By Corey Vilhauer CHAPTER 10On one hand, you have the users, the audiences and customers we need
to make our company or content a success. Our goal with this group is
simple: provide value and communicate a message. On the other hand, you
have the editors, the people who make this content, creating experiences
and stories that resonate with website users. Users ask for information and
products. Editors ask for attention and patience.
Thanks to the traditional advertising method of the big reveal, we’ve
been trained to think that there is a kind of constant struggle between
editor and user; that an editor’s artistic sensitivity and personal views are
held back by data and search engines and user feedback, while users ignore
anything that’s not of immediate relevance and only respond to big, bold
and dumb.
Our editors deserve more respect, as do our users. In reality, the two
groups are separated by nothing more than a few lines of code and an
Internet connection. They play complementary parts in the Web creation
process — supply and demand, create and consume — representing two
paths that, instead of diverging, move in the same direction with constant
interchanges.
When we create a website, we go through the following stages:
- Discovery: Who is this website for and why will they visit?
- Strategy: How do we lead users to their goals?
- Execution: What do we say to our users?
- Governance: How do we keep this website relevant?
The methodology on the editorial end follows a similar path:- Discovery: Who is creating content for this website and why?
- Strategy: How do we help the company and editors reach their goals?
- Execution: What do our editors say and how do we help them say it?
- Governance: How do we stay on track after launch?