So you\u2019ve attended our Writing for the Web training and you know all about the inverted pyramid and writing concise, scannable web content. Now you\u2019re faced with a request to add some new content to the website\u2026<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a wall of text \u2013 full of long sentences, a lot of jargon and it\u2019s about a topic that you don\u2019t have any subject knowledge of. A feeling of dread washes over you, questions start racing through your mind. How will I prioritise the information? How can I shorten sentences when I don\u2019t really understand them? What are the important points that I need to emphasise with bold or a bulleted list?<\/p>\n
In our recent Writing Web Content training there were a few questions about how to edit other people\u2019s content<\/strong> \u2013 particularly how to prioritise and edit complex content<\/strong>.<\/p>\n In Corporate Web Development (CWD) we face this challenge on a daily basis. In this post I\u2019m going to share my top five tips for editing other people\u2019s content<\/strong>.<\/p>\n For any webpage you create you need to know why you\u2019re creating the page<\/strong> and how it fits into your site purpose<\/a>.<\/p>\n You need to be able to answer the following questions:<\/p>\n Without these answers you\u2019ll struggle to edit the content so it\u2019s important to speak to the subject-expert or the person who provided the content.<\/p>\n Set up a meeting with, or speak to, the author of the content so that you can find out the purpose of the content.<\/p>\n \u201cinitial face-to-face or verbal briefings need to give content creators an understanding of where their work will sit in terms of the wider project and give them the chance to ask initial questions<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Jackie Kingsley, Sticky Content<\/p>\n Armed with the knowledge of who the users are, their tasks, and what the author wants to achieve, you\u2019ll have the confidence to start prioritising and reconfiguring the content<\/strong> for the web \u2013 and deleting any unnecessary words!<\/p>\n It’s also important to get the agreed content purpose in writing<\/strong> and send to all involved. This acts as a written record so that you have something to refer to when editing and it makes it clear and transparent for everyone involved.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to agree on specific deadlines<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s impossible to keep your content production slick and manageable without well-enforced deadlines<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Rhiannon Jones, Sticky Content<\/p>\n There might be deadlines for:<\/p>\n Again getting deadlines in writing<\/strong> (even if it\u2019s just an email) gives you a written record to refer back to. Then, if additional content is needed or if the author misses the deadline for sign-off, the record shows there will be an impact on content going live.<\/strong><\/p>\n When editing other people\u2019s content all the rules of writing for the web still apply<\/strong>. Often as editors we can feel nervous about changing someone else\u2019s words but it\u2019s important not to fall back into the role of a content-putter-upper.<\/p>\n You\u2019re the one publishing the content so it\u2019s important that you take ownership of it<\/strong>. Remember you will probably know more about writing for the web than the author so it\u2019s up to you to edit the information so that it\u2019ll work across devices<\/strong>.<\/p>\n If possible, get someone else to check the content after editing and before sending back to the author.<\/p>\n \u201cIn an ideal world no one will proof copy they have created. That\u2019s because it\u2019s extremely difficult to see your own mistakes<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Jackie Kingsley, Sticky Content<\/p>\n Again, if you\u2019ve got the purpose of the content from the author in writing you can use this at the proofing stage.<\/p>\n \u201cContent can also be checked against the written brief during the QA process<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Jackie Kingsley, Sticky Content<\/p>\n When you send the content back to the author for sign off, ask them to check for accuracy only<\/strong>. It\u2019s important that the facts are correct, which may have been misinterpreted through the nature of editing. However, you don\u2019t want lots of opinions about style, tone or format as the content has already been edited for the web.<\/p>\n I often find it helpful to compile a document of any content gaps or questions that I\u2019ve come across while editing the content. You can also use this document to explain any editing choices<\/strong> you\u2019ve made and why the edited content works better for different devices. Again, a written record makes everything clear and transparent.<\/p>\n Often content is edited and polished before it\u2019s published but then after it goes lives it\u2019s left to languish on the site. Links become broken and content becomes out of date \u2013 resulting in frustrated users and the credibility of the site being questioned.<\/p>\n So whatever the content you\u2019re editing, however small it might be, make sure you schedule in time to review<\/strong> it. Speak to the author about whether it is still relevant to their business goals and their users\u2019 tasks.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s my whistle stop tour of editing other people\u2019s content.<\/p>\n Let us know in the comments if you’ve got a challenging editing situation, or share\u00a0your tips for editing other people\u2019s content.<\/p>\n So you\u2019ve attended our Writing for the Web training and you know all about the inverted pyramid and writing concise, scannable web content. Now you\u2019re faced with a request to add some new content to the website\u2026 It\u2019s a wall … Continue reading 1. Find out the purpose of the content<\/h2>\n
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Discuss with content author<\/h3>\n
2. Agree deadlines<\/h2>\n
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3. Take ownership of the content<\/h2>\n
Proofreading<\/h3>\n
4. Ask the author to check for accuracy only<\/h2>\n
5. Schedule time to review content<\/h2>\n
Share your tips<\/h2>\n
Further reading and references<\/h2>\n
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Related posts<\/h2>\n
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