This page is an example of cornerstone content. How to write this type of content is an assignment for the second-year “Web Publishing” class.
Billy Poppins doesn’t really exist
Billy is a fictitious graphic and web design student. This site is a demonstration for the benefit of the students currently enrolled in the Web Publishing course.
The course is an introduction to using WordPress as a web publishing platform. It focuses on content creation, search engine optimization, and the techniques required to build an online audience.
Billy “attends” GWD at JAC
The Billy account is used for demos in the Graphic & Web Design department at John Abbott College in Montreal.
Writing an effective “About” page
For GWD students, writing their “About” page accomplishes several objectives:
- Presents themselves as “the person behind the site”
- Establishes in what location they live
- Establishes the fact that they are students
- Defines what their personal interests are
- Defines what career objectives they have
- Explains that there is a three week stage in the last semester
- Explains if they expect to go to university or straight to the job market
- Link to examples of web design
- Link to examples of graphic design
The “About” page is written with a potential employer or client in mind.
Search Engine Optimization
Using the Yoast SEO plugin, students will optimize their “About” page for their location (Montreal, West Island) and their industry (graphic and web design).
Yoast encourages writers to focus on keyphrases. These keyword combinations must be found in specific places within the article.
Using the 5 Ws
To fulfill the reader’s “need to know”, a writer must answer the five basic questions: Who? What? Where? When? and Why? These are known as the 5 Ws. Without them, the picture you paint in the reader’s mind is incomplete.
Who are you?
Explain yourself in general. How old you are. What school you attend. What interests you.
Where do you live?
Where in Montreal do you live? Do you commute to school by car or with public transportation? Do you want to move downtown when you graduate? Are you thinking of moving elsewhere?
What do you do?
Graphic and web design is made up of many specialties. Which ones interest you the most?
When will you start your career?
Will you be looking for a job in May 2028 or later?
Why have you chosen this career?
List which people or things influenced your decision to study graphic and web design.
A Portfolio is always Under Construction
A tip for graphic design students: start your graduating portfolio early
Build your portfolio continuously from the third semester onwards. You will never be completely satisfied with it. You will always be improving it. Get into the habit of replacing weaker work with newer stronger pieces.
One of the best GWD students redid her portfolio eight times during the three years she was at John Abbott College. Needless to say, but it looked much more professional than the portfolio of students who were only at version one.
Graphic Design is About Solving Communication Problems
When building your portfolio, take the time to speak about your work. Instead of just placing a picture on a page, explain the problem you solved.
On the high res picture page, add a paragraph or two explaining the story of the artwork.
Each graphic design project comes with its own constraints. Limits. Budget. Objectives. Timeline. Explain what you were asked to do. And why you did it the way you did. Employers want to see you as a problem solver. Explain the problem and the work you did to reach the solution.
What is Cornerstone Content?
According to Yoast:
Cornerstone content is the core of your website. It consists of the best, most important articles on your site; the pages or posts you want to rank highest in the search engines. Cornerstone articles are usually relatively long, informative articles, combining insights from different blog posts and covering everything that’s important about a certain topic.
Their focus is to provide the best and most complete information on a particular topic, rather than to sell products. Still, they should reflect your business or communicate your mission perfectly.
The Challenges of Writing Cornerstone Content
As the Yoast SEO plugin says, cornerstone content is meant to be important and extensive.
This means that the minimum amount of content required is three times greater than a regular blog post. Cornerstone content pages are expected to be at least 900 words.
Because of the importance of cornerstone pages, Yoast is more strict in evaluating the quality of the writing. Otherwise, it still uses the same checks as it does for regular blog posts.
Tips on Writing for the World Wide Web
Writing for the web is very different from any other form of writing.
- Online readers scan a page for parts they want to read.
- They don’t read, they skim.
- Use simple words. An average eleven-year-old should understand your page.
- Keep sentences short.
- Keep paragraphs short.
- Use subtitles to break your text into logical parts
- The subtitles should explain what follows so that the reader knows when to stopping skimming the page
- Use an active voice
- Use sentences with transition words
- Use outbound links: links to other websites
- Use inbound links: links to other pages on your site
Cornerstone content link structure
Your cornerstone pages are the backbone of your site’s content and search engine strategy. All your other pages are related to it somehow, and should link back to it.
Please read these three paragraphs: Link structure for cornerstones
Your Portfolio Site Introduces You to Strangers
In conclusion, your GWD ePortfolio isn’t just a collection of pretty pictures.
Its job is to explain who you are, where you are at professionally, and to give readers an easy way to follow your progress.
It works in tandem with your social media profile(s) to attract new followers, engage with them regularly, and make sure that when an opportunity comes up those readers think about you.
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