What’s it like at Brain Traffic, you ask? I believe my feelings would best be expressed in song.
No, I'm not going to sing. I'm going to reference.
What we do Believe it or not, there aren’t a whole lot of tunes with “content strategy” or “IA” or “web writing” in the title. But let’s face it, even if there were songs like that – who would listen to them? (I mean, except us.) There are, however, lots of great numbers that talk about what we do and how we think.
"It Takes Time to Build" – The Beastie Boys
“The Architect” – dEUS
“Oxford Comma” – Vampire Weekend
“The Writer” – The Drawing Board
Rhett & Link “Internet Overdose”
Who(m) we love Seriously. Like, these are BT spouse projects.
Where we live and work Oh, sure. There are the staples from Minneapolis – Prince, Soul Asylum, The Replacements – but there aren’t a whole heck of a lot of songs that talk about our town. These do …
That Dog "Minneapolis"
Vic Volare “I’m Gonna Miss Minneapolis”
How we roll Every Friday, we celebrate Disco Friday at the office. This event can include, but is not limited to: Disco tunes, a couple of beers, and an intercom session with Rick Astley piped through the entire office. (That's right, we RickRoll OURSELVES.)
I’ve been writing for websites since 1997. You know what that makes me? Old.
It also means I’ve wrangled a lot of web content over the years. For a while, I really believed that great web writing was all about shorter paragraphs and bulleted lists. Then I discovered metadata. Content inventories. Dynamic content modules. Nomenclature.
If you’re looking for a seminar about writing great homepage taglines, then any run-of-the-mill advertising copywriting course would be fine for you.
But if you’re interested in really understanding what it takes to be a smart, successful web writer in 2009, then I’d like you invite you to register for my March 11 seminar, “Writing for Websites.”
You’ll learn:
Why writing for websites is different from writing for print
How to write great web content using our Top 10 Tips
SEO copywriting basics
How to create a smarter, more efficient workflow for drafting, reviewing, editing and approving content
What metadata is and why you should care
How a content inventory will change your life
Even though the seminar is still a month away, we’re already 80% sold out. The time to register is now.
Find out more, or call Josh at 612-331-6600 x60 with any questions.
My husband John is addicted to dwell magazine. Like, seriously addicted. When an issue arrives in the mail, he disappears for hours. I imagine him locked in the bathroom, lovingly caressing each glossy page. I call it his "house porn."
So imagine my surprise when John recently announced that he was thinking about possibly not renewing.
"I'm just THINKING about it," he said. (Because, you know. He can quit whenever he wants.)
John's subscription is about to expire on its own. We've had the renewal letters stacking up while he "thinks" about it.
But today, we got a letter that helped him make the decision.
At the top of the letter is the usual dire warning:
YOUR NEXT ISSUE IS YOUR LAST. HURRY! DON'T MISS AN ISSUE!
But then, the real letter begins. It's from Sam Grawe, editor-in-chief of dwell.
It reads:
Dear Preferred Subscriber,
Frankly, I'm surprised things have come this far. Your subscription is about to expire, and I can't understand why.
You live by your own rules. You're passionate about good design. And you've got a lively, modern eye and the courage to live differently in a nation of ranchburgers, neo-colonials, and McMansions.
Which means you're one of us. So why haven't you renewed?
Let's break this down, shall we?
First, Sam chastises and shames my husband, his "preferred subscriber."
Next, he reminds us that we are way, way better than the unimaginative, frightened people who cower in their ranchburgers and McMansions. (A little name-calling always helps to drive the point home.)
Finally, he announces that we have apparently (and unknowingly) signed up for his secret club of "us" . . . which obviously requires renewal if ,and only if, we wish to remain members.
Seriously?
This is dwell's best and final attempt at customer retention?
Whether you are reaching out to me via email, your web content, social media, mobile, a direct mail piece, a phone call, or carrier pigeon, I expect—no, demand—your respect.
Never, ever attempt to frighten or shame your customer into action. It's manipulative, it's dishonest, and it's downright tacky.
Whether or not the coming year actually would "thrill, inspire, and dazzle" us as Sam guarantees, we'll never know.
That letter was the little push my husband needed to kick his dwell habit.
We love when there's smart, useful content on the internet. And because we love to share such things, we'll be doing so weekly. Here are some posts and sites that have captured our attention in the last week or so:
Words are Delicious This post, "Defiantly Reaching Out," explores how to use simple, clear language instead of jargon or cliché.
After Deadline This blog from The New York Times draws from "weekly newsroom critique" about language, grammar, and editing from the standard-bearing site. For example, "The Chitchat Patrol" post separates clear writing from the colloquialisms we inadvertently adopt as standard language.
You may remember Kristina's post about style guides. Style guides make writers happy because they can follow the rules the first time, and they make businesses happy because the writers are speaking the language. And hammering out style details at the beginning saves needless time and expense to clean up these small details at the end of a large project.
As such, we writers have regular discussions about troubling words or troublesome tasks of cleaning up misunderstandings about capitalization, em dashes, and the like. Here's one of the latest, when we officially decided not to initial cap “internet” anymore, whether it’s used as a noun or an adjective.
As I recall, the decision came about something like this:
Angie 1.0 (me): Hey, everyone! Should we initial cap internet when we use it as a noun?
Angie 2.0: I don’t like capitalizing Internet. Or Web. Or InterWebs.
Katie: Yeah! I hate capping things.
Meghan: But didn’t we agree to initial cap “web” when we use it as a noun?
Angie 2.0: When did we agree to that?
Angie 1.0: Didn’t you get that email?
Meghan: Wired magazine doesn’t initial cap internet. And isn’t the rule about initial capping it in the process of changing?
Angie 2.0: And Wired is on the cutting edge of that change.
Angie 1.0: Right. Eventually nobody will initial cap internet.
Erin: Once the dictionaries catch up.
Meghan: Yes, let’s be on the cutting edge of change!
Everyone: Yeah!
Angie 1.0: Remember that movie The Net with Sandra Bullock?
Erin: Wasn’t that about identity theft on the internet?
Angie 2.0: Yeah, something like that. Do we have to initial cap “Net” when we use it as a noun?
Katie: We are NOT using “the Net.” Under any circumstances.
Everyone: YEAH!
A quick perusal of a few industry blogs revealed an inconsistent style on initial capping internet. So we turned to Wired for some guidance. In 2004, it declared that on its pages internet and web (and net) would not be initial capped anymore. We’re happy to officially join the trend—since we believe it will become a rule anyway.
It’s definitely becoming a rule in our house style guide.
Nearly two years ago, Jeremiah Owyang, Forrester Senior Analyst (Social Computing), wrote a fairly disruptive blog post called The Irrelevant Corporate Website. It's still getting comments today.
In a nutshell, here's what Jeremiah has to say:
"The corporate website (of today) is an unbelievable collection of hyperbole, artificial branding, and pro-corporate content. As a result, trusted decisions are being made on other locations on the internet.
"The corporate website of the future will be a credible source of opinion and fact, authored by both the corporation and community. The result? A true first-stop community resource where information flows for better products and services."
This vision of the future scares the hell out of most businesses. Why? Because they're still struggling with how to manage web content in a 1.0 business environment.
Unless you're a publisher by trade, it's not likely you have the necessary infrastructure to effectively plan, create, publish, and oversee web content.
Without that infrastructure, how can you even hope to begin moving towards that future state, a website that's "a credible source of opinion and fact, authored by both the corporation and community"?
First, you have to want it. If you're a company that thinks it's smarter than your customers, just stop reading right now. Keep doing what you're doing. And good luck with that.
If you're a company that's cool with talking less and listening more, a company that's brave enough to hear the good and the bad, a company that wants to actively engage in conversation with both friends and enemies of your brand, then you want to evolve. Keep reading.
Then, you have to plan for it. Don't even THINK about opening up opportunities for user-generated content on your corporate website until you:
Get your current web content under control. Brain Traffic can help, here. Create a web content strategy, develop effective content workflows, assign centralized ownership, and get cracking.
Know how you're going to engage users and respond to their content. If you open up a forum for conversation, you are immediately creating an expectation that you're going to DO something in response to what users are telling you. If you don't, you're ten times worse off than you were before.
Next, you have to fund it. I recently had a client tell me that their company had just spent ten months and two million dollars developing a new brand platform. The outcome was a new style guide, an internally-facing video, and a new corporate identity system.
This same client then told me she had three months and less than 1/10 of that amount to update the entire corporate website (which was several hundred pages and in dire need of both structural and stylistic help).
How strategic can she be, here? Sounds like a hatchet job in the works if ever I've seen one.
Give your team the time and money to get your website right. Don't cut corners, especially not on the content. Pay to develop a smart web content strategy that will support your brand, meet business objectives, and embrace your customers. It's not just how you say it. It's what you say, and where, and when, and why.
Finally, you have to stick with it. This is all very exciting! I bet you can't wait for everything to launch so you can move on to other efforts.
Just kidding.
Publishing web content isn't a one-time project. It's an ongoing commitment to quality, accuracy, timeliness, relevancy, and customer response. It requires your attention. It demands dedicated resources.
And, of course, publishing web content turns you into a publisher. This requires a publishing infrastructure that will allow content owners to maintain a daily focus on what's happening with your (and your users') content.
And now, go forth and be brave. Here's Jeremiah again:
"Visualize: We’ll start to see customers help write the corporate newsletter, feeds pulling in industry blogs, media (audio and video), customers rating and ranking and voting for what features they want improved, product teams working directly with customers in real-time, and customers self-supporting each other."
You can do it! But whatever you do, please. Start slow. Be smart. Get your house cleaned up before you invite people in. Because if they don't like what they see, they're certainly not going to stick around for a conversation.
I joined Roller Derby on a whim. I had never played a sport, hadn’t been on roller skates in 20 years, and suffered from chronic knee issues. Yet, it seemed like a good idea. I do enjoy a challenge.
So I bought all the gear. I learned to skate…and to fall. Soon, I was drafted onto the North Star Roller Girls. Then came the unexpectedly hard part: picking my skater name.
A good name is an important thing for roller girls. Your new identity unconsciously shapes how you play, and how you act. What’s more, your derby persona starts to creep into your “real” world. So when you invite her into your life, you’d better be sure she’s the right one.
Being a strategist professionally, I knew what I had to do. First stop: a comprehensive list of requirements:
Powerful. My name had to command attention.
Unique. I wanted to stand out, not copy someone else.
Sassy. Because “mousey” and “roller girl” just don’t mix.
Clever. I may be a bruiser, but I’m no dummy.
Clean. The name had to be sedate enough to mention in polite company.
Then came brainstorming. Lots of it. Gwen Igitcha? Te-kill-ya Rose? Keyser Suzie? It seemed all my ideas were not right, too complicated, or already taken. The search became an obsession. The list of rejects got longer.
In the end, I employed another lesson from my professional background – to ask for help. Hey, even tough girls need a hand once in a while. Another roller girl pointed me to the International Rollergirls’ Master Roster, which helped weed out names that weren’t available. Others offered suggestions. When someone casually pitched “Anita Tension,” I knew right away. She was perfect.
This weekend, the crew from Brain Traffic came out to see Anita Tension do her thing. While I was on the track, they came up with a long list of awesome derby names. Just like that. Which is another great lesson: talented writers make the process so much simpler.
Check out this short list of their ideas. If you ever find yourself in need of an alter ego or a smart-n-sassy web handle, it could help you out.
Princess Die Nancy DrewBlood Auntie Maim Poison Ivy Lucy Flawless Winona Rideher Ivana Bruiser Meg Lomaniac Genghis Connie Pippi Longsocking Pixie Styx Sylvia Bullet Mickie Finn Motley Drew Bloody Mary Martha StewHurt Attilla the Honey Cami Flogg Sarah Impalin' Casey at the Bout Audrey Heartburn Block n Bomber Scary Badshaw Drew Beatyamore Dana Skully Fox Maulher Brawny Anderson Alex P. Beatin’ Death Cab for Judy
When using the phrase "design strategy" in relation to a website, here's how I’ve seen it defined (and I’m paraphrasing here):
Design strategy is determining how to make a website that meets business objectives and user needs through analysis of user research, business goals, source content, brand guidelines, and identified competitive differentiation.
So, here's my question: Is "design strategy" really the best moniker for this effort? To me, the term by itself conjures up a visual, graphic design association.
But if you Google "What is design strategy," here are a few other definitions:
A discipline which helps firms determine what to make and do, why do it and how to innovate contextually, both immediately and over the long term. (Wikipedia)
A process developed by designers to efficiently find a visual solution to a stated business need or problem. (Design Council, UK)
Using design research (such as consumer observation and fast prototyping) strategically to help identify new product categories and extend core brands into other markets. (Business Week)
This is getting really confusing.
At Brain Traffic, we just call it "website strategy." Because, really. Isn't that what it is?
After defining our project's strategic foundation (informed by business objectives, user goals, research, analytics, source content, and so on), we then focus on three primary components of the website strategy, itself:
Content strategy—The messy process of wrangling, analyzing, and governing the words, images, and transactional features of a website. For a better and more detailed definition, see Kristina’s A List Apart article: The Discipline of Content Strategy.
Visual design—Although I dislike the visual association of the term “design strategy,” I do believe in the importance of good visual design. Without it, websites suck. But that doesn’t mean going all flash on users' arses, either. Good design can be simple.
Functionality—What is it that users are supposed to DO on a website? How can we design the site to make their tasks easy and intuitive?
Together, these three components deliver a comprehensive website strategy.
Let's get aligned on this, can we? By calling this approach “website strategy” instead of “design strategy,” we can provide a better frame of reference for our clients and our industry.
Some nytimes.com readers aren't so happy with the video content in this blog post:
The video communicates the point of the blog post, which follows up on a story about an opera singer's weight loss. A couple of the reader comments perfectly capture the problem:
Oh, come on, we have to click on the video to find out how she's doing? Why not say, "She's maintaining her weight loss. Click on the video to find out how she's doing it," or "She's begun gaining the weight back. Watch the video for more details." Don't leave those of us who can't see and/or hear the video in the dark like that please.
And, sadly, this:
Can't get the video to load..
anyone else?
There are a dozen reasons why someone can't or won't watch a video. Keep those users in mind if you're using video to communicate essential content. If you want them to get your message, you'll need to provide it in an accessible non-video format. Like, say, text.
Here are a few examples of interface copy that makes a difference. We’ll start with this application for an auto loan from USAA.
It clearly explains what you need to get started (helpfully listed under the "Things you’ll need to get started" header). It also tells you what will happen once you’ve finished the application. And if you still don’t understand, you can contact them with questions.
The "create a new account" screen on mint.com also has several nice examples of contextual help.
If you enter the wrong information, you’re told immediately what type of information needs to be entered, and how it should be formatted. It’s simply written and unambiguous.
This is a much better experience than most sites provide: a) enter the wrong info, b) click "Sign Up," and c) get the "Sucks to be you. Now start over" page.
And what makes the difference is good content.
Don’t get ahead of yourself. Make sure your online self-service content is clear, concise, and delivers on your promises before spending too much time on the follow-up pitch.
You might be surprised at how much more open your customers will be to that conversation.
