When starting the content load on a new site, there are some things to consider to make the process as efficient as possible.
There are five main types of content that make up most sites:
- Services
- People
- Articles
- Events
- Pages
Your site may not have all these components.
Follow this step-by-step guide to add and create content.
What are the 5 main content types?
- Services - These might be split into groups such as "Sectors", "Services" etc.
- People - Biographies of the key team members, again potentially split into groups such as "Senior management"
- Articles - Guides, Blogs, News etc.
- Events - Webinars, round tables, conferences, etc.
- Pages - Used to create the static sections of the site such as About us, Careers etc.
All content is entered in two stages. First, the CMS record is created in the back end system along with any “metadata” such as categorisation, article type, author etc.
Once the record is saved, the content is all managed through the interactive front end editor. This allows you to add and edit content elements (text, images, forms etc.) live on the page as you browse the site.
A logical order for content creation
At the core of the system is the ability to categorise content consistently by linking it to Services and People. To minimise the amount of editing we would suggest that content is entered in the following order: -
Step 1: Services and Locations
This is the best place to start. Pretty much all the other content will be categorised back to these areas. Add the "Sections" first so that you can classify the “Services” as you add them. Then add the Offices in the Locations module.
If you don't have all the details, set up a "stub" entry with the name and slug so that the Services and Locations appear in the classification sections.
Step 2: People
People are connected to Addresses and Articles so it helps is they are set up early on in the process. Again, if you don’t have all the details, at least get the name and contact details uploaded so that you have a placeholder to connect to.
Step 3: Articles
Articles need to be categorised to Services and People so it’s best to have those set up first in order that you can do that when you enter the article details.
Step 4: Events
These are similar to Articles. They will be classified to Services and potentially have a "Host" that links them to the People section.
Step 5: Pages
These can be set up at any time as there generally aren’t a lot of dependencies between them and the other content on the site.
Step 6: Categories
Some sites might also use "Categories". These can be useful for classifying Articles or Events where you want to associate them with a topic that doesn't naturally fit into the Services structure.
Brexit and COVID-19 have been good examples of this. They are not "Services" but there is a need to show related articles or Events their on hub/landing pages.
If you are migrating content from an existing site, that requires Categories to be set up then do that at the same time as you create the Services and Locations in step 1.
