Tagged: web

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

 

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?

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

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