Website Content Strategy Course

Lesson 1 • Stakeholders and Content Teams

Key players in content production and approval are identified. Students learn to map stakeholder influence to avoid bottlenecks.

Lesson 2 • The Content Lifecycle

The end-to-end journey of content from planning to retirement is mapped. Students understand each phase before diving into individual techniques.

Lesson 3 • Business Value of Content

Content is framed as a business asset tied to revenue, trust, and retention. Students connect content decisions to measurable organizational outcomes.

Lesson 1 • Jobs-to-Be-Done Framework

Audience needs are reframed as jobs content must help users accomplish. This lens sharpens content relevance beyond surface-level demographics.

Lesson 2 • Qualitative Research Methods

Interviews, surveys, and observation techniques surface audience motivations. These methods feed directly into persona construction later in the chapter.

Lesson 3 • Building Content Personas

Research findings are synthesized into persona documents that drive content decisions. Students distinguish useful personas from fictional stereotypes.

Lesson 4 • Audience Segmentation Strategies

Audiences are divided into actionable segments for targeted content delivery. Students apply segmentation logic to real content planning scenarios.

Lesson 1 • Audit Reporting and Recommendations

Findings are packaged into a stakeholder-ready report with prioritized action items. Students practice translating data into clear strategic recommendations.

Lesson 2 • Planning a Content Audit

Audit scope, goals, and success criteria are defined before any content is reviewed. Clear planning prevents scope creep and wasted effort.

Lesson 3 • Evaluating Content Quality

Each asset is scored against accuracy, relevance, readability, and alignment with audience needs. Scoring criteria are standardized to ensure consistent evaluation.

Lesson 4 • Creating a Content Inventory

Every content asset is cataloged with metadata in a structured spreadsheet. The inventory becomes the foundation for all subsequent audit analysis.

Lesson 1 • Navigation Design Best Practices

Global, local, and contextual navigation patterns are evaluated for usability. Students apply best practices to reduce user disorientation.

Lesson 2 • Principles of Information Architecture

Core IA concepts—organization, labeling, navigation, and search—are introduced. Students see how IA decisions directly affect content discoverability.

Lesson 3 • Designing Site Taxonomies

Hierarchical and faceted taxonomies are built to organize content at scale. Students apply taxonomy design to the personas and audit findings from earlier chapters.

Lesson 4 • Sitemaps and Content Mapping

Visual sitemaps translate taxonomy decisions into navigable page structures. Students map content types to specific site locations.

Lesson 1 • Repurposing and Content Efficiency

Existing assets are extended across formats and channels to maximize ROI. Students identify repurposing opportunities within their own content plans.

Lesson 2 • Setting Content Goals and KPIs

Content goals are tied to business objectives using measurable KPIs. Students practice writing SMART content goals for realistic scenarios.

Lesson 3 • Content Briefs and Workflows

Standardized briefs ensure creators produce on-strategy content consistently. Students write a complete brief and map the approval workflow behind it.

Lesson 4 • Defining Your Content Mix

The right balance of content formats, topics, and funnel stages is determined. Students use audience data to justify mix decisions rather than guessing.

Lesson 1 • Web Writing Fundamentals

Online reading behavior shapes every structural and stylistic decision in web writing. Students apply F-pattern and layered reading principles to their drafts.

Lesson 2 • Content Style Guides

A style guide enforces voice, tone, and formatting consistency across all contributors. Students draft a style guide section for a defined brand scenario.

Lesson 3 • Headline and Metadata Optimization

Headlines, title tags, and meta descriptions are crafted to drive clicks and set expectations. Students write and test multiple variants for the same page.

Lesson 4 • On-Page SEO for Content

Keyword integration, heading hierarchy, and internal linking are applied without sacrificing readability. Students optimize a full page using a structured checklist.

Lesson 1 • Content Maintenance Schedules

Scheduled reviews prevent content decay and keep information accurate. Students build a maintenance calendar tied to content type and business risk.

Lesson 2 • Content Governance Fundamentals

Governance defines who decides what about content and how those decisions are enforced. Students distinguish governance from editorial process and policy.

Lesson 3 • Content Operations and Tooling

Operational infrastructure—CMS, DAM, and project management tools—supports governance at scale. Students evaluate tool options against defined operational requirements.

Lesson 4 • Roles, Responsibilities, and Policies

Clear role definitions and written policies prevent content chaos at scale. Students draft a roles matrix and a core content policy document.

Lesson 1 • A/B Testing and Experimentation

Controlled experiments validate content hypotheses before full-scale rollout. Students design a valid A/B test for a headline or CTA scenario.

Lesson 2 • Reporting to Stakeholders

Performance data is translated into narratives that drive stakeholder decisions. Students build a one-page content report for an executive audience.

Lesson 3 • Interpreting Content Performance Data

Raw data is transformed into insight by applying context, benchmarks, and trend analysis. Students practice diagnosing underperforming content from a data set.

Lesson 4 • Measurement Frameworks for Content

A structured measurement framework prevents vanity metric traps and focuses analysis. Students map metrics to the content goals set in Chapter 5.