The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

(Your Web Presence)

POLL:

  • How many people have heard of the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up?

POLL:

  • How many people have heard of the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up?
  • How many have read it?

POLL:

  • How many people have heard of the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up?
  • How many have read it?
  • Actually followed through?

What WE'll Cover

 

  • KonMari method overview
  • Discarding with a content audit
  • Organizing based on topic
  • Storing canonically
  • Benefits

Who am i?

Graphic Designer

Allentown Native

Web Content Publishing Coordinator, Syracuse.edu

A quick

overview

​The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

  • Tidying should be done all at once:

    1. Discard (anything that doesn’t “spark joy”)

    2. Sort (based on categories, not rooms)

    3. Store (canonically)

no one can do it for you

  • Embrace the tidying
  • Do it yourself
  • Get everyone on board
  • Don’t hire a consultant
  • Consultants throw out your roommate’s stuff

discard

does it

spark joy?

  • Gather all of your socks = categories, not rooms
  • Lay everything out = content inventory
  • Handle every item = read every page
  • Sparking joy = what’s the true value of the content?
  • Don’t forget your gut reaction

Content inventory example

Store

categories, not rooms

  • Tackle topics, not departmental silos
  • Don't present content based on internal units and offices
  • Topic-focused website model
  • Use content inventory to designate a topic for each page

store canonically

  • Remove any redundancies 
  • Create a full-page map
    • User research to determine browse categories (basis for navigation)
  • Designate a canonically home
  • Site owner = subject matter expert
  • Allows users to trust the information
  • Authoritative sourcet

Full page map example

storage solutions

  • Don’t buy that As Seen on TV shoe container
  • WordPress has the tools
  • Pages and posts
  • Use plugins sparingly
  • Let the content designate the design and development

get rid of papers

  • HTML, not PDF
  • Accessible
  • No interruption to user flow
  • Indexed by search engines
  • PDF only if user must download and print

once is

enough

  • No relapses!
  • Know what your content is and where it belongs
  • Assess the value of future content
  • Keep the ROT away

tidying is

a tool

the final destination

  • Content management
  • Content strategy
  • Less ROT
  • More joy
  • Better SEO
  • Focus on user flow, calls to action, lead generation

happy halloween!

Magic

By Beth Fritzinger