Content Strategy for the Web

If you're like most organizations, your content problems seem insurmountable. Unanswered questions keep you up at night: How much content do you have? Where does it live? What does it say? Who owns it? Is it helping your business and satisfying your users? Maybe you've tried a site redesign, a new CMS, and host of other extensive (and expensive!) "improvements." But, the hard truth is that without consistent, compelling content, even the most ambitious web, social, and mobile initiatives will fail. Dealing with content is hard! It's complicated, time-consuming, and often overwhelming. So where do you start? Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach are here to help. At the helm of Brain Traffic, the world's leading content strategy consultancy, they're coaching businesses on how to solve even the most complex content problems. In this friendly, approachable guide, the authors: Explain the fundamentals of content strategy in plain language Walk through the research and analysis you'll need to conduct to develop a detailed strategy Teach you to make smarter, achievable decisions about what content to create and how Reveal easy-to-use tools to plan for, create, deliver, and govern online content over time Give solid, practical advice on staffing and resource allocation for content-related roles and responsibilities Uncover why so many online projects implode in the content development phase...and how to avoid the associated, unnecessary costs and delays Provide case studies of successfully executed content strategies on websites and other online platforms When it was first published in 2009, Content Strategy for the Web was an instant classic. It was the catalyst for the global content strategy conversation, helping organizations understand and implement content strategy as part of their larger business strategies. Much more than a simple introduction, this second edition builds upon those foundational ideas and gives you what you need to transform your content into a valuable business asset.

Foreword: The Rapid Rise of Content Strategy at Facebook and Beyond
Before We Begin

REALITY
1 NOW: Hit the ground running.
2 PROBLEM: Why does your content (still) suck?
3 SOLUTION: Content strategy to the rescue.

DISCOVERY
4 ALIGNMENT: Down with silos, up with people.
5 AUDIT: Take a close-up look at your current content.
6 ANALYSIS Your content lives in a complicated world.

STRATEGY
7 CORE: Core strategy: the center of it all.
8 CONTENT: Substance and structure: the stuff they come for.
9 PEOPLE Worldflow and governance: the path to victory.

SUCCESS
10 PERSUASION: Making the case for content strategy.
11 ADVOCACY: Get out there and do something.
12 HERO: Save the content, save the world.

Content strategy reading list
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
About Brain Traffic
Index