The best website navigation systems appear so straightforward that you don't think twice about how to use them. Like using a door handle to open a door. But often behind this simplicity is a complex information architecture. Navigation menus reflect this structure and communicate to our visitors how content is organized and prioritized. Beyond helping web visitors … [Read more...] about Navigating Business School Websites
About Rick Allen
Content Strategy Glossary of Terms
I spend a lot of time in my work cleaning up jargon on college websites, which is why it pains me when I find myself using jargony content strategy terms. Yet, like other specialty web disciplines, content strategy has a number of specific guides, tools and processes to help us get our work done. Designers, developers, UX-ers, we all have them — and we need to be able to … [Read more...] about Content Strategy Glossary of Terms
Defining Target Audiences: Who Are We Talking To, Really?
When I ask higher ed web teams who their primary audience is, inevitably the answer is "prospective students." Makes sense, right? Since higher ed websites are such an important marketing tool, most people will agree prospective student is an appropriate primary audience. Yet, when you navigate college websites, how well does content speak to this audience? And what … [Read more...] about Defining Target Audiences: Who Are We Talking To, Really?
Storytelling with On-Brand News Content
News content plays a big role in higher ed marketing and communications. It takes center stage on our website homepages and many top landing pages — not to mention our email newsletters, alumni magazines, Twitter, Facebook and other social channels. We rely on it to maintain a timely, engaging web presence. Above all, we rely on news content to help tell our story. Yet how … [Read more...] about Storytelling with On-Brand News Content
Planning Content Goals With Web Stakeholder Interviews
In an earlier post, we talked about using focus groups to better understand your web users' needs. But external web users are not the only type of users we need to understand in order to create valuable and purposeful content. To create web content that works, we must also understand our internal web content stakeholders. These are all the people planning for, creating, … [Read more...] about Planning Content Goals With Web Stakeholder Interviews