Monday, September 1, 2008

Content Matrix Question Answered

I’ve received several versions of this Web Content Strategy question, so I thought everyone might be interested in my answer.
“Regarding the content matrix spreadsheet you say we need, are you suggesting that we list every individual block of content that needs to be written or deployed? Won’t that get really big after a while?”
To paraphrase Zoolander – yes, your content matrix may get really, really, ridiculously big. I’m not just suggesting that you do this, I’m saying that it is mandatory. You must capture, assign, review, and track every bit of content that needs to be created, or you will just be lost.

So capture everything. If a page just has a title and a link, capture it. How many versions of the footer do you have? Capture them all. Capture everything:
  • Help popups
  • Error messages
  • Promotional messages
  • Email templates
  • Forms
  • Downloads
  • Rollover text
  • Hover text
  • Text on applications
  • Everything!
Otherwise when that product manager comes to you and says, “hey, you know that product information I gave you two weeks ago? Well I need to make a few small changes. Is it too late,” how will you answer? If no one has started on that page yet, it may be OK. If it has already gone out for translation, then just put it on the list of post launch updates (add another tab to your content matrix for these items) and fix it then.

Stay tuned tomorrow for some content matrix help.

No comments:

Post a Comment