The power of the web is its ability to connect, or link, people with ideas and information. Inline links — links within a body of text — enhance usability and comprehension by enabling readers to find valuable information, made relevant by the surrounding content. However, links are not made valuable by "click here." Without an editorial plan for using inline links appropriately, your greatest usability asset can become … [Read more...]
Web Writing Guidelines for Content Contributors
April 18, 2011 by
As web professionals, we owe a lot to our content contributors. Your college website has tons of content, and no one person can do it all. The more you enable content contributors to write for your site (supported, of course, by a thorough editorial process), the closer you will be to your shared goal of creating great content. Here are some web writing guidelines to help make that happen. 1. Keep your audience in mind. Consider who will be … [Read more...]
ROT: The Low-Hanging Fruit of Content Analysis
April 13, 2011 by
Content analysis is an essential part of creating and sustaining effective web content. How do you know if your content is any good if you don’t analyze it? Yet the process quickly becomes complex as you evaluate content against branding, usefulness, relevance, usability, voice and tone, format, search engine optimization, delivery channel and many other criteria. Let's face it, quality content takes work. However, many content problems are … [Read more...]
Three Higher Ed Content Problems a Strategy Can Solve
April 4, 2011 by
One of the goals of Meet Content is to make content strategy more tangible for higher education web professionals. Many discussions on content strategy (including those led by me) look at it from a wide-angle lens, which demonstrates the necessary holistic approach to content. However, this approach can also make the discipline seem overwhelming and unmanageable. So, to bridge the gap between concepts and daily challenges, I'd like to highlight … [Read more...]
Creating a Social Media Content Calendar
March 30, 2011 by
With social media, it's easy to rely on one of my favorite "anti-strategies" – serendipity. Why not, right? People tweet awesome things every day about my school that I can just retweet. There's always a new article or an interesting video to post on Facebook. The hits just keep on coming. We'll be fine. You can’t plan social media! Until you have an episode of what I call Blank Page Panic. The symptoms of Blank Page Panic are clammy hands, … [Read more...]