About Me

Welcome! I’m Christopher J. Sparks, a seasoned Web Strategist passionate about crafting digital experiences that resonate with audiences and drive meaningful engagement. With a rich background in web content management, digital strategy, and technical writing, I’ve dedicated my career to bridging the gap between technology and storytelling.

At the heart of my approach lies a commitment to simplicity and clarity. Whether it’s developing intuitive website content, engaging technical write-ups, or impactful marketing materials, my goal is always to distill complex concepts into accessible and compelling narratives. This dedication has been a constant throughout my journey, from my role at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to my diverse projects across various industries.

UMass

Digital Content & Analytics Strategist
MAR 2021 – Present

Web Strategist
APR 2016 – MAR 2021

As the Web Strategist for the University of Massachusetts, I spearheaded the development of a comprehensive content strategy that has become a cornerstone of the university’s digital transformation. My tenure at UMass, my alma mater, was not just a professional role but a deeply personal commitment to elevating the institution that shaped my early academic and professional life.

Central to my work was crafting and implementing a content strategy framework tailored to the university’s dynamic needs. This process involved deep collaboration with various stakeholders across the university to ensure the strategy aligned with UMass’s broader educational goals and values. By leveraging data analytics and user feedback, I refined our approach to deliver content that resonated with our diverse audience, from prospective and current students to faculty and alums.

The strategy encompassed everything from website architecture and user experience design to SEO and cross-platform integration. This ensured a seamless and coherent presence across all digital platforms, significantly boosting user engagement and site metrics. A crucial part of my role involved educating and mentoring departmental teams, empowering them with the tools and knowledge to implement best practices in content creation and management.

One of my proudest achievements was leading the migration of departmental websites to more advanced platforms, enhancing functionality, and ensuring robust security protocols. These upgrades were critical in supporting the university’s reputation as a leading educational institution and handling increased traffic from our expanding online community.

Through these initiatives, I contributed to enhancing the university’s web presence. I ensured that our content strategy reflected UMass’s prestige and academic rigor. The experience was profoundly rewarding, combining my professional skills with my passion for my alma mater and underscoring the pivotal role of strategic digital content in contemporary education.

Through these initiatives, I contributed to enhancing the university’s web presence. I ensured that our content strategy reflected UMass’s prestige and academic rigor. The experience was profoundly rewarding, combining my professional skills with my passion for my alma mater and underscoring the pivotal role of strategic digital content in contemporary education.

historic northampton

Content Strategy Consultant
MAR 2020 – SEP 2020

In my role with Historic Northampton, I led a transformative content strategy initiative, effectively marrying historical richness with modern digital utility. My collaboration with staff, stakeholders, and local historians was integral to creating a content framework that preserved the site’s legacy and catered to current trends. Key to this approach was conducting in-depth research on the most effective social channels for engaging their current and prospective users, tailored to specific demographics. The research informed the development of a user survey with targeted questions designed to capture the community’s pulse and inform the new site’s direction.

My efforts included meticulous planning of sitemaps, user personas, and a comprehensive content audit, ensuring a smooth fusion of archival material with interactive features like events, blogs, and dynamic updates. I established crucial guiding documents such as content operations protocols and a style guide. The culmination of this work is a revitalized website, set to launch this year, that seamlessly integrates Historic Northampton’s storied past with a vibrant, engaging digital presence that resonates with its audience across preferred social platforms.

last call media

Content Strategist
JUL 2014 – APR 2015

Project Manager
OCT 2013 – JUL 2014

I founded the Strategy department at Last Call Media with two main goals, supply clients with a history of traffic on their sites as it related to web development and to supply LCM with copy in the form of completed RFP bids.

Being a Project Manager was certainly client facing, but being a Strategist takes advocating on the client’s behalf to another level. Most of my conversations turned out to revolve around implementing responsive templates because mobile viewership had quietly grown to be 30% or more of their traffic, something you just couldn’t know without looking at the statistics and discovery methods. I also crafted and implemented all deliverables regarding Content Strategy, including intake, proposed Sitemaps, Analytic Reports and Brand & SEO Assessments.

I had enjoyed writing for years but filling out RFP bids was the first time I had to write, and in the beginning it was a struggle as I had not yet developed my own writing discipline. Fortunately with some editing support we managed to win 50% of the bids we submitted. I think it was during this time I really began to think of myself as a writer. When I was not busy attending local Drupal meetings I managed to get to a few of the big events including NYCC and CONFAB Central.

collaborative for educational services

Web Developer
APR 2007 – JUN 2013

The Collaborative is an experienced and far reaching Educational Services Agency based in Western Massachusetts. The Collaborative provides many services, but is known most for providing Special Education for rural districts, Special Education licensure for teachers, Assistive Technology library, Early Childhood education as well as providing education in DYS and SEIS facilities (that’s the short list, seriously).

I joined the Collaborative, then and for three decades previous the Hampshire Educational Collaborative or HEC at a period of technical expansion. The Collaborative needed to move forward and build a more robust technical structure as well as diversify and expand their influence on the web. The tech team helped to expand boundaries of what the Collaborative was known for by building and hosting sites for member districts and other ESAs. At the end of six short years I managed and had built most of the Collaborative’s 20 websites, even managing to design, write copy and generate content methodologies for a few, including MOEC, FLLAC, Hatfield Public Schools, RC Mahar, Dean Tech, the Center for English Language Education (CELE), Teaching American History and Unlocking the Light. Quite an adventure.

In addition to developing and managing websites I was also tasked with managing and administering the Moodle deployment. As the Licensure program grew Moodle became the technical backbone for delivering quality professional development to hundreds of students.

It was at the Collaborative that I first became interested in web traffic statistics, in this case through Google Analytics. I created the Collaborative Constellation, a two page report of the major traffic identifiers across all of the Collaborative’s websites including social media fields and some technical data on the site’s version, age and database size. The Constellation helped department and program leaders see the value of their online investment individually and as one Collaborative.