Content Development

Creating content that tells your story, supports your information architecture, remains compelling, and somehow stays succinct can be a big job. It requires preparation, proper structuring, organization of content, and it is a constantly evolving practice.

Ultimately, content development is the collaborative effort of programmers, writers, illustrators, and designers. The aim is to create content that meets your internal requirements while delivering targeted information to your audience in an optimal way.

One of the best ways to structure your content creation is by using the now ubiquitous ADDIE Instructional Design Model:

• Analysis – Define your needs.
• Design – Define in what way, method or media it should be provided.
• Develop – Manage the creators and revise.
• Implementation – Put the plan into action.
• Evaluation – Assess from all levels to make sure you're on track

In the analysis stage, you'll need to define the final outcome. For instance, who is your audience? What are the technical and media requirements? And, who will oversee quality assurance? Once you hit the design phase, you'll need to put together schematics or even storyboards of how your content is going to be presented. From there, you can work through the styles, navigation, and graphic elements you want to use.

Next is the development phase, which is when you'll actually begin the creation of your media, systems, and interfaces. Plan on spending quite a bit of time testing and revising. This takes you into the implementation phase, which includes usability testing and deployment, and requires that you monitor any initial users for feedback. Finally, this brings you to the evaluation stage, which is a perpetual process of determining the value of your content and making the necessary adjustments over time.

The complexity of content development is directly related to the size and breadth of your website. However, content development is a specialized skill set which requires a proven leader to manage internally, or if needed, an outside resource. Fortunately, there are a myriad of top-notch organizations that specialize in content development and management.

Communications to your users, customers and potential clients is the single most critical factor in determining your website's success. Having a content developer on your side with a proven track record is one of the best investments you'll ever make.