Caroline Roberts, iFactory Given at the 2018 OmniUpdate User Training Conference, this content strategy presentation guides marketing and web design teams through the steps of preparing their website content before launch. The earlier you start organizing your content, the higher the quality of that content will be. As an added bonus, you will reduce the chaos that often comes with a website migration.

1. Cleaning Up Your
Content
Preparing Your Content Before Launch
Caroline Roberts, iFactory

2. Agenda
• Introduction
• Why Cleaning Up Your Content Matters
• Real Talk About Content
• Case Study: Queens University of Charlotte
• The Day When Migration Arrives
• Conclusions

3. Introduction
• Caroline Roberts, iFactory content
strategist
• Presented at the Illinois Webcon and the
UX Boston Meetup
• At iFactory:
• 30+ inventories
• 20+ content planners
• 15+ site launches
• … plus writing, editing, and content
consultation

4. Why Cleaning Up Your Content
Matters
Cleaning up your content opens up opportunities ...
• Enjoy extra time to fit content creation and revision sinto
your busy schedule.
• Reacquaint yourself with your website, making the
redesign easier.
• Prepare to work with stakeholders.

5. Why Cleaning Up Your Content
Matters
Cleaning up your content opens up opportunities ...
• Cut down on your workload at migration time, or use this
advice to maintain content post-launch.
• Avoid delaying your project, as content preparation and
migration often takes longer than you’d think.
• Boost site performance by improving user experience.

6. Real Talk About Content
Content organization is
like the “Ice Bucket
Challenge”:
You know it is a good
thing, but you don’t look
forward to it.

7. Real Talk About Content

8. … but Brace for Reality

9. Case Study

10. Case Study: In the Client’s Words
“iFactory’s process for content is a lifesaver…. This process
forced us all to work methodically at content, envisioning a
new site instead of merely revising an old one.”
“Resist the urge to skip ahead -- go slowly, go methodically,
and your future will thank you for it.”
--Jen McGivney, former Digital Media Director, Queens
University of Charlotte

11. Case Study: Cast of Characters
Client:
IT leadership, project management, marketing, writing
iFactory:
Project management, content strategy, IA/UX, design,
front-end development
OmniUpdate:
CMS and development

12. Case Study: Stages of Content
Cleanup
Challenges:
• Tight timeline (4 and a half months until OU Campus
Passoff)
• Site contained a large quantity of content
Opportunities:
• Client wanted to pare down content
• Everyone -- Queens, OU Campus, and iFactory --
collaborated closely
• Client had a strong brand in place (“Yes / And”)

13. Case Study: Process & Deliverables
The iFactory Process* at the Site Level
• Content Inventory
• Persona Content Matrix
• Content Outlines
• Content Planner
*Your process may be different, but this works for us.

14. Case Study: Process & Deliverables
The iFactory Process at the Page Level
• Writing new content
• Revising older content
*Your process may be different, but this works for us.

15. Case Study: Content Inventory

16. Case Study: Archiving
• The client thought about what their users really needed
and what they didn’t.
• They also considered what was required for
compliance. (It’s not all what “sparks joy.”)
• They went through, marked what they thought should
be archived, and moved that content to a new tab in the
document.
• They divided the work among several team members
when possible.

17. Case Study: Revising and Merging
That way, they could focus on what was left:
• Content to keep, revise, or merge
• Their overall marketing message
• “Yes / And” proved to be effective
Note: Evaluating what is left will force you to examine
your marketing approach.

18. Case Study: Consulting
Stakeholders
• The client told stakeholders about changes early and
made them feel like part of the process.
• They planned how to deal with stakeholder pushback
ahead of time.

19. Case Study: Consulting
Stakeholders
Some questions to ask yourself before working with
stakeholders:
• Do you intend to move some content to an Intranet?
• How do you want to describe your archiving and
revision approach?
• Do you have time for a Town Hall?

20. Case Study: Preparing to Write
Pre-Sitemap: The matrix guided Queens to create and
revise content based on the perspective of their users and
marketing message.
PERSONA CONTENT MATRIX

21. Case Study: Sitemap

22. Case Study: Preparing to Write
Post-Sitemap: The outlines helped the client organize
content on key landing pages, sharpen their message,
and ensure that those pages were speaking to users.
CONTENT OUTLINES

23. Case Study: Content Planner
sitemap
new content

24. Case Study: The End Result
# of pages in the Inventory*: 1,766
# of pages in the Planner: 762
Queens removed 1,004 URLs' worth of content, reducing
the size of the site by 57%.

25. Case Study: The End Result
They accomplished this goal through the following
actions:
• Being willing to let content go
• Merging short pages into long ones
• Thinking about what major personas, especially
prospective students, really needed

26. Case Study: Writing and Revising
You’ve planned the content, but you’re not done.
Now it’s time to start revising, merging, and writing new
content.
Did you know you can get started on this before your
CMS is available?

27. Case Study: OU Campus Sandbox
• OmniUpdate provides the ability for clients to start their
content early
• OmniUpdate’s plain-vanilla sandbox allowed Queens to
• Upload content
• Follow a basic workflow process
• When the real site was ready, the Queens content had
enough structure to be migrated to the staging server.

28. Case Study: OU Campus Sandbox

29. Case Study: OU Campus Sandbox

30. Case Study: GatherContent
• A second option for organizing and editing is
GatherContent, which features the following:
• Easy-to-build templates
• More editorial features
• Simple, color-coded workflow
• The choice depends on the project’s timeframe, how
much time you have to refine content, editorial
requirements, and number of stakeholders.

31. Case Study: GatherContent

32. Case Study: GatherContent

33. Case Study: Why Not Word or
Google Docs?
• Word does not allow multiple people in a document at
once.
• Neither option has robust workflow and approval
features.
• Neither option lets you step back and see where a
page fits into the whole.
• Managing documents through folders instead of a
CMS (or CMS-like) system can be difficult.

34. The Day When Migration Arrives ...
… you’ll be ready.

35. The Day When Migration Arrives ...

36. Conclusions: The Big Picture
Here’s why you should clean up your content:
• You are making your life easier.
• You are increasing the likelihood of your project’s
success.
More important,
• Your preparation will result in a better website
• … and in a better user experience.

37. Conclusions: The Details
When tackling any migration, redesign, or maintenance
cycle …
• Inventory your site content
• Prepare yourself to let old content go
• Prepare stakeholders to let old content go
• Reduce the quantity of content on your site
• Practice makes perfect!

38. Conclusions: The Details
When tackling any migration, redesign, or maintenance
cycle …
• Have a game plan for reorganizing content at the site
level (Planner and sitemap)
• Create a strategy for revising content at the page level
and for creating new content (OU Campus or
GatherContent)
… and then your migration will be simpler and saner.

39. Q&A
• Questions?
• Concerns?
• Your own personal stories of content cleanup and
migration?
• How you have maintained your content after launch?

40. Thank you.
caroline@ifactory.com
@pepperypen
pepperypen.com
outc18.com/surveys