What to do before you model your content

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Boris Pocatko

2 minutes

Content modeling involves a lot of decision-making. For example, there are different ways how to implement relationships between content items or how to model layouts and pages. These are the decisions you will need to focus your energy on, and it's easier when you've come prepared.

What's next?

Audit your content and content creation process

So, before you continue with content modeling, we recommend preparing the following:

Audited content
- Content cleaned of redundant, outdated, and trivial content (so-called ROT content)
- Content with highlighted semantic relationships
- Analytics on top-performing content
Company vision & mission
- What are the long-term business goals?
Content strategy document with:
- Personas
- Persona goals
- Business goals
User journeys per persona and channel
- Touchpoints
- Improvement opportunities per phase (friction points)
- Basic (low-fidelity) experience mapping
Taxonomies
- Categorization or tagging system
Ideal role-based content workflow

A lot of the decisions are much easier if you have these things ready because when you're facing a tough question, you can ask yourself which of the solutions will better align with your vision, goals, and customer needs. Even if you don't prepare everything from this list, try to at least have your personas, their journeys, and taxonomies ready.

This is already a pretty exhaustive list. However, don't hesitate to contact us if you'd add something more. Also, feel free to reach out if you need help with anything listed here. The list might be overwhelming at first, but can be manageable with a little help. We also offer comprehensive Customer Success Services if you'd like to get more hands-on help.