Content and IA Strategy with Impact Using Topics and Taxonomy

2013 Ingeniux User Conference | Seattle
CONTENT & IA
STRATEGY
WITH IMPACT:
#igxuc13 | @thePrimacy | @ZigZagJeff | thePrimacy.com 1
Maximizing the Content Experience
Using Topics, Themes & Taxonomy

Tweeting today?
@ZigZagJeff
@thePrimacy
#igxuc13

Good conference?
 How many here are…
– With a school?
– Different business?
– An agency or vendor?
– Marketing side?
– Technology side?
– Just me! (Marketing and Technology and everything else, too)
 Today a focus with schools, but concepts apply to all

Content and IA Strategy with Impact
Lost in the conversation of website design and
implementation…
…How to effectively create the “connective tissue” that
brings it all together in the form of an effective content and
information architecture (IA) strategy.
Today… Look at power of developing unique topics, themes
and taxonomy to unify overall content experience
Maximizing the Content Experience Using Topics, Themes, and Taxonomy

At the Conference:
Listening. Talking. Sharing.
Many challenges to address!

Common theme:
This stuff is hard!

No other category of
website has a
greater range of
relevant target
audiences than a
college or university.
Feel free to tweet this. 

Typical Education WebsiteAudience
Identification and Prioritization
9
Media, Faculty, Staff and
Prospective Faculty/Staff
Current Students
Alumni/Donors
Family/Influencer
of Prospects
Prospective
Students

Its easy to oversimplify
http://xkcd.com/773/
Quote just heard from the
audience…
“Ugh, if I have to see that
graphic one more time in
a presentation!”

And…
also easy
to spoof!

Typical Website
Redesign Takes
9-18 Months!
…Once you actually start!

All too familiar
result…

Result of many website redesign efforts
 Major website redesign initiative
– New design
– New CMS (more often than is necessary)
Question...
 How different is the underlying structure?
 What has changed with your content strategy?
 Little or nothing?
 Congrats! You put a new suit on the same challenges.

What makes you
different?
“But you don’t understand!
Our faculty really do care more
than their faculty.”

But ARE you different?
 Faculty care
 Strong student relationships
 Dozens of programs to offer
 Great campus
 A gazillion clubs and activities
 Great food in the dining hall
 Rock climbing wall
If everyone says
it, it’s NOT a
differentiator!

THE PREMISE

“WHAT” AND
“HOW” IS NOT
“WHY”

Why
High Value
Look in the middle
Home Page
Typical IA Structure
Final calls
to action
What How
The battleground areas

Education
stakeholders are
consumed by
reflecting their
organizational
model.
What’s missing? The
“connective tissue”
to tie it all together.

Let’s take a look:
Our Starting Point
And so we embark on a website
redesign…

Let’s get our priorities straight
Website
Redesign
Priorities
Attract
(higher-
credentialed)
Students
Tell the
(College Name)
Story
Engaging
and Intuitive

Foundation for Website Redesign
23

Foundation for Website Redesign
24
Where teams
should spend
MORE of their
time
Where teams
should spend
MORE of their
time
Where teams
spend MOST
of their time
Where teams
spend MOST
of their time

We provide for so
many ways to
navigate, but we’ve
forgotten about the
reason “they” are
here.
To consume, experience and
interact with… content!

Often, the structural “bones” are there…
There’s only
so many ways
to name and
organize
these sections

…but every page works too hard
Navigation
Contextual
Links
Factoids
and
thematic
content
AKA: “I read
somewhere
about a 3-click
rule, so lets put
navigation
everywhere”
AKA: “We
have added
too many
things and now
the IA isn’t
intuitive”
AKA: “I know
you came
looking for
something
specific but
maybe click on
me instead”

WHICH
BRINGS US
TO…
Cue up the
foreboding
music please

The Information
Architecture (IA)
Dilemma
Information architecture has performed
admirably, considering…
Often the real need transcends ANY
information architecture structure.

The “IA Dilemma”
Providing easy,
intuitive wayfinding to
task-driven content,
WHILE we…
Enable contextual
relationships between
related but decentralized
content, AND…
Showcase differentiating
aspects of (School Name)
in an experiential and
engaging manner, that
doesn’t stop us from…
The Dilemma

LongstandingApproach:
Aligning Website with User’s Mental Model
Organizational Structure versus User’s Mental Model
Question: What if we stop fighting the endless, winless battle?

Revisiting the “IA Dilemma”
32#igxuc13 | @thePrimacy | @ZigZagJeff | thePrimacy.com
Answer: And…Choose both!

1st: IA OrganizationalApproach
 Everything gets a home within core IA structure
 Navigation and nomenclature streamlined to accelerate “findability”
 Stay somewhat common to most colleges, therefore low learning curve
 Mostly managed by respective organizational owner
Home
Tier
One
Tier 2 Tier 2
Tier 3
Tier 4 Tier 4
Tier 5
Tier
One
Tier 2
Tier 3 Tier 3
Tier 4
Tier 3
Tier 2 Tier 2
Tier 3
Tier 4 Tier 4
Tier 5 Tier 5
Tier
One
Tier 2 Tier 2 Tier 2
Tier 3
Tier 4
Tier 5
Tier
One
Tier 2
Tier 3
Tier 4
Tier 5 Tier 5

Home
Tier
One
Tier 2 Tier 2
Tier 3
Tier 4 Tier 4
Tier 5
Tier
One
Tier 2
Tier 3 Tier 3
Tier 4
Tier 3
Tier 2 Tier 2
Tier 3
Tier 4 Tier 4
Tier 5 Tier 5
Tier
One
Tier 3
Tier 4
Tier 5
Tier
One
Tier 2
Tier 3
Tier 4
Tier 5 Tier 5
1st: IA OrganizationalApproach
 Good for finding a piece of information
 Not as good for contextually related information
Test drive:
“what’s your
passion?”
Science?
Programs Internships ResearchAlumniFaculty Big News

Most websites lack the
“connective tissue”

 Every school has signature features that truly differentiate it from other
schools. Celebrate them.
2nd: Add a Topical / Thematic Overlay
Sciences
at
Emmanuel

 Present content that relates topically/thematically without forcing the user to
jump all around the website. Help website visitors “connect the dots”.
ConceptualApproach: Connect the Dots
Sciences
at
Emmanuel

Topical / Thematic Overlay
Sciences
at
Emmanuel
 Celebrate them… as you may have already done
 The difference: Build in, not bolt on
Typical approach:
Create a microsite

Eschew
organizational
boundaries
All schools have topics and
themes that make them
distinctive.
Topics/themes transcend
any one part of the
organization.
Consider ways in which to
“celebrate” your school,
topically/thematically.

2013 Ingeniux User Conference | Seattle #igxuc13 | @thePrimacy | @ZigZagJeff | thePrimacy.com 40
Arts at
Emmanuel
Topic of
____ at
Emmanuel
Boston
Residence
Life at
Emmanuel
Mission
and
Spirituality
at
Emmanuel
The
Catholic
Intellectual
TraditionAcademics
at
Emmanuel
Visiting
Emmanuel
Beyond the
Classroom
Global
Studies
Research
at
Emmanuel
Sciences
at
Emmanuel

2013 Ingeniux User Conference | Seattle #igxuc13 | @thePrimacy | @ZigZagJeff | thePrimacy.com 41
Arts at
Emmanuel
Topic of
____ at
Emmanuel
Boston
Residence
Life at
Emmanuel
Mission
and
Spirituality
at
Emmanuel
The
Catholic
Intellectual
TraditionAcademics
at
Emmanuel
Visiting
Emmanuel
Beyond the
Classroom
Global
Studies
Research
at
Emmanuel
Sciences
at
Emmanuel
Home
Tier
One
Tier 2 Tier 2
Tier 3
Tier 4 Tier 4
Tier 5
Tier
One
Tier 2
Tier 3 Tier 3
Tier 4
Tier 3
Tier 2 Tier 2
Tier 3
Tier 4 Tier 4
Tier 5 Tier 5
Tier
One
Tier 3
Tier 4
Tier 5
Tier
One
Tier 2
Tier 3
Tier 4
Tier 5 Tier 5
OrganizationalAND Topical

Identify unifying topics/themes across
campus

Identify unifying topics/themes across
campus [ex: Health Care]
43
Topic of
Health
Care
School
of
Medicine
School
of Health
Sciences
School
of
Nursing
School of
Commu-
nications
School
of Law
School
of
Business
Community
Service
Practical
Training
Global
Programs
-JD, Health Law
Concentration
-MBA, Healthcare
Management
-Healthcare PR

Identify unifying topics across campus

…and then celebrate them

I mean really celebrate them

Another robust approach

Which leads to this…

But where’s the main navigation?

Create your own topic mash-up

Start somewhere, like “News”

What’s in a name?
Topics as “channels”

Brand attributes as themes

Enhanced Search with filters

Key aspects of the
customer journey
treated as a topic:
The campus visit
is a primary
inflection point for
selecting a school

Before:
Visit page
lost in the IA
@thePrimacy | @bigbadjeff 56
Addresses the
“What” and
“How”

After:
Celebrated,
topically
@thePrimacy | @bigbadjeff 57
Articulates the
“Why”

Emmanuel College:
Topics in action

Content can live anywhere
In the topic area
In News
Any other
place in
the site

And contextually relevant throughout experience
Conveniently, all
wired and ready
to go for DMS

Takeaways
Tear down the organizational
barriers.
Create pages that address key
“signature” and “ownable” topics.
Use to aggregate access to
content found throughout the
website (connect the dots).

Identifying Topics
Signature themes
Brand attributes
Centers of gravity around
research, centers and
institutes
Aspects of the customer
journey that matter

Outcomes we are seeing
Enhanced engagement
SEO effect, particularly with un-branded searches
Internal satisfaction
Valuable content managed by the “best” authors
Inspires increased storytelling
– More good content is surfacing as a result
– Its showcased, not buried
Foundation for overall content strategy (online and offline)
– Paves way for syndication
@thePrimacy | @bigbadjeff | thePrimacy.com 63

Next wave
@thePrimacy | @bigbadjeff | thePrimacy.com 64
Customized content delivery
based on user behavior
Integration with external
marketing efforts (online
and offline)
Take advantage of
IGX9 search and
digital market tools

THANK YOU
@thePrimacy
@ZigZagJeff
Jeff.Johnson@theprimacy.com

Content and IA Strategy with Impact Using Topics and Taxonomy

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