The Art and Science of High Content Web Sites
The Berndt Group is an Expert in the Sustainability and Management of Large Web Sites
October 26, 2009
BALTIMORE, MD—Increasingly, The Berndt Group, a Baltimore, MD-based full service interactive agency, is focused on the specific issues that define high content web sites, namely, the harmonious marriage of usability, content strategy, and sustainable technical implementation that give these sites the best possible life span.
As an organization matures its Web strategy, these areas typically become points of friction. Organizations have often built up large sites that lack consistent usability values, have inconsistent or irrelevant content, and are not built in such a way that the organization can easily modify the site or flexibly reuse content throughout the site.
At a certain point, something has to give. That's where The Berndt Group comes in.
Many of The Berndt Group's current projects run into the thousands of pages, and as the firm has focused more and more on large sites' issues, we've developed a strong set of ideas about how our clients can meet these challenges. Although each project that we work on is different, and has a highly developed, individual strategy, there are five key principles that make an enormous, and measurable, difference:
- Standardize User Experience, wherever possible, so that the site uses the minimum number of templates that elegantly represent content and meet goals. There may be difficult trade-offs involved; this is the "art" part. In general, a uniform approach to content saves great pain down the line.
- Pick The Right Platform, since all CMS and Portal products are not created equal. Sure, they all do 80% of the same stuff, but the 20% they do differently can make or break an organization's ability to deliver on strategy and have the controls needed to prevent departmental conflicts or content sprawl.
- Create Appropriate Content Controls when implementing, such as a good content object model to control user content entry, and thoughtful workflows that actually make people's jobs easier. Far too many CMS implementers either bail on these important details, or ask befuddled business users to spec their own workflows—a recipe for disaster. This is where the "science" comes in, as there are best practices and techniques that can greatly improve the quality, control, and life span of a CMS-driven site.
- Use Metadata thoroughly and thoughtfully, to add intelligence to content. A good metadata strategy, in combination with appropriate data, can greatly extend the life and flexibility of an organization's content. Without it, your options will be limited and manipulating content will continue to be a largely manual process—not a good place to be when an organization has 300 or more pages in its site, not to mention 10,000 pages.
- Separate Marketing Micro-Sites From Main Site Architecture, to reduce the impact of transitory campaigns on site content. Marketing departments are focused on impact and speed to market, as they should be, but an organization shouldn't allow this to erode its hard-earned and well-architected web site. Some Web properties have a short life, and a correspondingly different development approach, even though they may still make use of many CMS features.
These principles don't solve every problem, but at the end of the day, taking them in to consideration can go a long way towards orienting a large development project. The devil is in the details of how you apply them to your specific project—and if you need help with that, please call us! We'd love to hear from you!
About The Berndt Group
The Berndt Group has been a leading Web design, development and brand communications firm since 1991. The firm provides an integrated set of creative services, including strategic consulting, brand and application development, software implementation, web site design, and internet marketing. Based in Baltimore, MD, the firm services a diverse international and regional base of over fifty active clients, including: The National Aquarium, Johns Hopkins Institutions, SafeNet, Inc., Raytheon, U.S. Immigration, The Federal Aviation Administration, The U.S. Forest Service, The Abell Foundation, and many others. For more information, visit www.berndtgroup.net.
Media Contact
Inquiries? Please contact:
Michelle Géczy
Vice President
phone: 410.889.5854 x 12
email: michelle.geczy@berndtgroup.net
