Create quality content faster with an optimized content gathering process.
Chapters +
Chapter 1
Content gathering involves bringing together all the content elements – the text, media and more – you intend to put on your website and organizing all of it so it can be easily edited, evaluated and staged for development.
content gathering
content gathering • [kɑntɛnt gæðərɪŋ]
The process of collecting, organizing and preparing content that'll be presented to an audience, including text, images, videos and any other type of media required.
noun
"Without an efficient content gathering process, it'd take our team two weeks longer to complete each website project"
Synonyms
Chapter 2
Gathering web content is important because having a standardized content collection process allows you to meet deadlines, client expectations and, ultimately, drive more traffic. Here's how:
Without a defined process, collecting content becomes one of the biggest bottlenecks in finishing a web design project with content requests and changes getting lost in the noise.
Efficiently bring all those floating pieces of content under one roof; keeping content flowing from clients to you keeps a project moving forward.
With less hold-ups on content, you're not just delivering a great website; you're handing off a site with better content. Content that connects and converts visitors more effectively.
Make sure the content gathering tool you choose has enough storage space for your 
team, with 
Slickplan you can store up to 500 GB of content
Chapter 3
Ensuring content is highly relevant for your audience requires planning and the development of a repeatable system to collect content effectively. Before you start collecting for a project, you need to do your homework.
A content inventory helps you understand where you stand with content and can be a simple list or chart of all the pages and associated pages within an existing website.
To make things easier, use a visual sitemap to see all pages and their links to give you a bird's-eye view of the website architecture.
A site crawler makes things even easier by automatically finding pages and page data about your website. Huge for larger sites and critical for digital agencies working on multiple projects to stay organized.
Make a copy of our free Google Sheets content management strategy template to organize your content inventory.
A content audit is the process of evaluating existing content to determine its strengths and weaknesses. It also highlights content gaps, where old content needs to be refreshed and optimization opportunities that lead to better content.
Critically, an audit pinpoints high-performing content that you need to be careful with when doing any site or page updates.
Data should be driving decisions on the content you create and gather. For existing sites, Google Analytics is your go-to for sourcing helpful information and metrics on your site's pages.
At this point, merging the content inventory spreadsheet with exported data from your analytics tool of choice is a good idea.
✍️ Note: if you've created a content inventory as a visual sitemap in Slickplan you'll need to export as a CSV or Excel document to perform some of the content audit exercises.
Analyze your top-ranking and converting landing pages and look for patterns that inform content optimization strategies.
The more conversions a page has the more it's helping your business goals so you need to be cautious when editing, being careful not to remove or change too much.
On the flipside, ranking by conversions helps you identify non-converting pages that should be rewritten, optimized or even removed entirely.
Leverage social media engagement metrics to refine and target your content collection across all networks.
Understanding which content has been shared most on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X and the rest will help you further identify content that plays the most important roles on your website.
It's also helpful in pinpointing the types of content to promote on social media in the future.
Prioritize addressing pages with high bounce rates to enhance user engagement and SEO performance.
People vote with their clicks, so pages that people exit from quickly need to be fixed or possibly removed altogether ASAP, starting with the worst offenders first.
High bounce rates are more than a bad stat, they highlight pages that users are ignoring and can cause headaches by hurting your overall SEO.
Ensure alignment between SEO elements and content to maximize visibility and click-through rates on search engines.
Both your title and meta description need to be compelling as it's what people see when they search Google, so review both thoroughly and make sure they match the page content.
They also need to be reflective of the underlying content or you could suffer low click-throughs and high bounce rates.
Focus on creating content that aligns with pages holding visitors' attention the longest, optimizing resources effectively.
Your visitors may be looking at one type of page much longer than others, prioritize those when thinking about your new content and what you'll collect for it.
Don't waste time (and money) building out sections, creating written content, videos and more that don't hold attention. Find the trends and build on them.
Inbound links, or backlinks, are links from other sites back to your content. They create trust, build authority and prove you have good content on offer.
Evaluate the impact of inbound links on each page's SEO performance, preserving link equity through strategic page management decisions.
Identify which pages have quality inbound links and avoid hurting SEO by removing a page with loads of them; use 301 redirects if you do have to remove a page to preserve the link juice from those inbound links.
Chapter 4
Content gathering is more than just corralling the various types of content you plan to use into a single, well-organized workspace. Remember, we're living in a content-first world now, or at least the companies and websites that win are, and gathering the right content is where it all starts. That requires a defined workflow and the right content gathering tools.
The content gathering process encompasses all types of content and necessitates a well-organized content inventory. On top of text-based content, images, videos and audio are essential components that captivate users. Additional content assets like downloadable files and tabular data can provide even more value to users. This is where your content audit plays a big role.
Don't forget about metadata, including meta descriptions,and SEO elements like page headings and image alt tags, which are crucial for optimizing a website's discoverability and user experience.
Establishing an explicit due date for each piece of content and expectations for clients, particularly new clients, is vital. It encourages a smooth flow of work by providing clarity on the content to be delivered and the timeframe for delivery. Realistic deadlines help avoid last-minute pressure, enabling better quality work and reducing stress.
Having clear deadlines and due dates when you request content makes your entire web design process more efficient by ensuring everything is on time. Consider setting automated reminders to keep clients on schedule.
Whether it's a content writer, a video producer or a graphic designer, content creators depend on comprehensive guidelines to direct their work towards your vision. When gathering content, provide guidelines that encapsulate all aspects necessary for content creation, including style and tone guides, product specifics and guidance regarding tools required to produce content.
A brand style guide ensures uniformity in content and visual coherence across all of a brand's content.
One of the most difficult aspects of content collection is a scattered workflow, spread across a maze of apps, where content and communication are bound to get lost. Sure you can make requests via Google forms or email and follow up on Slack and the like but most clients crave a streamlined approach to getting things done on a project. A dedicated tool like Slickplan's Content Planner functions as a centralized hub for all content collection and associated communication.
We highlight six great tools to build your entire content gathering workflow below to help you plan content better.
Plan smarter content with Slickplan
Chapter 5
Gathering content for website use goes from the obvious, like written content and images, to the more subtle, like image alt tags. There are certain types of web content you must include in your website content plan as well as some helpful additions and optional recommendations. The most highly recommended types are those that drive design but also included is content that aids in SEO content planning, SEO content management and workflow support too.
Highly recommended
Recommended
Optional
Chapter 6
Content gathering and the web design process are going to look different depending on where you are in a website's production lifecycle, be it a new site, a website redesign or streamlining content creation for existing active websites.
An essential part of optimizing content planning workflow and the website planning process is to define and create content before designs or layouts are built. This strategy is optimal for web development efficiency and creating a top tier user experience.
The message comes before visuals in a content-first world. Why? Because people (and search engines) want to find the info they're after, not just a pretty page. That means sourcing content before going deep into the design process and providing your content writer with visual references to guide them.
Content collection is an exercise in centralizing content for easy access. Whether you use email, web forms, Google Docs or a dedicated tool to send content requests and scoop up the goods, you'll want to standardize the workflow so your entire team, and clients, are on the same page.
Maintaining a single content database makes collaboration with different members of the team easier and creates a smoother feedback and approval loop with clients. When your content is centralized and organized, you can also avoid unnecessary delays in getting your website project moving.
A content collection plan for existing active websites aids in content management strategy, clearing bottlenecks and ensuring all content requests yield solid, timely results. A clear process also reigns in endless back and forth en route to faster publishing.
For a redesign or continuing work on an existing website, it all begins with a content audit. How else are you going to know the strengths and weaknesses of what's already there or sort out where opportunities to fill content gaps may exist?
Whether you run one website or a dozen, process creates progress. After the audit, look into the current content collection workflow. Is it sifting through countless email notifications? Is a gathering tool in use? Do you send automated reminders?
A plan for active content gathering is key when creating content regularly for a blog, press center or agency with multiple clients, for example. When content is on a deadline, building an ordered content gather workflow calms the chaos, allowing you to release new material on time. Something that'll serve you well on future projects too.
Chapter 7
Content gathering tools are an integral part of curating the right content for your audience. Building websites is a fluid process though with information architecture constantly changing; page locations shift, menus disappear, blogs emerge and more. Website content collection software like our Content Planner, where you can collaborate, assign tasks and due dates, is only part of an efficient content creation operation.
A properly managed workflow requires more than one tool to get raw content in the door and turned into polished site content. Content collection is part of your broader web design and development operation and many people are going to need access to what's gathered.
To that end, you'll want to use a suite of tools that work together to make everyone's life easier. That means considering tools for storage, project management and communication as well as research tools to guide the content you'll be collecting resources for.
Chapter 8
About us page template 
Blog post template 
Contact page template 
Landing page template 
Product catalog template 
Product page template 
Services page template 
Team page template Discover more free content templatesFree demo – See how Slickplan works
Let us show you how easy planning websites can be!
To collect content from your clients, establish clear communication channels and use a specialized tool to gather content like Slickplan's Content Planner. Provide each client with content briefs and detailed instructions outlining required formats and due dates. Regular follow-ups help ensure timely submission.
For website design projects, you'll want to start gathering content early in the process. Collaborate with clients to gather text, images and branding elements. Clearly outline what's needed upfront to streamline the workflow and ensure content aligns with the website's goals.
Content management strategy is a roadmap for planning, organizing, creating and publishing web content. A well-thought-out strategy ensures your content aligns with your business goals, attracts visitors and keeps your site fresh and engaging.
Previous
Bring content planning and creation under one roof with Slickplan—a centralized workspace to simplify content development that integrates into your CMS of choice.
Next
Remove the chaos from creating content by building a better workflow. Follow our guide and get recommendations of the best tools to use from research to publication.
Streamline your content operation and collect everything in one place with Slickplan's Content Planner.
We were using GatherContent and it was fine but not nearly as useful as Slickplan. In the past I was juggling several different apps and now I don’t have to!
Neil Kulas, Web Designer at Tobii Dynavox Cause
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