Content Strategy: Plan & Maintain Website Content

Content is one of the main components of a great user experience. This self-help guide walks you through the process of planning the right content to meet your website's goals. It also provides some considerations to help you maintain your website content.

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Plan Your Content

KNOW YOUR GOALS

Identify Stakeholders
Setting Successful Website Goals and Objectives

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

Determine Audience, Outcomes, and User Needs
Develop Fact-based Personas
A Five-Step Process for Conducting User Research
Complete Beginner's Guide to Design Research
User Research Basics
Conducting a Focus Group
Illustrating the Long Tail
Web Analytics for Content Planning

IDENTIFY CONTENT NEEDS

How to conduct a content audit
A Complete Content Audit and Spreadsheet Template
6 Steps to a Comprehensive Ongoing Content Strategy Audit
Automated Link-Checking Tool
(w3c.org)
The Content Gap Analysis
Super Quick Content Gap Analysis
COPE: Create Once, Publish Everywhere

DEVELOP A WORK PLAN

Defining Roles and Responsibilities
Get Your Content Out of the Drawer with Governance
RACI Chart Template
Project Team Roles and Responsibilities
Web Analytics for Content Planning
Choose a Web Analytics Tool
Understand and Use Google Analytics

Create Your Content

ORGANIZE YOUR CONTENT

Understanding Your Site Structure
An Intro to Metadata and Taxonomies
Card Sorting: A Definitive Guide
A Simple and Indispensable Template for Content Marketing Distribution
How to Put Together an Editorial Calendar for Content Marketing
Building the Case for Taxonomy
Planning a Taxonomy Project
Considerations for Special Higher Ed Content Types
Creating Better Web Content with Page Tables
From Page Tables to Content Templates
Example Page Table
(Google doc with template)

WRITE FOR THE WEB

Choose Your Voice and Tone
Finding Your Voice and Tone
The Impact of Voice and Tone on Users' Brand Perception
Plain Language Checklist
A Process for Using Plain Language
US Government Standards for Plain Language
(plainlanguage.gov)
Outlaw the Phrase "Social Media" at Work
Write Actionable Content
Using Appropriate Words
Creating Valuable Content: An Essential Checklist
Hemingway Editor
Write the Best Titles for Content Marketing
5 Reasons Why No One Is Reading Your Email Newsletter
Testing the Usability of Text
Federal Government Content Guide
(developed for the government but useful for everyone)

APPLY STANDARDS

Accessible U
University of Minnesota Accessibility website
Accessibility Basics
Government-wide Section 508 Accessibility Program
Accessibility Evaluation Resources
Free Accessibility Tools Roundup
Accessibility Quick-Reference
Experiencing Dyslexia: An Example
Copyright Information and Resources
University of Minnesota Web Standards and Best Practices
University of Minnesota Brand Standards

LAUNCH YOUR CONTENT

Soft Launch - Defined
Site Launch Timeline and Checklist

Sustain Your Content

ASSESS YOUR PROGRESS

10 Things to Include in a Project Post-Mortem
Content strategy in UX design
6 Metrics Every Website Needs to Track

IMPLEMENT ONGOING WORKFLOW

Content Calendar Tools, Templates, Tips
Establish a Content Maintenance Routine
Content Lifecycle: Closing the Loop in Content Strategy
Content Quality Checklist
Social Media Templates for Realtime Content