Content development plans: The secret to successful website redesigns

Web redesigns are large, often lengthy projects. It can take months to change the look and feel of your website. Between branding, structure and function, there’s a lot to focus on. Content can easily get lost in the shuffle and frequently becomes the sticking point that delays a new site launch the most.

Tackling content in a web redesign is a heavy lift. Reorganizing and streamlining your old, existing content is a must-do. And it’s equally important to identify any content gaps where you’re missing information that’s valuable to your audience. It’s a huge hurdle to clear unless you set yourself up for success from the beginning.

We have the secret to that success — a well-researched, comprehensive content development plan (CDP).

Read on to learn how our content strategists develop CDPs to keep web designs on track and how our writers use them as valuable guides during content creation.

What is a content development plan?

If you think of your website as your house or an office building, the CDP — also called a content matrix or content playbook — is your blueprint. It helps you outline your goals, identify your audience and organize content before you construct your website. When done correctly, a CDP helps your audience navigate your site and easily find the information they seek.

According to Stella Hart, a content strategist at WG Content, a CDP is the site-wide strategy that connects your content in a way that flows and makes sense to your readers.

“The CDP is your full information architecture. It allows you to implement recommended changes while you protect and ensure the long-term health of your website,” she says. “It’s a valuable tool for staying on top of existing content, knowing when it needs to be updated or deleted and detecting where information gaps may emerge.”

WG Content senior writer and editor Dama Ewbank thinks of CDPs as roadmaps for writers. They outline where your content should live on your site, how in-depth it should be and how pages connect. In essence, a CDP helps you produce a cohesive website with a unified, site-wide voice.

Although they sound similar, content briefs and writing style guides are different from CDPs. These two resources drill down on the recommendations and requirements writers must fulfill when creating content. They’re the documents your writers turn to for instructions about your style, tone and word count, and the goal or intent of each page.

The benefits of CDPs for organizations and writers

A CDP offers a big-picture view of all the content that will be part of your web redesign. That global perspective can be invaluable, Stella says.
“It’s super common for organizations to be unaware that certain pages or sections exist on their website. So, there can be a lot of surprises,” she says. “The CDP provides a comprehensive understanding and an audit of all the content that exists on your site today. It helps you wrap your arms around all the content in your full digital ecosystem.”

Having a tailor-made CDP is essential for organizations. This document can:

• Create crosslinking opportunities between pages
• Identify duplicated, outdated or redundant content
• Maximize keyword research for better search engine optimization (SEO)
• Outline a consistent tone and style for all website content
• Provide an opportunity for your team to review and sign off on your redesign strategy

A CDP also offers benefits to writers, including:

• Being a resource to reference during content creation
• Maintaining a focus on the target audience
• Preventing cannibalized or repeated content across multiple pages
• Saving time by eliminating rewriting

How CDPs keep web redesigns on track

Focused, thorough content development drives traffic to your site and gives your audience a smooth, enjoyable experience. But common pitfalls can slow down your redesign.

• Deciding between new pages and combined pages: If you have multiple stakeholders asking for dedicated pages, it can be hard to see through the weeds and find opportunities to combine topics. A CDP streamlines content and shows stakeholders where and how you’re addressing their content requests.
• Facing reluctance from organizational leaders: Sometimes it’s hard to get everyone on board with your content redesign. A CDP explains the reasoning behind the content development decisions and how they strengthen your website.
• Losing track of your audience: With so much content to organize and so many pages to write, it’s easy to forget who you’re trying to reach. A CDP outlines the goal of each page and connects them all back to your target audience.

How to create a CDP

The CDP process starts with extensive research and discovery, Stella says. These initial steps include:

• Content audit: A thorough evaluation of your existing content to see how well it performs and where you can improve it.
• Content gap analysis: An assessment that identifies any underperforming or missing content.
• Keyword research: A process that determines what words or phrases people use to find content like yours online.

With those results in hand, the next steps include:

• Creating and proposing a site-wide navigation, including main, secondary, utility and task navigation menus
• Developing a content strategy that outlines parent pages, child pages and crosslinking opportunities
• Determining a go-live timeline
• Engaging your writers and assigning writing responsibilities
• Publishing content after it’s approved
• Tracking performance

What has WG Content learned about using CDPs to write web content?

The best CDPs are customizable plans built around your unique needs and goals. Plans that help writers the most — the ones that make your content vibrant and valuable to your audience — take a Goldilocks approach to your content development. They’re not too big or too small, Dama says. Instead, they’re just right.
“There’s a happy medium between having a CDP that’s over-developed and one that’s under-developed,” she says. “At WG Content, we’ve figured out the right mix of information to include that gives writers the information they need to be successful from an SEO perspective while also giving them the freedom to be creative.”

Using artificial intelligence (AI) to help with CDP creation

AI is currently one of the biggest buzzwords in content. But when it comes to content development and structure, AI is most valuable as a support tool. It performs well on specific, targeted tasks. But it can’t achieve the high-level decision-making and organization needed to create a comprehensive CDP, Stella says.

“I would never trust AI to build an entire CDP. It takes a human being to bring together research and discovery in a nuanced way,” she says. “You can’t replace the human process needed to bake all of that into the final strategic recommendations for a CDP.”

Still, when creating a CDP, you can safely rely on AI to:

• Brainstorm content
• Check the tone of a page
• Create meta descriptions for your pages
• Review the CDP for your pages against competitor pages for missing content

3 tips from a writer on how to use CDPs

If you want to get the most out of your CDP, Dama advises that you think of it as your constant companion.

“Be sure you’re thinking of and treating your CDP as a living document,” she says.

She recommends doing this in three ways:

• Address any discrepancies: Use the CDP to call attention to areas where content may feel out of place. Discuss where it may fit better in your content strategy.
• Check for connected pages: Look beyond single pages. See how each one may link with other pages. Try to use similar language and tone on pages that naturally fit together.
• Refer to the CDP often: Frequently review the document to pick up any edits or updates.

WG Content gets web redesign content right, thanks to CDPs

Do you need help creating a plan to tackle your web content? Or are you looking for talented writers who can create the content you need? WG Content can help. Our content strategists and writers can help your team rebuild your site into a robust online destination that attracts a wider audience. Contact us and start your project today.

More tips on content development plans:

Dama Ewbank

Dama is a Purdue University grad who started her college…

Stella Hart

Stella is an experienced healthcare marketer, digital strategist, and user…

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