You can't convert them all into accessible PDFs. That could take years! And it's not a good use of your resources.
You could put your head in the sand and pretend the problem does not exist.
But that's not what a content hero, who creates positive user experiences and cares about accessibility, would do.
A content hero would confront the monster and break the problem down into manageable pieces.
]]>PDF is a deceptively easy way to publish online. Maybe that's why, in the past, government agencies published far too many PDFs. Most of those old PDFs were badly made and are inaccessible. That's because old software could not create accessible PDFs. That has changed!
Nowadays most government websites must comply with accessibility laws, making official information including PDFs easily available to everyone, regardless of their abilities. PDF/Universal Accessibility (PDF/UA, formerly ISO Standard 14289) sets out document accessibility requirements.
People with disabilities may need special hardware and software — assistive technologies — to access the information in a PDF. Screenreaders, text-to-braille readers, screen magnifiers and keyboard commands cannot work unless PDFs are methodically constructed using an accessible document template. These tools simply cannot detect and logically interpret the contents of inaccessible PDFs. These tools may even 'read' old PDFs as having no contents or as completely empty.
Your government may approve the use of PDF, when certain things are more important than accessibility, for example when legal or security reasons must prevail. But use of PDFs, without an HTML alternative, should be the exception, not the rule for public information.
So, you understand the obligation to make all your shiny new PDFs accessible. And of course, you'll make it your mission to make beautiful, accessible PDFs, when PDF format is appropriate.
You can't convert them all into accessible PDFs. That could take years! And it's not a good use of your resources.
You could put your head in the sand and pretend the problem does not exist.
But that's not what a content hero, who creates positive user experiences and cares about accessibility, would do.
A content hero would confront the monster and break the problem down into manageable pieces.
It will feel good to confront the monster.
How many PDFs do you have on your website?
Now let's look at your visitor analytics and see which PDFs have actually been used and downloaded in the last 24 months.
Wow, did the monster start to shrink? I bet it did.
Now talk to the people who own your PDFs. Share the usage statistics with them and find out whether their PDFs are still needed online.
Nobody needs them. Nobody reads them. Analytics show that certain PDFs have not been downloaded for years — or ever.
Take clear action: Remove them from your website and archive them.
I wonder if anyone will miss them.
In my experience, the answer is no. Not even the PDF owner tends to notice.
These PDFs do not need to be available online, so you can remove them from the website and archive them elsewhere.
But first, patch them!
Add Properties and fix their file names.
If PDFs are named mysteriously, they are very difficult to find.
Rename those PDF files with a clear, descriptive name that makes sense to anyone — not just to a codebreaker or the original author. Then archive them.
Now you have probably dealt with 80% of your legacy PDFs.
Lovely. The monster is beginning to look more like a mouse.
High-priority PDFs must remain in PDF format online and must be accessible.
But wait!
Ask yourself: is PDF really the best format for this content?
Can the content be turned into one or more web pages? Usually, an HTML web page is more accessible than any PDF — even the best!
And it is generally much easier to create and maintain a series of accessible web pages.
Okay, so now you have a manageable number of high priority PDFs that must remain online.
Problem is they are not accessible — yet you are expected to make them accessible, sometimes without changing any part of their substance.
Maybe they were signed off by a committee. Maybe they are legal documents, or policy statements, or papers presented at a conference. For whatever reason, you may not change the content.
Instead, upgrade these high-priority PDFs by doing whatever is permissible and feasible.
For each high priority PDF, decide if you have time for:
Ah good, you really have tamed your monstrous PDF problem.
In our course for content creators and editors, on how to make accessible PDFs, we show you the steps for:
WCAG and PDF accessibility course curriculum (30% off in March 2024)
]]>
Accessible content is content that is accessible to anyone, regardless of their abilities.
Many people with disabilities have to use special computers, browsers, software, hardware and techniques to access and use digital content. If you produce web pages, social media content, docs, PDFs, audio, or video for citizens, your content must work for all these scenarios.
]]>Accessible content is content that is accessible to anyone, regardless of their abilities.
In the digital age, accessible content is simply good customer service.
We all know the hair-pulling frustration of a terrible online experience.
That frustration is magnified for people with a disability.
No doubt someone close to you has struggled to access and achieve something online because of a disability of one kind or another.
Perhaps it's your grandparent, your parent, your colleague, your child. Perhaps it's you.
Many people with disabilities have to use special computers, browsers, software, hardware, and techniques to access and use digital content. Your content must work for all these scenarios.
Let's be clear. We are not talking about a small audience.
The World Health Organization estimates that 16% of the population experiences a disability, including low vision, blindness, hearing loss, deafness, limited movement, dyslexia and other learning challenges, photosensitivity, colour blindness, and neurological disorders.
Sixteen percent is over 1000 million people.
This audience is colossal if you factor in that disabilities can be temporary too, for example, as a result of injury, migraines, concussion, medical procedures, or middle ear infections.
With an aging population, the audience is growing exponentially. So too is the volume of inaccessible content.
Making information accessible to people with disabilities is not just an act of kindness.
Equal access to content is a human right that is recognized in law by many countries — most likely yours.
The cost of non-compliance can be high.
According to Forbes, US lawsuits against website owners, who have allegedly breached the Americans with Disabilities Act, are on the rise. Over 4000 lawsuits were filed in 2023 alone — double the number from 2018.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG v2.2) is the standard used by governments to check whether their websites, documents, and video files comply with laws about accessibility, equal opportunities, and human rights.
All local or national government writers and content creators need to know how to produce WCAG-compliant content.
Wherever you are in the world, if you are a public servant writing content for citizens you have a responsibility to write and create accessible content.
This is you if you produce digital content, documents, audio, video, or forms that are likely to enter the public domain.
This concerns you even if the words 'content writer' or 'content creator' are not in your job description, but you produce public information at work.
This could be you if you work in:
This concerns you if you manage people who produce content for citizens.
This concerns you if you broadcast content at live or online events for citizens. Yes, you may not have thought about this scenario.
This concerns you if you care about people, customer service, human rights, and the quality of your work.
If you work outside government, you'll want these vital skills to reach, engage, and serve this significant audience.
When you play your part in creating content that is easy to use, you make life easier for more people. You can make people happy. You are a true content hero.
Do you see yourself as a content creator in this group now? Are you inspired to learn more?
If you already know how to create accessible content to the latest WCAG standards (v2.2) — fantastic — you are a content hero leading the way.
If you need to upskill or refresh your skills, don't worry. Our courses show you what to do in 5-10 hours.
As a bonus, understanding the challenges and specific access needs of people with disabilities makes you a more mindful and empathetic writer — a better-rounded writer who is match-fit for the digital age.
If you have studied with us before, then we are giving you a bonus of 20% off — that's half price!
To qualify, simply add the Contented course you completed and the year of study to your list of LinkedIn qualifications, and email sales[at]contented.com to get your discount code.
Special offer ends 31 March 2024 11.59pm GMT.
]]>The answer depends on the sentence.
In this blog, I explain why this grammatical point trips so many people up, and I provide an easy trick for using the right word.
]]>The answer depends on the sentence.
The I/Me trap is one of the most common grammar mistakes in English.
Here is an easy trick for using the right word.
Expand the sentence so that you repeat the words around each people-word. Then the correct pronoun becomes obvious.
Sometimes you just repeat the starter, as follows.
The guard winked at Christopher Robin and [the guard winked at] I.
WRONG, so I is wrong in the short version too.
The guard winked at Christopher Robin and [the guard winked at] me.
CORRECT, so me is correct in the short version too.
When the people-pair starts the sentence, you just expand the sentence a different way:
Christopher Robin [went to Buckingham Palace] and I went to Buckingham Palace.
CORRECT, so I is correct in the short version too.
Christopher Robin [went to Buckingham Palace] and me went to Buckingham Palace.
WRONG, so me is wrong in the short version too.
Why does this grammatical point trip so many people up?
Not because it's difficult but because of the psychology. We feel strongly about the words me and us.
We are the centre of our personal world, but we don't want to seem self-centred.
I think that's why a phrase like My friend and I sets off alarm bells and makes us trip over the grammar.
The Contented Certificate in Business Writing gives you clever ways to dodge common grammar traps.
This Certificate includes the Painless Grammar course. This popular 1-hour course helps you spot and fix the grammatical errors you make.
In 1924 A.A. Milne wrote this beloved poem, Buckingham Palace, after his son, Christopher Robin, watched the changing guard ceremony at the time of King George V.
]]>You would be outraged, right?
Well this scenario is comparable to what it’s like for so many people trying to access and make sense of online content.
You just don’t see them going through their pain.
In a modern, inclusive society, we have come to expect entrance ramps (or a viable alternative) enabling access to public buildings.
Now we must expect the same when it comes to public information.
Creating accessible content is equivalent to adding ramps, disability toilets and good signage to physical buildings to improve access for all.
The consequences of inaccessible content can be equally far-reaching, including loss of income, entitlements, resources, wellbeing, confidence, self-esteem, connection with society, wider impacts on health, and more.
Just last week my family encountered two personal scenarios.
First, my dyslexic teenager couldn’t complete his online history assessment, because the assessment was set out in very wide tables and designed for print format.
It was impossible for anyone to make sense of the whole assessment without a lot of horizontal scrolling back and forth. It’s hard enough for anyone to absorb content this way, but it really disadvantages someone with a dyslexic brain under exam pressure.
Secondly, my elderly, blind father-in-law wanted to learn about stair-lifts. He wanted to assess whether a stair-lift could work with his staircase and whether he was entitled to public funding. With considerable trial and error, he found the best website, but he was not able to navigate it. After much frustration, he rang us for help.
On the surface, both these scenarios may seem insignificant. But for my son and father-in-law this kind of user experience is common and compounding. These experiences both disempower and disenfranchise on a daily basis.
I doubt the people who published these web pages intended any negative consequences. It was predictable that their respective target audiences — kids and elderly people — would have high accessibility needs. Had the authors known how to, they would have undoubtedly fixed the accessibility problems.
The bottom line is inaccessible content is discriminatory.
If you write content as part of your office job, for instance, you may be unaware and quite shocked to learn that your content can very easily cause discrimination.
You may not appreciate how the quality and presentation of your content can directly impact the wellbeing, performance and rights of others.
Inaccessible content breaches the intent of human rights legislation, which promotes equitable access for all peoples, regardless of age, ability, gender, employment status, race, national origin, gender identity, belief.
How to make information accessible to all people, irrespective of age, ability, location, language and resources, is also the purpose of international accessibility standards or the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), adopted by many nations in principle, aim to protect the fundamental human right to access information when you need it, especially information intended to help all citizens and consumers go about public life.
With a little know-how, writers and content publishers, like you, can help create a fairer, more inclusive society.
Disability statistics sit around 20-25% of the population, depending on where you are in the world. That puts the figure at close to 2 billion people. So, we’re not talking about a small section of society!
These statistics don’t really tell the full story.
Barriers to information have much wider causes than disability. Other barriers, for example, include age, language, resources and location.
There are all sorts of accessibility criteria to consider when producing content for the public domain. Most people give these criteria little thought before hitting publish or send.
Additionally, you cannot assume online distribution alone will be sufficient to reach everyone who needs your content.
Ask yourself does your content cater for, and can it be accessed and understood by people:
Understanding your audience is key. But if your audience is the general public, then as a writer or content creator, you will need to cater for very diverse needs and circumstances.
Learning how to apply accessibility principles is an important skill in the modern writers' toolkit.
Accessibility affects the words you choose, and the design and layout of your content.
In 5-10 hours, you can learn these essential skills that make a big difference to your information serving and empowering people. It can change lives.
Much like modern architects, professional content writers and creators with a public audience have a duty to achieve accessibility. Do you agree?
]]>While small changes to protect vulnerable groups are taking place within countries, the problem is global and it's getting bigger and more complex.
What we can learn from the Christchurch Call is meaningful change would require true collaboration and partnership between states and private sector.
]]>While changes are taking place to protect some vulnerable groups within countries, the problem is global and it's getting bigger and more complex.
People who produce and publish content can wield quite a lot of power. They do more than reflect societies. With the power of the internet, they can shape societies.
Since the proliferation of publishing platforms, and the ease and speed of self-publishing, we have become acutely aware of how publishing power can influence our world for better or worse.
Add the rise of artificial intelligence and ‘machine’ writers into the mix, and you can foresee that it will be harder and harder to discriminate fact from fiction and determine ‘legitimate’ publishing sources.
Who should have these powers and freedoms is being hotly debated by governments, leaders, academics, platform owners, and communities.
It’s not a straightforward debate.
The NZ Government asked questions like these following the Christchurch terrorist attacks.
On 15 March 2019, a lone gunman entered two Christchurch mosques during Friday prayer and open-fired, killing 51 people and injuring 40 more. The terrorist livestreamed the first shooting on Facebook and this footage was seen and shared by thousands of people around the world, including many school-aged children.
The livestreaming and sharing of this horrific footage led to the launch of the Christchurch Call. The Christchurch Call is a global community of over 120 governments, tech companies, and civil society organisations acting together to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. It’s an impressive ambition and one we must continue to strive for.
For the the Christchurch Call Advisory Network (CCAN) and community to bring about meaningful change would require true collaboration and partnership between states and private sector.
To reduce the spread of extremist content online must require tech companies to disclose and ultimately change how their algorithms work.
That means a monumental shift in thinking, even a new era of responsible, aspirational leadership, where the needs of citizens and societies as a whole are valued over the pursuit of profit.
Comparisons can be drawn with how we tackle climate change, plastics and pollutions, and other complex global problems.
The Christchurch terrorist attacks also triggered a governmental review of New Zealand’s hate speech laws.
In New Zealand, protections are afforded under the Humans Rights Act 1993, which aims to give all people equal opportunities and prevent unfair treatment on the basis of irrelevant personal characteristics.
Currently, under the Human Rights Act 1993, it is unlawful to publish or distribute threatening, abusive, or insulting words likely to ‘excite hostility against’ or ‘bring into contempt’ any group on the grounds of colour, race, ethnic or national origins. Only one prosecution for inciting racial disharmony has been successful under the Act.
This month, after several years of divisive debate and thousands of public submissions, the New Zealand Government found it could do little to change the law without unwanted or unintended consequences.
In the end, the NZ Government settled on one small change to the Human Rights Act that will extend existing protections to include religious beliefs.
The NZ Law Commission will advise on a further extension to the law to include rainbow, gender, and disabilities communities.
(Other internet-based offences, such as cybercrime and online bullying, are covered by other legislation.)
Can laws adapt to provide adequate protections from harmful content on the internet and how?
]]>Screens and attention spans have got smaller and so must your digital content.
Searchers on a mission want answers and fast. Nothing else will do!
Google knows this and rewards content editors who know this too.
As a digital content writer, your job is to find out your audience’s burning questions. And answer them!
]]>When people are searching online, they want short, concise, crystal clear content.
Screens and attention spans have got smaller and so must your digital content.
Sometimes people will happily read online for a sustained period. Perhaps they are researching a subject or maybe they are reading a story or an investigative article.
This blog is not about sustained reading on a screen. It’s about impatient searchers, who want a clear answer to a simple question or want ‘how to’ information.
Searchers on a mission want answers and fast. Nothing else will do!
Google knows this and rewards content editors who know this too.
As a digital content writer, your job is to find out your audience’s burning questions. And answer them!
Your web analytics will tell you what they are most interested in.
Your call centre will tell you too.
You can also ask for feedback or survey some customers if you can.
Ask Google a concrete question and it will display the answer at the top of search results — before the list of search result links.
Google calls these ‘Featured Snippets’. They are great for searchers and mobile users, because they serve up answers without having to click through to a web page.
Google uses Featured Snippets when there is one direct answer to a question or a clear set of steps to follow.
Websites appearing in the Featured Snippet box have a big advantage over others listed in the same search results.
When you write content for searchers, write content that would make an excellent ‘snippet’.
Even if you don’t make it into the top spot in search results — that is position zero, the holy grail — writing quality pieces of ‘micro’ or ‘modular’ content will serve your audiences better and is the hallmark of modern digital content.
Again, start with finding out your audience’s top tasks. What do they want to achieve when they visit your site?
Don’t guess! Go to:
For questions that have a simple and concrete answer:
For ‘how to’ information, tasks, instructions and quick procedures, write a list of steps in order of sequence.
So in summary, Google loves lists and short answers, aimed at helping searchers get what they want faster.
Following these blog instructions could help you jump the search results queue. Google can feature a well-written snippet in position zero taken from a website that does not rank in position one in the same search results.
Ask your inhouse technical team or technical supplier to help you find out if your content appears as a Featured Snippet using Google Search Console or other third-party tools. Or search for the question, your content answers, on a computer that you do not ordinarily use, and see who ranks in the top spot.
Learn these skills and more in Contented’s online courses for digital content writers
]]>Your work has a huge impact on your wellbeing and your overall quality of life.
If you don’t like your job, you’ll spend a lot of time in survival mode, feeling tired and overwhelmed, and struggling to be your best self.
And I think it is fair to say that the upheaval of the past two years has made us question how we live.
We all became acutely aware of the preciousness of life and endured light-speed change.
As a result, I believe that we want to live more consciously, more beautifully, more in tune with our purpose and passions, and with Mother Nature.
When I started to design my life more and more around what I love to do and what’s important to me, I experienced more energy, productivity, health and happiness.
I’ve been making some life changes.
And I have become more contented with a small c.
If you are going through quite a lot of change in your personal or work life, you’re certainly not alone.
Worldwide, people are leaving and starting new jobs, working more hours from home, going out on their own, gig working or starting businesses, and putting their families and their health first.
Like many of you, I took this time of massive change as an opportunity to immerse myself in new things and education—things that I had put off for years because the busyness of life got in the way.
In the last two years, I have bought a piece of rural land, planted a nature reserve on the land with the help of family and friends, took up poetry and fiction writing, became certified in yoga, meditation and breathwork, became a certified business mentor and leadership mindset coach, read heaps of books, and joined a local choir.
One of the best days ever: my first forest planting party with family and friends
Now I’ve made another big decision with the view to cultivating more balance in my life and the lives of others.
After twenty years’ of consultancy, I am morphing the consulting side of Contented’s business from large corporate/government clients to smaller organisations and individuals based anywhere in the world.
I have a new coach-consultant offering that brings together all my extensive experience and training over twenty years as a female entrepreneur, business consultant, lawyer, communications specialist, product designer, and mindset coach.
I have developed a pretty cool customisable framework for anyone who wants to design a life they love—a life with more balance, freedom, autonomy, purpose and passion—at work and outside work, because both are important.
Over the years, people frequently ask me how did I have the courage to go out on my own at the age of 27 and generate multiple income streams without the security of employment, and have time for family and life outside of work.
I know what it takes to transition successfully from one career to another, raise a family and be self-employed, and establish and grow a products and services business. I know the working parts of a business, from planning, to marketing and e-commerce, hiring staff and to managing cashflow, and can mentor you in these areas.
I love working and collaborating with likeminded people from different countries and cultures, learning from them, teaching and enabling them to create new things and see new possibilities for themselves, their careers and their business.
Over a period of 3 months, I will guide and empower you to create a plan that moves you to a work life you enjoy—work that aligns more closely with your values, skills and passions.
I will help you explore the answers to some of life’s trickiest questions, such as:
I’m not saying I have all life’s answers—you do in fact. But I have the right questions and an excellent framework and methodology to help you uncover what you want from this one shot at this beautiful, messy thing called life.
If you work with me, you’ll:
People choose to work with me as a business mentor or coach-consultant when they are at a crossroads.
My clients want a caring and empowering guide to walk alongside them as they navigate towards positive and courageous change over 3 months.
I have had the privilege of working with people in the USA, Canada, the UK, Europe, Asia, Australia, Mexico and the Caribbean.
I’d love to hear from you and answer your questions.
Hit reply, or schedule a free call in my calendar to see if we are a good match
Psssst, hey and of course...
I have a special early-bird offer for the first 5 clients, who come on board in the next 10 days.
Please reach out to find out about this one-time, limited offer.
#worklifebalance #coaching #businesscoaching #businessmentoring #businessconsultant
]]>By the same token, if you think there’s something wrong with a sentence, there probably is. Take another look at the one that bothers you. Can you say it more simply? Of course you can. And is that sentence really necessary? If in doubt, cut it out.
As Winston Churchill said, ‘the essential structure of the ordinary British sentence... is a noble thing.’
Writing short sentences is a very good plain language trick. Plain language uses short sentences. If you write short sentences, your meaning is usually clear and your grammar is usually correct.
It’s that simple.
Aim for an average of 16-20 words per sentence in business documents. The danger point occurs at 20 words.
If you are having trouble writing a particular sentence, it’s probably too long. Just chop it into two or more sentences. Or shorten the sentence by removing unnecessary words.
When you write complete documents, vary the length of your sentences. Too many short sentences in a row can become boring for the reader.
And it’s fine to start a sentence with ‘and’. But it’s equally legitimate to start a sentence with ‘but’. You read such sentences every day in the newspaper, in advertising, in letters and in books. Sentences starting with ‘And...’ or ‘But...’ are commonly used by Shakespeare and other literary stars. Be aware that some people frown on this usage in formal documents.
The goal in corporate communications is to write clearly. Don’t try to be literary as you construct your sentences. Write plain, ordinary sentences, not fancy ones.
In the ordinary English sentence, the words go in this order:
Use this as your default sentence structure. Start sentences with their real subject, not some irrelevant or fancy phrase. You’re not trying for the Nobel Prize in Literature. You are trying to write quickly, clearly and correctly.
Whenever you are struggling with a sentence, go back to the basic English sentence structure: ‘Somebody does something.’
One idea in a sentence is enough. Two is plenty. Three ideas usually create confusion. (By the way, a clause is an idea, a sentence, or a sentence-within-a-sentence.) In a two-idea sentence, put the ideas in their logical order.
This is a crude but useful rule of thumb: put ‘if’ and ‘when’ clauses first, and ‘because’ and ‘so that’ clauses second.
In this blog, 'fancy' means not plain. Avoid fancy sentences.
FANCY We will need new uniforms if the coup succeeds.
PLAIN If the coup succeeds, we will need new uniforms.
FANCY Because he is sick, she is visiting Paul.
PLAIN She is visiting Paul because he is sick.
FANCY So that they can use the Internet, they have ordered a modem.
PLAIN They have ordered a modem so that they can use the Internet.
Never use more than one of these words per sentence: although, because, if, since, unless, but, yet.
FANCY Although the roadworks are essential, the noise is disturbing the residents but they are tolerating it without complaint.
PLAIN The noise is disturbing the residents. They are tolerating the noise without complaint because they know the roadworks are essential.
(So ‘noise’ is repeated? In business documents, that’s good.
People read faster when you use the same word for the same thing.) Don’t overuse phrases like ‘It is...’ ‘There are...’ ‘It was...’ ‘It has...’ ‘There is...’ ‘There was...’ ‘There were...’ ‘There has...’ ‘There have...’ ‘It’ and ‘There’ are called false subjects.
Sentences that begin with a false subject:
Naturally it’s OK to break this rule occasionally. (I just did.) But don’t make a habit of it.
The Certificate in Business Writing is small but mighty, and includes 5 x 1-hour courses and a book. In five hours, you'll learn the skills that have the biggest impact on your business writing.
#plainEnglish #plainlanguage #writingtips #businesswriting #learntowrite #corporatecommunications #writingcareers
]]>In times of prolonged stress, it is easy for the brain to fixate on what's wrong.
I believe we actively need to train the brain to be thankful and to focus on what's good in our lives.
More than ever, I find that I need to carve out a few minutes each day to pause and to reflect on what I am grateful for.
So in the Covid lockdown, I started two new quick writing habits, which I can honestly say, cultivate joy and happiness.
First, I created a gratitude wall in my bedroom.
On waking, I write who and what I'm grateful for on colourful post-it notes.
It only takes a minute, but by week's end, my room and my mind are both brighter!
I close each day with a similar habit.
Last thing each night, I list the highlights of my day, a practice I discovered in a TED talk on happiness.
Even on an uneventful day, I surprise myself and can find simple, positive things to write about.
It's a much better way to prepare for sleep than scrolling through world news or social media.
When I flick through my journal, I smile as I remind myself of all the good things I've been up to lately: this really lifts my mood and shifts my mindset.
Bit by bit, day by day, these two simple writing habits can metabolise stress, wire the brain for positivity and transform your outlook.
Writing can soothe and heal, and help turn thanksgiving into a daily practice.
Start with post-it notes and a notebook, and see what happens.
And thanks for reading this article!
]]>Did you know that writing online content is a fast way to earn extra income in this crisis?
While many projects and business models are stalling, online content projects continue to thrive.
Right now, organizations of all shapes and sizes are frantically moving their content online.
Skilled content writers are in demand.
If you have completed the Diploma in Web Content, you already have the essential skills for creating high-performing content online.
If your household is facing cashflow problems, as a graduate of the Diploma, you have an extra lifeline.
I know this because, our simple-to-follow Diploma has kick-started successful writing careers and new income streams for thousands of people, just like you.
If you’ve dreamed about making money from your writing, now is a good time to get going.
There are many freelancer websites, where you can create a freelancer profile and secure writing work from clients around the world.
These 8 international freelancer websites are a good place to start:
Each site works differently. You have to be patient. But if you prove yourself, you'll quickly build a reputation and client loyalty.
Four ways you can access our courses during the coronavirus pandemic
]]>Wherever you are in the world, we truly hope you and your loved ones are well and safe.
Here in New Zealand we are entering week 4 of a fairly strict lockdown. We are largely confined to our homes, except to get food, basic supplies, exercise or medical assistance.
Our country's lockdown efforts are certainly combating the spread of the virus.
Thank goodness for technology, music, funny memes, baking, board games and other simple pleasures!
We have our lock-ups and lock-downs in our 'bubble' — mostly good days so far.
We have mastered the makeshift 'TV presenter' look for meetings: top half groomed, bottom half in PJs or trackies.
I have been impressed by my young kids, as they adjust to lockdown life without friends, school, sports or hobbies.
One very unexpected upside is my son is desperate to return to school when it reopens. One life-affirming experience is listening to grandpa read novels every day to the kids on Skype.
On the occasional day, a strange new kind of lockdown fatigue sets in.
It has been an unusually tough week for my family, because we farewelled my beloved grandmother, Mollie Florence Rodie Mackenzie. She died peacefully in her sleep of old age.
She knew she was loved. She lived a full and rich life. These thoughts give me comfort.
The hardest part has been that we cannot congregate as a family to celebrate her life and to support each other.
This is happening the world over. This is an especially cruel aspect of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A month ago, who would have imagined that Zoom memorials would be a thing?
A month ago, the 'new normals' of 2020 were completely unimaginable.
Painting of my late grandmother, Mollie Mackenzie, and photo (2019) with the grandkids.
I must say our household had grand plans for this year.
The symmetry of 2 0 2 0 seemed beautiful, bountiful and full of promise.
The prospect of a new decade, new beginnings, was exciting and energising.
Friends and family all felt the same.
You did too, hey?
2020 did deliver new beginnings — just not the ones we expected and happily dreamed about.
In one furious month, we have experienced decades of change.
Intuitively, we sense the world will never again be quite the same. We are living through an extraordinary time in history.
No leader, no one can be sure of what lies ahead.
At first, I felt grief, as I reconciled the year I had planned with the year I was having.
But in the stillness of lockdown, my grief has eased into gratitude.
With seismic speed, 2020 delivered incredible clarity and perspective: it brought everything that was most important in our lives into sharp focus — like only a crisis can do.
As we rushed into lockdown, our priorities were entirely clear.
Family — health — shelter — cashflow — friends — outdoor space — nature — community — communication — humour — security — essential services — reliable government and media
Our orbits have become smaller in New Zealand and for some people, life is much simpler.
Many of us have time to think, time to take stock, reassess and reinvent.
The everyday rushing around has stopped.
And there’s time to focus on the people and the things that truly matter the most.
Most nations must travel a long and painful road to recovery.
But can we see 2020 as an opportunity to do some things differently?
If we each take the poignant insights from the last month on our journey, can we arrive in a better and stronger place?
It certainly makes me more contented to see 2020 in this way.
Tell us what life is like where you are. How are you coping? What strategies keep you going?
Aroha nui
Alice
PS We are giving free access to our courses to 4 lucky people
PPS The Māori word ‘aroha nui’ rough translates to mean ‘deep affection’ or ‘big love’, and can be used to sign off personal letters in New Zealand.
]]>More than any other factor, design can influence credibility. If the page looks dodgy, people assume the content is dodgy.
Design must be appropriate: a designer's site must look gorgeous, a government site honest and worthy, a charity site fairly frugal, a children's site appealing to children.
As a content writer, you may think design is not your domain or concern. This may be true of graphical design.
But content needs designing too.
Like a home or garden, online content benefits from feng shui — good form and good flow.
In a few seconds, without reading a word, your visitors will decide if they will rest their eyes on your page and read it.
The design of the content influences your readers' decision greatly.
You know this to be true. You can arrive on a site, dense with a grey wall of words, and you want to run a mile. Your reaction is immediate.
The serenity test of good content is: Does the page look spacious, calm and orderly?
As a copywriter, you can shape and format your text in such a way that the reader feels calm and confident.
Calm, because the page looks well organised. Confident, because they automatically assume the text is correspondingly clear and easy to follow.
Usability studies show online content with white space inspires hope and confidence in the reader.
You can create white space with:
In general, 2 levels of heading suffice for online content: one for the main page headline, and one for all other headlines on the page.
Numerous levels are confusing and counterproductive, especially because readers can only see one screen's worth of content at a time.
Restrict paragraphs to around 60-65 words.
A paragraph that looks palatable in a book or on paper, can look overwhelming on screen, especially on a mobile device.
Test your content on various screen sizes and devices. Along with your other routine content checks, ask yourself does your content pass the serenity test.
You could call these the principles of good content design or virtual feng shui, if you like.
#contentdesign #webcontent #webwriting #webdesign #content
]]>If you look after a website with hundreds or even thousands of pages, you probably know what I mean.
]]>If you look after a website with hundreds or even thousands of pages, you probably know what I mean.
In the web or communications team, you can spend your days pulling your hair out, policing and rewriting digital content, that is not fit for purpose.
You are flooded with ad hoc publishing requests. You don’t have time to think about content strategy and metrics.
All the while, you are suffering from a credibility problem: your website is getting bigger, not better.
Customers can’t find what they want. Your web pages are not consistently competing on Google.
Or if your customers can find the right topic, they can’t understand it. It’s long, wordy, incomplete, written for print and full of curious jargon.
Calls to your customer service phone line are on the rise. Your publishing process is slow and your backlog is growing.
Your colleagues are frustrated with your internal service levels. They may be plotting their own mini website, despite your company policy.
The bottom line is your website is not delivering on the promise of customer self-service and reduced costs.
You are losing the trust and patience of your colleagues. The executive is asking questions.
Your team contemplates throwing out the whole website and starting again. Surely, a fresh start is better than all this firefighting.
But admittedly, you’ve done this before. Last time, you created a shiny new web design, you ran out of budget and gusto. In a mad dash to go live, you simply migrated the old content to the new website.
New site, same old content problems.
No one wants to talk about the elephant in the room: your web content — the stuff that feeds and fuels your website’s success.
You know your content is king (sovereign?).
But you need a system and a plan.
If you want a high performing website, you can’t leave your web content to chance.
You can’t expect staff to write web copy, if they don’t know how.
They already have busy jobs. If you think they are magically going to find time and skills to write your content, your plan will fail.
Only staff with a clear system for writing high-performing web content know what to do.
Our signature system gives copywriters and editors essential writing skills to create successful web content.
We have helped thousands of content managers and copywriters to tackle their content head on.
Let me introduce you to one such content manager, Lynda. Lynda leads a content management team for a large state government website. Her team are committed to delivering useful web content to their citizens.
Part of her content strategy is to ensure content editors know how to write quality digital content. Every year (since 2013), Lynda registers a group of government writers to learn web copywriting skills with Contented. In fact, all writers must train with Contented before they can publish any public information online.
Lynda says staff, who train with Contented, simply produce better online content.
“Contented training gives us a standard approach, a system that we all apply.”
Her content writers now think about audience needs. They write more clearly and concisely. All their business writing noticeably improves — not just their web copywriting.
As a result, all their content consistently ranks higher on Google, than competing content on the same topics.
“We are not working harder, but smarter with our web content. Our content editors now understand why content is king.”
The dedication of Lynda and her team is paying off. The benefits of good content are compounding. The website is reaching a tipping point, where good content is the norm. Analytics and other metrics prove how far they have come.
Lynda and her team enjoy:
Who is our training for?
The best things about our elearning system are:
Our online courses give you a predictable system that produces measurable results.
Your staff will feel empowered to write good content, and to remove bad content.
Your web and communications team will be more productive and appreciated.
Better still, you will rise above the detail, and have time for more fun stuff, like content strategy, user experience and celebrating positive metrics.
Your customers will get better service from your website. That makes everyone happier, including your boss.
We have helped thousands of people tackle their web content, and we’d love to do the same for your business.
#contentmanagement #writingcourses #copywriting #writingtraining #webwriting #writingskills #webcontent
]]>
I knew something had to change. I needed more flexibility (and way less stress than my lawyer job).
I wanted to have more control over how my day looked.
I had always loved to write. Writing gave me pleasure. It was creative and allowed me to express ideas and tell powerful stories.
Quietly, I put feelers out, offering to write for businesses, professionals, charities and even our local school. I wrote websites, newsletters, blogs and social media.
Work started to flow. Relatively quickly, I grew an income stream from copywriting. I could work from home and be there for my kids. This contrast and balance was brilliant for me.
Now I live on a beautiful beach and travel with my family for 10 weeks a year. I have a work day which allows time for me, time for my kids and time for rewarding work.
Most days I find that sweet spot — a wonderful work-life balance.
I started sharing my knowledge with people who wanted to develop modern writing skills for the Internet age.
Author, Rachel McAlpine, and I developed a simple system for how to write high-performing online content for websites, blogs, and social media.
Today I consult to companies, governments and professional writers. I help them make their online content easier for people to find and follow.
Now you can learn these practical and powerful skills too. My online courses step you through and make it easy.
Thousands of people from all over the world have completed my courses — from parents to part-timers, digital nomads and travelers, empty-nesters, government workers, and even journalists.
The Internet changed everything. All business, all communication happens online — it’s a noisy, crowded place.
To get your message out there, you need to know how digital content works. If you don’t know, your work will never be found by search engines and the people you want to reach.
To remain relevant and to provide a quality service, professional writers need modern ‘digital’ writing skills.
My courses cover the exact methods I use with all my clients, so you can make the leap from print to web copywriting.
My step-by-step system makes it easy and guides you through.
Armed with these contemporary writing skills, you will gain confidence as a writer in the modern workforce.
Many of my course graduates kick start new writing careers.
I get a real buzz when they tell me their skills set them apart at job interviews and they have more freelance copywriting work. Some now, like me, run successful writing businesses of their own.
“The best investment I have ever made.”
Gina G, freelance writer, USA
“I owe my business to Contented.”
Barb C, writing business owner, Australia
“I’ll be putting the lessons I’ve learned to use immediately on my website and for my clients.”
Laura E, freelance writer, Canada
I've helped thousands of people turn their passion for writing into a profession and I can do the same for you.
#webwriting #webcontentwriter #webcontent #writing #plainenglish #seo #contentmarketing #writingcareer #ilovewriting
]]>You and your content-creating colleagues diligently move from work request to work request. After some time, your days begin to look similar. You’re still busy, but you’re running in circles. Your team seems to have no clear content strategy, KPIs, budget, regular thanks or praise. You secretly long for more collaboration, purpose and impact.
If any of this sounds familiar, then this — content creators — is a good time to start your H1 Project.
If there’s one high impact but doable task, I advise digital content teams to take on, it is starting their very own H1 Project.
Here’s why.
Headlines are probably the most important piece of content on a web page, yet badly written headlines are everywhere. That's good news for content writers looking for a competitive edge.
Research shows most people read headlines, even if they read nothing else. They judge a web page, blog or newsletter by its main headline. So headlines dramatically influence usability and customer engagement. Behind the scenes, an effective headline acts as powerful data that influences search results and search rankings.
The H1 Project has the single objective of improving page headlines on your website. Although the objective is narrow, the benefits are manifold: better page usability, better search results, better search rankings, a better understanding of your web content as a whole.
And there are other surprising benefits: meaningful collaborative work for your team without the pressures of go-live and the need for project budget or executive sign-off.
If you manage a small website, your H1 Project will deliver benefits within a few short weeks. If your website has hundreds of pages, you could see benefits within 12-16 weeks. So here’s how you can start your H1 Project. There is a bit of legwork, but then your H1 Project will be up and running.
First, size up your project. How many content pages does your site have? Look at your analytics to determine which pages are most visited. Identify the 20% of pages that appeal to 80% of your target audience.
If your website is large, the H1 Project is best run as a relay race: divvy up your pages among your team. This will unite your team around a collective goal. At the same time, you will all refresh your SEO copywriting skills. And share what would be a menial and dry task for one person alone.
So if you have 1000 web pages, and 3 team members tackling 5 headlines per day, your H1 Project will take 3 months. Create a schedule and stick to it.
You can download and use the simple schedule and tracking spreadsheet below.
Agree on a standard for your new H1 headlines. The perfect headline is:
Together as a team, create a few exemplar headlines for your most visited pages. Publish them and test out how they look on various devices.
Using a keyword planning tool, research keywords for your website as a whole. Research the best 1-2 keyword phrases for each major topic area. You’ll need both types of keyword phrases. Put these into your spreadsheet for your team to use.
Benchmarking is important: It allows your team to look back and see how far you've come. It brings meaning to your work and it enables executive teams to appreciate your impact.
For your keyword combinations, see where your pages rank right now on popular search engines. Record these rankings on your spreadsheet.
Systematically improve each H1 headline, following your time schedule. Read each page and write a headline that captures the topic of the page. Include the main keyword phrase for that topic.
In your spreadsheet, it pays to take note of which pages seem to be full of ROT (Redundant, Outdated and Trivial content). This cleverly turns your H1 Project into a content audit, that should inform your future content goals.
Then add the same H1 text to each page’s title tag. This brilliant trick is vital for improving your search engine rankings.
Check your search rankings 5-10 weeks after your H1 Project is done. (It takes time for search engines to index new content).
By then, I expect your team's spirits and your website rankings will both be running high.
#contentstrategy #contentwriting #SEO #usability #UX #contentdesign #digitalcontent #contentmarketing #copywriting #SEOcopywriting
]]>You wouldn’t leave toys on the stairs for fear that someone will trip up. The same goes with leaving a trail of content on a menu landing page. By a menu landing page, I mean a page that displays when you click on a 2nd or 3rd tier menu of a fairly large website. Allow me to explain this analogy further.
Think of your main website menu as a staircase, that users travel up and down to discover content. A user-friendly menu will allow users to zip up and down quickly. It does this by stepping users through a sensible hierarchy of choices, that reflect how users think.
Some content management systems (CMS) are configured to assign a web page to each menu item (a.k.a a menu landing page). If your CMS does this, don't be tempted to fill that page with content. Some writers see the big empty page and fill it with a few paragraphs of chit-chatty content, without realising how this impairs the navigation experience.
It directly causes one of the most common issues I encounter when testing the usability of menus with 3-4 levels. Menu landing pages with too much filler content act like kids' toys left on a staircase: they can trip up users and take them wildly off-track. I’ve seen this problem time and time again, and it's easy to avoid and fix.
The purpose of a menu landing page should be to improve navigation, and not to serve up content.
When a menu landing page contains content, the reader must ask: Do I stop and read this page? Or do I ignore the content and continue clicking down the menu. Whatever the user decides, both options can be precarious.
If they stop and read, they can become easily distracted and diverted. If they ignore the content, they arrive at the bottom menu often to discover the information there is incomplete (because they overlooked the answer on a higher landing page). This causes users to lose confidence in your website. They become frustrated, clicking around aimlessly. Or even worse, they give up, wrongly believing your site does not have the answer.
When a menu landing page only provides navigation, users can make quick and confident choices to find a topic, with little reading.
On a fairly complex website, a user-friendly way to design navigation is to push all your topics (content) right to the bottom rung of the menu.
To see this concept in action, visit the Gov.uk site. Its primary navigation provides 2 to 3 simple menu tiers, some with an additional summary to clarify menu scope. Menus simply trigger sub-menus with no menu landing pages. All topic content appears on the lowest menu level — at the bottom of the staircase, so to speak.
As a writer, you will find this content-on-the-bottom menu structure also helps you focus each web page on one topic only — which is fundamental to good website content design. (This blog post on topic design explains why)
You could configure your CMS to discard menu landing pages. If you retain your menu landing pages, that's fine too. But they should only contain:
Oddly, website menus are often created long before content writing begins, and sometimes without much input from copywriters. But draft menus and content need to evolve together and reflect each other.
One approach to creating a robust menu is to design your content topics first — one topic per page, each focused on a user need. Then design your menu like a short staircase, that directs users, step by step, to the topics. Even better, think of yourself as designing a flight of emergency stairs or the quickest, most effective route to and from your content.
This bottom-up approach to menu design enables writers and information architects to work more effectively together to marry menus with content.
Contented.com can help you with your topic and menu design. We provide content design services and can run inhouse workshops to train web content teams in New Zealand and Australia.
#contentstrategy #contentdesign #webdesign #websitedesign #UX #userexperience #IA #informationarchitecture #menu
]]>This blog offers content designers and web writers a roll-your-sleeves-up method for untangling twisted content. It is particularly beneficial for digital content projects where timeframes, budgets and subject matter experts are under pressure.
]]>This blog offers content designers and web content writers a roll-your-sleeves-up method for untangling twisted content. It is particularly beneficial for digital content projects where timeframes, budgets and subject matter experts are under pressure.
The basic aim of this method is to separate each spaghetto from the unstructured heap. (Yes, that’s what a single piece of spaghetti is called.) Think of each spaghetto strand as a topic. Good web content follows the principle of one topic per web page. One of the key skills of a web writer is to know how to design discrete topics that stand alone, but also fit well together with related topics. Well-considered topic design results in better navigation and more user-focused online content.
Essentially, a topic or single web page must be self-contained. One key reason is people can arrive from a search engine on any page of your site. Never assume visitors will enter from your homepage or a topic overview page. Unlike a book, people don’t begin their web journey with a nice table of contents to orientate themselves. That’s why each web page needs to make sense by itself, provide context by itself, and facilitate navigation to related topics.
A beautiful topic will give a target user what they need — the essentials and no more — a single web page on a procedure to follow; a policy to apply; a news item or event. It's the job of writers to link related but discrete topic pages to create a complete picture and a strong information scent to follow. Each page must act as a stepping stone that supports a self-guided user experience.
Stand-alone topics are easier for target users to find and follow. Stand-alone topics are also easier for you to:
Content discovery invariably means looking at existing content. You may do a content audit or inventory: documenting existing page titles and page metadata. Content audits will expose your current position, but they may not reveal inherent weaknesses in your existing topic design.
To assess the scale of your spaghetti problem, it is a valuable exercise to systematically pull your existing content apart, spaghetto by spaghetto, bit by bit. If your content is not literally thousands of pages, take the opportunity to get away from your computer and print the content out, and read it — all of it. (I’m surprised how often I encounter a content management team who hasn’t actually read their existing content.) If you have a lot of content, print and read section by section.
As you read, use post-it notes (or inline comments) to group paragraphs into possible topics based on tasks. Work at pace. All the while, keep the user’s mission at the centre of your thinking: to complete a specific unique task, to understand the scope of a policy, to learn details about an event, etc.
Your paragraph analysis should isolate distinct topics, that are likely to move to separate web pages. Where helpful, add additional notes about the status of a paragraph or set of paragraphs e.g. “irrelevant/remove”, “seems out of date”, “wordy”.
In a subsequent exercise, use post-it notes to plot out topics identified so far and consider how they relate to each other. Establish which topics are obviously missing. Ask what ought users do before this topic, and after this topic.
As part of the discovery phase, it definitely pays to look at other online and offline content sources — documents, reports, brochures, intranet pages, etc — that can help fill any topic gaps.
Keyword tools are useful for revealing which search terms people commonly use to find your topics. Keywords can inform topic scope and useful topic names.
Look at analytics for evidence of which pages are attracting visitors. Your analysis should reveal the reasons why a page is or isn’t performing well (too many topics on a page, no keywords, no unique purpose, etc). Analytics can also reveal which topics matter most to users. Make their top tasks your priority.
Sloppy content management contributes to the spaghetti problem. You’ll need to judge the state of your CMS templates, metadata, web accessibility and content management practices. Down the line, you must plug any recurring problems to prevent 'spaghettification' of future content releases.
This requires training web content writers in W3C web accessibility guidelines and proper template use.
Our web accessibility courses for content writers can help
The spaghetti-free method will help:
Contented offers website content design workshops, coaching and consulting, tailored to your business requirements.
#contentstrategy #contentdesign #userexperience #websitecontent #contentwriting #writing #contentmarketing #webdesign #content #tips
]]>Last week I went to a marketing seminar. The session was led by really enthusiastic sales and marketing experts with high impact careers.
But rather than feel really boosted by the hyped-up energy in the room, I came away thinking that we are always fed the same vision of success – the vision that we should all aspire to building a global empire — a mega-brand, being self-made multi-millionaires and being at the top of our chosen game — no matter the personal cost to our health and our relationships. 'More is better' grips our psyche.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not anti-capitalism. I just think we need to broaden our definition of success. A broader definition that allows us to give ourselves credit for what we have achieved, to show gratitude for our lives as they are right now and feel successful against more meaningful measures.
A narrow capitalistic or competitive version of success makes people feel like they will never ‘arrive’ and are never good enough and will never experience ultimate success. It’s the feeling you get when you set out to climb a mountain. And each time, you think you’re about to reach the top, you discover there’s another slope to climb and the top is in the distance just out of reach. So you keep on climbing, often without stopping to drink in the view, and often without giving yourself a pat on the back for coming so far.
Yet I’m sure people who have made it to the so-called ‘top’, are usually very clear about what is important to them – and it is usually health, well-being and having good relationships with the people they care about.
So that day after the seminar, I sat down and wrote the 10 things that are most important to me — basically what my personal version of success looks like. I wrote:
What struck me is it had nothing to do with working long hours or making millions. And it had everything to do with meaningful and genuine connections with myself, my family and my wider communities. And what also struck me is that I enjoy most of these things most days in my life already. So in that moment I realized, I can grant myself the pleasure of feeling successful in my eyes – not waiting for other people’s approval or aspiring to someone else's version of success.
So now I invite you to do the same: write down the 10 things that are truly most important to you. You may come to see that you are already successful and living your dream life — without taking another step up 'that' mountain. I'd love to hear what your version of success looks like, if you feel like sharing.
Here’s to real success.
]]>Look at your governance structure and you'll find some clues. One person in your company can make a big difference to the web team's content crusade. The answer is surprising to many: the CEO. I'll explain why. And I suggest four simple things your CEO can do to help your web team achieve its goal of going live with great digital content.
]]>If you've worked on a fairly large web project, this story will be familiar.
The Executive announces its new business strategy: we must improve our online customer experience. A fancy report says the current website is terrible: it's not mobile responsive, no one can find anything, and the content is rubbish. Quite frankly, it’s embarrassing. Fixing the site is the biggest initiative for the year. There's a lot at stake.
The Executive gives the green light to a whopping budget: a nice slice of the cake for design, a humongous chunk for technology, and a few crumbs for the content stream. But that’s OK—an army of staff will pick up the slack and write the content in and around their everyday jobs. Sorted.
Someone in the web team — a content manager if you’re lucky — will go around and let staff know of their new content writing responsibilities.
You discover that’s you: you are one of the chosen ones. When someone from the web team finally visits, you give a vacant nod “yeah sure”. After all, you can relax for now. The content isn’t needed for 6 months. And anyway your manager urgently wants this "very important" report. She didn’t even mention writing web content. Besides you like what you wrote for the current website. You can’t imagine why users are having problems with it.
Two months pass, and you get another friendly visit from someone in the web team: How’s the content going? You mumble something about being very busy with other work priorities but "no worries, you’ll get to it." Meanwhile your manager keeps piling on other urgent work.
Three months pass, and you see that person from the web team down the hall. Yikes, she’s coming towards you. Quickly you divert your eyes, pretend not to see them, take the stairs. Phew, you got away this time.
Four months pass, and that someone from the web team is waiting for you at your desk. She’s begging this time. You sheepishly apologise, but quickly add, "You’ve had no training, no time, and no support. How could you be to blame?"
The web team has tried everything in its power to stop this from happening — again. But that’s just it: they have no power to ask staff in other teams to do something. Unlike the design and tech streams, the content stream of a large web project has to engage with many business units to get content ready. Even if the web team has a fleet of web writers doing the content, they still need business experts to be available.
Those business experts and staff writers have managers giving them other work. They are given no time, no training and no managerial support to write content.
They simply won’t write content, unless their managers tell them to. And surprise surprise, their managers won’t tell them to, unless their managers tell them to. And so on, until you get to the top where the original online business strategy was conceived.
Only the executive has the authority to ask managers to ask staff to write content. Only the executive can affect the whole chain of command. Content will only be a business priority if the whole chain is on board. The person with that power is usually the CEO or the 2IC.
The message needs to come down the chain to the managers setting the workloads of staff writers and subject matter experts. Otherwise web content will always take a backseat to other business priorities.
If content is not given priority, the business goals of the website will not be met. You may have a shiny new website at go-live, but the content will be poor. And poor content means poor user experience.
In a few years' time, another fancy report will tell you what you already know: the content needs improvement.
The CEO may not have to do much to change how the story ends. Four things could be enough:
Today when you write for work, you need to understand 'digital'. Digital technology is a game-changer for writers and communicators.
People who write for work must know how to:
People who know how to write well for digital media — websites, intranets, social media, blogs, e-newsletters, search engines — have amazing career opportunities.
Many jobs now demand digital content skills: corporate communications, technical communications, web writing, journalism, advertising, publishing, marketing, content marketing, public relations, content management, content strategy, digital strategy, service design and government roles.
People who write for work must know how to:
Digital content writing skills can offer:
A subscription to all Contented courses and books for one year equips you with digital content writing and communication skills for the modern workplace.
Independently accredited by the CPD Standards Office in London, these online communication courses look good on your CV and set you apart from other job seekers.
Plus we offer a 100% money back guarantee.
New skills. New you. Now.
]]>After university, we all dispersed into very different jobs — one into journalism, one into strategic planning, one into advertising, one into corporate comms, and I moved from solicitor to information designer.
But in the last five years or so, something funny has happened: all our job descriptions are starting to look the same. Disciplines are merging. My friends and I are doing similar tasks and use the same skillsets.
]]>When I grew up I had four besties. Together we were just like Blyton’s Famous Five. Sure, we didn’t roam the countryside solving mysteries and capturing villains. Golly gosh no! But we did freely roam our cul-de-sac for hours enjoying jolly adventures — at least until dinner time.
After university, we all dispersed into very different jobs — one into journalism, one into strategic planning, one into advertising, one into corporate comms, and I moved from solicitor to information designer.
But in the last five years or so, something funny has happened: all our job descriptions are starting to look the same. Disciplines are merging. My friends and I are doing similar tasks and use the same skillsets.
In each of our jobs, we are now expected to know how technology and information work together to reach our audience. To varying degrees, we each need to know about digital publishing, content management tools, search engine optimisation, the behaviours of online audiences, social media publishing, online marketing, plain English, and more.
If you don’t embrace these modern skills, you risk being passed over — even by younger, less experienced people who “just get it”. True, I’ve seen it happen. If you don’t update your skills and understand workplace techie terms and tools, you risk being on the outer at work.
In 2010, Blyton’s books underwent a 21st century makeover to appeal to new generations. The Famous Five are still much loved by today's kids. Like Blyton’s books, workforce skills also need to keep up with the times. Rather, I say!
So if you’re that person who sits in meetings bewildered by all the techie talk, quietly just quietly, you need to get to grips with the digital world. Our online accredited courses are designed just for that: busy professionals who want to learn new digital skills away from the spotlight — in your own time, at your own pace.
Just one hour a week, and in 20 weeks, you’ll be confident to create powerful accessible content that works for online readers on different devices, ranks well with Google and is easily shared across channels.
These skills are important for your career, but also your workplace confidence and credibility. In a short time, you’ll be celebrating your new skills with your besties — with lashings of ginger beer of course.
The Contented subscription to all online courses for a year is the place to go
Subscribe to the Contented blog
Image copyright: Enid Blyton Society UK
]]>Last month, I had the pleasure of attending the UX New Zealand 2015 Conference in Wellington. It was great to be in a room of like-minded people, who place real customers at the centre of their thinking and approach to work. At the Conference, it was clear that UX professionals are disproportionately happy in their work.
One of the Conference highlights for me was the opening speech by legend US information architect and publisher, Lou Rosenfeld. He talked about how he came up with the design and layout for the books his company publishes. Quite simply, he took his books out and tested them with real people. He wanted to learn whether he could make an age-old product like a hardcopy book easier to use. Turns out you can.
His testing gave him insights into how people actually use technical books. For example, he discovered that people engaged more with books that started with a short section on how to use the book and what it covered—a more detailed guide to the content than a simple table of contents. He also discovered that the back cover was largely ignored. These discoveries, and more, heavily shaped the book design his company still uses for all its books today.
Savvy digital teams these days often test the navigation and design of a prototype website (or app) with real customers. What they learn helps them design a product that is easier to use. But all too often, long after go-live, budgets dry up and user testing stops.
We all know that a big part of the usability of your website is the usability of the actual content. Web writers can learn so much about how to fix a section of their site by testing the content out with a small group of real users.
“I don’t have the time or money for that” I hear you say. Well I say keep it simple and practical — even small scale user testing is valuable. I highly recommend getting into the swing of testing your content in small batches and often.
Just 30 minutes one-on-one with 5 people can highlight exactly how to fix problem content. You’ll learn more than you ever could in a meeting with 5 colleagues, trying to guess and agree on why a section is performing poorly.
You can test any type of content — web and intranet pages, technical manuals, online help files, documents and books.
Pick a critical section of your site that you know is not working, but you’re not sure why. To some degree, site analytics will confirm if the right people are finding and staying on these pages.
Start by listing the type of people this section targets. Be as precise as you can. Try and avoid saying ‘everyone’ or ‘the public’. Who exactly is this particular section for? New passport applicants? First-time breastfeeding mothers? Local recreational fishers? Inbound travellers? Marriage celebrants?
Find 5 people who best match the description. Ask them for their help. Where practical, visit them or invite them to your office.
Your objective is to observe how they use your content, without directing them at all.
After observing them, ask direct questions to get the rest of the story.
Take what you learn to make your content more useful and usable. Share your insights with site designers, developers and other writers.
On the web, your audience can feel invisible. You are writing for a bunch of people you typically never meet.
Regular user testing gets you out into the world and connecting with real people. You'll gain personal satisfaction and insights galore. You’ll meet the people who appreciate your work. And with their help, you can improve their experience. That feels good and right.
Happy you. Happy customers.
November special: Register 5 people for the Diploma in Web Content and get 25% off
]]>Hey Rachel,
I really found your list helpful. However, one culprit needs to be exposed. Was-were. The only thing I remember learning as a clue was: 'if' demands a 'were'. Could you comment on the rules?
Thanks,
PeruSuz
- - - - - - - -
Hi PeruSuz
Good to hear from you with this classic question.
Old grammar rules stick in our minds like chewing gum in the hair. The rule you remember is no longer a rule (perhaps it never was) but a choice. I tend to use ‘were’ out of habit myself, but 'was' is now more than acceptable—it’s the norm. The Style Manual (Commonwealth of Australia 2002 edition) explains a logical flaw in the original rule, and says:
In Australian English the ‘were’ subjunctive is falling into disuse, replaced by ‘was’ for ordinary purposes. This then makes the ‘were’ subjunctive a distinctly formal choice in terms of style.
I love the Australian Style Manual for its clarity, layout and index, and because it’s up to date. It’s worth noting that the Yahoo Style Guide, Economist Style Guide and Fit to Print don’t even bother to mention this rule—it’s a non-issue.
That’s the way it happens! The first grammar rules we learn are more than likely unreliable even at the time, but they stick tight in our brains like old chewing gum.
So we can carry on using were after if, but have no reason to blame others for using was. It's annoying, isn't it?
Best wishes
Rachel
- - -
Image by Jared Eberhardt, CC BY-SA 2.0. "I smashed gum into his hair in the hot tub and it sort of melted to his scalp where my dad had to shave it out.
]]>Deep in the Diploma of Web Content lies a nifty little course on Editing Web Content. This one is crucial, because research shows that editing content correctly can double the usability of a web site.
Editing is always a step-by-step process. And always you start by asking the big questions, such as:
Anyway, you can check out this interview on the Media Shower Blog, and let me know what you think!
]]>
Do you feel overwhelmed by good advice for success in your business or professional life? It never stops coming.
Today I read an article that came as sweet relief. Even though it does offer yet another piece of advice, this one simplifies life instead of complicating it. The tip is not an addition to the advice you have already stored in 1,000 bookmarks and folders and notebooks and sticky notes and apps. Instead, it replaces a bucketful of other tips, bringing sweet relief to your working brain.
The advice is as simple as a motor scooter compared with a fleet of cars and trucks, and it gets you from A to B.
I suspect that this habit is likely to make you feel contented with your perceptions and decisions.
Here is the 30-second habit with a lifelong impact, as told to Robyn Scott by an unnamed super-successful businessman.
"Immediately after every lecture, meeting, or any significant experience, take 30 seconds — no more, no less — to write down the most important points. If you always do just this, said his grandfather, and even if you only do this, with no other revision, you will be okay."
Read the article in Medium. Robyn Scott adopted the habit and shares her analysis of the results. It's a difficult exercise in prioritisation, very different from taking notes or listing details. Scott found it helped her to listen to others and advise them better. We recommend!
Photo by Contented. An LML Star Euro scooter in the Contented colours.
]]>Up to now web accessibility has been the poor little Cinderella of technology, dressed in rags, struggling, cleaning up other people's messes and getting not an ounce of thanks or glory. Worthy, honest, dutiful, altruistic—but darn near invisible in the shadows with her broom and spanners.
That was until last Thursday, when the princes of Silicon Valley declared their love en masse. Little Accessabella-Cinderella is trying on a glass slipper and coronet as we speak.
The big boys of Silicon Valley have united in a mission to turn on a firehose of accessibility education and promotion. Their first three objectives are to introduce accessibility training into regular university courses, to foster research, and to build online training tools.
So, do you want a job with Adobe, Facebook, Microsoft, Dropbox, Yahoo or LinkedIn? Or perhaps you want your own staff to meet the standards they now embrace with such fervour? Best get yourself up to speed with accessibility knowledge quick smart.
We can help you immediately with their fourth objective, so don't be alarmed by this one:
Industry Initiatives: To develop standardized job descriptions that include preference for accessibility knowledge, to increase accessibility focus within recruitment activities and to extend the post-secondary foundation through “on the job training” in product and service development.
In other words, if you want a job or a career in web design, programming, app development, you'd better have a credible qualification in web accessibility.
No need to wait for a university course! Contented already has the perfect CPD qualification for people in a hurry. You'll look long and hard before finding anything like it. It's the best start you can give yourself in the suddenly sexy field of web accessibility.
Grab yourself a Diploma in Accessible Content and jump the job queue.
Teaching Accessibility: read all about it
Image from Cinderella, or, The little glass slipper (1908), no known copyright restrictions
]]>You're editing and and you come to a list that needs sorting into alphabetical order. Easy enough until you strike the mad Macs.
How should I order the following list of poets?
A. Dorothea Mackellar, Bill Manhire, Rachel McAlpine, or
B. Dorothea Mackellar, Rachel McAlpine, Bill Manhire?
Two conflicting conventions have claims—now why am I not surprised?
A. We can sort the names letter-by-letter (as-is), with no compromises. This is logical, simple, mechanical, and American: Manhire before McAlpine.
B. Or we can thoughtfully and kindly and time-wastingly recall that people get muddled when Mac-names like Mackenzie are separated from Mc-names like McAlpine. The more British (and old-fashioned) solution is to bunch all Mc- and Mac- names together, as if all Mc names started with Mac. That's called word-by-word (as if) ordering.
How to decide? Ask a librarian. She said:
In the US, the dream is over for commercial firms: now most public websites must comply with web accessibility guidelines. How strange. Once upon a time we thought that WCAG 2.0 and Section 508 applied solely to government agencies...
]]>In the US, the dream is over for commercial firms: now most public websites must comply with web accessibility guidelines.
How strange. Once upon a time we thought that WCAG 2.0 and Section 508 applied solely to government agencies and government-funded agencies. While government organisations in some countries are given ever-extending deadlines to comply, the US Department of Justice tells commercial firms: do it now—it's the law and it has been since 1990.
Once upon a time we thought that official government information was the only information that mattered. Now the US DOJ says, hey, people with disabilities need to be able to go shopping online too!
Once upon a time we thought that information on the web was such a specialised kind of information that it needed its own laws and regulations. The web itself was like another territory.
Now the US DOJ says hey, everyone is shopping, reading, working, viewing, listening, studying and transacting online and they're not all sitting at their office desk, either. So those longstanding, time-honoured laws about equal opportunity and human rights are relevant here. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) already covers web accessibility for commercial firms: of course it does—why wouldn't it?
Meanwhile, back in New Zealand...
Seyfarth Shaw explains how interpretation of accessibility legislation has changed in the US
Note to you, if you just sat up in alarm, thinking OMG you mean we could be taken to court if our web site is not accessible? Relax. We can help. Just call Alice.
]]>Richard Dennison has written a blog post
that summarises nicely the differences between a home page for an intranet and for a digital workplace. Use it at work as a reminder, teaching tool and bomb.]]>(Text version at the bottom of this post.)
Richard Dennison has written a blog post that summarises nicely the differences between a home page for an intranet and for a digital workplace. Use it at work as a reminder, teaching tool and bomb.
It doesn't look like much. Indeed, he throws in a little self-mockery:
Knowing that no one reads blog posts anymore unless they are lists of no more than 10 items and include a big image … I offer you my illustrated-10-differences-between-an-intranet-and-digital-workplace-homepage-listicle-blog-post.
A neat and tidy, innocent-looking 10-point infograph with a brief comment on each point follows.
For intranet managers, Richard's infograph is an obvious boon even if homepage redesign is still just a nagging synapse.
But it's much more than that.
Oh, and Contented training for staff will back you up and spread the word.
Image: Richard Dennison