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Content
Critical

Gaining competitive advantage through high-quality web content
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Content Critical
"The term "bible" is now highly
over-used in reference to tech books – but if it weren't, that's how I would
categorize Content Critical."
Rowan Wilson, Knowledge Management Review
"Content Critical is the best non-technical book on the subject of web content that I
have come across to date … It may well become the standard
text."
Andy Harrison, Content Management Focus magazine
Content Critical:
Table of contents
Chapter 1: Everything you know
about publishing is wrong
Chapter 2: The benefits and costs of content
Chapter 3: The reader is king
Chapter 4: The need for content standards
Chapter 5: Creating content
Chapter 6: Editing content
Chapter 7: The four pillars of information architecture
Chapter 8: Navigation critical
Chapter 9: Content layout and design
Chapter 10: Special topics in web publishing
Chapter 11: The publishing team
Chapter 12: Five stage publishing strategy approach
Chapter 1:
Everything you know about publishing is wrong
- The secret of web success
- It’s an information overloaded world
- Traditional publishing sucks
- The alternative sucks 30,000 times more
- Organizations are awful at publishing content
- Everything you know about the Web is wrong
- Just what is publishing?
- Time to publish
- The organization as university
- Know your reader
Chapter 2: The benefits and
costs of content
- The rise and rise of content
- The benefits of content
Content benefits commerce
Content benefits decision making
Content benefits staff loyalty and organizational cohesion
Content benefits innovation and learning
- The cost of content
Content is costly to create, edit and publish
Content is difficult to create, edit and publish
Content processes are difficult to automate
Content is difficult to organize
Content is difficult to measure
- Toward a content cost-benefit model
Modeling content benefits
Modeling content costs
Search cost
Time-to-publish cost
Promotion cost
Readership cost
- Conclusion
Chapter 3: The reader is king
- If the customer is king …
- Age of the information literate
- Skills of the information literate
- Seven things readers want from your website
1. Readers want to be able to find things
2. Readers want your advice
3. Readers want up-to-date, quality content
4. Readers want relevant and straightforward content
5. Readers want to do things
6. Readers want to interact
7. Readers want privacy
- Conclusion
Chapter 4: The need for
content standards
- The Internet: a triumph for standards
- The Internet today is a mess
- The third phase of the Internet
- Standards empower
- Classification is key
- Standards allow more people to publish
- One website, or many?
- Conclusion
Chapter 5: Creating content
- Identifying your readers
How many types of reader?
Don’t try to cater to all
Get everyone on board
Checklist: identify the reader 56
- Identifying your content
What have you got?
What language?
Scoping your website
Pick a publication schedule
Content forms and types
Cost-benefit analysis
Checklist: identifying content
- Creating content: critical factors
Style and readability guidelines
Word and phrase glossary
Content layout
Creating content collaboratively
Motivation and reward
Copyright and legal issues
Checklist: creating and adapting content
- Commissioning content
Calendar of events
Acquiring content
Checklist: linking to third-party websites
- Reader-created content
The importance of the moderator
Email mailing lists
Checklist: recommendations for email mailing lists
Discussion boards/newsgroups
Online chat
- Conclusion
Chapter 6: Editing content
- Why quality editing is essential
- Contributing content
- How the contribution process works
- Editing content
- The three key editing functions
Managing editor function
Editor function
Copyeditor function
- Reviewing content
- Correcting content
- Conclusion
Chapter
7: The four pillars of information architecture
- The evolution of information architecture
- Metadata and classification: a website’s foundation
- Metadata: the content about content
General guidelines for metadata
Document templates
- Classification: expressing strategy in words
Guidelines for better classification
Seven steps in creating a classification system
- Search: what most people do
How web search works
Basic search
Advanced search
Displaying search results
- Conclusion
Chapter 8: Navigation critical
- Ten principles of navigation design
1) Design for the reader
2) Provide a variety of navigation options
3) Let readers know where they are
4) Let readers know where they’ve been
5) Let readers know where they are going
6) Provide context
7) Be consistent
8) Follow web convention
9) Don’t surprise or mislead the reader
10) Provide the reader support and feedback
- Navigation design checklist
- 13 navigation options
1. Classification path navigation
2. Core navigation
3. Document navigation
4. Drop-down navigation
5. Ecommerce/shopping cart navigation
6. Feature navigation
7. Global navigation
8. Homepage navigation
9. Language and geographic navigation
10. Personalized navigation
11. Progress chart navigation
12. Related navigation
13. URL navigation
- Conclusion
Chapter 9: Content
layout and design
- General content layout conventions
- Heading and summaries
- Laying out documents
- Laying out forms
- Laying out email publications
- Graphic web design
- General design conventions
- Mastheads: the importance of slim design
- Footers: don’t forget essential information
- Accessibility
- Conclusion
Chapter 10:
Special topics in web publishing
- Subscription-based publishing
Managing passwords
- Reader interaction and feedback
- Promoting content
Use your homepage
Get links
Get registered (at your friendly search engine)
Other promotion devices
- Measuring publication performance
- Conclusion
Chapter 11: The
publishing team
- Publishing team: roles and organization
- Team members
Publisher
Managing editor
Editor
Copyeditor
Author/writer
Contributor
Moderator
Information architect
HTML coder
Systems administrator/junior programmer
Graphic designer
Usability expert
Marketing executive
- Comprehensive publisher organization chart
- Training
- Conclusion
Chapter 12: The five-stage publishing strategy approach
- People are the key asset
- Publishing strategy pitfalls
- The five-stage publishing strategy approach
- Stage 1. Situation analysis
- Stage 2. Publication scope definition
Define the reader and content
Design the create processes
Design the editing processes
Design the publication approach
The publication scope is the publishing strategy
- Stage 3. Design the information
architecture
Design metadata, navigation and search
Design general architecture elements
Develop layout and design approach
- Stage 4. Build the publishing team
Define publishing workflows
Build the publishing team
- Stage 5. Publishing technology design
- Conclusion
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Content Critical is recommended reading at the following
universities
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Augustana College, United States
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Drury University, United States
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Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland
- Indiana University, United States
- Monash University, Australia
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University of Applied Sciences, Germany
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University of Regina, Canada
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University of Teesside, UK
"The term "bible" is now highly over-used in
reference to tech books – but if it weren't, that's how I would categorize Content
Critical."
Rowan Wilson, Knowledge Management Review
"Content Critical is the best non-technical
book on the subject of web content that I have come across to date … For those interested
in the ‘change management’ dimension of content and knowledge management, Content Critical
may well become the standard text."
Andy Harrison, Content Management Focus magazine
"Content Critical is highly recommended. It belongs in every
design library. It should be on the reading list of every course in Web design. Any Web
designer who plans to be in business five years from now should read this book."
Ken Friedman, Design Research News
"Content Critical is amply provided with reality checks,
examples, and practical ideas and suggestions … The authors have succeeded in writing a
book that will appeal to both beginners and experts."
Geert Jan Kraan, Net Professional magazine, Holland
"Content Critical offers a multitude of useful tips, tactics and
strategies for creating and managing your website … makes the subject as easily
understandable as it is disorganized in reality."
Robin Sherman, American Society of Business Publication Editors
"Content Critical is an excellent book for academics and
practitioners alike … It should be read by anyone involved in Website content management, of
course, but it should also be required reading for those with responsibilities including
internal or external communication (and what academic or executive does not?)"
Colin Jevons, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Australia
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