Service 14

Content strategy: structure, tone and website copy

Most website projects fail not on the design but on content that arrives too late. We reverse the order: audiences, site tree and copy first, layout and technology after. What comes out is a website that says what it should say — and an editorial team that knows what it is maintaining.

Content strategyInformation architectureWebsite copyEditorial planning

Content first, layout second

The usual course of a project: the layout is signed off, the templates are built — and then the hunt begins for text to fill columns nobody planned it for. Placeholders cover the gaps, the launch slips, and in the end the content is forced into a design meant for something else.

We reverse the order. First we settle what your website has to say, and to whom. Then comes the structure, then the design. A layout built around real content lasts longer than one built on dummy text.

Information architecture: the site tree carries everything

It starts with a list of questions, not a sitemap. What do your visitors want to know before they enquire, buy or call? From those questions we derive audiences, topics and priorities — the basis for every decision that follows.

Out of that comes the site tree: which pages exist, what they are called, how deep the navigation goes, which page answers which question. We also define page types and modules, with clear rules on the content each type needs. Design and editorial staff then know what they are working with before the first line of code.

Tone, wording and website copy

A website either sounds like you or like nobody. We fix tone and wording before the first text is written: how you address customers, which terms you use, which you avoid. The result is a guide that every later text can be measured against — including the one your team writes three years from now.

On that basis we either write the website copy ourselves or edit yours. Every page gets a clear job, one central statement and a next step. The keyword research from the SEO strategy goes in directly instead of being worked in afterwards.

A handover that arrives in the CMS

A plan that sits in a folder as a PDF is not a plan. We structure content the way TYPO3 or WordPress will hold it later: by page type, module and field. Your editorial team gets content it can enter directly, not a desert of running text.

Part of that is an editorial plan: who maintains which content, what gets updated regularly, which topics follow after the launch. A website is not finished on launch day. That is where it starts.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between content strategy and a content plan?

The content strategy answers the why and the where to: audiences, topic areas, goals. The content plan turns that into something buildable: site tree, page types, modules, copy, editorial schedule. We do not separate the two artificially — for us the strategy is the first phase of the plan, not a separate document nobody reads.

When should the content plan happen in a website project?

The content plan belongs before the design. Anyone who builds layouts and templates before the content exists is planning around placeholders — and pays twice later, when the real text does not fit the modules. Our sequence: user questions and audiences, then the site tree, then page types and copy, then design and implementation.

Who writes the website copy — you or we?

Both work: we write the copy in full, edit your drafts, or supply structured briefs your own team writes from. What matters is the groundwork. Without a tone guide and a clear job per page, every text becomes an individual decision. With both in place, an in-house team delivers consistently as well.

How long does a content plan take?

How long a content plan takes depends on the size of the website. For a mid-sized corporate site, allow a few weeks from kick-off to an agreed site tree with copy for the key pages. The project loses no time by it — the work simply moves to the beginning, where it belongs.

Do we need a content plan for a relaunch as well?

For a relaunch above all. A relaunch that pours old content into a new design carries the old problems with it. We go through what you have: what stays, what gets reworked, what goes. The site tree often shrinks noticeably in the process — fewer pages that answer real questions are easier to find and easier to maintain.