Tagged: online

January 29, 2015

Writing for the Web Module #4 notes

Maintaining your living content
- break up sections of website
- every piece of content needs to be reviewed on an ongoing basis

Content strategy
- define exactly what you’re going to do
- new and current = good for SEO and encourages users to return and keeps website relevant

Content governance
- who should own what particular pieces of content + parts of website
- specify who is responsible
- distributed accountability model
  - subject matter experts
- centralised accountability
  - communications team
- characteristics of good content:
  - timely
  - accurate
  - authority
  - quantity
  - quality
  - relevant

Style guide
- logos, colours, fonts, typography
- how you want content written
  - tone of voice
  - headings
  - langugae
  - reading level
  - terminology, abbrevs, acronyms
  - phrases
  - lists
  - any unique things to organisation
- how will staff know an update has been made? = Internal communication

Managing stakeholders
- web team
- subject matter experts (SME)/content authors
- senior management
- managers of other channels
- legal team, marketing, sales, SEO experts, etc

Other digital channels
- microcontent/other channels = consistency over all channels
  - email/newsletters
  - social media
  - messages
  - instore: signs, cash registers, personalities, is it the same as the website?
  - advertising
  - call center
  - text messages
  - packaging + delivery
  - receipts + thankyous
- seamlessness

Becoming a better writer
- read and write more
- get someone to edit your writing
- get content reviewed
- think outside the box
- look at other good content, eg competitors + identify what they do well
- test it with users

Checklist
- prepare + plan
  - know your reader
  - know your business
  - know your purpose
- write
  - plan
  - structure
  - relevant
  - useful
  - accurate
  - credible
  - current
  - consistent
  - findable
  - scannable
  - understood by our users
  - interesting
  - plain english
  - tone of voice
  - active voice
  - present tense
  - keywords = find them through users and analytics
  - headings
  - lists
  - links
  - visual/audio/graphics = to enhance
  - forms
  - messages: personable + informative
  - SEO
  - accessibility
- review + maintain
  - spelling + grammar
  - all words necessary?
  - reviewed by another person
  - who owns which content
  - plan next 12 months
  - content governance
  - define style guide

December 17, 2014

Commercialisation of the internet
advertisers sought to monetise consumers
WIRED magazine – how technology was affecting culture – first web ad for AT&T “Have you ever clicked your mouse right here? You will.”
portals, eg netscape
opportunities for commercialisation of search
online ad banners generate high volumes of interest displayed by high percentages of user click-through rates

Digital industry players
marketers have more choice than ever in terms of where they can advertise and run their marketing messages
digital has exponentially increased choices
advertisers have to sift through and ask: where is the best place to spend my money?
buyers: agencies primary buyers
issue that there is no standard structure for the way advertising is bought and sold
sellers:
pure play = a media company that has no legacy property (eg TV network, newspaper), it is online only, eg Amazon, Yahoo
traditional = eg, print publishers having websites
creatives: more interested in allure of TV than small postage-sized ads online
technology companies – SEO etc
New players and traditional outlets repurposing themselves

How digital complements print media
magazines with apps with additional content in editorial and advertising – can bring print to life – online enhances print
not competing medias but complementing
channel isn’t as important as the content
not tied to physical product anymore

How digital complements broadcast media
TV expensive, so video online may be more feasible
TiVo etc, fast forwarding ads is a major challenge to industry
tablet use in front of TVs offers opportunities for networks to connect with these audiences
TV show shareability over social channels
ads with Shazam embedded at the bottom for us to use over phones while watching TV

Online audience measurement
every medium has an agreed standard audience currency, eg TV ratings and viewershio, radio listenership, print readership and circulation
difficult for online to settle on a particular standard currency
Australia one of the first countries to establish the standard
Nielsen had a couple of different methodologies:
site centric = based around code to measure activity counting browsers as people – challenges because often more than one person uses a computer, and people often use more than one device
based on panel = track activity of panel members – challenge as may under represent
every measuring metric has inherent flaws, the importance is that the industry agrees on a methodology
Nielsen combined both to create UA – Unique Audience
Still not all websites use this system when reporting audience members to agencies/advertisers, may use Google Analytics

Digital jargon
hits = one of the first measurement metrics on the web
outdated and irrelevant
it doesn’t mean visitors but the load on the webpage, ie each element that needs to load (this means nothing to advertisers)
be confident enough to ask what someone means by hits, eg visitors, pageviews, etc
SEO = Search Engine Optimisation
updating content, unique content, appropriate keywords, external links
things that make search engines things this is a valuable, content-rich site
cookies = piece of code that a website uses to determine browsers
they are identifiers
when sites remember usernames that is because the cookies recognise you