Free 68 page guide

Content Strategy for Website Projects

How to take your project content-first, from selling-in to delivery.

About this guide

If websites are primarily a vehicle for content delivery, why do so many web projects still disproportionately focus on visual design and functionality, at the expense of the content? When we treat content as an afterthought we limit our ability to make good design decisions and our sites fail to achieve their goals.

It is a constant challenge we’ve been wrestling with for years, as we try to push content to the heart of the design process and the users’ experience. This guide shares some of that experience and the practical techniques to help you emphasise content at each stage of a typical website project.

Learning outcomes

This guide is full of practical advice based on many years of experience.

You’ll learn:

  • What happens when you don’t put content first … they aren’t good things.
  • How to make the case for putting content first.
  • How to validate your content ideas.
  • What content questions to ask at the start of your next project.
  • How to perform a content audit.
  • How to map the content ecosystem.
  • How to conduct an effective competitor analysis.
  • How and why you should design with proto-content (and what proto-content is).
  • How to govern your content after launch.

Who is the guide for?

We’ve written this for all the people that want to make smarter, content-led decisions on their web projects. If you’re an agency working with clients on their website redesign projects, or part of an in-house team working on your own redesign, this guide is for you.

It’s for the UX and visual designers, content strategists, the business development and sales people, account managers, copywriters, project managers, and developers that all play their part in a successful web project.

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Table of Contents

1 The business case

What are the benefits for a content-first approach.

2 Project sales and buy-in phase

Start to win more work or get stakeholders on board easily, by selling in your content-first approach.

3 Engagement phase

Advice and techniques to kick-off your web projects with the right mindset.

4 Discovery phase

Introduce smart techniques for immediate insights that will benefit the entire project (and beyond).

5 Project sales and buy-in phase

Pick up our proven methods for designing with real and proto-content to make smarter design decisions.

6 Post launch

Learn how to sustain website content from “Day 1” onwards.

Here’s a peek at what some industry experts think about the topic:

Kristina Halvorson

Content strategy may be the right thing to do but doesn’t mean anyone cares. They care about what hurts, they care about selling, they care about establishing long term relationships with clients.

Kristina Halvorson
Founder, Brain Traffic
Margot Bloomstein

When we all approach a problem by first considering the content, we set ourselves up to wrestle with its purpose and communication goals. As writers, designers, and marketers, we come together around the content, first, to then plan our tactics. Our goals and their form drive the details and execution, as it should be.

Margot Bloomstein
Principal of Appropriate, Inc.
Scott Pierce

If we can take the time to discover the possibilities and challenges of a project, then get stakeholders to agree and align on how the content can be leveraged as a real business asset, it’s never time wasted. I’ve only seen it saving time. Crucial conversations build a knowledge base and efficiencies for design and development resources.

Scott Pierce
Content Strategist

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About the author

Liam King

Liam is Founder of Lagom Strategy, a UK consultancy specialising in digital user research and sustainable content strategy.

With over 15 years of content production and strategy experience in the UK and Australia, Liam has built up a wealth of practical knowledge on how to put content back at the heart of web projects.

He has led content strategy work for many organisations including the Royal Air Force, Health Education England, University of New South Wales, University of Technology Sydney, UK Department of Health and Social Care, UK Parliament, and the UK Foreign Office.

Liam also has a Master's degree in Web Journalism.