Content entry phase in website project
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- imagineallthepeople0
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"How do you guys deal with this issue? Have you read any articles that address how to approach this problem?"i deal with this issue by employing the services of a copywriter (online/web).
- bort0
So you get the copywriter to select images/video, optimize them, add them to the site as well as the copy? Lucky!
- imagineallthepeople0
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no, but i would definitely add at least a copywriter to the list of possible candidates. since your list includes only the client himself, a developer, and a junior, i'd say that would be a good step in the right direction, for starters.- A copywriter is involved in most projects. They're usually of no help when it comes to content entry though. Most don't even know what a CMS is.bort
- GeorgesIV0
man, you need the A team,
copywriter- intern (unpaid slave) - tattoed art director
- colossalhead0
I recently tried this tool on a project: www.gathercontent.com
It won't solve all your problems, but it definitely helps on the collaboration, aggregation, architecting and approval. The devs are super responsive to issues (and they seem to be making steady improvements), and while cost may seem a bit high - it easily paid for itself in time savings. It even has a Wordpress Plugin to migrate your content to that platform. Even the copywriter (who was most skeptical of the product), was won over by it.
- doesnotexist0
i've started to do this myself, personally, because it does need a lot of oversight as far what assets are being uploaded and how they're being prepared. and i typically just include it in the rate for everything, but only the initial upload so they can see how everything works.
- don't know how a copywriter makes sense for this...doesnotexist
- Doing it myself has been my go-to in the past. It becomes problematic for larger sites or when your workload picks up.bort
- Plus, I'd rather not be doing content entry ;)bort
- orrinward20
For pure copy stuff I use String tables populated with my best guesses for copy and I've taught our copy guys how to use YML.
Actual example...
My front-end view:
Where they put the copy:
This works a charm. It's super easy and is actually quicker for us because our acceptance tests don't get broken by copy changes.
It also makes it super easy for us in the future to make foreign versions of the product.
- orrinward20
I introduced this to my new company maybe 6 months ago and it's been great, but we're still the bottleneck when it comes to deploying.
I'm looking into giving a day course to our more tech-minded copy people about how to activate tests, and then potentially turning the copy of our site into a repo they can commit to.
- bort0
So the best response I've received to this issue (outside of QBN) is to hire a content person. Someone that has strong planning, organization and writing skills that would be involved in the project from day one. They would assist in the IA and wireframing, wrangle content and then contribute to the content entry process.
I like it because it makes my life easier. The downside is the additional cost for a small studio.
Bleh.
- ohhhhhsnap0
It sounds like you need an extra person bort, maybe a manager (possibly aside from the PM you currently have), who also can also double as a designer.