How to Create A Website Content Template in Google Docs for Your Team

When you have a team of writers and editors working on your content, creating a template is very important.

A content template outlines what you expect in terms of content quality and standards from all your writers and editors. Basically, it acts as a crucial resource for your entire content team.

That’s why it’s important to create this template in a Google Doc. Since Google Docs makes sharing and real-time collaboration much simpler than an offline document, it’s perfect for creating such resources.

This tutorial explains how can you create a proper website content template in Google Docs. Let’s see!

How to Create A Website Content Template in Google Docs: Step-by-Step Instructions

There are many things that go into making a perfect website content template that can guide your team on how to create the content for your needs.

The template should clearly outline where and how the different elements of a particular web page should be placed.

Here’s everything that should be a part of your website content template created in Google Docs:

#1. Title Instructions

The title of any web page is its most important element because it’s the first thing that’s visible in search results. Therefore, it’s important to get it right.

Now, in order to ensure that your team gets it right you should include specific instructions that must be followed while creating the title of a web page.

At the very least, your title instructions in the template should define the following:

1. Title length
2. Title type
3. Primary keyword to target in the title

You can also choose to include more details regarding how the titles should be written depending on your needs and expertise, but this is the bare minimum that must be included.  

#2. Subtitle or Description Instructions

Many web pages also include a subtitle or description after the title.

If you want it to be included in your web page, instructions regarding how it has to be written, how long it needs to be, and how it needs to hook the reader should also be included in your Google Docs website content template.

#3. Meta Description Instructions

The meta description is short (i.e. only 140 – 150 characters in length), but besides the title, it’s the only thing that shows in search results.

That makes it the second most important part of a webpage after title. Therefore, your content template should also include instructions about the meta description.

#4. Structure or Table Of Contents

The structure of a web page (a Table of Contents in the case of articles and blog posts) defines how different elements of a page are put together to form the complete web page.

This structure defines the order in which all the elements of a webpage need to be put for creating a cohesive experience. Here’s what should you outline in it:

#4.1. Headings and subheadings

You should explain how many headings and subheadings need to be included in the page.

You should also detail the heading levels (i.e. H1, H2, H3, H4, etc.) that need to be followed while creating the content of web page.

#4.2. Images, videos, and other media

Images, videos, infographics, and other media bring web pages to life.

They are as important for a web page as the body text, so your Google Docs website content template should explain how many images and other media have to be used in a webpage, and where exactly they go.

#4.3. Table(s)

Some things are better explained through tables. If your content is going to need one or more tables in order to explain something, it’ll be a good idea to outline the structure, number, and location of tables in your content template.

#4.4 Lists

Lists break down complex information into easily digestible bites. Bullet lists, numbered lists, and even checklists are used in web pages nowadays to make content more easily understandable. You too should definitely use them (especially in your articles and blog posts).

And if you plan to use them, you’ll also have to explain in your template the type of lists that can be put in the content and the minimum or maximum number of lists that can be used.

#5. Other Instructions

There are many other things too that go into making a web page with engaging content. To ensure that they are implemented by your writers and editors you should include them as well in your Google Docs website content template. Here they are:

#5.1. Formatting instructions

Proper formatting makes content much easier to understand and a lot less overwhelming. Simple things like making important terms bold, italic, or underlined can help people understand what action they need to take.

Similarly, longer web pages, when broken down into multiple small paragraphs, can make people feel less overwhelmed by the amount of information they need to consume.

Therefore, you should include these as well as other formatting instructions in your website content template to ensure that all your writers and editors follow these guidelines.  

#5.2. Frameworks to be followed

There are a number of copywriting frameworks that are used to generate click-worthy and highly converting copy. Some popular ones include:

• Problem, Agitation, and Solution (PAS) Framework
• Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action (AIDA) framework
• Before-After Bridge
• Promise, Proof, Picture, Pitch (PPPP) framework.

If you’re creating the template for web page copy, it should define which of the frameworks should be followed for creating a copy that converts.

#5.3. Tone guidelines

The tone of content on a web page is as important as the content itself. If the tone is not right, it can either bore the user or outright frustrate them in the worst cases.

In order to ensure that all your content generated by the team strikes the right tone it will be a good idea to include details about the tone as well in your Google Docs website content template.

#5.4. SEO Instructions

Finally, the SEO part. Search Engines drive a majority of traffic to all websites, and therefore you can’t ignore the importance of SEO while creating the content for your web pages.

All your content has to have some basic SEO features (i.e. proper keyword placement, Alt tags, and captions for images, metadata, etc.) if it has to rank in SERPs, so you’ll be better off if you include some basic SEO instructions as well in your website content template.

Similar Tutorials to Check Out

• How to Make a Timeline on Google Docs: A timeline explains how different events unfolded during a certain period of time. Google Docs can be a good tool to create such outlines that can be easily shared too. That/s why this tutorial explains how to use it for creating timelines.
• How to Create a Calendar in Google Docs: You can also create a shareable calendar in Google Docs that can be used for various purposes. This tutorial explains how to do that.
• How to Use Pros and Cons Templates in Google Docs: Finally, a Pros and Cons template explains the merits and demerits of doing something. This tutorial explains how such templates can be created using Google Docs.

Wrapping Up

So that’s how you can create a website content template in Google Docs that keeps all your writers and editors on the same page (pun intended).

If you still have any doubts regarding the process, feel free to share them in the comments and we’ll respond to them as soon as possible.

And if you learned something useful from here, do share this guide on social media too because that would encourage us to create more such content.