This past week I was lucky to attend the Gilbane Conference, an annual event focusing on web content management. The first session I attended, WCM Best Practices, had great presentations on content strategy. Jeffrey MacIntyre had a quote in his presentation (which had great art direction) that resonated with me  - “2009 is the breakout year for Content Strategy.”

If you’ve ever been involved in a website project, then you know content can get neglected. The process of writing, reviewing, analyzing, and optimizing can be daunting. Is the vendor writing? Is the client writing? The ball gets passed around and around until the site gets populated with fragmented content that might not be completely relevant for its users.

So what is a content strategy?

My first exposure to content strategy was at the Boston An Event Apart conference, where Kristina Halvorson gave content its overdue attention. In short, her definition of a content strategy was:

Content strategy plans for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content.

A content strategist not only worries about time tables, but also content themes, content alignment with business goals, search engine optimization, editorial (voice/legal/etc), and metadata.

Content strategists are adjacent to a lot existing positions:

Graphic from Joe Pulizzi and BrainTraffic

Why do I need a Content Strategy?

Because:

• it’s delaying your website launch
• your current content is written by technologists, marketers, management…too many voices!
• team members end up being pulled off their daily duties
• your company does not get represented to its full potential
• well researched and written content will help you get found and convert more business

Make sure you give your content the appropriate attention in your next web project. It will make all the difference.

Further reading:

The discipline of content strategy

Written by Marcel Moreau