Copy Deck Templates / Structure

[John Manacmul]

Hey, all!

I was wondering if any of you can lend me insight with regard to
structuring or developing a copy deck. I work at a smaller marketing
agency down in Orange County, CA, and I'm working closely with our
Regional VP to develop and formalize some kind of documentation for
this. With that said, do any of you out there have any resources (i.e.
websites, templates or documents) that you're willing to share, and
perhaps I can refer to?

Thanks!

All the best,

John

[Melanie Seibert]

Hi John. I'm fairly new at using a copy deck, but I've recently developed ones that suit our particular needs.

What I've done is look at the wireframe created by our designers, and give each piece of text on the wireframe its own entry in the copy deck.

If you google, you can find one or two examples. I'll attach an example of the type of document I use (it's just a Pages file with a table; I'm sure there are better ways to do it).

Here are some links that may help:

http://blog.braintraffic.com/2010/02/anatomy-of-a-web-content-document/
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/content-templates-to-the-rescue/

You'll have to tailor it pretty heavily to suit your needs. But I do find that it helps designers see which content goes where. It also takes the pressure off of them to come up with content, right down to link text, buttons, and metadata.

Good luck!
Melanie

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[Tiedtke, Nicole]

Hi everyone,

 

we are using several templates, depending on content area and task. Some of them I also found opnline (Jeff Veen's content inventory....Content Strategy tips from usability.gov...online writing guidelines from Gerry McGovern etc.), some where developed by me for our own needs.

 

Feel free to use them as you see fit :-)

 

Thanks,

Nikki

_________________________________________________

Nikki Tiedtke | EU Senior Content Strategist | eBay GmbH

Phone: + 49. 30. 8019. 5361
Mobile: + 49. 151. 52 66 15 92

Skype: nikkitiedtkeebay
E-Mail: nicole....@ebay.de
Web: www.ebay.de

 

Marktplatz 1 | 14532 Europarc Dreilinden | Germany

 

Geschäftsführer: Dr. Stefan Zoll
HRB Nr.: 13754 P, Amtsgericht Potsdam
Sitz der Gesellschaft: Kleinmachnow

 

 

---

From: content...@googlegroups.com [mailto:content...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Melanie Seibert
Sent: Freitag, 28. Mai 2010 05:49
To: content...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Copy Deck Templates / Structure

[Margaret Black]

Thanks to all.  Your set is a great reference, Nikki.

[Meghan Casey]

You may find this blog post helpful:
http://blog.braintraffic.com/2010/02/anatomy-of-a-web-content-document/

[John Manacmul]

Thank you all for these wonderful references and templates! Thankful
to have a very supportive group. You guys are the best! :)

On May 28, 1:51 pm, Meghan Casey <mecas...@gmail.com> wrote:
> You may find this blog post helpful:http://blog.braintraffic.com/2010/02/anatomy-of-a-web-content-document/
>
> On May 27, 4:20 pm, John Manacmul <john.manac...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hey, all!
>
> > I was wondering if any of you can lend me insight with regard to

> > structuring or developing acopydeck. I work at a smaller marketing

[Natalie Dunbar]

I've just stumbled upon this group and have found the resources here quite helpful. I've just started a (hopefully) long term contract position as a content strategist with an ad firm, and had been asked to produce a copy deck. In roles past, we had not created such a doc, so I was very thankful to find downloadable templates shared here.

What I'm certain of is WHEN in the content strategy process the copy deck is or should be delivered. The visual designer I'm working with mentioned something about it being in conjunction with the preliminary site map they are planning to produce as part of a site design, but I'm stumped on the when and how of this process.

Looking for some insight and real world examples if you can share.

Thank you!

Nataie

[Robin Greif]

This is great info. Does anyone know a book that covers how to create copy templates for writing websites? I haven't found anything but a consultant who sells a kit for $65.00. -Robin

[Hilary Marsh]

Hi Robin,

I think what you’re talking about is called, in content strategy parlance, a page table. 

Here’s an article you might find helpful:

https://gathercontent.com/blog/a-guide-to-strategic-content-templates

Best,

Hilary

Hilary Marsh

President and Chief Strategist, Content Company

312-806-7854  |  hil...@hilarymarsh.com

Content strategy consultant, speaker, teacher
http://www.hilarymarsh.com 

Set up a chat: https://hilarymarsh.youcanbook.me 

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[Melanie Seibert]

And if I'm not mistaken, this article by Erin Kissane refers to them as "content templates": http://alistapart.com/article/content-templates-to-the-rescue

It's not a book, but may also help. Cheers!

Melanie

[Rahel Anne Bailie]

There's the "yes but but but" part of me that wants to say: depending on the CMS, you won't be creating "pages" per se, and the content will be shown in various places in different formats, and there's all sorts of metadata that has to be attached, so why use those templates, and instead use a schema. But I'll just retreat to my lair ...

Rahel Anne Bailie, Content Strategy & Ecosystems / Content Management & Design
Content strategies for business impact 
Mobile: +44 (0) 7869 643 685 / skype: rahelab
Co-producer: Content Strategy Workshops
Co-editor: The Language of Content Strategy
Co-author: Content Strategy: Connecting the dots between business, brand, and benefits

[Hilary Marsh]

I agree with that completely. And there’s also the fact that there’s something about content in a Word doc or other template that implies that it’s permanent, which is not usually the case — and shouldn’t be.

[Robin Greif]

Hi, This is all great but I was looking for a sample copy deck for a website that was written (or not).

Robin

[Rahel Anne Bailie]

Gather Content has some good examples. In fact, if you create an account with them (30 day free trial), you will see a dummy project that you can use. Don't know if that helps, but it sounds closer to what you want.

[Melanie Seibert]

I just checked, and Meghan Casey's book The Content Strategy Toolkit comes with a ton of downloads, one of which contains a sample page table. HTH!