The steps and questions below are designed to guide you as you evaluate what content is needed to help your department achieve its communication goals while providing user-focused information in a clear, organized way on your website.
Step 1
Define Your Audience
Who is your primary (and secondary) audience, and what do they want to accomplish on the
site? Do prospective students need information about the application process? Do potential
faculty hires want to know how the college can help them thrive? Get specific, and remember:
If you try to appeal to everyone, you may end up appealing to no one.
Step 2
Establish Goals
What do you want this website to help your department accomplish (e.g., attract new
students, recruit faculty, provide services, etc.), and what do you want this website to help
users accomplish? What are your users’ primary needs and tasks?
step 3
Identify ROT
Website ROT is any content that is Redundant, Outdated or Trivial. As you comb through your
pages, ask yourself: Does this content already exist elsewhere, and can I link to it instead? Is
this content still relevant, or is it tied to a specific point in time? What purpose is this content
serving to my users? Keep, rewrite or delete content based on the answers to these questions.
step 4
Get Organized
Make sure your website navigation is aligned with user goals (as opposed to your
organizational structure). The most important and popular pages should be high up in the
navigation. Pages that are “deeper” in the navigation structure should be logically located and easily searchable. Guide your users through your website based on their needs and goals. Users shouldn’t have to think to accomplish or find something. Use landing pages or a “bite, snack, meal” model to allow users to sample content before making a deep dive.
step 5
Make a Plan
Who will be responsible for managing and updating the website regularly? What are
the key dates or events around which content will be updated (e.g., application deadlines,
hiring needs, events, research accomplishments, etc.)? How and where will that content be
promoted (e.g., on the homepage, in emails to stakeholders, etc.)? Setting a regular schedule
for when the website is updated and reviewed will help keep content fresh and users happy.
Contact Us
For additional support with your content review or questions about the process, please contact Matt Splett, director of communications, at msplett@ufl.edu.