Intranet pages don’t need to be pretty, they need to be up-to-date and work

A beautifully designed intranet page looks great, but the reality is, it’s useless – and an expensive time waster – if it doesn’t clearly provide the information employees are looking for.

For an intranet to be successful – that is, for it to work for employees - pages need to be up-to-date, easy to use and capable of driving an action.

SWOOP Analytics’ benchmarking study of SharePoint intranets found the quality of intranet pages correlates with the number of visitors coming to the page. Higher quality = more visitors. Both content and news pages with custom made content attract four times as many visits as pages using already existing, or compiled, content.

We also found “content” pages – like HR pages, leave applications, travel expenses - as opposed to “news” pages, get three times more visits.

With these findings in mind, we asked the world’s premier intranet thought leaders and specialists how intranet managers can ensure their content is high quality and up to date. 

Chris Harrer, Assistant Vice President, Internal Communications – Digital, Comcast.

Chris Harrer, Assistant Vice President, Internal Communications – Digital, at US-based technology and entertainment giant Comcast, says it’s usually the “content” pages that drive people to the intranet in the first place, and they must be up to date.

“Proper design and layout play a key role in all pages on your intranet,” Chris said.

“No one wants to see a poorly designed page that doesn’t flow.”

Having said that, “content” pages must provide the information people need, and while “news” pages provide a snapshot of something happening in the moment, they may be more “nice to know” rather than essential for information.

“Feel good stories and culture building news is always needed to drive positive culture and engagement, but the ‘content’ pages are where the information lies that people search out and look for to learn or drive an action (generally),” Chris said.

“Content pages also need to be updated from time to time, if not regularly, so people know that the content is up-to-date and recent. Sometimes a refresh of content needs to also be redesigned to drive engagement as well.”

Suzie Robinson, Specialist, ClearBox Consulting.

Suzie Robinson, a specialist at UK-based intranet consultancy ClearBox Consulting, likens a poor-looking intranet to an office covered in rubbish, with old posters on the wall and cracks in the ceiling - you wouldn’t want to go there!

“The equivalent in intranet form won’t inspire people to visit, and highlights the need for intranets to be loved,” she said.

Suzie has seen organisations looking to replace intranet software, when what they really needed was a good tidy-up and governance put in place.

“Sometimes an overhaul and fresh start will help, but if there aren’t processes in place to maintain it then the intranet will get messy again,” Suzie said.

“Governance doesn’t need to be onerous or complex, but roles and expectations need to be clear.”

Suzie says documenting those who are responsible and accountable for pages is vitally important to an intranet’s success, as is their commitment to their responsibilities.

There should also be automatic archiving of old or unloved content to reduce the burden on those responsible for content.

“It’s an old saying but still relevant here: ‘content is king’. In my opinion, while responsibility for content should reside with those who are experts on their subject, ensuring the design and copy is appropriate is something experts within the intranet team should at least influence or potentially control,” Suzie said.

She said even if there aren’t dedicated resources for an intranet team, there will be people across the organisation who could add their expertise to the overall intranet management committee.

“Although the upcoming (Microsoft 365) Copilot releases for SharePoint may well enable more people to create attractive pages, intranet managers should still make time to edit and sign off on content spaces,” Suzie said.

Susan Hanley, Microsoft SharePoint and M365 specialist.

Like Suzie, Microsoft SharePoint and M365 specialist Susan Hanley says governance is the most important thing intranet managers can do to ensure their content is high quality and up to date.

“Content management responsibility needs to be incorporated into job descriptions and performance goals for all publishers,” she said.

“But in addition, we can’t overlook training. Most people creating SharePoint pages have absolutely no background in creating web pages or writing web content.

“I think Designer for SharePoint should be able to help with this – but I am very concerned that we might get beautiful crappy pages instead of just crappy pages.”

Susan said the key to high quality content is training and perhaps better templates.

“Embed the training for how to create great page content in the page template and give people templates for different types of content that are bespoke to the organisation,” she said.

James Robertson, Owner, Step Two.

James Robertson, owner of Australian-based intranet consultancy Step Two, says the single most effective thing that can be done to improve intranet content is to establish a vibrant “authoring community of practice” which encompasses the central intranet team, and everyone involved in creating and maintaining content.

This needs to be a true community, not just a support line or a communications channel to authors.

James listed the benefits of such a group as:

• Fostering a shared sense of ownership of the intranet and the content it contains.

• Providing an effective mechanism to strengthen the knowledge and capabilities of authors to produce quality content.

• Reducing the reliance on one-to-one support of authors by the central team, because the entire group can be engaged.

• Building on natural “group dynamics” to encourage greater time commitment from authors.

• Encouraging peer support within the group, which is invaluable as the number of authors increases.

• Enabling the whole group to be kept in the loop, regarding major intranet projects or ongoing incremental changes.

• Providing resilience to the natural comings-and-goings of authors and ensuring continuity of engagement.

• Providing a forum that valuable information can be shared with for the benefit of all.

Jonathan Phillips, Co-founder, Lithos Partners.

Jonathan Phillips, co-founder of Lithos Partners, a UK-based digital communication and collaboration consultancy, says the best intranets define and, critically, enforce content standards so users have confidence that any page they land on is up-to-date and easy to read.

“For best results we recommend clear, documented content guidelines and using the functionality of the CMS (content management system) itself to maintain compliance using templates and prompts,” he said.

“But this all works best where editors and contributors understand the purpose of content standards and their own role in maintaining them. So training is vital.”

Jamie Stokes, Director, Digital Communications, Cox Enterprises.

When every page looks the same on the intranet, it’s hard to differentiate relevant content, says Jamie Stokes, Director, Digital Communications at Cox Enterprises, America’s largest private broadband company.

“Content teams need to customise and give employees a reason to click,” Jamie advises.

“Stay in the sweet spot for article length, entice with engaging headlines and break up the text with relevant images and calls to action. This can be achieved on pages and news.“

Jonas Bladt Hansen, Co-founder, Next Level IC.

Jonas Bladt Hansen, co-founder of Danish internal communications consultancy Next Level IC, agrees it is crucial to regularly review and update the content on intranet pages, especially those with the highest traffic.

“Each page should focus on a single topic, have concise text, and clear calls to action,” he said.

“Additionally, analysing user interactions on the pages is essential to ensure they align with the intended user journey.”