Does Your Content Work?: Why Evaluate Your Content—and How to Start

Does Your Content Work?: Why Evaluate Your Content—and How to Start

by Colleen Jones
Released February 2014
Publisher(s): Peachpit Press
ISBN: 9780133765113

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Book description

You know that web content is the text, images, audio, and video in your website or web application—but how do you ensure that your content is truly effective? Does Your Content Work addresses this key question, illustrating the importance of applying content evaluation as a constant assessment of how well your content meets your goals. In this book, content strategist and user experience expert Colleen Jones explains the essential process of evaluating whether your web content is working.

Follow along and you will: 

  • Learn how investing time and effort in evaluating your content pays off in tangible ways.

  • Explore the top three action items to evaluate your content’s effectiveness: asking specific questions, getting access to analytics, and launching a content-focused survey.

  • Walk through the content evaluation process: asking questions based on your goals, getting answers with the right data mix, and interpreting and acting on the answers.


    • "Improving content quality in large organizations can feel like an uphill battle against processes, data, and operational silos. How, for instance, do you show business partners you’re “getting content done” while affording your creative teams the perspective they need to do content right? With the prioritized, action-oriented methods she’s laid out in Does Your Content Work?, Colleen Jones simplifies the science of content evaluation in ways that enable the art of content to thrive."

    —Aaron Burgess, UX Content Director, PayPal

    Table of contents

    1. Title Page
    2. Praise for This Book
    3. Dedication Page
    4. Acknowledgments
    5. About the Author
    6. Three Ways to Start Evaluating Your Content
      1. 1. Ask Specific Questions
      2. 2. Get Access to Analytics
        1. How to get access
        2. If you don’t have an analytics tool...
      3. 3. Launch a Content-Focused Survey
    7. What Is Content Evaluation—and Why Do It?
      1. What Content Evaluation Is (and Isn’t)
        1. Evaluation in the content lifecycle—and lifespiral
        2. What content evaluation is not
      2. Why Make Content Evaluation a Priority
        1. Avoid risk
        2. Save costs and optimize resources
        3. Gain competitive advantage
      3. The Content Evaluation Process
    8. 1. Ask Questions Based on Your Goals
      1. Avoid Data Overload
      2. What Are Your Content Goals?
      3. Turn Goals into Questions with a Framework
    9. 2. Get Answers with the Right Data Mix
      1. What Quantitative Data Are
      2. Why Not Start with Qualitative Data?
      3. What Users Do: Behavioral Data
        1. Common sources of behavioral data
      4. What Users Think: Perception Data
        1. Myths about perception data
        2. Common sources of perception data
      5. Select Data Points to Answer Your Questions
        1. Tips for choosing data points
        2. Typical data points for common questions
      6. Assemble the Data Points
    10. 3. Interpret and Act on the Answers
      1. Sidestep Three Common Mistakes
      2. Interpret with Context
        1. Three types of context to consider
        2. Four stories and comparisons to explore
      3. Decide on Your Course of Action
        1. Confirm and continue
        2. Adjust or optimize
        3. Study a significant problem or opportunity
    11. Handy Tools and Resources
      1. Tools
        1. Website analytics
        2. Inbound marketing and customer relationship platforms
        3. Content and social media platforms
        4. Survey and ratings tools
        5. Dashboards
      2. Tutorials and Further Reading
    12. Copyright Page
    13. Need More Fuel?
      1. Photography Newsletter
      2. Let’s Be Friends on Social Media
    14. Powerful Ideas.Inspired eBooks.

    Product information

    • Title: Does Your Content Work?: Why Evaluate Your Content—and How to Start
    • Author(s): Colleen Jones
    • Release date: February 2014
    • Publisher(s): Peachpit Press
    • ISBN: 9780133765113