Content Modeling Teresa Lane @teresaalane Director, Digital Content Strategy Washington University in St. Louis

What I mean by “content modeling” Not a set-in-stone term What I’m talking about today: Representing content types and the pieces that comprise them Relationships between content pieces Can also use this technique to develop/communicate a site model WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

Content Design + Engineering Clear, relevant Engineering structures WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

Content comes in many sizes. Informational “stuff” Big text pieces Articles/Blog Posts Mission Statement Descriptions Specialized, often smaller, pieces Groups Programs Products People information Bios Contact Role descriptions Forms Events and calendars Recipes Music/artist information WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

Avoiding assumptions with specificity You know about what I mean by each sort of content on that list Vague Assumptions Perspectives When we’re conscious of specifics, our content’s more effective WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

So let’s make a model! Dismantle the big blob. Pull apart the pieces. Identify purpose and use for each. Put the pieces back together. WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

1. Dismantle the big blob. Identify the website’s overall goal. What are the discrete messages that we need to communicate via content? Of those, what are our “showcase” messages? Of those, how do they group together? These questions will get us at what our top-level (or landing) pages will be. What are the actions we need to ask of our visitors? How do we guide users to these actions and/or allow them to find the results by demand? WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

2. Pull apart page/post pieces. What are the clearly individual pieces? Title Text sections Images Image captions Featured content Author WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

Simplest example: the blog One content type: post Parts of posts compose everything: Single post Title Date Author Content Image Home page, search results, most popular/recent widgets Excerpt WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

A straightforward example: events Typical content model Title Date Time Location Address Map Link to map and/or directions Description Call to action: register, contact, etc. WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

3. Identify purpose and use for each piece. What might we want to treat differently with visual styling? Subtitle Call to action What do we need to use functionally? For sorting or filtering What do we need to reuse in other places? WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

Defining each piece What’s its format? What’s its size/length? Is it required? What’s its structure? e.g., field vs. tag Example, sort by date: Standardize format mm/dd/yyyy 10 characters Required Field WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

Another type with obvious pieces: recipes As seen in Google search results: Page title Rich snippet Keyword- and chocolate-rich meta description WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

4. Put the pieces back together. Prioritize Describe connections Customize details WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

More complex content model sample WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

Why do we need models? Designers Developers Design according to sizes, relationships, uses of content Developers Custom post types Field options Sorting/filtering mechanisms Partners in content creation Uniform content structure Needed information Visualize what their content will “look like” when it’s on the site WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

But to be selfish… Content strategist / Information Architect / Content Creator Breaking out pieces helps us understand our content better Helps us do a better job of structuring our pages and creating a strong message architecture Get functionality out of our content Content guides design so that styles and containers suit the content we’ll be entering, editing, managing WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

What we get out of a content model Layout Functionality Flexibility Structure Reusability Future-proofing WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

Resources http://alistapart.com/article/content-modelling-a-master-skill https://gathercontent.com/blog/from-blobs-to-chunks-a-real-life- example http://alistapart.com/column/wysiwtf http://responsivewebdesign.com/toast/contentmodel/ http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/content-everywhere/ WordCamp St. Louis 2016 @teresaalane #WCSTL

Teresa Lane @teresaalane teresa.lane@wustl.edu Thank you! Teresa Lane @teresaalane teresa.lane@wustl.edu