Build an editorial plan

Making a successful website requires planning and strategy and the editorial plan is the most important tool to plan the flow of content and set the communication strategy.

INTRODUCTION

Writing the editorial plan allows to overcome the typical widespread pattern of "About us, What we do, Products and Services, Contact Us" which more or less closely follows that of the company brochure and does not ensure any visibility on the web (unless you're one of the few to offer those specific products or services).

There is no doubt that describing what the company does, what services it offers and how to contact them is important, but these are just the basics. The editorial plan goes further and instead appears as the most important instrument to turn the website into a business tool.

But how do you accomplish this ? The answer is: provide information. Provide information that is useful to your audience, generates interest and demonstrates your company's expertise in their business.

Every company in fact has a lot more to say than the usual "we are this, we do this, contact us" and the Internet finally gives them a chance to share their skills and experience, something that their audience cannot find in any other way !

This approach, which transforms the website from static brochure to an active communication tool, is implemented through the editorial plan and gives professionals a constant reference which leads to almost always get results.

HOW TO WRITE THE EDITORIAL PLAN

To understand how to choose and organize the topics of the website, try to answer these questions:

  • What are the objectives of the website?
  • What is the target audience?
  • Which are the essential contents for the launch of the initiative?
  • Which are the insight contents?
An answer, even approximate, immediately leads to overcome the pattern of the "brochure-website." Let's see in detail how to respond:

Which are the objectives of the website ?
The objectives can be more than one, such as:
  • Be known
  • Sell ??products and services
  • Identify leads
  • Use the website as a catalog
There may be more, depending on your organization's needs.

What is the target audience ?
Future visitors to the website are not only customers, as is often believed, but also potential customers, suppliers, partners:
  • Who are those visitors?
  • What socio-economic characteristics do they have?
  • How old are they?
  • What do they look for in a website?

Which are the essential contents for the launch of the initiative?
The answer to the above questions is the starting point for designing your site and allows you to prepare a preliminary list of contents.

Say, for example, that the main objective of the site is to sell products and services. The first thing to do is create a list of products / services you offer: create a profile for each product or service. Make a list of the documents you have available and prepare documents about products for which you have little information.
Write contents thinking about their usefulness for your audience. Try to be objective describing both the positive and negative aspects: in what are your products / services different, better or worse than those of competitors?
Openness is important because it inspires trust and does not expose to criticism that can circulate on the network in real time!

Which are the insight contents ?
You also have to anticipate the development path of your website, mainly because this helps reaching your target, but also because you want to avoid having nothing to say after your third newsletter or article.

Think of articles that explain to your audience how to use your products, what benefits may be obtained from your service, or a page with answers to frequently asked questions (the ever-popular FAQ) about technical matters or issue resolution. You can also add user manuals for products or services.
You can write articles that illustrate real-life examples of the impact of your products / services. For example: saving time, money, productivity, etc. ...

It is worth noting that special contents and insights are the foundation for a path to audience loyalty.

COMPETITION ANALISYS

To "adjust your aim", consider having a look at what your competitors are doing. Try selecting a few sites in your industry (a simple search on Google will provide you the list). Choose the most relevant ones and analyze their contents to see how they responded to your questions. You may find that someone has considered aspects that you had overlooked!

CONCLUSIONS

The Editorial Plan is an indispensable tool to structure the website and publish content according to specific guidelines. But although a successful website is built over time, what you need is just a starting point to begin.

Based on of the Editorial Plan you can quickly create the structure of the website, publish the initial contents, collect the first feedback from users and start making experience.

This will allow you to make adjustments to improve communication.

Always remember that everything you publish online can be updated any time to strengthen your message and make it more relevant!

Published on 14/11/2012 by Enrico Tozzi