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Content Strategy for the Web
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If your website content is out of date, off-brand, and out of control, you're missing a huge opportunity to engage, convert, and retain customers online. Redesigning your home page won't help. Investing in a new content management system won't fix it, either. So, where do you start?
Without meaningful content, your website isn't worth much to your key audiences. But creati ...more
Without meaningful content, your website isn't worth much to your key audiences. But creati ...more
Paperback, 198 pages
Published
August 1st 2009
by New Riders Publishing
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The most important thing I realised, when I read this book is:
You are on the web => You are publisher.
Well the author said that if you or your organization has a web site, then you are a publisher but I guess my claim could also hold in this web 2.0 times (or are we already 3.0?). One other thing to keep in mind is that this is not a book about web writing. It's about content strategy - for the web.
Content strategy consists of:
+ creation, + delivery, + governance.
This book more specifically dea ...more
You are on the web => You are publisher.
Well the author said that if you or your organization has a web site, then you are a publisher but I guess my claim could also hold in this web 2.0 times (or are we already 3.0?). One other thing to keep in mind is that this is not a book about web writing. It's about content strategy - for the web.
Content strategy consists of:
+ creation, + delivery, + governance.
This book more specifically dea ...more
What is content?
Content is what user came to read, learn, see, or experience.
Content is more or less worthless unless it does one or both of the following:
1. Supports a key business objective
2. Fulfills your users’ needs
What is content strategy?
Content strategy guides your plans for the creation, delivery, and governance of content. Content strategy is not about how writing, it is managing process of creating, distribution and promotion of content.
Critical components of content strategy:
Substan ...more
Content is what user came to read, learn, see, or experience.
Content is more or less worthless unless it does one or both of the following:
1. Supports a key business objective
2. Fulfills your users’ needs
What is content strategy?
Content strategy guides your plans for the creation, delivery, and governance of content. Content strategy is not about how writing, it is managing process of creating, distribution and promotion of content.
Critical components of content strategy:
Substan ...more
Kristina Halvorson, in "Content Strategy for the Web," offers a concise and well produced introduction to a subject of interest to those of us involved in workplace learning and performance (training)--and anyone else interested in knowing how to reach online audiences effectively through well designed and engaging content. The book itself is an example of what it promotes: rich content provided in a graphically interesting format that leaves readers with "a high-level overview of the benefits,
...more
Very good introduction to content strategy, but if you've worked in magazines, content strategy simply feels like a way to sell 'online publishing'.
I'm being simplistic, but the whole mystique around content strategy feels a bit emperors new clothes to me.
That's not to say that Halvorson's book isn't well written and all-encompassing, I just think Content Strategy as a whole should be renamed 'how to create and run a website for Dummies'. ...more
I'm being simplistic, but the whole mystique around content strategy feels a bit emperors new clothes to me.
That's not to say that Halvorson's book isn't well written and all-encompassing, I just think Content Strategy as a whole should be renamed 'how to create and run a website for Dummies'. ...more
Essential reading in the field of content strategy.
A little old, but still a fine handbook for all Content & Media Strategists. Content Strategy is the live essential plan for any communication plan.
This really reinforced some thoughts I’d been having and reading about on the importance of governance in content and content strategy. Also had good tips for conducting various type of audits—exciting, right?! Well, helpful nonetheless. Will be a resource that I refer others to.
I truly have no understanding of the different roles people play and the different workflows that exist within large firms that handle the creation of web sites & web presences. (Information architecture, user experience design, graphic design, programmers, etc. They're all a mystery to me.) That was my biggest problem while reading through this book. I think the 2-person team I work in makes it hard to think of the different roles that could be played if we had more manpower.
Nonetheless, this ...more
Nonetheless, this ...more
Content Strategy for the Web was a great overview of learning the process of content strategy at a large organization. Having worked at a large NYC based digital strategy agency most of the concepts in this book were familiar. Even the look of the site and content maps were familiar from what I've seen presented and used in client meetings. So the accuracy of this book for portraying the decisions and the workflow of how a large organization needs to handle content creation is outlined nicely. T
...more
Got a website full of old, useless or just flat out wrong content? You need a content strategy to help you clean it up, and create a plan so that it doesn't happen again. And this book will show you how to figure one out.
Covering research, design, creation and evaluation of content, Halvorson assumes you're working with a large website. But the principles are the same, no matter how large or small the project. You need to know your audience and your goals, and come up with a plan for acheiving t ...more
Covering research, design, creation and evaluation of content, Halvorson assumes you're working with a large website. But the principles are the same, no matter how large or small the project. You need to know your audience and your goals, and come up with a plan for acheiving t ...more
Content Strategy for the Web sets the stage for Content Strategy to be implemented for any company by helping individuals to understand what it is, why it is important, how it can be created, who is involved, how it is managed, etc.
The writing is professional, engaging, and uses the right amount of humour to keep things lively. It reads like a story and has been structured helping users to quickly jump from one topic and section to the next.
The only reason I would give this book a 4 instead of a ...more
The writing is professional, engaging, and uses the right amount of humour to keep things lively. It reads like a story and has been structured helping users to quickly jump from one topic and section to the next.
The only reason I would give this book a 4 instead of a ...more
Excellent content strategy overview. This book has a bit of everything from start to finish in working on developing and rolling out a content strategy project. I especially loved the questions it asks you to consider for your situation when working on each part of the strategy. Great, conversational tone and easy-to-understand writing doesn't further complicate what can be a complex subject. My only minor quibble is that it is heavily web-focused (obviously, it's in the title). But anyone with
...more
A book dedicated for mostly puting out fires: it answers all questions a content strategist can have when they are hired to fix a strategy of a company that reaches millions in revenue but in their website still sometimes have bits of "Lorem ipsum".
Not so much relatable for companies that are starting out and want to do right by their content, or to companies that have less than 5000 pieces of content but still want it arranged neatly.
Really useful and easy to read, shining with light humor now ...more
Not so much relatable for companies that are starting out and want to do right by their content, or to companies that have less than 5000 pieces of content but still want it arranged neatly.
Really useful and easy to read, shining with light humor now ...more
Engaging from the get-go. Kristina doesn't mess around - she directly engages with her reader, and wants you to know she understands the problem space and that she's got some immediate things for you to do. No f***ing around.
And I see exactly how her lessons will immediately benefit me - I'll be able to deliver a "content strategy" to my boss in the next week or two, as soon as I get past Chapter One. ...more
And I see exactly how her lessons will immediately benefit me - I'll be able to deliver a "content strategy" to my boss in the next week or two, as soon as I get past Chapter One. ...more
Great overview of content strategy for beginners - it starts with the basics and moves to pro stuff for very large organizations. It's more theoretical than practical though, or that was impression while reading it... Unless you're someone important and/or dedicated content strategist, you won't have opportunity to roll out the big guns described in this book. Thankfully, scaled down approach would be very useful for smaller websites. :)
...more
If you ask Kristina Halvorson, she'll tell you that the book is dated and not to read it. She feels that content strategy has moved on. But in talking to her, it was not clear to what. For my part, I felt the book - or at least the first 90% of it - was a good introduction to structuring the creation of a content strategy for websites.
...more
This book was written for someone in a more stable company with hierarchies and structure. I was reading it as a person trying to understand what content strategy is for the first time. Probably would've done better reading up on SEO and user interaction. There are some great websites out there with better information! Copyblogger is one of my favorites.
...more
A quick read but deserves time to process. Very concise compact chapters that deliver. I'm going to keep this around for reference. A required book for those interested in creating websites and writing for the web.
...more
I would say this book works nicely for designers or developers that need to work with copy writers to develop content. If you're a copy writer or deal with content for a living, this is probably a nice short read that may give you an idea or two on tightening up your game.
...more
If You do Social Media Strategy, You Have to Know Content Strategy
If a management consultant and a website copy writer got married, then "Content Strategy for the Web" would be their first child. It's one of those books that you'll want to read cover-to-cover to get the big picture, and then re-read, scissors in-hand (well, Evernote), to pluck out the many useful methodologies.
What makes this book so useful is that the authors know that no matter how brilliant the strategy, no matter how creativ ...more
If a management consultant and a website copy writer got married, then "Content Strategy for the Web" would be their first child. It's one of those books that you'll want to read cover-to-cover to get the big picture, and then re-read, scissors in-hand (well, Evernote), to pluck out the many useful methodologies.
What makes this book so useful is that the authors know that no matter how brilliant the strategy, no matter how creativ ...more
This book is thorough, and continues to tackle ideas where other books would end. Halvorson not only tackles what content strategy is, but goes on to define how to create and the implement content to be displayed online. At times, she includes significant detail that can feel overwhelming (see the chapter on auditing methods for existing web content), however, these are the details that significantly matter to the book, and to the reader's understanding of implementing web content. Overall, this
...more
I would give 3.5 stars. The book goes along with its main idea: it gives what you need.
If you studied and/or read marketing, about communication strategy, it will be an easy read, it becomes quite redundant/repetitive, in general: content strategy is communication strategy, just outlined in different format.
However this book provides a good work template when doing content audit, and strategizing the content development. I got some good ideas.
Main point: content has to have its purpose, and foll ...more
If you studied and/or read marketing, about communication strategy, it will be an easy read, it becomes quite redundant/repetitive, in general: content strategy is communication strategy, just outlined in different format.
However this book provides a good work template when doing content audit, and strategizing the content development. I got some good ideas.
Main point: content has to have its purpose, and foll ...more
Amazing book! I loved that it was more of a strategic look at the overall need for content strategy and how to think about it. THere were a few places tools or templates were referenced, but the way this was written you could walk up to a whiteboard and put together a strategy- or at least the first pass at it.
This book is absolutely generic and has all things that are very common in nature, It might be good for starters who absolutely have no idea on marketing, SEO or basic of content... If you are already in marketing or know SEO and want to study content as a strategy subject, this is not the right book
Highly accessible writing style (not a surprise), and each page of this book is packed with nuggets for anyone seeking to revamp the content on their websites or launch a new one. I expect to continue to return to pages for reference in the course of my career. Glad I bought this book!
I needed more real-life examples – or one big example that builds up as we work through the chapters. As someone who's coming more from the startup world and has less experience at big corporations, I was missing this.
...more
After attending CONFAB in April of this year I have been on a mission to build my library, my vocabulary and my knowledge around and about Content Strategy. This is one of several books I have read and will keep close at hand for frequent reference and inspiration.
One of the best written books on technical subject. When I was a web editor, and I read this book, I felt it was written especially for me and my situation. That is a rare experience. I recommend this to any web editor, webmaster, content writer.
Considering I read this book for work, it's surprisingly conversational and easy to read. I will be revisiting this one while I work on a few upcoming projects. My only complaint is that this second edition was published in 2012 and some of the tech references are out of date already.
...more
It's difficult to know how to rate a book on content strategy. By its very nature, it's somewhat dry but the authors try to liven it up with some humour. It gets the basics across and that's hopefully all I'll be needing going forward in my current role. We shall see.
...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| So, what are the beginners' books for content marketing? | 2 | 5 | Oct 15, 2019 12:58PM | |
| Benefits of Contentmart | 1 | 4 | May 20, 2017 05:38AM |
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“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.”
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“In my experience, the content strategist is a rare breed who's often willing and able to embrace whatever role is necessary to deliver on the promise of useful, useable content.”
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