Tagged: web

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

January 23, 2015

Writing for the Web Module 2 Notes

Structure
- how someone is going to read content
- F scan – chunk information so people can scan more easily
- nice heading, subheadings, shorts paras, bullet points

Relevant + Useful
- looks at competitors
- more research into what users want to get out of content
- give practical advice
- look at analytics – if people are linking to your site
- social media if people are talking about content

Accurate + Credible
- trusted content
- have the expertise to be writing about that content
- check with an expert if correct
- research
- David Ogilvy
- review
- reliable + believable

Current + Consistent
- take things away that are out of date
- think about when things will expire
- is it still relevant?
- consistent tone of voice
- abbreviations and acronyms etc = consistent

Findable
- how do people find your website?
  - search
  - links to your website
  - within website: navigation, internal links, website’s internal search

Scannable
- F shaped pattern
- chunks of content, headings, subheadings
- summaries at the beginning
- white space can make website more attractive to the eye = breathing room between content

Simple
- plain english
- short sentences + paragraphs
- lists
- graphics, tables, pictures
- personal: I, us, we, you
- match user’s knowledge, eg writing for a teen website
- direct
- verbs not nouns, eg ‘consider’ not ‘consideration’
- inform don’t impress
- examples + analogies

Interesting
- personality
- topical
- present it in an interesting way, eg info graphics
- don’t oversell, push user, have fluffy introductions or use jargon

Voice
- personality
- tense: present active
- consistent across all channels

Writing Style
- inverted pyramid
- read content out loud to yourself – could you leave the page after one paragraph satisfied you have all the info?

January 21, 2015

Writing for the Web Module 1 Notes

Good quality content
- clear headings
- exact statements
- nice images
- summaries (could stop here is we wanted/needed to)
- chunks of information
- links
- calls to action
- visuals representations of products

Elements of a good website
- user + business needs
- information architecture (IA)
- interactive design
- visual design
- brand
- content
- users essential
- navigation/tree structure
  - labels + secondary navigation
- wireframe
- aesthetic appeal + personality
- content is king

Web v Print Content
- how do people read online/print?
- printed = physical document, read front to back, don’t rely on power source, less fatigued eyes
- online = computer, tablet, mobile, laptop, rely on power, back light results in eye fatigue
- Jakob Nielsen 1997: how users read the web = they don’t, they scan in F shape pattern
- snack vs feasting

Who are your users?
- demographics
- personas

Understanding users
- talking to users
- website analytics
- surveys

Context of use
- where are they accessing, when and with what device?
- eg, at lunch people might have more time to read news content compared to a 10 – 15 minute commute
- what pieces and pages of content are people looking at at certain time?
- if we know what devices people are accessing we can change the content that we deliver on those devices
- all different screen sizes, etc

Understanding the business objectives
- stakeholders
  - marketing
  - financial
  - customer service
  - subject matter experts
  - anyone with vested interest in website
- sometimes a mobile optimized site is going to meet the user’s needs more than an app

Purpose of content
- persuade
- inform
- educate
- entertain
- change behaviour
- enforce compliance, esp govt websites

Accessible content
- disabilities:
  - vision impairment
  - hearing impairment
  - motor impairment
  - dyslexia
  - colour blindness
- don’t use content as images
- captions on audio + video
- transcripts
- Microsoft Word accessibility checker
- product descriptions

SEO
- page title – in the browser/tab bar
- page heading
- keywords
- links
- natural language
- topical content
- unique content
- URL
- the last thing we want is to optimise for search engines but not optimise for our users

December 17, 2014

Open2Study Online Advertising Module 1 notes

Evolution of the web:
the web simplified what was complicated into a standard protocol
1993 – Tim Berners-Lee – made access of info available to everyone
mobile now primary access –> what does this mean then for online advertising?
Hyper Text Markup Language

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