If you are thinking of improving your intranet in 2023 then I really encourage you to think about training your intranet authors.
Setting platform choices aside, investing time in getting the words/images right can save hundreds of thousands of pounds in wasted staff time because your staff don’t have to wade through word soup.
I’ve taught intranet authors about:
- how to order their ideas on the page,
- how to use headings correctly so they improve search results
- how to get their pages coming up in search
- when to publish news and when to create pages and sites instead
- how to put the foundations of good governance in place
- how to make their content accessible not just for disabled people but also for neurodiverse people and of course “everyone”.
- how to choose images and size them correctly.
- how to tag things correctly
- how to write hyperlinks correctly
- consistency
- contrast
- balance
- hierarchy
- non-breaking spaces
- responsive design (making pages adapt to mobile/tablet/desktop smoothly)
- taxonomy and information architecture.
But don’t be fooled into thinking this is all technical stuff: it’s vital for all communicators to understand if you’re living and working in 2023.
If I can help with your intranet project this year, please drop me a line at andrew@andrewhesselden.com.