What does your website content strategy have in common with a fruit stall?

Gill Box-Grainger was a delegate on Content Strategy for the Web

Content strategy for the web is like a fruit stall ‒ that’s the first thing I learned on this one-day course from the Publishing Training Centre. Redundant, outdated and trivial content is like bad fruit and should be replenished as it runs out. Frequently-bought items should be at the front, and the more exotic at the back. It’s all about making a profit and selling what your customers want to buy.

Put into context, content strategy for the web involves much more than a visually appealing website. You need to balance your business objectives with your user needs. If your business goals aren’t defined, you won’t sell your product; and if your users can’t find what they want, they will leave.

The course packs a lot into one day, combining theory with practical exercises. We covered the importance of researching your audience, content audits, the challenges of producing multi-platform content and governance.

Sounds complicated? It is certainly complex, but our engaging, knowledgeable tutor, Sue Davis, broke down the programme into four manageable sections, which helped our group of non-techie delegates (me included!) grasp each topic before moving on to the next.

A practical exercise cleverly prevented any risk of a ‘post-lunch slump’, helping each team use their new-found knowledge to create a paper prototype of a genuine landing page.

This course is ideal for anyone responsible for producing or managing online content, whether starting from scratch, relaunching a website or struggling with a confusing site. A fellow delegate had even travelled all the way from Rome to learn how to do just that.

So, if you want to learn how to develop a sound content strategy and integrate it effectively with your business objectives, this course is a must.

For more information and to book, visit Content Strategy for the Web (now run virtually).