Articles
The cost of disorganized content
How do you track how much time someone spends looking for a file? Or the loss of potential customers because of dissatisfaction? How can you quantify the cost of poor content before it becomes an urgent situation? This article reviews some ways to realize the cost of poor content management
From asset to albatross: What to do when your content is the problem
This article walks through how content quietly goes wrong, why the usual fixes don't stick, and what a realistic first step for improvement looks like.
Why your intranet search is broken: A survey of research
Most intranet search problems are structure problems. Before you sign a contract on a new application to improve your intranet’s search, it's important to understand why search engines fail when built on a foundation of disorganized content. A survey of research from the last 15 years shows the problem isn’t going away.
Is your website redesign about to fail? 5 warning signs
You invested a lot of time and effort into a website redesign, finally launched it, and you’re still getting complaints. Search engines aren’t finding your site and site visits have dropped off. Users who do find your site complain that they can’t find information or that the information is incorrect. The site looks good, but the calls to the support team haven’t gone down. This article shows you how to recognize you’re going in the wrong direction with the content on your site and address them before you go further.
What a content strategist does (and why you need one)
You know your website or intranet isn’t working the way it should. Users complain that they can’t find information, that content is out of date or doesn’t answer their questions, that search doesn’t work (or more precisely, that it sucks!). You know what’s wrong, but you don’t know who fixes it or how to fix it. There are a few different kinds of content strategists and this article will cover those different kinds. At the end of this article, you’ll know what a content strategist does, what kind you need, and what their work includes.
Why search doesn’t work on intranets
I’ve seen a lot of organizations buy a new platform to solve the search problem. Even if you’ve changed intranet platforms in the past, the complaint eventually resurfaces. The problem occurs because of a lack of organization standards, not because of software. This post explains why things on intranets become unfindable, the costs to your organization, and what an information structure fix looks like.
Content structure needs to be part of your content strategy
When organizations think about content strategy, a major focus is on plain language, editorial tone, messaging consistency, or channel planning. These are critical elements to make the content strategy work. We can’t miss out on the other critical element that is frequently underdeveloped or overlooked entirely: content structure.
Content and content structure readiness checklist for generative AI
This checklist will help you assess your user research, content structure, content writing as well as ensure you have the proper content governance, genAI legal and regulatory compliance, and accessibility and inclusion standards.