Content Strategy starter kit for beginners | Firehead You may have spotted that we’ve been writing rather a lot lately about content strategy. That’s because it’s a natural progression for web-savvy technical communicators, as well as a growth area for employment. So, although the information is accumulating quickly, we’ve compiled a Content Strategy Starter Kit to get you quickly up to speed. What is Content Strategy? Content strategy is a tough thing to define, even among leading exponents. 10 Players The first gathering of around 20 ‘content strategists’ was held on 19 March 2009 ahead of the IA Summit in Memphis. Kristina Halvorson – @halvorsonRahel Bailie – @rahelabKaren McGrane – @karenmcgraneJeff MacIntyre – @jeffmacintyreKenneth Yau – @logorrhoeaElisabeth McGuane – @emcguaneClare O’Brien – @clareobJoe Pulizzi – @juntajoeMelissa Rach – @melissarachRachel Lovinger – @rlovinger 10 Books We’ve linked to Amazon.co.uk for consistency but if you’re shopping from another Euro zone, well, you know what to do… 10 Blogs 10 Social Media Hangouts
16 Free Tools That Make Content Creation Way Easier Creating content isn't always a walk in the park. (In fact, it can sometimes feel more like a sprint in a swamp.) While other parts of business and marketing are becoming increasingly automated, content creation is still a very manual job. Automation hasn't yet replaced what we do (thank goodness). That being said, there are plenty of tools out there to make creating content much easier. Click here to download our full collection of content creation templates for blog posts, ebooks, infographics, and more. Below, you'll find a list of 28 fantastic tools and resources to help you research, write, edit, and design content more easily. Let's get started. 28 Free Tools & Resources to Make Content Creation Easier For Researchers 1) Google Drive Research Tool Google recently added a tool to Drive that allows you to conduct Google searches without ever leaving your Drive window. 2) Site:search This is a handy Google hack I use every day. 3) Google Webmaster Tools Doing SEO and keyword research?
The Content Strategist’s Reading List - Brain Traffic Break out your reading lists, content strategists. You’re going to want to add these titles to your to-read pile. I recently asked Twitter, “What books should be on a content strategist’s bookshelf?” But, who are we kidding—I already own a lot of these, and my Amazon cart was soon sagging under the weight of the rest of them. I’m so grateful to everyone who contributed—folks had terrific suggestions that included content strategy classics, hot-off-the-presses works, and a solid set of inspiring works that have shaped perspectives and purpose. And so, presented here in alphabetical order, is this crowd-sourced list of books every content strategist should have on their bookshelves—or Kindle—or phone—or whatever. This is by no means a complete list, but it’s a good start. The content strategist’s reading list Accessibility for Everyone by Laura Kalbag Audience, Relevance, and Search: Targeting Web Audiences with Relevant Content by James Mathewson, Frank Donatone, and Cynthia Fishel By
An Online Resource You Don’t Want to Miss: The Matt Cutts Short Cutts It’s hard to believe that this topic has never been discussed on Search Engine Journal, but it looks as though one of my favorite resources, The Short Cutts, managed to miss this blog. It has been the subject of discussion for many SEOs since day one, but it hasn’t taken long to realize that many businesses and individuals are still in the dark about this new resource. If you haven’t heard of the tool—don’t sweat it. This online resource has only been around since March of this year, so many are still getting used to how it works. It takes less than 2 minutes to master because it focuses on being “easy.” It’s very, very easy. Why The Short Cutts Matters The Short Cutts works as somewhat of an online directory of videos created by the head of the Google Webspam Team himself, Matt Cutts. How The Short Cutts Works Search an SEO Question. Below is a screenshot I took that illustrates all three parts of the site. As you can see, I decided to search under “All Categories.”
10 Great Content-Filled Content Strategy Blogs : Media Catherine Ventura is a New York based social media content strategist. She writes about social media engagement and social media "voice" in her blog, Venn Diagrams, and in the Huffington Post. In previous incarnations she was a film and video pro, a screenwriter, and a copywriter, all of which has contributed to her love of well-crafted, engaging content. A List Apart An online “magazine” with contributions from smart people who are thinking hard about content. Brain Traffic Great insight from Web Content Strategists Kristina Halvorson and company delivered in a friendly, palatable way. Conversation Agent Brand Strategist Valeria Maltoni discusses great strategy and great content (with an emphasis on Social Media), while gently reminding us that it’s a two-way street. Eat Media Witty, irreverent but passionate posts about content from a writerly perspective from Ian Alexander and team. Notes on Content Scatter/Gather Web Content Strategy Winning Content
75 Resources for Writing Incredible Copy that Converts Writing great copy is one of the most useful skills a marketer can develop. After all, copy is a key element of successful internet marketing across the board, from emails with sky-high open rates to blog posts that get shared hundreds or even thousands of times. Masterful copywriting plays a big part in the difference between a website that converts like crazy and one that simply falls flat, failing to engage potential customers. Case in point: in Conversion Rate Expert’s redesign of the Crazy Egg website, copy had a big role in growing the site’s conversion rate by 363%. This resource guide provides links that will give you a strong foundation for writing great web copy. E-books, Articles, Infographics, and Guides to Get You Started with Web Copywriting 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 20 Killer Web Copywriting Tips – Internalize these 20 web copywriting tips and you’ll be well on your way to writing great copy for your website. 7. 9. 10. 11. Must-Read Books on Direct Response Marketing and Copywriting
Same same but different: reflections of a copywriter-turned-UX-writer — Greta van der Merwe “So, how did you get into UX writing?” is a common question… among UX writers. You’d think that we would know the way, because, here we are! But nah. There seems to be no clear, direct path into the field. It’s been almost a year now, and I thought I’d reflect on how my practices have changed from writing copy for ads to writing copy for products. Butchering vs Garnishing The limited space on a user interface doesn’t exactly leave much room for any extra adverbs. Even though ‘cutting copy’ had always been a part of my process, as a copywriter I’d still try to get to the smartest or wittiest way to say something. To really butcher copy, you need to keep chopping away and discard the unusable bits until you end up with a practical, actionable (consumable?) What’s changed in my practice is now, instead of asking myself if people will get my copy, I ask whether they can use it. Showing vs Revealing This is probably my favourite thing that’s changed since switching roles. Don’t get me wrong.
5 steps for an impactful content strategy Engagement and the path of a content marketing strategy – see SlideShare below How do you make the difference and get noticed in a world full of content? For starters by focusing on what matters : mutual value, goals, ‘audiences’ or let’s just say people. Of course that alone is not enough. As Doug Kessler rightfully emphasizes, you need to take a stand as a brand and voice it. At the same time, you need to focus on what your target audiences (sorry for the classic marketing ‘war’ language) really value, like etc. as explained in the “Copernican content marketing” view. Your business is not the same as another one. And, let’s face it: on top of the customer-centric champions, organizations are are in a good starting position to make a difference if they also focus on: And then there of course is the strategic part – or to make it more tangible and less “heavy” the “plan”. Kelly Hungerford (Paper.li): if the word content marketing strategy freaks you out, swap it for the word plan
A Dozen Of The Best Content Strategy Blogs Number of views : 8267 Rating: 4.0/5 (2 votes cast) This blog post is part of a series on online content strategies developed in cooperation between the Europa.eu web team and web consultant Sue Davis. We will look at key resources, the relationship between content strategy and other tasks like Information Architecture (IA) and some essential tools and processes. Scatter/gather From the Razorfish content strategists who include Rachel Lovinger. Content science Content insights blog With contributions from Collen Jones and Lisa Clark. Intentional design Rahel Ann Bailie’s meaty blog posts look at public sector content, content management, content development and usability. The content wrangler Scott Abel’s blog. The Rockley blog Ann Rockley practically invented the term ‘content strategy’. Brain Traffic blog Kristina Halvorsen’s company blog. DRCC blog Diana Railton’s blog includes an excellent 3-part series on the UK government’s website rationalisation. A List Apart: content strategy articles
A Complete Content Audit and Spreadsheet Template 1.4K Flares Filament.io 1.4K Flares × The very first Buffer blog post—Want to Tweet While You Sleep?—was published in January 2011. Three-and-a-half years and 595 posts later, we’ve covered a lot of ground, learned a huge number of social media tips, and written a ton of helpful, actionable content. Many others have just as much—probably even more—awesome content sitting in the archives. If you’re just starting out, you’ll get to this point, too. We ran a content audit on the Buffer blog and came away with several key action items and quick wins that we’re excited to implement. How to run a content audit on your blog Before you get to the takeaways, you first need to grab the data. 1. The free Screaming Frog SEO spider will pull out all the relevant pages that are indexed on your blog. Screaming Frog analyzes each of your pages and returns a host of valuable information on the specifics of each page. 2. To do this: Select all cells. Click the Filter icon. Click “Clear.” Done! 3. 4. 5. 6. 1.
5 principles for effective experience content - Optimal Workshop When we think of a product redesign, our minds tend to focus on aspects of visual design. New colors, bold typography, a more minimalist design. While starting with design can feel exciting, we also have to ask ourselves what content lives in that design. What story are we telling? What information do our users need? How are we helping them to complete the task at hand? Content is a critical, though often overlooked, part of the user experience. Here are five content principles you can abide by to make sure you’re better serving your users. Content should be clear and concise. Content should speak the user’s language in familiar words, phrases, and concepts. Example: Shopify’s content guidelines specifically instruct their writers to write for a grade 7 reading level and to avoid technical jargon. Content should be easy to find and interact with. Airbnb’s homepage nails findability. Content should be meaningful. Good content says the right things at the right time. Content should be useful.
The No. 1 Way To Fail At Content Marketing Content marketing campaigns can fail for many reasons. Maybe the research wasn’t thorough enough, the quality of the content itself was mediocre, or the promotional efforts never gained traction. Even the most well-intentioned and seasoned content marketers can stumble at any stage of a campaign, but a more fundamental breakdown at the level of intent is to blame for the nonperformance of online content. Below is the #1 way to fail at content marketing: 1. Creating content solely about your business, its products or its services is a great way to fail at content marketing. MOFU and BOFU content have a very important place in the buying cycle, and marketers should take their creation seriously. Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute, asks the following in his blog post Content Marketing: The Fallacy that More Content is Better: “Are customers sharing your content? TOFU content sits at the very top of the buying cycle. The best TOFU content shares two features: