Do you have a go-to content planning tool?

[LoriHibma]

We're looking for a tool/system to track the (internal) linking strategy of a client's website, the content on the client's website and its hierarchy, we also want this same tool to maintain a database we can continually update with notes on each associated page along with a link to the page once it is brought live?

Are there any potential options you're aware of? Thus far, the best tool that can be found seems to be Slickplan.

[ronell-smith]

Hi Lori,

I remember being asked this question two years ago, when I interviewed for a job at a successful digital marketing agency. My answer, then as now, was "I think some processes are too important to automate," especially early on.

My suggestion - one that I've seen worth seamlessly in action - is to have warm bodies in place who can help with much of the heavy lifting, then use automation to help.

• Stay on top of what happening with the site by monitoring Google Analytics
• Monitor the site for problems by using a crawler, such as Moz Analytics or Screaming Frog
• Go heavy on the link analysis with Majestic to discern the type and quality of the links you're acquiring.
• Hire a strong UX/UI person to ensure that site architecture is sound.
• Ensure that there is at least one content strategist on the team who can make sure that process is aligned with practice
• Use the steps above to get good at creating valuable content for your audience.
• Repeat

I know this likely doesn't precisely answer your question, but it's the one I give most often - and with great results.

RS

[LoriHibma]

Thank you for the response Ronell.

To give you some insight, we actually have all of this in-place and have been operating now for five years. We pump-out endless amounts of excellent content four our clients but there is still one issue at play through all of the time spent on content, there is not a good system (that we've found as of yet) to properly catalog said content, note the posted date of each, display which pieces are linked to one another, and which services/categories have what forms/pieces of content written for them in the past.

Does anyone else care to share what their current method is for logging all of your old/new content, where it's linking, along with additional notes?

[ronell-smith]

OK. Sorry for the long-winded, non-sensical answer, then.

The best system I've seen to keep track of such information is to use an Excel spreadsheet. I don't currently have any such documents to share, but I'm certain you can ask around, on Twitter and Facebook, to locate several options that would suit your needs.

Let us know how it turns out.

RS

[KaneJamison]

I'll add a +1 to a good spreadsheet that is easily updated by anyone involved.

Interlinking is a difficult thing to track the way you're saying, because you're essentially keeping an updated 3d network of interlinked pages.

Screaming Frog is a pretty good way to keep this in an accessible format, but takes plenty of work to dig in and see if there are changes to which pages are interlinked. Inbound/outbound links is a decent estimate of how this changes over time, and is a good way to make sure there's plenty of internal links to pages you want to rank better.

[LoriHibma]

FYI - We've decided to go the route of using Slickplan for tracking the use of content on each account. Over the last few days we've found it to be a very useful tool once you customize it to your needs.

[ronell-smith]

Lori,

Thanks for letting us know. About to click the link to learn more about the brand now.

RS