The content stage is less about passing information (text and images) back-and-forth and more about aligning the website with the goals of the partner.
This Wake Forest guide is specific to a large multisite network of college departments aiming for brand cohesion, but the content strategy is owned by individual departments. There are three very helpful items in the guide that can be useful to adapt:
- Create a site map of a current (or new) website and convert it into a manageable document.
- Setting your goals. We ask this in discovery calls, but it will serve the partner and project better if we expand goal setting to hone in on the main user journeys for a site.
- Sticky notes exercise to explore new site/content maps. There are ways to facilitate this exercise digitally, such as with stickies.io or even Figma with a designer collaborating.
This example from Wake Forest is a good snapshot of guiding users through content strategy. Below are templates that you can use to facilitate content planning with partners.
Templates
Content Map and Bug Tracker
This spreadsheet is organized into tabs to help collaborate with partners on: Sitemap, Post Types, and Feedback/Bug tracking. Share the spreadsheet with the partner, designer(s), and developer(s) throughout the course of your project.
Sitemap Tab
Use the Sitemap tabs to determine the proposed architecture of the new site or redesign. Each top level page can be highlighted with a light background color with sub-level pages filled in below it. Modify the columns to fit your project, but each column should help facilitate links to existing and new content, WordPress post type, project status, project phase, and more.
CPT (Custom Post Type) Tab
The CPT A tab (Custom Post Type) is a guide to help determine various requirements for post types. For example, if you have a need for “Resources” or “People” post types on a project, use this tab to define the title, description, taxonomies, and field groups.
Bug Tracker Tab
When the project has moved into development, the Bug tracker tab can be shared with the partner to collaborate on site review and feedback. The columns are organized to capture as much information as possible to help you triage the feedback with developer(s) working on the project.
Add or remove columns, adjust the dropdown pills, or provide extra notes/context in cells for partners as needed.
Content/Page Copy Document
This Google Doc is organized with basic tabs for each static page on a website. You can add and move tabs to match the sitemap of the site (taken from the Content Map spreadsheet) with top level and sub-level pages.
For each page (tab), partners can fill out the copy for each section of the page presented. Add or remove prompts for the partner to help guide the copywriting.
Keep in mind the site’s goals and guide partners to share the primary call-to-action (CTA) for each page. This will help the partner and our designers in shaping the content for the site.
Adding Content Directly to WordPress
An alternative or supplement to the content mapping and content/copy document is asking the partner to add content directly in the WordPress staging site.
This process requires careful planning and collaboration between TAMs, developers, and partners. Your staging site does not need to have any theme or designs applied to the site during the content gathering phase. Once you begin the content phase on the staging site, expect the site to be in continual progress throughout the site build through QA and Launch.
- Finalize the Content Map: Determine the most complete version of the sitemap with the partner. Once signed off by all stakeholders, move into staging site preparation.
- Prepare the Staging Site: Use the content map to build the skeleton on the staging site. Publish a new page for every item on the sitemap. Use parent-child relationships to maintain clear site architecture. Create a navigation menu, and publish a new page with the Page List block for easy access to all page links.
- Onboard the Partner: Invite the partner to the staging site. Link all of the new staging site URLs in each item on the content mapping spreadsheet. Train the partner to their comfort level in the block editor, but aim to default to using Heading, Paragraph, and List blocks for copy.
- Track Content Progress: If the partner is using the Content/Page Copy Document, link each tab from the Google Doc in a column on the Content Mapping spreadsheet. Use the Status column with the partner to mark when pages are ready to build, in WP in progress, ready to review, etc.
- Design and Iterate: When content is ready to build, ask the developer to apply the designs (from Figma) to each page. If any page needs design assistance, ask the designer to work in the block editor or provide feedback in Linear or GitHub issues for the developer(s).
Note: Block Comments is scheduled to be released in WordPress 6.9. Use this feature to collaborate with the partner directly in the block editor.
Using the content in the editor approach helps streamline the content phase. The partner also benefits from early onboarding to the block editor (if new to WordPress), which is very helpful in creating a low stakes environment for learning and testing out WordPress before a site is live.
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