Wesley Verbeek's Profile

Say it, don’t display it

Ideally, you should work with a writer from day one to design the voice of the copy in conjunction with the visual language of the site

And getting a writer involved early can help you solve lots of other problems—from content strategy issues to information architecture snags. Remember that writers are creatives too, and they are, in many cases, the keepers of the content your design ultimately serves.

That means your client can save money by letting you first address strategy via less expensive forms of documentation (such as content strategy), rather than in expensive design iterations.

Approaches for information architects

If you work in information architecture, you know that before you start to structure a website, you need to know what you’ve got to work with. Enter the content audit. Document all the existing content—every article, biography, image, video, press release, etc.—in a quantitative content inventory. Consider it a head count. Everyone here? Any attributes missing? No? Good.

educate your client

After a quantitative headcount and qualitative review, the content strategist can help you and your client better understand what you have, and what they’ll need to revise or create. Voilà: You’ve got raw material for your sitemap and wireframes!

new content types you should aggregate

Approaches for search engine marketers

Whether you’re in an agency or out on your own, if you’re an SEO specialist, you’ve probably encountered the disconnect between detailed spreadsheets, actionable analytics, and the copy that’s supposed to fill the gaps the numbers reveal. When users and Google tell you one thing, but your client’s marketing team says something different—in entirely different terminology—what do you do? Partner with a content strategist, either “on the side” or within your team, to show your client the ROI.

At first glance, the paid ad copy and keyword-rich meta content fit the common search terms: “gym,” “workouts,” and “private trainers.” However, our client didn’t want the typical “gym rat” audience. That’s where a partnership between content strategy and search engine marketing paid off. We revised the site content and search terms to fit the brand of a premium fitness experience. As a result, our client attracted more traffic from an audience eager for their style of gym. The leads were good, but the conversions were even better.

The real selling point? Your client can achieve higher conversions, not just click-through tourists who pop in and then leave.

Approaches for designers

Let’s say your target audience is male and your product promises fast data transfer. Your content strategist can write headlines that convey speed, power, and intensity. Beyond the headlines, they can create real copy and calls to action that use muscular verbs and aggressive sentence structure. Suddenly, your race car imagery doesn’t stand alone. Your client sees a unified concept where all your tactical decisions—color, image, style, and tone—tie back to a single strategy. Partnership with a content strategist can make your comps that much more air-tight.

But how do you pitch content strategy to a client who’s focused only on the design? Sell them on predictability. No one likes surprises in their invoice or to-do list. Properly scoped copywriting helps avoid surprises. Your content strategist can help you plan ahead by prescribing content across the site, piece by piece. That means you can lay out an optimal experience, without having to worry about getting content that’s far shorter or longer than what you expected. You can also design for specific content types, such as pull quotes, informative lists, and compelling facts that are more concrete than “lorem ipsum” or “copy goes here.” Your content strategist can create templates to help writers plan their effort so content isn’t just a big question mark in the budget (and on your comps).

Approaches for project managers

What typically interrupts the “beautiful music” of a web initiative? Content, of course.

Your client may respond that they have writers on staff. That’s great, but is it relevant? They might have a staff photographer as well, but just as photography is only one aspect of design, writing is only one part of content strategy. Without a content strategist, who will objectively assess the efficacy of current content against brand strategy and communication goals? Who will audit existing content for quality, currency, and relevance? Who will create key messages and develop content to support user decisions along the way? We haven’t even gotten to writing yet! But when you do get to that point, consider this: It’s often far more effective to have someone outside your client’s organization observe and write about them. After all, users come from an outside perspective.

Content strategy can help you create better user experiences by assisting design, brand development, information architecture, search engine marketing, writing, and so much more, such as CMS integration.