» Tips for creating usable web content » Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tips » NYU.edu stats and trends » 30-minutes of answering your pre-submitted questions

1. Genius is the ability to
reduce the complicated to
the simple.
C.W. Ceram (1915-1972)

2. nyu-identity-group@nyu.edu.
nyu.edu/torchtech.
nyu-ux-group@nyu.edu.
social.media.ambassadors-group@nyu.edu.
Join the club
Before we begin, you are a part of this community because you are a CMS user. We
want these sessions to be helpful, but also a great time to network or meet others
from across the pond, so to speak, but there are a few other groups on campus that
really compliment your efforts in the CMS. They are the NYU Identity Group which is
run by Mark Courtney, TorchTech which is put together by Evan Silberman from
Silver School of SW, the UX-or user experience-usability group run by Mark Reilly
with Academic Technology Services, and the social media ambassadors group
hosted by Chris Barrows from our own team Digital Communications. If you are
interested in learning more, or signing up for future event announcements, I would
suggest emailing the above groups.

3. News & Reminders
● 5.6.1 Upgrade
● nyu.edu/digicomm/request
● askITS@nyu.edu
● digital.communications@nyu.edu
A few weekends ago we upgraded the CMS to a new version. You all should have
received multiple email communications about this—please let me know afterwards if
you did not. How do you all feel about green? There are a couple of new things you
might have noticed- the recently used assets on the welcome screen, and the new
search functionality for pages and assets.
Ask ITS is still the first line of reporting if you are having issues in the CMS, but there
are issues we see consistently that can be easily remedied. We will let you know
when these are launched. Also, as a reminder, please use our request form for
project or content requests—these are followed up by and routed to appropriate
people by our project managers, and digital.communications@nyu.edu alias if your
question/comment doesn’t fall into a specific category.

4. Content is King.
Presented by:
Cassandra Ketrick
Karen Vasey
Eric Bross
NYU Digital Communications Group
“Content is King”— Bill Gates has said it, Google has harped on it, and Sumner
Redstone of Viacom said it before all of them—but the term has been said to be coined as
early as 1914.
That’s what we are here to talk about today—Content. You are the content
experts in your department. You are empowered with the CMS to make
changes to your website on a whim 24-7. This is a wonderful thing—but can
also be a daunting task, and while everyone’s specific goals and audiences
may vary slightly, there are definitive guidelines we can work within to ensure
our website viewers are able to digest and navigate through our content.
You all are content producers. You are writers. You are communicators. That
may not be your official title, but that’s what you are doing when you are
working in the CMS.
The essence of good content is good writing. Yes, there’s spelling, grammar,
punctuation...but then there’s readability, approachability.
The dream here is that we all can dedicate quality time to our website and our
web communications. The reality is that it is often just tacked onto our roles as

5. an afterthought or an “in addition to everything else we need you to do” item.
I am going to go into some specific tools you can use both in and outside of
the CMS to help content creation be easier.
Karen is going to pick up with some strategy points, and Eric is going to finish
us up with how analytics can inform your content but not NYU.edu stats and
trends and how that informs your content.

6. Content rage.
We have all been on websites trying to access information and felt like this guy. [play
clip]
We’ve all been here. We know what it feels like to not be able to access the
information we are looking for.
We all have it in our power to make the web world a better place one
well-written sentence at a time. One easily-scannable page at a
time. So let’s get into some of the tools you can use to make content creation easier.

7. Tools
Content Creation
While a CMS can help with managing edits and approvals, it often falls short when it
comes to tracking changes and adding author and editor comments.
In our recent survey, the majority of you said that a lack of time and many
channels have to approve it are barriers to updating your content.
I’m going to suggest four ways to assist in your content updates that address both of
these pain points.

8. Annotations
Annotations have been an functionality in the CMS for sometime now, but they are a
little non-descrip, so we tend to forget about them.
To add an annotation to your page you will need to right-click on a pre-existing
component and select “Annotate.”
The great thing about annotations are they are only viewable by users in the CMS.
When you create one you have the option of picking a color for it with the color
wheel—and also drawing things like arrows using the squiggly line icon next to the
color wheel—it will also say who created the note at the bottom, displaying the
authors NetID.
You could come up with a system for using the colors, to indicate pink as “must
change” or yellow for “recommendation only.”
I also use these as reminders to myself about where there is content being referenced
within our section. For our tutorials, I added the Shortcuts component to most pages,
but I used the reference component so if I needed to make any future changes, I
would only be making the change on one component. I used the annotation to visually
remind me not to delete that content.

9. Version Control
I use version control all of the time.
A few things you should know about version control are that every time you activate a
page, a version is automatically created for you. The system only saves the last 140
versions, for up to 14 months. This system maintenance helps with system
performance. When you put in comments for the version, you can view those by
hovering over a specific version.

10. Google Docs
When many channels have to approve copy or language for the website, using
Google Docs might be helpful. Not only will you have the option to comment, and
see all revision history very easily, you can have a built in spell
checker for your work. The great thing about being a google apps school, is really
getting to use the collaboration products.
Just make sure that if you are writing your text outside of the CMS and pasting it into
the Rich Text component, that you use the “Paste as text” clipboard that is in the
component to strip the formatting. Not doing so will lock up the component or entire
page and you will need to contact askITS to fix the page.

11. Worksheet
Today everyone has received a Strategic Content Worksheet. We have created a
Word Doc Template for this, so you can save it on your computer and use it when you
are wanting to add new content. This will also be included in a followup email to you
all.
For those attending us in the webinar, it is attached to this session for you to
download.
This worksheet can be used as a guide. When working to add new content, we would
recommend do it in increments. Consider reserving ½ an hour a week to look at your
content and make changes. This is not always possible, we realize, but when it is—it
is a great way to make the issue of time less of a burden.
Consider breaking up changes—this is what we did for our recent upgrade updates to
our CMS tutorials. We set priorities for that project. Priority 1 was updating all
screenshots, priority 2 was working to make them easier to navigate, and priority 3
was rewriting and reworking them. This step 3 is something that is ongoing work.

12. » diaryofacontentstrategist.tumblr.com.
Inspiration.
Recommendations for the content nerd inside all of us.
In addition to the previous options I mentioned, we also look to outside inspiration and
resources to inspire content creation. Our field, of creating web content is relatively
new compared to most disciplines—we are still on unchartered territory—we are all
still figuring it out as we go.
There are great resources out there that we have found helpful.
Diary of a Content Strategist- Tumblr that Karen found that is a combination of
content related memes and relevant topic links
Content Strategy for the Web- a classic and a favorite of mine...very inspiring
Letting Go of the Words- tackles the topic of good writing
Confab- conferences are a great way to hear how others are doing it and I would
highly recommend this one
Now, Karen’s going to continue with some strategy tools and recommendations.

13. Strategy
Content Creation
Many of you selected lack of time as the top reason that’s preventing you from
updating your content. We often encounter authors who, after not having time to
maintain and update their pages, want to scrap everything and rebuild their webpages
from scratch. This is time-consuming and potentially very stressful. Having a content
strategy will help you identify your content, develop timelines, and initiate an iterative
approach to maintaining your content.
It will also help you to create and maintain online content that is relevant and that
evolves according to your audience's changing needs and interests.

14. Quality Content:
Attracts
Engages
Informs
Retains
Rick Allen, ePublish Media, Inc
This is a slide, that I reproduced, from Rick Allen at ePublish Media who works
exclusively advising Higher Ed institutions on content. I like this slide because it
reminds us that we create content to attract, inform, engage, and retain our audience.
Sometimes we become so focused on the work that we do and how we want to
present it that we lose sight about who our audience is and what their needs are.
Remember your audience will choose what content they want to access, when they
want to access it, and how they want to access it. We don’t get to control that
experience for them. We can only facilitate the experience by providing them with
sincere, readable content.
To help you achieve quality content, we’ve put together a 5-step guide that will help
you begin to think about your content creation strategically.

15. Prioritize It.
● Make a list of the content
you want to include.
● Use the worksheet to align
content goals with
university objectives.
● Analyze and determine
priorities.
Step 1 is to prioritize your content goals.
When you start thinking about refreshing your current webpages or building out new
pages from scratch, begin by listing all the content you want to include. You can use
the Strategic Content Worksheet that Cassie mentioned earlier to help you really think
through your content, define your business objectives, identify your audience needs,
and begin to organize your content priorities. Look for patterns and start thinking
about solutions. Defining your priorities in writing will help you focus on your top
“must-have” content. It will also illuminate content that is lower priority and can be
developed later. Or perhaps maybe never. Because that happens and it’s OK.

16. Identify It.
● What content do you have?
● What content can be
reused?
● What content is outdated?
● What content is missing?
Learn more about content inventories at the Brain Traffic blog
Step 2 is to start identifying your content.
Often times, I do this step at the same time as the prioritize it step. If you have
existing webpages, documents, videos, or other content assets, you need to identify it
and a content inventory is a great tool for capturing that information. There’s nothing
glamorous about a content inventory. It’s just you, a spreadsheet, and the task of
cataloging everything. The good news is that after you do it once, it becomes a living
document. You can add to it and edit it as your content continues to change and
develop. It’s a great way to track changes and it’s a document that will help you to
transfer your knowledge to other cms authors who may become responsible for your
webpages in the future.
After you’ve inventoried your content, it’s time to audit it. Ask yourself what content do
you want to keep, delete, or update. Also ask yourself what content is missing and
determine who will be responsible for creating that content. Mark all of this in your
inventory and use it as your content blueprint.

17. Write It.
● Use inverted pyramid style
of writing.
● Avoid jargon and acronyms.
● Use small words and short,
direct statements.
● Format text.
Courtesy of Laura Creekmore, Creekmore Content
After identifying the content that needs updating and the content that needs to be
created, it’s time to start writing.
The inverted pyramid style of writing has endured the test of time, and it is how we
recommend you organize your content pages. This technique "front-loads" the content
so that the most important information is placed at the top of the page. Supporting
details follow and background and general information should go towards the end. It
can be tempting to begin with background and general information, but resist that
urge. Get to the point and tell your audience what they want to know.
Avoid jargon and acronyms. They only make sense to you.
Use small words and short, direct statements. Less is more.
Content strategist Laura Creekmore offers the following tool for checking your writing
for clarity: Pick a piece of writing you’d like to test, delete every sixth word, then ask
someone who doesn’t know the content to fill in the blanks. If they can fill in the
blanks, then you know you’re on the right track. If they can’t, you’ve got some work to
do.
Finally format what you write to be scannable by:
● Using headings and subheadings to organize content, not to style text

18. ● Using bulleted lists
● Using text formatting like bold and italics when appropriate
● Using images that enrich the meaning of your writing
● Using tables for data

19. Personalize It.
● Use an approachable tone.
● Embrace a voice that is
spontaneous, sociable,
expressive, professional,
wired, responsible, and
ambitious.
● Avoid sounding
bureaucratic.
● Brevity = Respect
● Jokes ≠ Personality NYU Identity Language Guide
Voice and Tone is all the rage right now. We know now that site viewers respond
better to sincere, quality content than to contrived messaging. They respond to a
conversational tone rather than to a bureaucratic, impersonal tone. They respond to
content that has personality.
Recently the NYU visual identity division of Advertising & Publishing presented the
NYU Identity Language Guide. The guide is a collaboration between an outside
consultant and the NYU visual identity group. I think a lot of the recommendations in
this guide can be applied to the writing for the web.
We are beginning to shift away from a classic, formal tone towards a tone that is more
approachable and conversational. Your tone may need to shift to according to
occasion. It may not be appropriate to use an informal tone for a serious
announcement, but there’s also no need to bloat that announcement with stilted,
formal language that invokes bureaucratic authority.
As you begin to consider the tone, you will also begin to develop a voice to your
writing. Embrace a voice that is spontaneous, sociable, expressive, professional,
wired, responsible, and ambitious.
One pitfall to avoid is thinking that jokes/humor are what gives your writing a
personality. While humor is awesome, don’t force irreverence because you think
randomly mentioning bran muffins will somehow lighten your tone or give you a voice.
Remember that humor is subjective and has the potential to confuse a message or

20. can inadvertently offend.

21. Chunk It.
● Increases readability.
● Facilitates use of
reference component.
● Prepares for the future of
adaptive content.
Karen McGrane, The Mobile Content Mandate
Finally consider the structure of your content in the CMS. Instead of just copying and
pasting all your text from a Word Document into a single rich text editor component
(affectionately called a blob by many content strategists), consider breaking up you
information. This accomplishes a few things.
By identifying the building blocks that make up your content blob, you can start to
identify content relationships, group like content together, and apply headers and
subheaders to identify these chunks of information. It is far easier to read and find
information in a page that is organized into smaller topics rather than trying to read
your way through a wall of text. It is also easier to update content that is chunked.
In our CMS, we have a reference component that I’m sure many of you are familiar
with. By breaking up your content, you will facilitate the ability of your content to be
referenced. Referencing content is one way to help maintain the integrity and
consistency of content across the site.
Finally, and this is definitely future thinking, content strategists are beginning to
preach the value of adaptive content. Adaptive content separates the information from
the presentational layout so that it can be reused on multiple platforms including
mobile, desktop, tv). If you begin practice chunking your blobs now, you’ll be in good
shape for the future.

22. Quality, relevant content can't be
spotted by an algorithm. You can't
subscribe to it. You need people -
actual human beings - to create or
curate it.
Kristina Halvorson, Content Strategy for the Web
So that’s our 5-step guide. I just want to end with this quote from Kristina Halvorson. I
think that sometimes we get so caught up in new technologies and trying to be cutting
edge that we forget that in the end we are simply people creating content for other
people.

23. Analytics
Content Creation
Looking at an overview of analytics is very helpful when you want to inform your
content. It can be helpful to know, for example, that your audience is heavy mobile
users. Our current site is not mobile friendly, but you could make sure your content is
easy to digest on a small screen. Here are a few stats you might find interesting from
the past year regarding NYU.edu.

24. Traffic Sources.
This data is from 2013. These are traffic sources for NYU.edu. Direct: type NYU.edu
into a browser or have a bookmarked page. Referral: link from a non-NYU.edu site.
Search: From Google, Bing, Etc.

25. Mobile Devices.
iOS 79.81%
Android 17.54%
Blackberry 1.12%
Windows 0.52%
______
98.99%
12 other devices make up the remaining 1.01%
12 other devices make up the remaining 1.01%. Other web-wide surveys lower iOS
share to about 55% and elevate Android share to 28%, which illustrates how popular
Apple devices are in the NYU community. (this stat is for the NYU.edu from Sept
2012 to Aug 2013.

26. Layout Advice
● Right column vs. main content
● Headers/bold to help scanning
● One type of square promo style
● 2-3 topics per page
● Examples:
○ http://www.nyu.edu/admissions/fall-in-ny.html
○ http://www.nyu.edu/community/nyu-in-nyc/core-plan-
commitments/construction.html
○ http://www.nyu.edu/employees/hr-at-your-service.html
Your Questions.

27. Managing Shortcut Menus &
External Links
● Use the reference component so you
don’t have to update multiple shortcut
components
● For CMS pages, use internal linking
● Schedule link audits with staff or student
help
● Feedback form in footer to submit
broken links
Your Questions.

28. Column Control Errors
● We are aware of this issue and it will be
addressed
● When moving promos or other content
within column control, use “copy and
paste” when possible and if you receive
an error click on the refresh icon located
in the Sidekick (it will display in the place
you moved it)
Your Questions.

29. Best Practices for
Promos/Reference Components
● Different styles of Promos are not all
meant to be on one page
● Use internal links for CMS pages
● There are a limit of references you can
use on a page (think no more than 30)
Your Questions.