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Category: Core Deliverables

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What is it?

A hierarchical classification scheme made up of categories and subcategories of information plus a controlled vocabulary of terms, usually used to describe a specific area of knowledge.

Why is it important?

Provides meaningful organization for the content, as well as metadata, both of which support dynamic behavior such as searching, browsing, and related associations.

Why does a content strategist need to know this?

The practice of creating taxonomies is used in many scientific fields, and it is also an incredibly important aspect of the information sciences. While metadata identifies the meaning and purpose of information, a taxonomy provides a way to organize that information. This begins the transformation of raw information into knowledge by expressing deeper relationships between concepts.

There are three key aspects to taxonomy:

  • The terms: All the words that will be used to describe the domain in question.

  • The hierarchy: The relationships between the terms. Most taxonomies express broader-term/narrower-term relationships where the terms are examples of the categories that contain them.

  • The tagging rules: The set of guiding principles by which these terms will be applied to the objects and concepts they were intended to describe. This critical aspect is frequently left implicit.

In many scientific fields, this third aspect may not need to be explicit, particularly for taxonomies describing physical objects and substances. With content, taxonomies are often used to organize information towards a specific goal (teaching, persuading, entertaining, etc.). In these cases, it’s valuable to have a content strategist help guide and inform the rules by which a taxonomy is applied to the content it describes.

A taxonomy is used to drive dynamic uses of content. It helps create relevance when searching, a structure for browsing, a more nuanced basis for “related content.” The content strategist must understand these requirements and ensure that the taxonomy is designed to provide the data needed to support these dynamic behaviors.

About Rachel Lovinger

Photo of Rachel Lovinger

Rachel Lovinger has worked in online publishing, website development, and content management since 1999. She started out making and organizing websites for Time Inc. At Razorfish, she helps clients face the future of digital content. Rachel is dedicated to exploring a future where information is efficiently structured and connections easily discovered.

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Website: rachellovinger.com

Twitter: @rlovinger

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rlovinger/

Facebook: facebook.com/mirka23

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What is it?

A content assessment tool used to evaluate content against specific criteria and user scenarios. Ratings are assigned to each criterion and are presented as a scorecard.

Why is it important?

Provides insights about content strengths, weaknesses, and priorities. The scorecard approach quantifies and communicates qualitative data to stakeholders in an engaging and persuasive way.

Why does a content strategist need to know this?

Content scorecards are tools used to demonstrate content quality strengths and weaknesses to a client. Scorecards are faster to create and more affordable than user testing, and they can be scaled to meet client and project needs. They’re also incredibly valuable in establishing project focus and priorities.

A content scorecard, like all heuristic reviews, is subjective. The quality of the findings is dependent on your expertise as a content reviewer. To provide comprehensive results, you need a deep knowledge of writing mechanics and technique, usability and interaction design, information structure and design, and branding. It’s better to limit the scope of the review rather than provide feedback on areas outside of your expertise. To minimize potential bias, you can have three independent reviewers work through the same heuristics and then collaboratively discuss discrepancies and provide focused, consolidated findings.

Choose three to six detailed criteria across five to eight content categories and two or three user scenarios. The combination of detailed criteria and broader categories ensures that findings have both breadth and depth. Evaluating content against user scenarios helps to establish a user-centered perspective, keeps you focused on priority areas, and provides a good cross-section of page types.

As you review, assign scores to each criterion for each scenario. During analysis, you can also identify overall scores for each content category and scenario. Using a grading system familiar to your region makes it easy for stakeholders to quickly understand how well their content meets quality requirements and where to focus their improvements.

About Kathy Wagner

Photo of Kathy Wagner

Kathy Wagner is co-founder of Content Strategy Inc., a Vancouver-based agency that helps large corporations solve business problems by solving their content problems. Kathy has led large global projects for organizations such as Samsung, Wells Fargo, and HSBC. She loves all things content, but has a special affinity for content assessment and diagnostics.

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Email: mailto:Kathy@ContentStrategyInc.com

Website: ContentStrategyInc.com

Twitter: @Kathy_CS_Inc

LinkedIn: ca.linkedin.com/in/kathywagnercs/

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What is it?

A formal representation of structured content as a collection of content types and their interrelationships.

Why is it important?

Provides a shared vocabulary for content that communicates its essential structure and meaning, making it easier to execute a content strategy.

Why does a content strategist need to know this?

A content model is a representation of structured content that surfaces the key content types and their interrelationships. Content types are an essential part of the shared vocabulary between business, creative, and technology teams when talking about what content has real value to the organization and at what cost.

Content strategists need to be involved in content type conversations, early and often. The content model is an important output that captures the understanding of structured content at any point in time. However, the intended outcome is for there to be an ongoing process that any member of a team can use to mine, define, and refine structured content. This includes business stakeholders, UX/IA, and technologists uniting around a single view of content. Content strategists are key to keeping these content discussions live and front of mind.

Today, content modeling falls within the purview of technologists. So, many failed projects result from a mismatch between business content needs and the unchallenged constraints and limitations of a content management system. This is wrong, costly, and unsustainable. By using content models that connect business and technology early, and speaking the same language, we can do much to eliminate waste in the future.

About Cleve Gibbon

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Cleve Gibbon helps various teams of people within small and large organizations to effectively manage change as part of digital transformation programs. His involvement cross-cuts creative, content, technology, operations, products, and services. He has a Doctorate in Computer Science and a Diploma in Digital Marketing.

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Email: mailto:cleve.gibbon@cognifide.com

Website: clevegibbon.com

Twitter: @cleveg

LinkedIn: clevegibbon.com/l

Facebook: clevegibbon.com/f

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What is it?

A mapping of content from the input source to its multiple outputs. Works in conjunction with content models and content types.

Why is it important?

Provides a clear visualization to support technical implementation within a CMS of the business rules described by the content model.

Why does a content strategist need to know this?

A content flow is a visual tool that displays where the content elements that make up a content model get used. Much like a flow chart or process map, a content flow shows, at a glance, how efficient a content management system (CMS) can be to get your content routed wherever it needs to be displayed.

As the step between content typing and content modeling, this visual representation can reduce ambiguity about the content sources and destinations. This allows both content strategists and technical integrators to stay on the same page when it comes to customizing the CMS.

The benefit is not only for professional writers, who need to have a thorough understanding of how to accrue the most benefit from the content they produce. Business unit owners can better visualize how their strategic goals will be met when text and media are constrained by the content elements and content models and when it is possible to see which appear where. And subject matter experts who produce content can learn how to harness the power of a CMS, which helps generate better ideas about how to leverage content.

Another benefit is that when a CMS cannot route content as needed for business impact, content flows make it easier to identify where enhancements are needed. Content flows show how the magic happens, but they also show gaps in governance and business processes by illuminating what the CMS does, what people do, and what happens through agreements.

About Sharon Twiss

Photo of Sharon Twiss

Sharon Twiss is an award-winning writer who crafts communication products that do what organizations want them to do. With over 13 years of experience and knowledge of communication best practices, she creates user-centered writing that works. As a content strategist, she helps organizations plan how content will work when she’s finished.

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Email: mailto:sharon@twiss.ca

Website: twiss.ca

Twitter: @sharontwiss

LinkedIn: ca.linkedin.com/in/sharontwiss/

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What is it?

A specification for a structured, standardized, reusable, and mutually exclusive kind of information entity.

Why is it important?

Helps developers program for content functionality within a content management system (CMS), acts as the raw foundation for content templates, and aids in the construction of a content model that governs content architecture and use.

Why does a content strategist need to know this?

A content type is a specification for a structured, standardized, reusable, and mutually exclusive kind of information entity. Most content types are composed of smaller content entities, each with its own set of metadata attributes. Content types serve as the foundation for building templates that can be used throughout a website or other publishing channel.

Defining content types results in requirements and specifications for all content entities within a content management system (CMS). A content type might first be created as a flat design composite, but ultimately all content attributes will be expressed as metadata in XML and/or in a database record so the CMS can use them. A well-defined set of content types helps a content strategist build an information domain model that defines how all of the types (and the metadata and other information that they contain) relate to each other and can be manipulated by the CMS.

The needs of the organization should determine both the structure of content types and the governance of that structure over time. Defining metadata attributes for a particular content type is the basis for allowing that information to be reused efficiently in multiple contexts and styles across the website or other publishing channels. This metadata also allows for the use of different workflows for content creation, review, approval, publishing, archiving, and other actions within the CMS.

Examples of industry-standard content types can be found in Schema.org (microdata), hCard (microformats), Dublin Core (metadata), and several others.

About Jonathon Colman

Photo of Jonathon Colman

For over 15 years, Jonathon Colman has helped people build, find, and use the best stuff on the Web. Jonathon is a content strategist at Facebook and previously worked for REI, The Nature Conservancy, and IBM. He’s a Webby Award winner and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer.

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Email: mailto:burkinaboy@gmail.com

Website: jonathoncolman.org

Twitter: @jcolman

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jcolman

Facebook: facebook.com/jcolman

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What is it?

An expansion of the content inventory to track the progress of each piece of content through the stages of a project or content lifecycle.

Why is it important?

Allows for at-a-glance tracking of content states, behaviors, locations, and connections. Done well, the matrix can be sorted by various criteria for analysis.

Why does a content strategist need to know this?

As the definitive source for all content on your website, a content matrix is more than just the container for the content inventory. It needs to include all required additional information about the content. After the initial inventory, each step in the project may add layers of data to the matrix. We call the matrix a living, breathing document to reflect the fact that it should be constantly updated.

Do not confuse the matrix with an inventory, audit, assessment, migration plan, or site map—these are all tasks that may be captured in one or more content matrices. Design your matrix to adapt throughout the project to house each additional layer of information, such as the ones listed below. A content matrix may be used to:

  • Track content development

  • Assist in a gap analysis

  • Map the migration plan

  • Structure unstructured content

  • Map content to business or functional requirements

A content matrix also captures:

  • Metadata/keywords/tags

  • References to the old and new site map

  • Content audit or assessment findings

  • Accessibility content/tags

When building a matrix, keep in mind the audiences: the client, content owners, legal, programmers, and other audiences may each need the matrix for different reasons. Use the advanced spreadsheet features to parse the matrix data.

While it is usually easy to include copy for transactional content such as an online quote application, short instructions, or ecommerce (due to the shorter nature of such content), you can also capture or reference long-form content in a matrix. Regardless, the matrix is the master key to the project’s content.

About Sarah Beckley

Photo of Sarah Beckley

Sarah Beckley is a frequent presenter at content industry events who specializes in creating dynamic and effective matrices for unstructured content. Formerly of Razorfish, she is now Content Strategy Manager at SapientNitro. Sarah’s previous clients have included the world’s second largest bank and the largest U.S. auto insurance company.

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Email: mailto:me@sarahbeckley.com

Website: sarahbeckley.com

Twitter: @sarahbeckley

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sarahbeckley

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What is it?

The process and result of conducting a qualitative study of content. It ascertains quality of content against objective quality benchmarks.

Why is it important?

Determines the state of content for scoping migration or rework efforts, identifying which content can be migrated or used “as is” and which content needs editing, rewriting, or restructuring.

Why does a content strategist need to know this?

A successful content strategy requires exemplary content. Use the content analysis as an opportunity to identify and prepare content that audiences will use and trust to meet the defined business requirements.

A content analysis is a tactical, qualitative editorial activity that supports the content strategy with essential information about the content in use. Starting with the content inventory and content audit, content analysis examines high-value assets in an inventory to determine if they meet content standards for audience, reading level, voice, tense, diction, punctuation, spelling, style, and consistent terminology.

Content analysis aims to identify where content is used and reused, what publication types exist, whether the content is accurate, whether the content is essential or may be eliminated, and whether the content needs to be rewritten, assigned content attributes and attribute values, or given metadata for search. Analysis will help you classify the content type and determine if your content is structured appropriately.

If translation is in scope, content analysis can help you determine if an asset has been translated. All changes to content in one language must be carried though to translations. The content analysis, along with the revised content, provides translators with clear content requirements.

After satisfying all the action items identified in the analysis, content is registered in the content matrix for full implementation. This essential activity helps standardize content, deliver content that will enhance the user experience, provide content quality management measurements, help meet business goals, reduce overall implementation costs, and provide a full spectrum of content quality examples.

About Mollye Barrett

Photo of Mollye Barrett

Mollye Barrett is a veteran content management strategist and consultant at ClearPath, where she develops strategies for optimizing content, improving authoring environments, and planning for business continuity. Working with technical publication groups to implement XML-based content management systems, Mollye delivers vendor-neutral content management options based on business requirements.

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Email: mailto:mollye@clearpath.cc

Website: clearpath.cc

Twitter: @mollye

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mollyebarrett

Facebook: facebook.com/mollyebarrett

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What is it?

The process and result of conducting a quantitative study of a content inventory.

Why is it important?

Ascertains potential of content in areas such as content on high-traffic web pages, legally required content, types of content by content type, and so on. Allows for prioritization of content for project planning.

Why does a content strategist need to know this?

There are three basic types of content audits:

  • Quantitative audit: A basic list of the content, including URLs, page titles, and downloadable documents. This follows on from the content inventory and allows you to see how much content there is in the organization’s digital properties.

  • Mapping audit: Mapping allows you to visualize the content you have in the form of a site tree, like an information architecture. You can see the relationships among different pieces of content. You can see how deep the site is and, therefore, how layered. With a mapping audit, you can visualize how the content is organized and see what might be missing, what can be combined, and how you can make it easier for users to find what they need.

  • Multidimensional audit: This does not just list your content; it tells you a full story about the content on each page and the design formats. It includes analytics within the audit such as page views, bounce rates, and absolute unique visitors. The top-ranked pages of the site are marked, giving you vital information about which sections users care about and which pages they are ignoring.

About Talia Eisen

Photo of Talia Eisen

Talia Eisen is the Director of Marketing for Aha Media Group. She also serves as a content strategist for the company. Talia received her BS in Marketing from Sy Syms School of Business and her MBA from Bar Ilan University in Israel.

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Email: mailto:talia@ahamediagroup.com

Website: ahamediagroup.com

Twitter: @AhaGroup

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/pub/talia-eisen/8/813/8a0

Facebook: facebook.com/ahamediagroup

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What is it?

The process and result of creating an organized listing of content assets (text, files, audio, video, images) for a body of content. An inventory includes as much information about each piece of content as possible.

Why is it important?

Creates a current-state baseline, which helps to define scope and identify issues for further analysis.

Why does a content strategist need to know this?

Often conducted as the first step in an overall content strategy implementation, a content inventory is a quantitative registry of a body of content. In its typical form, a content inventory is a list of files, generally managed in a tool or spreadsheet. It is used as a starting point in the journey from the current as-is state to a future to-be state.

Although it usually refers to the content of a website, an inventory may also catalog non-digital content to create a complete picture of an organization’s content assets and to allow for auditing across all customer content touchpoints. In addition to establishing the as-is state of the content prior to a redesign or replatforming, inventories can be done as part of ongoing content maintenance.

At minimum, a content inventory contains a list of all the pages, images, documents, media files, and metadata associated with each piece of content. Historically a manual process, this data gathering is now supported by automated tools.

Throughout the course of a redesign or migration project, the content strategist or content manager supplements the basic data with other information relevant to the project. Examples include content ownership, review status, migration notes, redirects, and search-engine-optimized URLs. The inventory is often organized by the structure of the site so that a site navigational model can be derived. The inventory may also be used to track content from one system to another.

A comprehensive content inventory provides the foundation for additional analysis, in the form of the content audit.

About Paula Land

Photo of Paula Land

Paula Land is co-founder and CEO of Content Insight, developer of the Content Analysis Tool, and founder and principal consultant at Strategic Content, serving clients such as Costco, REI, F5 Networks, NetApp, and GHX. She was formerly a Lead Content Strategist at Razorfish. Paula is the author of the forthcoming book, The Content Inventory and Audit Handbook (XML Press, Summer 2014).

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Email: mailto:pland@content-insight.com

Website: content-insight.com

Twitter: @content_insight

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/paulaland/

Facebook: facebook.com/content.insight

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What is it?

A tool for assessing content priorities against defined business needs, where prioritized business goals and requirements are mapped against an organization’s content.

Why is it important?

Aligns content to agreed business goals, meaning content decisions are prioritized without politics. Content is transformed into a business asset: measurable, auditable, and with a defined return on investment.

Why does a content strategist need to know this?

A content matrix sets a benchmark for current business priorities, and aligns content to the delivery of those priorities. Not all projects need a requirements matrix. It is usually a large, multiple-tab spreadsheet that requires ownership and ongoing updates as business priorities change. However, when struggling with multiple or conflicted stakeholders who cannot agree what content to produce and when, a matrix is a useful tool. A requirements matrix can also be used for new sites, for major content migrations, or even for orchestrating multi-platform campaigns where content is being produced by more than one team.

A requirements matrix should include a list of business requirements, a description of the requirements, and a scoring system (for example, 1-2-3 or Must Have/Should Have/Nice to Have) that prioritizes content according to the stated business goals. For example, “Will this content help company X capture a greater share of Market Y?”

Prioritizing this way means that metrics become important. Some matrices also include anticipated outcomes and metrics for success so that content can be audited and a return on investment established.

An organization’s ability to deliver on specific requirements can also be included. Some matrices factor in technical complexity, resourcing, frequency of updates, and other factors that could affect the success of the content throughout its lifecycle.

A requirements matrix keeps stakeholders and businesses focused on why they produce content, rather than simply what should be created.

About Kate Kenyon

Photo of Kate Kenyon

Kate Kenyon specializes in enterprise-level content strategy, site migration, content management system specification, business process design, and helping organizations set key performance indicators: all the nasty, sticky bits of content strategy that she finds weirdly interesting. She is active in the London content strategy community and speaks at content strategy events across the United Kingdom.

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Email: mailto:Kate@whipsmartcontent.com

Website: whipsmartcontent.com

Twitter: @kate_kenyon

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/katekenyon