Website development: a content strategy process

The website development process has come of age and finally moved beyond the old models from print and advertising, one where we focus on the content that the user will engage with from the very start. Today we plan sites starting with content.

No more design it or concept it, have the client sign off on it and then worry about content. The days where it was left to some copywriter - not even an integral member of the development team - to work up a few pages of text at the last minute are over.  As dysfunctional as those models were, at least they were a step up from the software development style of building a website, where only a programmer seemed to know what was going on and no one could actually to anything or for that matter use the site for anything that you couldn't have used an Excel table for.

Today, great development teams start thinking about the potential content before anything is decided or added to make that content work best. As a content developer I'm thrilled and delighted that the years of arguing with a designer that one type of page needed more or less copy space and another more or less interaction space are over.

User-centric - Change takes time
For many years now designers and developers have been preaching "user-centric" and the like but still following the old print methodology - discovery, information architecture, design, template and develop - and at some point while the programming was happening on the approved pages, someone wrote the copy and organized photos. Of course, they probably weren't aware that titles could only be a certain length and that each page needed a subtitle to fit the design - too bad if that page content didn't really require one.
In the end, while there was improvement on making the features more user friendly, there still wasn't the connection between the content really being what the user needed. Perhaps that's where the idea of users not reading on the web came from?

Regardless, once the discovery phase is completed the new process gets moving starting with content: content strategy, information architecture, draft content, wireframing with draft content, design, content production, templates and development. While this may vary given the team or the size of the project, understanding what the site will offer the user is primordial to the site's success.

The battle to have Content Strategy lead
In general, many of the sites being built today are 3rd or 4th generation sites, thus everyone, including the client has learned a bit about what works and what doesn't. However, there is still a fair amount of work to do in convincing even the most savvy client that paying for anything remotely related to specific online content strategy is worth money.

When programming was a mystery it was relatively easy to get paid for coding. After all, few people really understood all that code mumbo jumbo so that expertise was worth something. So just what are clients paying for these days?

Now, with many sites being built around CMS that come pre-programmed with updated widgets for just about every new trend or gadget just a click away, we can actually focus on making a site work by making the content work for the user. You see essentially we're talking customerization. Our job now is to offer the customer or user something of worth - something they can find easily and use efficiently. That's how I think we should work - it's what I expect from a site.

Satellites overhead - moment of geek

My apologies for stealing Rachel Maddow's "moment of geek" in the title, but I too have a serious inclination toward obsessive-like interest (passion) for what many would consider odd things. In this case however, I join the multitudes of sky watchers who are fascinated with what's flying around out there in the dark.

When Avinash Kaushik tweeted a link to Spaceweather.com's Simple Satellite Flyby's page, I just couldn't click there fast enough. Thanks Avinash!

If you're in the US or Canada, you just insert your zip or postal code and a list of the most recent flybys will appear.

To know when the International Space Station has flown over my location is just thrilling to me. As is the idea of doing my best to calculate when it will next pass over my region. Yes, I'm sure there is another place out there where I can find that information already calculated, but that takes away just a little of the challenge.

But the truth is I'm just as fascinated about all the other satellites out there that I just don't know what they are or who owns them. Perfect opportunity to find out!

"Online users don't read." Wrong, they DO!

One of my main focuses in web development is content. Most of this content is written or at least is starts as the written word. The most frequent comments that I hear from clients or in debates with other team members about content are:

"People don't read"
"Users only skim"
"No one has the time to read"
"Users have no attention span"
"Make it all bullet points"
"So what about the writing they just look at the pictures."

But while there is some truth to the skimming, the not reading is just plain wrong.

The thing is people are in a hurry, they do skim and scan pages but that's the exact same thing that we do when we read a newspaper. In fact, we say that we "look at" not "read" a magazine. But we most certainly do end up reading parts of both media.

In fact, what users are doing, regardless of the medium, is seeking out the information that is pertinent to them at that moment in time.

There's always more to say
In real life, I'm known for telling long stories. It's true, I admit it. But most of these stories are worth the listeners time. When it comes to writing copy, my first drafts are always way longer than I'd like. I work out the content strategy for each page before I start but I need to know that I haven't missed anything important. There's always so much to say about a given topic that I need to see it all on paper (or on the screen) before I decide what to eliminate or put elsewhere.

As you can imagine I was delighted to find this eye tracking study that revealed that even on longer articles, readers tended to complete a higher percentage of the entire article when read online versus in newsprint.

In fact, people read more deeply online than they do in print, and on the web, “scanners” tend to read about as much text as “methodical readers.”

Nonetheless, the study does confirm the common online writers wisdom that shorter  text bites combined with visual elements work best online.

Where is the interest?
The reality is that way too much of what's written on a web site isn't of great interest to the user and even worse, so much content is poorly written, structured or presented that you'd have to be really dedicated to the topic in order to wade through it.

When it comes to B2B sites in particular, we really want to hear from the experts. Most experts however, (sorry, no offense is intended) are not writers. These experts are busy doing what they do best so finding time to get their knowledge down on paper or in a form that is easily digestible to the average reader is just not an easy task.

When they do finally get something down on paper, even if it's a topic of interest, it's going to need to be adapted to the web site. They've probably never heard about scanability, subtitles, adding images and hyperlinked text, let alone SEO concerns such as, anchor text, meta data, key phrases and such.

Add in the need to constantly feed the site with new content and you've got a recipe for well, poor content.

Doing it right
Few web developers come to be developers because they care about content. If yours doesn't, you should talk with someone who is specifically an online content developer. It will make a difference. Users will still scan, but you should find an improvement in the length of time devoted per page - meaning that the copy is being read.

In fact, a good web copy writer will probably do wonders for your navigation - and if you read the aforementioned study, you'll know just how important that is to helping users read.

Productivity - Microsoft updates messing with mouse functioning in Word

This post is a much a note to myself for the next time this happens, sorry for the indulgence but I hope it helps someone else too. I've just lost too much time looking for the answer to this when it happens. As it's VERY important to get these steps exactly right, you just don't want to go with the "I think this was what I did last time" attitude.

Immediately after an automatic update from Microsoft I was no longer able to use my mouse within a Word 2007 document. It didn't matter if it was a new document or an existing one. The only thing I could make the mouse action on were the ribbons. Word allowed me to move around and work in the document with keyboard stroke but nothing was happening with the mouse.

Now I've been experiencing this problem on my Vista base laptop for over a year now but today was the first issue with the Windows 7 based desktop. At least now Microsoft has finally admitted that it's a problem of THEIR creation and is directly related to these automatic updates. On that page they offer an automatic fix but that doesn't work for every installation - including new Windows 7 setup.

They do also offer a manual fix and while it sounds scary to start, it's easy to do and works perfectly.

Important: This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
322756  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ ) How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

To resolve this problem, delete the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Data registry subkey. To do this, follow these steps:

   1. Exit all Office programs.
   2. Click the Start button, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.

      If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click   Continue.
   3. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Data

   4. On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click Yes.
   5. Exit Registry Editor.
   6. Restart Word.

That should do it for you and now I have easy access to the problem resolution for the next time this happens. I know my productivity would probably be increased even further if I turned off Microsoft's automatic updates but I kind of like having updates happen without my having to initiate them.

Superbowl's Brandbowl

The degree of innovation in advertising during the 2010 Superbowl was decidedly at a low during last nights game. That said there were still interesting highlights to the event. Google's entry was a winner for it's clarity, simplicity and just how close it stayed to the brand.

Of the automobile ads - 8 brands advertised - there Audi was the only touchdown on all aspects of building a brand experience. Green is good. The ad was smart, memorable, and tied the brand directly to the message. KIA's sockpuppets won me over for creativity but didn't score so high and a memorable brand experience. Bridgestone with it's wife-hating deserved a 50 yard penalty and left me longing for the days of outright sexism. And Hyundai, watching paint dry, really?

Snickers came close to making a great play with Betty White in the spotlight - what an amazing woman. However, the concept could have been brought up a notch or two in order to maximize her comedic talent. Sticking with snack food. What was Doritos thinking? Keep your hands off my mom? Puhleese.

While I'd like to make this post just about brands, the Tim Tebow spot was nothing more than an advocacy (or issue-oriented) ad for the anti-abortion lobby and following network precedent, shouldn't have been accepted. The brand that was damaged by this ad was really that of CBS. Double standards just drive me up a wall and it should be pointed out for just that. To be clear, CBS was well aware of the content and controversy long before game day. That said, the ad was almost bad and could have been one for tooth paste or soap.

I did enjoy the Letterman, Oprah, Leno trio. It was a surprise and it was funny. Great brand value all around!



And in honor of the name of this blog...



All that said, that I nothing else worth mentioning about the brandbowl, is testimony to the overall blandness and perhaps irrelevance of TV advertising these days. Just ask Pepsi.

Citizens bug Google's Street View Car

Not everyone is as enamoured with Google Street View in the same manner as I am, strangely some people think it's an invasion of privacy. A group of guys in Germany spotted the car and decided to plant a GPS device on the car and allowed people to spy on it for a little while. Unfortunately, Google discovered the bug and removed all the fun.

I suppose it would be a bit of a bother and perhaps even less fun, if the same group of people kept appearing or pulling off stunts just as the car passed by. But for those who think that this service is an invasion of privacy, I'm sure that they enjoyed the sense of payback.

A feast of words

The students and faculty at Brigham Young University put together this very imaginative and evocative video for The Typophile Film Festival 5 which is a film festival featuring a selection of typographical driven films from all around the world.

I love typography and look forward to the days when we’ll have more typographic freedom on the web without giving up searchability of the words. This little film is a feast for the eyes and as it points out – “Everyone eats and drinks, but few appreciate taste.”

In the mean time we have short films such as this stop motion one by BYU which is about the five senses contribute to and enhance creativity. The film was apparently shot using a RED One, a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, a Canon EOS 40D (love mine), and a Nikon D80. And they used Dragon Stop Motion apparently without any CG additions to complete the project. Bravo to everyone involved in this chef d’oeuvre.


Thanks to @Minervity for tweeting the link.