The purpose of web content is communication. But how do you ensure content being created and published across campus by numerous contributors and delivery methods supports your institution's communication goals? How do you know all that content is telling a consistent story about your brand? How do you ensure content educates and informs rather than confuses or misleads? Your editorial style guide is the "how-to" of content strategy, enabling clear communication. An editorial style guide for the web helps content contributors create useful, usable, findable, on-brand content at your institution — it's much more than a list of preferred spellings and grammar usage. Don't just create content. Communicate, clearly.

1. Editorial Style:
Your Guide to
Clear Communication
on the Web
Rick Allen Penn State University
@epublishmedia Web Conference 2012
#psuweb12

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Hi, I’m Rick.
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Hi, I’m Rick.
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5. Source: http://www.personal.psu.edu/mkb5055/blogs/michelle_bloemker/
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6. The purpose
of content is
to communicate.
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7. Inconceivable!
Source: http://youtu.be/G2y8Sx4B2Sk

8. You keep using that
word. I do not think it
means what you think
it means.
Source: http://youtu.be/G2y8Sx4B2Sk

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Source: http://www.personal.psu.edu/mkb5055/blogs/michelle_bloemker/
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Source: http://www.personal.psu.edu/mkb5055/blogs/michelle_bloemker/
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Source: http://www.personal.psu.edu/mkb5055/blogs/michelle_bloemker/
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12. Clear communication
doesn’t happen
by chance.
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13. Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/olivander/19580483/
Source: http://www.huffpost.com
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14. “
#psuweb12 | @epublishmedia
We've all heard that a million
monkeys banging on a million
typewriters will eventually
reproduce the entire works of
Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the
Internet, we know this is not true.
Robert Silensky
Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley
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15. Communication
goals lead
content strategy.
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Editorial style for the web
• Voice and tone • Visual communication
• Links • Web writing
• SEO and findability
• Metadata
• Social media
• Accessibility
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What I’m talking about
• Making communication goals a
priority for content creation
• Empowering content contributors
to communicate clearly
• Sustaining editorial style at
your institution
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What I’m talking about
• Making communication goals a
priority for content creation
• Empowering content contributors
to communicate clearly
• Sustaining editorial style at
your institution
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24. Does your content
educate and inform or
confuse and mislead?
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Through these educational experiences, our
students gain a greater understanding of the
global community and solve real-world problems.

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Through these educational experiences, our
students gain a greater understanding of the
global community and solve real-world problems.

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Below you will find information to help you plan
and prepare for your study away experience.
...Keep an eye on these sites for upcoming
dates during the fall semester.

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It is my pleasure to welcome you to Fordham Law. I invite
you to learn about the many accomplishments of the Law
School community through this website. You will also find
information about the School's groundbreaking centers and
institutes, our distinguished faculty, and Fordham Law's
distinct approach of teaching law to the next leaders in the
legal profession.

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"First principles" matter to me. Whether in the law, in one's
faith or in one's personal and professional conduct, the
ever-present construct of first principles must guide us in
life's many endeavors. It was so for me as a judge. It is so
for me as a dean of Pepperdine University School of Law.

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"First principles" matter to me. Whether in the law, in one's
faith or in one's personal and professional conduct, the
ever-present construct of first principles must guide us in
life's many endeavors. It was so for me as a judge. It is so
for me as a dean of Pepperdine University School of Law.

36. Constant Contact?
Who are you?
What do you do?
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#psuweb12 | @epublishmedia
Constant Contact, Inc. helps small
businesses, associations, and
nonprofits connect with their
customers, clients, and members.
Launched in 1998, Constant
Contact champions the needs of
small organizations and provides
them with an easy and affordable
way to build successful, lasting
customer relationships.
http://www.constantcontact.com/about-constant-contact/index.jsp
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38. Say what?

39. MailChimp?
Who are you?
What do you do?
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#psuweb12 | @epublishmedia
We’re a team of about 110
developers, designers,
professional problem solvers,
tinkerers, and takeout critics,
working around the clock to make
MailChimp the best email–
marketing service in the universe.
http://mailchimp.com/about/
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Oh, you’re a fun, mid-
sized, innovative email
marketing company.
Gotcha!

42. Web content that
communicates clearly
takes work.
An editorial style guide
makes it work.
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44. “ [Ask yourself:] If my brand were a
person, what would I be like?
Kate Kiefer Lee
MailChimp
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Define communication goals
• Message architecture
STAR
T!
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Brand attributes
• Student-centered
• Empowering and valuable
• Community-minded
• Pioneering and resourceful
• Welcoming
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47. #psuweb12 | @epublishmedia Definition
Student-centered
• Offers an exceptional level of individual
interaction with experienced faculty, based on
students’ wants and needs
• Values the complex lives led by adult learners
• Recognizes knowledge and abilities gained
outside the classroom by awarding adult learners
with credit for life experience
• Provides a thorough yet flexible education that
allows students to maintain active personal lives
while obtaining their degree
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48. #psuweb12 | @epublishmedia Definition
Empowering
and valuable
• Affords an academically rigorous yet
practical education that results in a
successful career post graduation
• Employs faculty who teach from experience as
practitioners in their fields and who help
students learn by putting theory into practice
• Provides an education experience that exceeds
students’ expectations
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Community-minded
• Encourages the development of socially
responsible individuals committed to the
common good
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50. #psuweb12 | @epublishmedia Definition
Pioneering and
resourceful
• Cultivates innovative, inspired leaders
and change agents in an array of
disciplines and local communities
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Welcoming
• Brings together students and faculty
of varied cultures, backgrounds, and
lifestyles who offer a stimulating range
of diverse perspectives
• Offers a strong sense of community and shared
experience
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What I’m talking about
• Making communication goals a
priority for content creation
• Empowering content contributors
to communicate clearly
• Sustaining editorial style at
your institution
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53. Content contributors
are users too.
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Putting communication goals
to work
• Welcoming Ready to
start writing?
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Putting communication goals
to work
Examples,
please!
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GOOD
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BETTER
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76. Put communication
goals in context.
Make them meaningful.
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What I’m talking about
• Making communication goals a
priority for content creation
• Empowering content contributors
to communicate clearly
• Sustaining editorial style at
your institution
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Sustain editorial style guides
• Take responsibility
Educate
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Sustain editorial style guides
• Take responsibility
• Make it relevant
Use real-world
examples
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Sustain editorial style guides
• Take responsibility
• Make it relevant
• Keep it current
Create an
“organic” style guide
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Sustain editorial style guides
• Take responsibility
• Make it relevant
• Keep it current
• Be specific
Everything’s
relative
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Sustain editorial style guides
• Take responsibility
• Make it relevant
• Keep it current
• Be specific
Explain
• Create principles, why and how
not rules
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Questions?
Rick Allen
@epublishmedia
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Thanks!
Rick Allen
@epublishmedia
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