THE IMPORTANCE OF WHAT'S INSIDE

You spend thousands getting a state of the art website with links to Twitter, Facebook and other social media. Sitting back, everyone tells you how great your website looks and comments on its design.

However ...

Weeks drag on ... turning into months and your content dries out looking like a cheap supermarket paint job on a street cafe.

What am I saying? Business owners, marketing managers and even webmasters neglect the most basic facet of any marketing campaign. It's what's inside that counts and not what's on top.

Does your website, Facebook or Pinterest page have up to date, relevant content? It's probably the last thing you consider on a Friday afternoon and you switch off the office lights, lock the door and leave for home - cheerfully thinking that you will get to it in the next week.

Let me help you with this. It's what I do. Honest, clean and accurate content.

THE CASE FOR ACCURATE & PROFESSIONAL CONTENT

More than 50% of commercial and industrial clients still use print media publications as their informative source of reference. Of these readers, a large majority are in senior decision making positions - not having the time to learn and adapt to the messages of the social media on the web. Readers such these are looking for well written, informative content, supported by logical arguments. Electronic content is not always the ideal medium for this, especially with the evolution of smartphone platforms. How would you choose to address your serious technical message to someone reading the Twitter feed on their smartphone while on the airport bus?

Reliability of information.

This brings up the main point – how reliable is the information we receive? It's a fact that in this era of digital and other noise, content is king. For the firm of architects wanting to communicate their narrative of success, there is a desperate need for plain English. Well written content backed with photography that conveys a story. The same applies to a system or material supplier wanting their product or service offerings to be specified on the drawing board or bill of quantities. Effective communication with your desired audience depends on speaking to them in a language that

• Is of interest to them;
• Makes sense and;
• Is unambiguous and easily actionable.

Looking through some marketplace ads, it is often hard to see the point. Certain of these ads are prepared in graphics studios that know little about the end user and nothing about the technology. They are pleasant eye candy, that's all.

As a technical writer, photographer and professional content provider I have noticed many companies put serious well written content at the bottom of the pile in preparing their corporate and marketing communications. They seem to fall into the well worn trap of underestimating their audience. They need to bear in mind that readers expect a magazine to deliver content that provides relevance and solutions to problems.

Role of independent editorial.

How is this best done? Many publications, both online and in print offer opportunities for enhanced messaging via their editorial pages. Editorial is the news line of the magazine and readers expect useful information with relevance to their line of business. Editorial cannot simply be advertising that has been washed clean of slogans and logos. It needs to describe the importance of the subject generically to the interested person and then demonstrate impartially why your solution as a product, project manager, consultant or service provider met the needs of the client.

What does this mean?

This means plain but accurate English backed with decent photography, not simply a few images taken haphazardly with the smartphone.

CONTENT - THE WEBSITE AUTHOR'S BUGBEAR

We spend thousands of 'dollars' on making a nice web presentation - a great look and feel to our sites. Yet how often do we spend time working the content. 80 - 90 % of corporate websites fail to do the job they are intended to do!

That's because resources are needed for effective management of a website on an ongoing basis. This means responsible, informed and empowered management by professionals - much like a press/media editorial campaign.

Its amazing to see how many major companies still have entries for events and other information dating back to the year 2007. Unsurprising then that they are not getting the traffic they deserve through their website.

Yes, and one really important - basic item - Contact Details!!! Telephone directories are rapidly going out of vogue, yet how often is it a mission-and-a-half to find a company's telephone numbers, email address, physical address and the like. Are your company's key contact details readily accessible on your website? They should be on the Homepage. (Forget the mailto forms).

Somewhere among the exciting style sheets, the look and the feel of 21st Century web authoring software, we have forgotten the basics of communication.

Need help? See my ever-lasting entry on the ABC of Communication - below. Contact me for further information. My floating advert at the bottom of this Blog has all the information you need.