content strategy

The web is content. seriously.
People go on the internet to find informations, to do something, to solve a problem. Either way you’re looking for content. It sounds obvious that is the key element of your site, but usually, during the design process it’s the last thing we worry about. Why? Well, usually we think it’s somebody else’s job, or we’re going to use what the marketing has prepared or we think we pretty much know what we want to say. No biggie.
Wrong.
I’ll show you in a while why this is so important, but first let’s see what exactly content strategy means. Please, also remember that when I say content I refer not only to text or copy, but to data, video, audio, images, etc.

what does content strategy involves?

Quoting Kristina Halvorson, a real guru on the subject, “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, but why.”

It comprehend several aspects:

Ok, pretty quick and not very detailed, but that should give you the general idea of which are the expertise and functions of a content strategist.

ok, but why?

Yeah, but still I can’t exactly understand why this is so important and I should get into so much trouble for it.
Here some good reasons:

- SEO: don’t deny it, it’s an inflationated word but you do care about it. Here I don’t have any magic tricks, but you can style and organize your content to be more effective for search engines. You should be able to insert some keywords without ruining the quality of the copy. It’s very useful to get a very specific audience on your site which also mean that if you have targeted ads it’ll help your convertions having more click through.

- Design: ever wondered why the nice templates you show the client are never really the same once in production? That’s because you used some place-holders and Lorem Ipsum having just a general idea of what was going to be on the site. If you have the real content at your disposal you won’t break your very well planned user experience at the last minute.
Another reason to plan content before designing the site is that design actually tries to communicate something in relation to the content and the brand. If you don’t know what you’re designing for you won’t create something that helps the content and the brand spirit. (never mention Lorem Ipsum to content strategists, they literally loose their mind. if you do it by mistake, run.)

- Usability: yes, I love this word. And content has a huge role in it. I mean, it’s important to have a clear and understandable interface with simple navigation and so on, but then, if the content fails to be helpful and readable we wasted our efforts.

- Persuation: let’s face it, today everyone is a publisher and you need to catch your reader attention. You want to communicate something and if you can break through it doesn’t hurt.

- Brand: “good content add luster to the brand” says Colleen Jones.

All right, now we have a general idea of what content is and why we need some strategy.

teach me, baby!

Let’s get into the real stuff: How can I put in practice this concept? Karen McGrane is some sort of goddess explaining this and make sure to check the slides at the end of the chapter. I’ll try to summarize the most important steps.

She uses a very effective model to visualize the process that occurs planning a site from a content strategist point of view

I mentioned that you should do, and then keep updated, a content inventory. It’s really what it sounds like, a list of all the content you have on the site. Usually a excel table. Sarah Rice share her model here or Jeffrey Veen gives another exemple here. At the beginning of a project it’s useful to know what you’ll work with. List the content and try to categorise it by tone, accuracy, consistency, relevance, and so forth. It helps Information Architects that now have the means to know what is possible and what not in their planning, and it helps writers because they want to know where their work is needed, not just randomly write stuff.
For a more practical guide check the link to Veen I gave you few lines above, it gets into details about an optimal process.

quality content

The process for a content strategy we’ve seen so far it’s really good but I think you may like to look at it from another perspective: how to create some quality content?
Colleen Jones has written an article on UXmatter about that, let’s see if I can shrink it a bit for you here. To ensure content quality a style guide isn’t enough because it usually address only word choice and brand voice. We should instead use some content heuristics.

These are some useful guidelines but still, you should get an expert opinion, do usability testing and and check users feedback. Additionally always use a content inventory and analysis.

content analysis

Assuming you now have a general idea of the process for a content strategy and you may have already done your content inventory, you should check for significant problems with these content analysis heuristics that Fred Leise has listed on BoxesAndArrows.

There’s so much to say on this subject and I don’t have the space here. Check the reference I listed below as usual in the “Get to know more” section, but I would suggest as a good start the Braintraffic blog, Kristina Halvorson’s place, which has tons of practical tips on content strategy. Karen McGrane, Margot Bloomstein, and Jeffrey MacIntyre who runs Predicate, LLC are the other names to follow in this business if you want to learn more. Kristina Halvorson has also recently published Web Content Strategy, obviously a must read. I’ll soon get my copy.
finally, the Knol on Content Strategy is a wonderful starting point to found everything related on the web.

I hope you enjoyed this article and if you did share it so we can spread the word :) If you have any question I’ll try to answer everything in the comments or you can get in touch on twitter.

Sox, Director of User Experience at vimeo has kindly accepted to answer a few questions to better understand his work.
He tells us how to plan a new project, how to have a good start in this business, and what happens behind the curtains at Vimeo. Plus, he has some good advice about wireframes that you can’t miss if you read Wireframes and Concept.

DB: First of all, welcome Sox and thanks for your time. Let’s get straight to the questions.
what’s your background? are you self-thought or did you attend specific studies?

Sox: I am completely self-taught. I did not study related fields in school. I bought few books but everything i’ve learned came from simply watching and doing. I am big fan of reverse-engineering. Seek out what it is you want to do, understand how it’s done, now try doing it yourself. there will always be people who are better than you at what you want to do. watch and learn from them.

DB: when did you start working?

Sox: I’ve started fairly early. In 1995 i got my first job out of school as a web designer for a small garage interactive agency in connecticut. Over the years i’ve worked at streaming Media Corporation, Priceline, Fotolog, and Vimeo. I have also worked as a consultant at few different places in between.

DB: could you explain to us what your job is and what it consist of?

Sox: I am the director of user experience at Vimeo. My daily responsibilities consist of overseeing and engineering the overall presentation and experience at vimeo.com. I perform product development ideation, user experience and design auditing as well as some design and coding work as needed. The main objective of my position is to keep vimeo as simple to understand as possible, as easy to use as possible, and as fun to experience as possible.

DB: How do you usually start a project? And do you have a method you usually follow throughout?

Sox: it all depends on the nature of the project. If it’s an enhancement task then the work starts from gathering as much user feedback as possible and making the necessary improvements that align with our overall objectives. For a brand new project, the entire cycle from ideation to delivery requires much more time and effort. Typically it starts from identifying an area of our service where we could add as much value as possible to our offerings without compromising our overall objectives (simple, easy and fun). We bring in all the stakeholders to discuss the project and come to a decision whether to move forward or not. Once the project gets a green light, then the hard work begins. Our working process at vimeo isn’t all that different from other product development cycles. We prototype, design, develop and then wash it through several iterations until it’s ready for polish and testing before it rolls out to the users. Perhaps the real unique part of vimeo process is just how agile and iterative the product development cycle can be.

DB: For someone who is just starting what are the most important advice you would give him?

Sox: learn by doing. Question why before how. Find your own reasons.

DB: What can you tell us about wireframes? do you use’em a lot? can you share some advice or technique with us?

Sox: I sketch a lot. For me it’s helpful because i cannot not think visually. They also help me examine the requirements and identify the limitations of work that needs to be peformed. Always keep the margins free. If you are not bumping against questions that need answers or problems that need solutions during the prototyping phase then you’re either extremely lucky or you’re not doing it right. Keep those questions and answers in the margins as you work. They’re far more important than anything you’ve already drawn.

DB: What does inspires you in your work? and there’s someone on the online world who had a big influence on you?

Sox: solving problems is immediately gratifying and addictive. I see most web sites as a sculpture. You have a vision of what it should ultimately look like. everyday you are adding or taking away a little bit of clay, shaping it a step closer to the ideal image you have in your mind. Then one day you look at your sculpture from a different angle and realize new questions, new problems and new possibilities.

There are many people whose work had inspired me over the years. Off the top of my head i would mention Jesse Garrett, Dan Cederholm, Douglas Bowman, Jeffrey Zeldman, and the folks over at Stamen Design.

DB: What is it like to work at Vimeo, what’s happening behind the courtains?

Sox: it’s fast paced and fluid. We have a very flat structure to our organization and everyone is working on their daily tasks or thinking about what they will be working on next. No one gets micromanaged and we trust and depend on each other to get stuff done. Everyone is tapped into an internal IRC system where we keep an eye on the health of various sub systems of our site and exchange ideas.

DB:There’s a difference in your job between working on a small site and a big one?

Sox: i’ve been on the both sides of the fence and i must admit i much prefer working in a small to medium sized group. In a larger organization, i’ve typically experienced more hierarchy and more stakeholders with varying or conflicting interests that stymied good projects from moving forward with energy, focus and speed they deserve.

DB: What you feel was the most challenging thing about Vimeo from your point of view?

Sox: in the beginning it was all about correctly assessing the vibes of the service and its community. I need to understand it and feel it resonate in my bones before i can start contributing. Taking this first step the right way is always important to me and it requires time. More recently, i’ve been spending more time focusing on the scalability of my ideas and how it would impact the general performance of the site (the most important part of any user experience work).

DB: What are the tools you couldn’t live without?

Sox: honestly I don’t think it matters all that much. I would probably say a good pen and some blank papers. The applications i use heavily on daily basis are Textmate and Firebug. We also rely on several internal admin tools to check, monitor and debug our work.

Your 5 favorite sites online?

Sox: you mean other than cycling related sites? Let’s see… google, gmail, google reader, tumblr and flickr.

If you want to take a look at some of Sox’s design and wireframes he has a stunning portfolio on Flickr. It’s also a good chance to check how Vimeo was created.