Sussex New Media |

Get your web content published faster

Fabiola Dieudonne — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 21:53:09 +0000

Most organizations have a dedicated resource – usually a Web Content Coordinator – that oversees the website’s publishing pipeline.

To do this, a workflow process is in place for employees who want to publish content on the website.

What is a content workflow?

A content workflow defines specific tasks that the publishing team must complete to satisfy a request by a client, either internal or external.

This request can be for the creation of a webpage, newsletter, social media, video, blog, etc.

There are many variations of workflow, for the purpose of this blog post, we will focus on the web publishing process for internal clients.

A content publishing workflow determines:

where/whom the request comes from;
how content is created; and
how content is reviewed and approve.

A typical content workflow includes:

content outline and first draft;
content review by the editor;
content approval by the editor and content creator; and
publishing by the web coordinator

Knowing very well the role of web content coordinator, there are tips I would like to share to clients who wish to get their content published faster on the web.

5 practices employees can exercise to get content published faster on the web

1. Provide the web coordinator complete content

When you provide content that is complete:

The web coordinator and editor will take less time to review and apply best writing and web practices to your piece.
It removes any guessing when identifying the main message and key points in your article .
It eliminates the back and forth to clarify the information and fact checking.

2. Have your content approved by management

Some organizations require that your direct supervision reviews and approved the content before it gets to the publishing team.

The content doesn’t need to be complete to have your manager’s approval. To get approval, simply email the outline of your article to your manager to help them make a decision.

Getting initial approval is one less step the web coordinator has to do, speeding up the process to have your content live.

3. Do not translate your content

If your organization has a multi-language website, do not translate the content before it gets to the editor.

The editor can make substantial changes to the original content. If the content is already translated:

it will need to be sent back to your translator;
it will incur additional translation fees; and
consume more time for the web coordinator to get the final content.

To avoid delays, wait until you receive the final content from the editor before it goes to translation.

4. Provide high quality images

We all know how crucial it is to have quality images on the website. You can read our previous blog post on selecting images.

When the web coordinator receives images that do not meet your organization’s web standards, they have to conduct an image search to find images to fit the content.

Searching for images is time consuming. Before sending your content, provide professionally taken images with proper photo credit.

5. Give proper heads-up

Content workflows have terms that requires clients to give the publishing team a certain amount of time to process and complete each request.

As the editor and web coordinator receive multiple request, they need to prioritize their work. By submitting your content within the appropriate deadlines will ensure that your content gets the thorough revisions it needs to be published. And it will also alleviate some of the stress off you colleagues.

If you need help with developing content for your digital channel, drop us a line.

How do you structure a webpage?

Fabiola Dieudonne — Wed, 17 Apr 2019 15:12:55 +0000

Each website is unique, and they are created to meet a need or to solve a problem for a given audience.

While having good content, graphics, and appealing design are importing to have, there are structural elements they must have.

There are standard structural elements that visitors look for to be able to navigate the site and complete tasks intuitively.

When building a website, ask yourself:

What are the structural elements my webpages must have?

1. Header

The header is the first element a visitor will see when they come to your site. It’s usually a bar that takes up the width of the site and it contains the site’s identity. That bar never changes and stays in the same place throughout the site.

The header must have:

a logo that link to the homepage;
site name and tag line or slogan;
main navigation menu; and
a search box that is always visible and in the same place.

2. Navigation bar

This section is found in the website’s header, but it needs to be treated as an element of its own because this is how visitors will be able to navigate your site.

When creating the menu:

use labels (e.g., Our Service) that convey the information that the user will find when they navigate to that section of the site; and
test the links to ensure that they are functional and that they send the visitor to the right location.

The navigation menu must also:

be easy to locate;
be consistent (placement and functions are the same across the website); and
the site map and navigation are intuitive.

3. Main content

This section contains the more robust and unique content that is found on the website.

This is where you add text, images and graphics, and videos.

When creating regular webpages or landing pages ensure that:

the page title is readable and is in an
tag for accessibility;
the breadcrumb navigation is visible above or below the page title;
the navigation to related content is placed at the bottom of the page where the reader can navigate to other pages;
the publication date is placed at the top of the page; and
the last updated date is displayed at the bottom of the content area.

4. Footer

The footer is the last section of the site. Like the header, the information it contains never changes and is always in the same place on the website.

The footer is used to provide easy and quick access to popular content.

The information that is found in the footer varies from websites, but they are commonly used for:

legal information
- copyright
- privacy policylegal information
popular information
- contact us link or form
- newsletter subscriptionpopular information
- social media buttons
- careers
repeated navigation menu and search box

Important SEO trends in 2019

Fabiola Dieudonne — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 17:37:30 +0000

As a digital communicator, you already know the best practices to improve traffic to your website.

There are some elements that are our digital commandments and know that we can’t create content without them:

Design for mobile
Improve user experience (UX) / design with user intent
Create quality content
Increase webpage speed

You can read our blog posts for a quick refresher.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is always changing and new trends are popping up. To stay a head of SEO trends, we have listed five trends you will need to optimize for in 2019.

Important SEO trends in 2019

1. Mobile-first indexing

Google launched the mobile-first index in 2018.

What is the mobile-first index?

Websites are now ranked based on the quality of UX on mobile devices. If your website has a mobile version, this version will be indexed, and the desktop version is indexed as per usual.

If ranking is now based on mobile UX, you now must master SEO by having a mobile friendly website to increase traffic to your pages, otherwise you will miss out.

2. Optimize for voice search

Every second, there are about 65,000 search queries entered in Google. Now that more people are using speech to look up information on their smart home and assistant devices like Siri, Google Home, and Alexa, the number of voice search has increased.

As these technologies continue to become more sophisticated, business will have to start thinking about voice search SEO.

How to optimize your website for voice search?

If you are already implementing SEO best practices, your website is already optimized for voice search.

But there are a few key elements to keep in mind:

Write your content the way a person would ask a question. You can use Answer the Public to look up how people are asking questions.
Use longer-tail keywords and conversation words together. For example, write “what are the best restaurants in Canada” instead of “best restaurants in Canada.”
Write blog post dedicated to answering questions or update your FAQ page.

3. Take advantage of Rich Snippets

Rich Snippets are the information box that display on the top of search results list when you search for information. A summary of the answer to the question asked will appear and will have a link to the webpage where the answer was found.

How do I get content featured in snippets?

Unfortunately, the rich snippet comes from Google. For your information to display in that prime real estate, your page must have good organic ranking. Content that are on the first page of a search results lists have more changes of being featured in the snippets box.

If you want to increase your changes of being features, you must choose the right keywords and create quality content that visitors can use.

Your ranking will also improve if you have structured data. This means fixed fields (e.g., author, date, etc.) from your website have been organized in a database and has a clear definition on how the data stored, retrieved, processed and acceded.

The good news is that you don’t have to be a web developer to add structured data to your site. With Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper you can now add this data yourself. This tool will provide you with the missing fields your page needs to increase your ranking in search engines and subsequently increase the probability of being featured in snippets.

4. Use of SSL Certificate

Since 2014, Google included HTTPS in their ranking algorithm and introduced it as a ranking signal.

What is HTPPS?

The Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate makes sure that the data is safe and secure between the browser and the web server. It protects users’ connections and secures their sensitive information, like banking information.

If you don’t have SSL on your website, it’s recommended that you do. Not only can it can boost your ranking in search engines and it also reassures users trust when they visit your site.

5. Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence

Blockchain was a hot topic in 2018. This technology has drastically changed how data is tracked online. This is good for consumers as it provides them more control over their data and challenges companies to think of innovative ways on how to use this data.

Experiments are presently taking place to learn how blockchain can be used on SEO. We don’t know how this will present itself, we’ll have to stay tune for the results this year.

SEO trends are always evolving, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter below for the latest SEO trends news.

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Stop adding PDFs to your website

Fabiola Dieudonne — Sat, 05 Jan 2019 19:18:29 +0000

I’m often asked to create webpages to house PDFs. I regularly advise against the practice and I try to explain why I don’t recommend using PDFs on public websites.

Endless hours are spent on formatting PDF documents that are then uploaded to a webpage. Sooner or later that PDF will need to be updated and the current version on the site will need to be replaced. So what happens to the old version downloaded by your readers?

I’m not opposed to PDFs, they are best used for internal purposes and for printing. Once PDFs are made public, there are limitations with having them on your public website.

What are the limitations of the PDF in today’s digital age?

Once PDFs are published on your site, the downloaded files can’t be retrieved, edited or updated.
In 2018, 52.2% of all worldwide online traffic was generated through mobile phones. PDFs are not designed with mobile in mind. They are hard to read on mobile devices and rich media like videos can’t be added.
PDFs provides no data on user engagement. When PDFs are downloaded there is no way of knowing if they clicked on any links, if it was shared, or post about it online.
PDFs do not ranks well in search results unlike HTML pages. Although PDFs can be indexed for search engines, they are not given the same priority as HTML pages.

Solution to stop using PDFs

There is a simple solution to stop adding PDF documents on your webpages.

Create custom landing pages for your eBooks and whitepapers.

Use all the web best practices to provide rich and engaging content:

Include images
Add call to actions
Use lazy loading to take visitors through the sections of the content
Incorporate forms that submit directly to request a copy of the PDF or for information
Include explanation videos to simplify certain information
Make the content scannable and easy to navigate

Transforming a PDF into a full HTML page provides data on user engagement. It lets you know:

how long readers stayed on pages; and
how they engaged with the content (video views, completed forms, social shares).

Creating HTML pages makes it easy to edit and update information on the page.

Old habits die hard, still include the option to download the PDF as visitors still look for that button.

Sussex can get you started on transforming your PDFs into engaging webpages. Contact us to learn how we can help.

8 best practices for writing for the web

Fabiola Dieudonne — Sun, 11 Nov 2018 23:00:13 +0000

The average time visitors will stay on a webpage is less than a minute.

When developing web content, it needs to be written in a way that sends the essence of your message quickly and efficiently. Users need to able to scan the text, get the information they want while keeping their attention to continue exploring your site.

In this blog post, I will lay out the 8 best practices for writing for the web that will help increase your web traffic and retain visitors longer.

8 best practices for writing for the web

1. Know your audience

You already know this, write with your audience in mind.

When a reader comes to your site, ensure the following questions are answered.

Orientation

Does the website meet my expectation and did your content met the keywords searched?
Is the navigation intuitive and will they be able to continue their journey on the site

Information

Is the information simple, easy to understand, and easy to find?
Can they scan the content and still get the full picture?
Did the page answer the 5 Ws (what, what, when, why, where)?
How can I ensure that the page appears on the first page of a Google search?

Action

What actions should your reader be able to complete when they come to your site?
Was the reader able to complete the task?
Did they have a need and what is met?

2. Make your page scannable

Readers will leave your site within seconds if they can’t find the information that they are searching for. Incorporate these elements on your page to make the page scannable.

Keep your page title short

Your page title shouldn’t contain more than 7 words. A title entices and informs about the content on a page. Plus, short titles are easier to remember and to share, keep it brief.

Use subheadings

Subheadings break the page and offer general context. This helps readers navigate through the content, especially if the page is long.

Use bulleted lists

Lists are a great way for readers to scan through content.

When including a list, remember to:

add a title or a short description to introduce the list;
if it’s a complete sentence, use proper
punctuation;
the title or introduction can be bold; and
avoid using long sentences.

Keep paragraphs short and use white space

A page’s layout will determine how well readers can go through the text without feeling frustrated. Using white space and keeping paragraphs short will eliminate this frustration.

When drafting your content:

ensure that your sentences contain a maximum of 24 words;
avoid the use of too many adjectives;
avoid the use of jargon and complex words;
split your sentence in two if it’s too long; and
never underline text throughout.

3. Length of your page

The length of pages comes to knowing your audience, how much information they want, and the average time spent on a page. These are some of the indicators that will help create content accordingly.

If you are still building your audience and are unsure of how long the content should be, keep it short and useful so visitors can read the entirety of the page.

Include important information at the top of the page
Place your call to action at the end of the page
White space allows readers to read and retrace the information on the page quickly
Avoid ad banners, as reader complete ignore theses
Use vibrant images

4. Think mobile first / responsive design

When setting up your site and content, the design has to contain flexible layouts and grids in order for users to have the same experience across all devices.

Continuously test your pages to determine if they render well and if they are responsive on all platforms. You can use

A great tool to view how your page renders on different devices is Am I responsive?

5. Good use of images

Your website is one of the ways your audience will interact with you. This is your chance to make a good impression.

The use and the quality of images are crucial, incorporate images whenever possible. Use high resolution and keep the image size as small as possible so they can load quickly.

6. Avoid jargon and unnecessary words

Know your audience, write content that they can understand, and get to the point.

Tools such as Web FX and Hemingway Editor can help:

you write in simpler terms;
analyze the level of difficulty of your text; and
provide feedback on the readability of your content based on the audiences’ demographic.

If your content is in French, Scolarius is a good tool as well.

7. Load time of your page

Another factor to consider when creating your content is load time. Users will immediately leave your site if it takes too long to load.

Load time might be affected for many reasons, for example the location of your server, large image and video files, too many plug-ins, etc.

Continuously check the speed of your website to determine what elements you can improve to ensure your users are getting to content swiftly.

You can test the speed of your page by using Google’s PageSpeed Insight test.

8. Incorporate call to actions

When visitors come to your site, what task do you want them to complete. Ensure to have clear and short call to actions for a better user experience.

Avoid embedding call to action (CTA) links within a text. CTAs perform better placed at the end of the page where the user is able to get the entirety of the content before proceeding.

These are the best 8 tips you will need to help you write for the web. Following these best practices when developing your content will help improve and retain your visitors’ attention.

Sussex New Media |

Get your web content published faster

What is a content workflow?

5 practices employees can exercise to get content published faster on the web

1. Provide the web coordinator complete content

2. Have your content approved by management

3. Do not translate your content

4. Provide high quality images

5. Give proper heads-up

How do you structure a webpage?

What are the structural elements my webpages must have?

1. Header

2. Navigation bar

3. Main content

tag for accessibility;

4. Footer

Important SEO trends in 2019

Important SEO trends in 2019

1. Mobile-first indexing

What is the mobile-first index?

2. Optimize for voice search

How to optimize your website for voice search?

3. Take advantage of Rich Snippets

How do I get content featured in snippets?

4. Use of SSL Certificate

What is HTPPS?

5. Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence

Stop adding PDFs to your website

What are the limitations of the PDF in today’s digital age?

Solution to stop using PDFs

8 best practices for writing for the web

8 best practices for writing for the web

1. Know your audience

2. Make your page scannable

3. Length of your page

4. Think mobile first / responsive design

5. Good use of images

6. Avoid jargon and unnecessary words

7. Load time of your page

8. Incorporate call to actions