Governance is an agreed-upon strategy for updating, making decisions about, and creating new website content. In higher education, governance typically incorporates input from marketing/communications, faculty, staff, students, and groups, such as clubs or Greek organizations.

All parties have well-defined responsibilities and, as a group, they share accountability and action for updating their content, including text, layout, and calls-to-action.

Governance is critical to keeping your website working for you. To work toward successful content management, start by following these three steps.

1. Define a centralized strategy

Each person, department, and content-creating group must share a vision for the direction of the website content based on a common set of values. Details of your plan should include:

• How often you will update content?
• Who is responsible for which sections and pages?
• What images, layout options, and components are approved (or not)?

2. Provide proper training for all users

Writing for the web, making content accessible, and learning how to work in a content management system (CMS) are all special skill sets that can be taught. Before turning your content creators loose, make sure they understand the following basic governance principles:

• CMS templates: Users should understand what templates are approved on which pages. For example, many sites have a special design for Programs, Departments, and the homepage.
• Media: How to appropriately add videos, audio, and images to site pages. Make sure to include alt tags for accessibility.
• Migration: Moving content from the old site to the new one. See 10 migration best practices.
• Nested headers: To meet accessibility guidelines, hierarchy requires headings and subheadings. This helps visually impaired site visitors successfully navigate the site.
• Scannability: Use of subheadings, bulleted lists, and components to break up walls of text.
• Shared content components: Content that can be updated in one spot, with rippled changes throughout the site. For example, a “contact us” block that lives on multiple pages.
• Writing for the web: Users should understand best practices for writing appropriate headings, calls-to-action, linked text, URLs, and meta descriptions. All these features will affect how well users can find and use your site.

3. Set up a content publishing workflow

We can’t all have the final “say-so” for what content or images should be included on the website. Many organizations set up workflows in which there are specific levels of access based on a user’s role in the organization, skill with the CMS, and understanding of the institution’s brand and digital guidelines.

Many workflows involve three general levels of users:

• Administrators: These users have full site access and can upload, edit, and publish content sitewide, as well as manage permissions for other users.
• Superusers: They have similar access to Administrators, except they can’t manage other users’ permissions.
• Users: These individuals have access to change specific content or pages but generally cannot publish content.

Following workflows allows the central website team to keep the site content on brand without taking away all editing rights of the dispersed team. Email us today to discuss your governance strategy.

Related Reading: 4 PDF Accessibility Hacks

But all the blank pages can look intimidating – how are you supposed to move everything from your old site to the new one and make it look amazing at the same time?

Simplicity is in the details. And when it comes to content migration, there are a LOT of details. In general, the better you plan and work from the same strategy playbook as your content teammates, the smoother your site migration can be.

Stamats builds and migrates thousands of site pages each year for our healthcare, education, B2B, and retail partners. Here are our top 10 tips for making your content migration process as stress-free as possible.

1. Plan, Plan, Plan. And Plan Some More.

Before diving in with migrating content, your team will need to come together and plan out some migration strategies to make sure everyone is on the same page. It truly is a team effort! Make sure you have conversations on the following:

• Your institutional brand—Follow or start a guide for consistent formatting and usage (e.g., dates and times, updated logos, and branded language).
• Image Libraries—If you do not have enough images to fill your new site, plan some photo shoots before migration.
• Calls-to-action—List out the CTAs needed for different sections of your site.
• A PDF plan—If you currently have a lot of PDFs, determine how you will manage them. You can archive it with your digital librarian, turn them into a live webpage, completely remove them, or continue to upload on the new site. Due to PDFs not being easy to keep updated or accessible, we recommend downsizing the PDF library that will transfer to the new site.
• Assign task roles—You will need to divvy out roles for writing, gathering, optimizing images, and migrating content into the CMS, etc.
• Finalize your sitemap—Once you start migrating, rearranging your content hierarchy too much will cause many issues when pages are already built out in the CMS.

2. All Hail the Content Matrix!

Your website may have hundreds of pages—maybe thousands. That’s a lot of content to track, let alone move cohesively! Organization is key to keeping track of all the moving pieces in your project.

We never start a migration project without a shared content matrix (inventory). This document can be a Google Sheet, a SlickPlan document, or any type of content sorting tool you desire.

The matrix will serve as your Source of Truth for assigning pages to migrate (to internal and vendor partners), status of content writing and migration, rich media embeds, PDF and image optimization status, and more.

When properly populated, your matrix will help you track:

• Transition from old to new URLs (this is super important for creating your redirects list!).
• Page hierarchy and parent/child relationships (such as our Page ID numbering system).
• Future of each page. Will a page be deleted, moved as is, rewritten, or combined with other pages?
• Status of brand new content to be created.
• Content creation, approval, and migration status.

Pro tip: As you sort your current content in your new sitemap, assess it for necessary updates. Leave notes in your matrix regarding special consideration and edits for the new site. Your migration colleagues can reference your ideas and avoid rework.

Bonus pro tip: An awesome way to keep this spreadsheet useful even after officially launching your website is to include governance tracking. How often does a page’s content need updating? Who is in charge of updating it?

3. Name Your Images Consistently

Your team will upload a lot of images to the CMS. Adhering to a set naming convention will allow everyone to quickly find and place images. A few of our best practices include:

• Name all images of people as lastname-firstname.jpg (or whatever file extension you’re using)
  • Don’t include credentials such as M.D. or Ph.D. in the image title.
• Use hyphens to separate words, not underscores or periods.
• Keep all characters lowercase (no capitals).
• Start the file name with a priority identifier (such as its usage or site section) followed by a quick description. Examples: hero-banner-financial-aid.png or academics-biology-student.jpg.

4. Size Your Images Correctly

The last thing you want is for your new, shiny site to be slow. The biggest culprit of causing this is oversized images. Before you upload an image in the CMS, check the specifications and resize to fit these best practices:

• If you’re placing the image within the main content of the page, it should be no more than 450px in any direction unless the image is full-width. 
• If the image is going into a feature, use the exact image dimensions needed for that feature block (you should get this from your developer) to properly size the image for that feature. Not doing so can distort the feature and make it not match how it is supposed to look and function.
• No matter where the image is being placed, the file size for all images should be less than 100 KB.
• Programs like Photoshop are great for optimizing your images for size, but websites like Canva are also great tools.

Once you’ve planned and prepped everything you need for migration, it’s time to get into your CMS and start transferring content!

5. Optimize for Search Engines in 1..2..3!

A new website isn’t just about refreshing the design. It’s also a great opportunity to upgrade to your website content rankings on search engine results pages (SERP). If your old website did not have high search engine optimization rankings, improve it in three easy steps as you migrate content:

1. Use section headings strategically. Headings help break apart your information and make it easier for visitors to scan for the information they need. Ensure you’re selecting the CMS heading styling by clicking the Heading 1, Heading 2, or Heading 3 option instead of mimicking a heading by changing font sizes or bolding (the H tags in the code are needed for accessibility). Make sure you use these in the correct order as well.
2. Use keywords in headings, captions, and other elements. While you don’t want to flood your page with keywords (that will negatively impact your ranking!), make sure you have your keywords sprinkled throughout your content to help visitors find the right information and to help the page get indexed by search engines.
3. Input meta descriptions. These are brief descriptions of your page that show up in search engine results and help a visitor decide if they’re going to the right page. They are relatively short (150 characters max on many devices), so make it interesting to capture attention!

6. Make Your Content Accessible

Making your website content accessible (easy to read and use) is important for reaching as many audiences as possible. However, there are also legal implications (e.g., fines) if your site isn’t properly set up for those with language barriers, disabilities, poor internet connections, and even those using mobile devices.

Make sure you follow these best practices for accessibility:

• Make sure all images have alt text. Enter visually descriptive text that can help visitors know what the image is about if they are using screen readers or the image isn’t able to load due to slow internet connections.
  • Example: Two students walk through campus carrying books and laughing.
• Run your content through a Flesch Reading Score test to see how it ranks for readability. Best practice is to aim for an 8th-grade reading level by using short sentences and clear, conversational words.
• Avoid creating empty links – links with no text. If you link an image, make sure you add text to the link or that the image itself has alt text.

7. Make Sure Each Page Leads to a Relevant Next Step

Don’t lead your web visitors to a dead-end page. Think about the next logical step visitors should take and create a call-to-action (CTA) to help them get there. A page with no links within the content and challenging navigation (think mobile users) can cause site visitors to bounce out altogether.

Here are a few examples of mini-user journeys for CTAs:

• Are you a college working on your Tuition & Fees page?
  • Send prospective students over to Financial Aid next.
• Are you a healthcare organization updating your Patients & Visitors section?
  • Users may want to see Maps & Directions next.

8. Create Global Calls to Action

If you know that you will be linking to the same page or section multiple times throughout your site, it would be a good idea to set up some global CTAs before you start migrating. Depending on which CMS you’re using, you may have different options for setting these up either within a section or your site as a whole.

Global CTAs take 5-10 minutes to set up and will save you hours of rework by reusing it throughout the site. Global assets are also important, not just for CTAs, but for other blocks you will use multiple times: contact boxes, maps and directions, organization highlights, etc. Creating a library of global features will help save your team time throughout the migration process.

9. Insert Links into Your Content

Adding links within your content boosts SEO rankings and helps keep website visitors engaged and browsing more of your site. When transferring content (even if you’re not revamping it much), insert hyperlinks into words or phrases that are related to other pages on your site.

Here are some best practices to remember:

• Link meaningful phrases that describe destinations (i.e., never link context-free phrases like “click here” or “this page”).
• All cross-links to internal URLs should open in the current tab.
• Any PDFs or external links to websites that are not yours should open in a new tab.

10. Learn Just Enough Code to be Dangerous

Okay, we understand that HTML can be scary for non-developers. But knowing just a little bit of code to double-check before publishing a page can help prevent funky formatting problems on your live page.

All you need to know is CTRL + F (or Command + F on Mac) to scan for these factors that cause formatting issues:

• <span>: A span tag is a formatting tag that can change how your page looks. If you find any, remove the first <span> through the ending </span>.
• &nbsp or &#160: These depict an extra space (which one is used depends on which CMS your site uses). If there’s a double space, just remove these characters, or if it’s between two words, replace with a normal space (“ “).

Content migration is a team effort that requires extensive coordination. These 10 best practices will help your migration process stay organized and improve your content.

Need some help with your migration plan? Reach out to our team of experts today!

Read Next: 10 Key Elements to an Effective Homepage

Whether heartbreaking, hilarious, or horrifying—remember “Tiger King”?—the pandemic reinforced the role of storytelling as a strong and effective marketing approach.

The storytelling vibe was wildly apparent and welcome at NACCDO-PAMN 2022, the cancer conference’s first in-person meeting since 2019. Anecdotes flew through the event center as friends, colleagues, and clients caught up—some of whom were meeting face-to-face for the first time.

Storytelling was the pulse of nearly every session, from tips for talking with major donors about the results of their philanthropic gifts to preparing faculty for media interviews.

While nearly every presenter and attendee expressed enthusiasm about telling more and better stories, an underlying theme crept into nearly every discussion: “Our subject matter experts (SMEs) sometimes have a tough time understanding why marketing wants to tell their stories.”

There Are Two Issues to Unpack Here

But both are rectifiable with smart internal communications and strategic change management:

• Getting buy-in from SMEs about why their stories are amazing and should be shared
• Matching those stories to the needs and desires of your audience segments

Researchers, doctors, patients, donors—everyone has a story to tell, and there are varied levels of comfort in doing so, particularly on digital. These individuals might not understand the potential impacts of their stories on a prospective student, patient, or donor. An SME’s story can touch the right person at the right time and influence their decision to enroll, seek care, or give.

Storytelling connects the dots between internal passion and external needs. By properly framing your internal communications and bringing user experience data to the table, you can create a winning storytelling strategy that benefits your SMEs and the public—and ultimately, your strategic goals.

Frame Internal Story Requests with Context

Often, the internal voices with the best stories are the most hesitant to share. Not because they’re shy or too busy. When asked to share stories, researchers, clinicians, advisors, and faculty may seem shocked and reply with statements like:

• Who would be interested in this?
• I’m just doing my job—why is that a story?
• Isn’t this too complicated to share on the blog?

No times three. People love stories, and a good storytelling partner can help you turn even the most complex or “insider” topic into an accessible piece of content for any audience.

However, what’s typically true is that latent troubadours don’t understand the potential breadth and depth of their stories’ reach. They may not see the vision you have for a local story that has a chance to be picked up by national media. Or they might not think about the lasting search value of a story that seems less-than-newsworthy now but can serve as a cornerstone educational piece for years to come.

When you approach potential subject matter experts (SMEs) in your organization, start by asking them why they’re passionate about the topic at hand. If they can tell you why THEY care, you can identify the story nugget that might resonant most with your audience—and uncover a built-in angle to help the SME build their story.

The SME doesn’t have to “get” every bit of your marketing strategy. They just have to understand that they—and their stories—are important to your institution and to your external audiences. When that clicks, you’ll make a new friend who’s more willing to bring stories to you up front.

Conduct User Journeys from Each Audience Perspective

In most industries, the people producing your content are not the same as the people receiving it. However, healthcare and higher ed are a bit of an exception to the rule:

• Most people have had experiences—good or bad—with healthcare institutions, personally or on behalf of a loved one.
• Many people went to college or have teens or adult loved ones who are thinking of enrolling.

But we can’t assume that our experiences mirror everyone else’s. Socioeconomic, cultural, and familial factors weigh into decisions around who gets these audiences’ mindshare—and even how they use your website and other digital properties.

Conducting user journey experience assessments can help you understand the full scope of needs of your audience segments. Put yourself in the shoes of someone with specific needs or questions and navigate the site with these factors in mind. This exercise can help you uncover content gaps and opportunities to 1) tell your story in a more relevant capacity and 2) streamline pathways to connect users with information faster, resulting in a better experience.

Tools such as CrazyEgg can offer valuable, anonymous insights into how site visitors traverse your site. By using heatmaps to track KPIs such as scroll depth, clicks, engagement-related pausing on page, and most engaging calls-to-action, you can gather data to evoke buy-in amongst your internal teams to revise and restructure your content in ways that better meet the needs of your audience.

Build Stories that Reflect Internal Passions and User Journeys

The best stories can get lost in the shuffle without a proper strategy. Your role as the liaison between the SME and the public is to translate the SME’s passion using digital pathways that resonate with the audience.

Here’s an example. Say your SME is a researcher who has recently co-discovered an incredibly precise way to deliver radiation therapy to the lungs. Your role is to capture passion and function—her dedication to the work alongside its benefits for your audience(s)—and create a flowing narrative that:

• Answers the audience’s questions.
• Provides easy opportunities for the audience to engage.
• Gives clear next steps to act or gather more information.

You can achieve this type of storytelling without appearing like a marketing machine. A blog is a highly successful vehicle to communicate with audiences at all stages of a decision funnel. By adding scannable headlines and inline links to related content, the audience can scan to the section that matters to them and act now—or remember your institution when they need you.

Yet, you still benefit from the search engine optimization value of the entire piece for each audience segment. Include a personal byline from the SME—not the marketing person or the SME’s Department—for a subconscious personal touch that feels more like one-on-one conversation.

Most institutions don’t need a fancy new setup to better showcase stories. Your content management system likely includes underutilized visual tools such as callout features or accordions that can make content more engaging.

Switching up your storytelling style can be a challenging sell internally. Many people are naturally averse to change, particularly if they aren’t convinced they have stories worth telling.

Josiane Dubois, Internal Communications Specialist at Huntsman Cancer Institute, put this perfectly at her NACCDO-PAMN session: “Create a new table instead of joining an existing one.” Your stories don’t have to fit the “what we’ve always done” mold. In fact, sometimes those stories stand out most.

Have more questions about your content marketing strategy?  Schedule time with Mariah Obiedzinski Tang to learn how Stamats can help make your content work smarter for you.