4. New Page Prep

Use this worksheet to establish why a new page is necessary, who this page is for, and what content and assets will be featured on the page. Taking this step before writing & editing will allow you to holistically understand the needs of this page and create content accordingly.

What is the primary goal of the page?

It’s important to establish what this page and its content are hoping to accomplish. Look at the list of possible page goals below. Pick out all the goals that apply to this page. You should try to have 4 goals or fewer.

•  Promote an event
•  Share A-State news or announcements
•  Market an A-State offering
•  Get people to take a particular action
•  Draw traffic to an online resource
•  Fundraising
•  Tell a story about a member of the A-State community
•  Share policy or procedure information
•  Highlight an A-State initiative
•  Create a connection with alumni
•  Share guides or step-by-step instructions
•  Other…

Ready to refine?

Great! Look back at the list of primary goals, and select your top 2 goals. Rewrite the goals to be more specific to the content you are sharing. The more specific you are, the easier it will be to write & gather content that supports the page’s goals.

• Goal 1:

• Goal 2:

How do I know if I’m successful in achieving the goals for this page?

We can help make our goals more measurable by defining the content that supports those goals and identifying success criteria for when we meet those goals. For each goal, identify the following:

• What content supports this goal? Look at the kind of content planned for this page. Does this content support the page’s goal? Does additional content need to be gathered?
• What is the goal’s purpose? Why is this goal important? What will the benefit be for A-State?
• How is it measurable? Come up with quantifiable measurements for each goal.
• What defines success? Identify a benchmark for each measurement that will help to define when you are reaching your goal.

Using a copy of the table below, refine your goals & make them measurable.

Who is my audience?

It’s important to define who we are writing & creating content for. Typically, there are two levels of audiences: primary audiences and secondary audiences. Primary audiences consist of people who you must reach, while secondary audiences consist of people who you may like to reach. While there can be a lot of overlap, selecting a primary one will help focus the writing & content gathering process. 

Here are some examples of audiences:

• High school students
• Adult learners
• Parents
• High school counselors
• Current students
• Community members
• Employers
• Faculty or staff members
• Alumni

Make sure you define your primary and secondary audiences before beginning content writing and page creation.

• Primary audience: 

• Secondary audience: 

What assets do I have? What else do I need?

Consider storytelling elements, images, forms, videos, student stories, etc. Remember, pages should be more than a few paragraphs of text on the page.

• Assets I have: 

• Assets I need: 

Final Logistics & Questions

• Write a brief description or introduction to your new page. 
• Where will the new page live? What section of the site will this be under? 
• Who will be responsible for maintaining the page? List the title or department that will be responsible for the upkeep of the page.