Implementing a content management system is an important aspect of this project.
Content management is a critical factor for sustaining our web presence over the long term. We’re implementing our content management system (CMS) with two distinct approaches. The first approach is applying the CMS to existing “legacy” sites. The work of “ingesting” legacy sites into the CMS began yesterday with the first trial site. This process will continue with priority sites through this month and next.
The next approach is implementing the CMS with predesigned page templates. These templates will be available to web publishers in the CMS. Templates will provide a way to publish newly re-developed sites to the web. We call this process “site migration.” The templates groups are expected to be integrated into the CMS in late June to mid-July. Page migration work will take place from late July through August. If you’re willing and able to assist your site migration, let’s talk.
Training in the CMS is another important aspect of the project. The University Center for Training and Development is assisting with those efforts. End user training is slated for the week of July 7 through 11, with other sessions to follow. Additional training subjects are expected to be covered in the future, including: analytics training—understanding how visitors use a site; branding training—how the look, feel and quality of a site’s content directly affects the University’s bottom line; search engine optimization—best practices for making your site search engine-friendly to boost your visibility in search results. Accessibility training will continue to be offered and importantly, writing for the web will be offered as well.
If you think the content in your web pages is just fine as it is, first consider research by Jakob Nielsen on how people read web pages…they don’t; instead, they scan pages. If your pages aren’t scannable, then you’re not reaching your audiences effectively. I’ll cover this subject more in-depth in a future post. For now, I want you to know that I have resources and guidance to help you to improve your content…most of us need it.