/10-things-include-project-post-mortem-0968906 [71]
Web Analytics: How to Use Web Analytics Successfully
http://webdesign.about.com/od/loganalysis/a/web_analytics.htm [72]

Measure Your Results

How to Measure Your Content Strategy Success (Lynda.com Video 3:37)
https://www.lynda.com/Content-Strategy-tutorials/Measuring-success/473877/509316-4.html [73]
6 Metrics Every Website Needs to Track
https://www.square2marketing.com/blog/6-metrics-every-successful-website-needs-to-track [74]

IMPLEMENT ONGOING WORKFLOW

Create a Maintenance Plan

Content Calendar Tools, Templates, Tips
https://blog.bufferapp.com/all-about-content-calendar [75]
Establish a Content Maintenance Routine
http://uxmag.com/articles/content-maintenance [76]
Workflows (Lynda.com Video 2:49)
https://www.lynda.com/Content-Strategy-tutorials/Workflows/473877/509310-4.html [77]

Apply Your Content Lifecycle

Content Lifecycle: Closing the Loop in Content Strategy
http://johnnyholland.org/2010/10/content-lifecycle-closing-the-loop-in-content-strategy/ [78]

Maintain Quality Control

Content Quality Checklist
http://content-science.com/products/content-quality-checklist/ [79]
Social Media Templates for Realtime Content
https://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-templates [80]

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