Effective content architecture encompass three strategies:
Developing
quality content
Designing
for the end user
Managing
to improve productivity
Content is communication. If we develop, design, and manage it correctly, users (the masses) can benefit greatly. This is accomplished by focusing on creating, organizing, structuring, and labeling content in an effective and sustainable way. We do this with these main goals in mind:
According to a Psychology Today article, 82% of the population has trouble. So, it's no surprise that most people have trouble communicating. This “trouble” ultimately translates to poorly written and ineffective content.
Three important questions to always consider when developing quality content:
Bad content does not deliver a positive user experience. If the reader cannot see him or herself in the content, nothing may happen. However, effectively written and structured content creates good (even great) user experiences. Good content is reader-focused and starts with your audience in mind.
To create the best possible user experience, Contentiful integrates these aspects:
A large part of design is organization, including grouping and sorting. Eric Reiss, an expert in information architecture, advises:
These guidelines make all sorts of information easy to find and understand. Reiss uses a grocery store as an example. In the produce aisle, tomatoes aren’t mixed with zucchini; they are easy to find in separate bins.
The same is true for organizing content.
Design also focuses on CTAs. To add interest and make information easier to understand and use, pay attention to text arrangement, tables, charts, infographics, and other elements and principles of design.
Quality content and smart design help businesses create and share information with clients, employees, and other relevant parties… for the moment. Sadly, some companies commit to these first steps only to find themselves back where they started after a year or two. Why is that?
Without proper management, content that starts out on the right foot quickly becomes stale. Companies create and design new content without knowing how efficient it is, without a bird’s-eye-view of operations to steer the pruning and direction of new content.
Management becomes a job of putting out fires instead of forging ahead and meeting goals. This is another time-waster.
Contentiful understands that content management is the key to maintaining and improving businesses’ productivity.
Typical content management goals include:
The analysis piece of content management can be tied to revenue.
User interface engineer Jared Spool recounts increasing revenue for an online retailer simply by eliminating a button.
He found that site users—first timers and repeat customers—had trouble with the “Register” button they encountered before getting to their shopping cart. He replaced “Register” with “Continue” and a note that they could register later if they wanted to.
A common struggle is getting employees to change the way they do things. There’s a learning curve with every change. Employees often find new methods take more time at first. At that point, it is natural to fall back on old, comfortable ways of doing things. This, of course, wastes money.