I love this sign.
I pass by it every day on my way to work. It’s hard to tell from the picture, but this sign is huge. I’d guess it’s six or seven feet tall.
I love it because it communicates information that’s useful to me (store name and hours) in a manner that is conscious of how I will be reading the information (quickly, from a bus, bike, or car).
Everything works together. It has both good information and an easy- to-read design. It’s a good reminder to not forget the how and when, in addition to the what, when looking at content for your site.
Posted in Content Strategy, Editorial Strategy, Information Architecture, User Experience, Web Writing
On this week’s calendar: the Autumnal Equinox. Or as I like to say, the beginning of the end. Now that it’s fall, my mind drifts to dazzling topics like, raking leaves, saying "sayonara" to the sun, and that hard-coded alarm I still hold on to … first semester. Since nobody wants to read my complaining about Minnesota weather, I’d like to celebrate fall learning with a couple of content tips.
Tip #1: Content is more than copy. Around here, we love words. But what we really love is content — and there’s a difference. When we talk about content, we consider copy, meaningful imagery, metadata, user-generated, error messages, video, audio, graphs, charts, etc. You know who illustrates this concept well? The New York Times. Check out the Multimedia page and you’ll find photos, interactive graphics/features, text, audio, video and a lot of other cool stuff.
Tip #2: Speaking of graphs and charts, consider infographics. Bring together words with visuals. Do it to inform, entertain or inspire. We have a resident infographics junkie on staff. Her name is Christine. And she finds and circulates some goodies. Here’s where we go hunting: GOOD’s FFFFOUND! page incorporates the best of the web and the Transparency archive is a "graphical exploration of the data that surrounds us." Flowing Data "explores data visualization" in the Infographics Archive.
Tip #3: When I said "a couple" of tips, I really meant it.
Posted in Content Strategy, Resources, Web Content
A while ago, our fearless leader blogged about how technology can’t fix your content problems. Of course, I agree.
Sure, the CMS is important – the right one makes content publishing easier and the published pages more consistent. But it can’t ensure that your content is useful and usable. Only a person or team of people can do that.
Consider this smaller-scale example:
I just read a blog post by Ben Parr on mashable about an online resume builder tool – JobSpice – that he describes as shockingly simple to use.
It does look pretty darn easy to use, making it a great way to create a dapper dandy resume. It’s as easy as filling in the blanks. Cool. It’s sorta like a CMS. Just enter your content, check some boxes, add some parameters, and ta da: Content. Published.
But, the person building the resume still needs to think about what content goes in the blanks. Right? The shockingly simple tool can’t do that. Neither can a CMS. A person has to determine:
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Who is the resume for?
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What kind of job am I looking for?
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What will the employer care about?
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What do I want them to do after reading my resume?
Real, live people are the key to content that meets users’ needs and drives results. And that’s where content strategy comes in. It answers the questions that help ensure your content – however it gets published – hits the mark.
Posted in Content Strategy, User Experience, Web Writing
At lunch the other day a friend asked me, "Where can I find somebody smart, but really cheap, to be my ghost-tweeter?" A guy next to her obviously thought she was loony. Not me; I’m used to it.
Twitter-as-content-commodity was a new twist, but her conundrum was very familiar. What she was really saying was, "I know I need smart content, but I don’t want to pay for it." On a grander scale, many organizations have the same attitude.
Most people understand that content has value. Big value. They just can’t prove or measure the ROI. And, therefore, they have no concept of how much content is worth.
Proving and measuring the value of content is complex. But, as content professionals, we have to do it. I have some ideas about how to do it, but before I even go there, let’s talk about why everybody is so confused in the first place.
Brace yourselves, content folks. We’re going to talk economics. I promise there will be no math involved.
1776: Defining product value, Adam Smith style
I’m no expert in economics, but I know this much: Adam Smith was a smart dude. Back in 1776, he wrote The Wealth of Nations, a book that basically defined economics as we know it. His ideas still influence the way we assign value to things today.
For the market economy to work, Smith said products of value have three characteristics:
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Excludability: The seller can "exclude" you from owning or using the product unless you pay for it; the product is difficult to replicate so you have to buy it from the seller.
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Rivalry: It’s more expensive for two people to use the product then one person (So, I can buy a pair of shoes for $10, but if we both want to have shoes it’ll be $20).
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Transparency: Customers can see exactly what they’ll get before they buy the product.
These rules work pretty darn well for things like apples, shoes, or kazoos. Those are the kind of tangible products people bought in 1776. (Well, kazoos weren’t invented yet, but apples and shoes surely were.)
1956: A funny thing happened on the way to the factory
Smith’s theories worked pretty well for 180 years, but in 1956 something happened that would have surprised Adam – in the U.S. the number of white-collar jobs surpassed blue-collar jobs.
So, instead of people working in factories and farms making tangible products, people were sitting behind desks making … information. Accountants creating reports, lawyers creating legislation, advertisers creating TV spots, etc., etc. In 1956, content/information was red hot. The first computers were up and running (Check out the photo below of a home computer in 1956 for proof). Heck, Marilyn Monroe even married Arthur Miller, a playwright (you may have heard of him).
The industrial age was over. The information age had begun. Information was in demand in a way it had never been before — and Smith’s three pillars of economic value had started to blur.
1990s: Content breaks all the rules
Until the 1990s, Adam Smith three pillars seemed to be adequate, if not perfect, even for content. Before then, if you wanted some information, you bought a book or newspaper (tangible items). Sure, you could lend your book to a friend, who would get the content for free, but content creators were largely paid for their work.
But, with the advent of the internet, the pillars of value for content collapsed.
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Excludability: Content is now easy to create, use, and replicate.
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Rivalry: When content is posted online – even if you make me pay for access – I can easily share it with millions of friends without paying a cent.
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Transparency: Once you’ve looked at content in-depth, you really don’t need to buy it, do you?
Simultaneously the business importance of good content went sky-high AND the value of content tanked (according to Adam Smith). On top of it all, the internet movement suggested that all content should be free. And society agreed.
2009: Classical economics is toast
So, let’s recap. Today, content is one of the most important business assets in the world. AND, according to traditional economics, content has little value. AND people expect to get it for free (see newspaper industry stats). AND we’re experiencing the worst recession in 80 years.
The economic system is just plain out of date.
I wish I could tell you about the economic model of the future. (Not only would that be nice for you, but I’d make zillions.) Lots of brilliant economists have been trying to figure it out for years.
No wonder people are confused about what to pay for content strategy and creation.
COMING SOON: The Value of Content, Part 2 (The Sequel)
Here’s what I do know. Content makes money. Content saves money. And, ROI of content can be measured. That’s what my next blog post will be about in a few weeks. (It’s just like when the Brady Bunch went to Hawaii – two whole episodes of non-stop fun! Just. Like. That.)
Until then if you have any great examples or ideas about content ROI, send them my way (melissa.rach@braintraffic.com). I’d love to hear about them, and I’ll include them in the blog when I can.
Posted in Content Strategy, Editorial Strategy, Information Architecture, Web Content, Web Writing
What We Did on Our Summer Vacation, Part I
It’s not a party until something gets broken.
True story: We ate walking tacos, we drank margaritas and Mexican beer with lime. We swung at piñatas.
And, oh, we broke a window.
Kristina took it well:
What We Did on Our Summer Vacation, Part II
It was the day after a tornado tore up part of our fair city. The sky was dark. The rain was falling. We would not be deterred. We would not.
For to see our name in lights at Midway Stadium, to get down with Mudonna and Super Fan, to leave the Nerd speechless was our mission. Watch out, St. Paul Saints. Here comes Brain Traffic.
The highlights:
Before the rain. And beer.
Bear says "What? What?"
Eye Love Baseball. And beer.
Slumhog Millionaire. That’s her real name.
The Nerd with Angie 2.0 before Elizabeth stole his funny.
Posted in Around the Office, Brain Traffic
