Content strategy guidance

Content strategy and best practice for faq.coronavirus.gov

Introduction

Coronavirus.gov serves as an interagency portal for definitive public information from the White House Coronavirus Task Force. The FAQ website is a user-friendly resource that allows the public to obtain authoritative information to their most frequently asked questions regarding COVID-19, including community, medical and economic information. In order to keep operations running smoothly — and to keep the site in compliance with both best practice and federal law — GSA TTS recommends the following content strategy.

Audience

Content is written for the general public. Our goal is to provide accurate, up-to-date information that:

• Is simple, easy to understand, and written in plain language
• Answers questions and concerns as directly as possible about coronavirus (COVID-19)
• Puts the user first, and helps reduce uncertainty and pain in a challenging time

This site is not intended for specialist audiences (healthcare professionals, funeral home workers, etc.). Our style guide below provides additional guidance on how to write for this audience.

Best practice

What good looks like

Why it works

Style guide

The following guidelines, based on 18F best practice, are a few of the simplest ways to help this site better serve the general public. If you have questions about style that aren’t covered here, they may be covered in the 18F Content Guide.

Abbreviations and acronyms

Avoid whenever possible. If they must be used, spell them out the first time and add the abbreviation in parentheses.

• ✅ National Business Emergency Operations Center (NBEOC)