My Digital Insight

Nowadays, when people want to learn something, they are more likely to search the topic on the search engine and find the related information on the websites.  Normally, users who read content online are less patient and diligent. They usually like to scan the page, skip some long paragraphs and grab the keywords. It is very important to make content more user-friendly.  I found a short and interesting article from  Entrepreneur   which is about  what you could do when your spouse has the conflict with your new business . Now, I am going to use this example to do a brief content evaluation and give you some useful tips on how to make your content more scannable. Tip One: Name an interesting heading to motivate users to read The heading “What to do When Your Spouse Does Not Want You to Open a Business” looks like a sentence. “What to” or “How to” are very popular heading style across the website. It motivates users to find out the solution. ...

Summary: After we create the content, we need to maintain current content regularly.  We want to make sure every piece of content is up to date, accuracy and useful for our users. In addition,  we always want our content are consistent across all the channels. Key Study Notes from the Course: Maintaining Your Living Content: Break up section of your website and concentrate on them Delegate a section to one person or focus on that section for a few week Make sure all the content is up to date Creating a Content Strategy: Content Strategy focuses on: what new content will be adding and updating in following months or next year influencing the direction of the website helping users and SEO Keeping the website relevant Content Governance: It means who owns the content and who has the responsibility and the authority over pieces of content. You need to make sure that your content meets the required level of quality. Your content should be: ...

Summary: In order to write an effective content, we need to know some key elements in the content includes keywords, headings, links, lists, visual, forms and messages.  We don’t necessary to put all these elements in every content, but they are very helpful to improve your content structure, to improve users scannability, and to help SEO ranking. Before we start writing a content,   we need to create a plan  by defining the page topic, purposes of the content, users’needs, keywords, heading and image. In addition, we also want to show a good direction to tell users where they should go next. After we finish the content, we will need to review and edit the content.  We could ask someone to review it and check typos. Or, we could ask a subject matter expert to check accuracy. Moreover, we need to make sure the tone and voice of our content match the brand style. Key Study Notes from the Course: Keywords: Why are keywords important? help user ...

Summary: There are eight characteristics of good content include structure, relevant, useful, accurate, credible, findable, scannable, and simple. When we are developing content, we don’t only focus on those eight characteristics, but also focus on writing in an interesting way to make users want to read. Moreover, the voice of the content is also a key consideration when you write the content. You need to write more personal and to choose more active verbs. The tone of the voice should be consistent across all the channels. Key Study Notes from the Course: Characteristics of Good Content: Structure When you structure content on a page, you need to consider how people are going to read it.You can use big heading, bullet points, short paragraphs, and etc. Relevant & Useful You need to make sure to meet the needs and goals of both users and business. You could look at competitors’websites to learn what they are doing. Or, you could do some research. Tips to ...

Summary: The key difference between writing for the web and writing for the print is people’s reading behavior.  People don’t read on the web page. They SCAN it.  Thus, when we write for the web, we need to make sure our content are readable and easy for users to understand. In addition, no matter what we write, we always need to balance users needs and business needs. Key Study Notes from the Course: Six Elements of Designing a Good Website: Know your user and business needs Information architecture : navigation structure Interaction design :create a wireframe Visual design :color or typography, gives an aesthetic appeal Brand : communicate the personality of the website Content : content is king. The information that you want users to learn. The Difference Between Web and Print Content: They are completely different mediums and different physical things. Moreover, the way people read them is also different. Print: people read it from front to bac...