Everyone in higher education wants great and effective web content, but how do we make that happen? Where do we start? What are the challenges and solutions? What does it take to “get it right”?
Meet Content was founded by Georgy Cohen and me, Rick Allen, to explore these questions and many others. Why? Because we love great content, just like you! Our goal is to enable higher education institutions to create and sustain web content that works—useful, usable and on-brand, not to mention engaging and fun! We hope that Meet Content will fuel smart discussions and provide a valuable resource for sharing and learning about content.
There’s a lot to cover: content strategy, content management, creation, web writing, style guides, communications, social media, usability, workflow, analysis, branding, measurement. Phew! We had better get started…
Big thanks to fellow higher ed content-lovers David Baker, Andrew Careaga, Jon Hussey, Tim Nekritz, J.D. Ross, Charna Westervelt, and Mallory Wood for helping jump-start the conversation. We’d love to hear from others too! What do you think? What makes for great and effective higher ed web content?
Homepage and archive photo by Lee Kilpatrick.
Congratulations on the launch, guys! And thanks for including me in the effort.
I’m looking forward to a lot of good discussion on this blog. I expect a lot of “meat” from Meet Content. ;)
Thank you again for contributing to our first post! You made us look smart.
Also, thanks for getting the inevitable “meat content” joke out of the way.
Big, giddy congratulations, you two–and even bigger thanks. In bringing together a library of relevant articles, presentations, videos, and more, you’ve created a resource that will serve more than just the higher ed community. I’m thrilled you’re doing this and excited to see what comes next!
Thanks! We really hope to make Meet Content a valuable resource. We’ll be adding to Our Library and welcome suggestions. We need to develop the video section, but in the meantime your Web 2.0 Expo interview does a good job holding it up! ;-)
Hello, Content. It’s good to meet you!
What makes great higher ed content? The video covered a LOT. Great stuff! I’ll just add that great content both meets the needs your various audiences AND ALSO your strategic business objectives. If you don’t know what both of those are, you better find out first! (OK… higher ed is not a business, blah, blah, blah. You still have business objectives.Check out that strategic plan).
Everything on the site is content, including button labels, search results, form instructions and error pages. All of it works together to define who/what you are. And it all deserves a lot more attention than many institutions give it. Kudos for a site that focuses on these issues!
Looking forward to more, guys!
Todd, thanks again for chiming in today! I hope more higher ed folks dive in soon. We need to bring the good ideas to light.
I also get dirty looks mentioning business objectives in academic settings. But, to your point, if you don’t have defined objectives and website goals that align with your users’ needs, how can you make content work? Answer: you can’t.
I look forward to chatting with you more.
I saw your tweet just as the doors on my flight were closing and couldn’t wait to get to somewhere where I could check out the blog. Congratulations on your launch: there is a lot to talk about — glad you’re taking the lead in discussions about such an important topic.
Michael, thanks for stopping by! I know content strategy is a topic you love too, so I look forward to future chats. If not on Meet Content, then at a Content Strategy New England event or at an upcoming higher ed conference.
YAAAAAYYYYY! Congratulations, you amazing people. What a tremendous gift you’re giving the CS community. Thank you! Can’t wait to see this unfold.
Kristina, thank you for the support! Georgy and I are very excited and have a lot planned. We’re both going to Confab 2011, so we’ll see you then!
Congrats on the new blog. It looks great and looking forward to lots of great discussions and insights!
Thanks, Ron! Look forward to chatting with you. Feel free to chime in with your thoughts.
It’s high time someone sent some content strategy “brain traffic” to higher ed. Glad to meet you.
Hello, Edit. Nice to meet you too. Hope to hear more from you!