So what is content? It’s simple. It’s the stuff that goes on your website. The reason people come visit in the first place. The informative text, images, video, audio, etc… that keep people engaged and provide value to your users. You know, that stuff.
Content has to be one of the most important aspects to your site, right? After all, even if you have superb interaction, intuitive navigation, and stunning graphics, who is going to come to your site (and stay) without any worthwhile content?
Unfortunately, there are some who are disinclined to recognize the value of investing proper time and effort required to cultivate content that will actually matter to their customers. If you’re a skeptic, you should know that there is a good amount of data out there that indicates that quality content can mean improved SEO, Usability, higher Customer Satisfaction, and Increased Sales. Meaning, that if done right, quality content is likely to pay for itself in the long run. Of course, in addition you need to have a desirable product or service; but that’s a different story.
For now, let’s assume you’re a believer and you want your site to have good or even great content. Congratulations. But now what? Content managers and strategists are in short supply in most organizations and there’s still that issue of cost. Every project will require a different approach, but there are things you can do to streamline the process and get the most out of your investment. The number one rule is keeping things organized. Even before a single piece of copy is gathered someone should prepare a document such as a spreadsheet to keep track of everything you will need. Next, once you have begun to assemble your content you can continue to use that same document to track what you have gathered and monitor progress. Anyone in your organization with a little extra time should be able to handle this. Ideally however, it will be the person(s) who are capable of locating whatever content may already exist and have the ability to oversee the creation of original content as it is needed.
The question then arises, what about the stuff that needs to be created from scratch? This can be a bit of a gray area in some cases. New content tends to cost money. And generally you get what you pay for. Perhaps you may have some people on your staff with access to decent equipment and have the ability to take tasteful photos/video or write fairly well. But if you find that you are left wanting for someone trustworthy who can deliver effective results, then hiring a professional copywriter or photographer may be necessary to get something really good. In my opinion, there is certainly no shame in bringing on an extra person to do the job, even if it is just for a limited number of hours on a freelance basis. Doing it in house is fine but only if you are confident that you already employ someone with the talent and knowledge to skillfully express the intended sentiment of your company’s brand/culture.
The other question that remains to be answered is that of timing. When should you begin all this? In my experience, the best time to aim for is when the Information Architecture is just beginning to wrap up. At this point the project may be approximately 20% underway. Business and user goals have been defined, and the Architect has probably gotten a jump on cranking out wireframes that show many of the intended page elements for the majority of the site. This should mean a green light to get started on moving forward with the content strategy. In the mean time, designers will soon be creating the look and feel while the developers start to work out various bits of functionality and perhaps even beginning to install a Content Management System (CMS) in some cases. If everything goes smoothly, the person in charge of the content will have it totally assembled and organized early on so the Designers and Developers can access it as soon as they are ready and not have to guess at what it will look like. The content and the timing if its delivery will affect everyone involved in the process so planning your strategy and executing it is of very high importance. Depending on your project it may be the most important step in the whole project.
Final thoughts:
If you’re going to hire an agency or even maintain an in house team to design and build your site, why would you pay any less attention to the content portion when it is arguably one of the most important elements? Plan your budget and time accordingly for this critical step. Your users will appreciate it, and most likely your bottom line will actually benefit over time.
*note – For more thoughts on content, you can read my previous blog post which looks at the subject from a slightly different perspective here.
Links on how quality content can effect various factors:
SEO – http://hit-webdesign-articles.blogspot.com/2009/10/quality-content-improves-seo-search.html
Usability – http://www.improvetheweb.com/how-website-usability-can-improve-content-and-your-site-success
Customer satisfaction – http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2009/nt-2009-03-16-microsoft-online.htm
Increased sales – http://www.trcb.com/internet-and-businesses-online/website-content/high-quality-content-increases-your-sales-1646.htm
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