10 things I learned from my

first ‘proper’ content strategy

1.

I'd already been doing bits of content strategy for many years without a name for it

- Why is the content I receive always so rubbish?

- Why are people who don’t know anything about the web telling me what to put on the website?

- Why am I expected to edit and publish a huge amount of content within an impossible amount of time?

- Why am I asked to put pointless and irrelevant content online?

- Why does the website keep growing but no one takes ownership of getting rid of stuff?

- Etc, etc…

2.

You can (kind of) learn it from a book

www.contentstrategy.com

3.

You can never talk to your users enough

4.

Bypass key internal stakeholders at your peril!

5.

A business strategy is not the same as a content strategy

6.

Content audits are long, hard, messy... and crucial

7.

Content strategy is a huge field; select the bits you need for your project

Skills and governance audit

Content audit / content matrix

Content gap analysis

Competitor audit

Core strategy statement

User hierarchy

Messaging hierarchy

Topic map

Editorial style guide

Content models

Taxonomy and metadata

Workflow design

Content calendar

Maintenance plan

Content KPIs

Content prioritisation matrix

Content training

Search strategy

8.

Doing the strategy is the easy bit, making it happen is tough

9.

Without a content strategy, your site will most likely drift... and then die

10.

Not many people know about content strategy, so we need to keep talking about it