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Archive for August, 2010
We’re thrilled to announce the first-ever Brain Traffic Content Strategy Conference in Minneapolis, May 9-10, 2011.
And it’s gonna be fuuuuun.
Why?
Because we here at Brain Traffic love content strategy even more than we love cake. Because we’re dizzy with excitement about the way interest in content strategy is exploding. Because we love you and would like to meet you in person.
So! We thought it would be a great idea to host a great big content strategy get-together. Content strategy can radically improve the way our companies plan for, create, deliver, and govern our content. Doesn’t that sound like something worth celebrating?
What?
It’s a conference! Oh. I said that.
You’ll hear from passionate, pragmatic speakers who are recognized for their expertise in the fields of user experience, CMS, marketing, media/publishing, social media, and SEO. We’ll have authors and folks from agencies, small businesses, and enterprise-level organizations.
Both days will feature two keynote speakers and four breakout sessions. We’ll also be throwing a killer party or two. Of course.
Who?
Are you a marketer? Web manager? Publisher? Media strategist? Web strategist? Enterprise content manager? User experience designer? SEO strategist? Social media strategist? CMS consultant? Writer? Editor?
Yes?
Then you should come to this conference. Because everything you do involves a common, critical asset: content. And your content deserves strategic consideration beyond the standard reactive, last-minute, wild west content we usually end up publishing.
Where? When?
The conference will take place at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis, MN on May 9-10, 2011. When there is no snow. Usually.
How?
The conference website will launch sometime this fall. You’ll be able to register right away to take advantage of early-bird rates. We’ll announce the launch on Twitter (just follow @braintraffic); we’ll also announce via Facebook, LinkedIn, and several other locations. Just stay tuned!
What next?
Watch this space in the coming weeks…we’ll reveal more about the conference as the website launch gets closer.
In the meantime, guess what? …
What’s it called?
WE DON’T KNOW YET.
Hahahaha! No, uh, seriously. "Brain Traffic Content Strategy Conference" just kind of lacks that POW! ZAP! ZING! you usually like to see in a conference title. You know?
We'll figure it out soon enough. But, please, feel free to brainstorm below.
Questions?
Email us, and we'll do our best to get your questions answered.
Who's excited? WOOOOOO!!
Tags: content strategy conference
Posted in Brain Traffic, Content Strategy, Presentations, Uncategorized
Last night, I had dinner at one of Brain Traffic’s favorite local restaurants: Brasa Rotisserie. They’re part of a growing number of shops opting for a “limited offerings” approach to dining. That is, they offer a few dishes, and they do them goshdarned well. They use locally-grown, organic ingredients. They slow-cook their meat, and price the dishes reasonably.
I tend to appreciate that less-is-more approach with regard to more than just my dinner. That’s why I shop at my neighborhood co-op instead of the megasupermarket across town. It’s why I like wearing dresses instead of trying to assemble a pants-shirt-belt outfit every day. Life is complicated enough, already, jeez.
The same don’t-bite-off-more-than-you-can-chew, quality-vs.-quantity sensibility factors into many of the recommendations we make to our clients as they undertake the complex task of planning for content on their website.
Your content can’t please all of the people all of the time. (Sorry.)
It’s common for publishers of web properties (large ones, especially) to feel the pressure of becoming all things to all people. After all, different departments within a company have different priorities and different ideas about what the end user really needs.
But without clear rules and a solid decision-making process about what should stay and what should go, the situation can quickly devolve into a “too many cooks in the kitchen” scenario (ahem).
Pretty soon your users get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information on your site, and they leave feeling frustrated, but still hungry for something substantial. The information they wanted may have been there all along, but it was hiding behind a bunch of stuff they didn’t actually need or care about.
But with a content strategy in place, it can please some of the people most of the time.
So how can you satisfy your users by giving them only useful, usable, information that’s also easy to navigate and search? A strategy is necessary. That’s all there is to it.
Whatever form that strategy takes, it should cover the whos, whats, whens, wheres, whys, and hows of everything you serve up. For example:
- What are your users’ goals?
- What content do you offer to satisfy those goals?
- Who makes the content?
- Who fixes it when it’s broken/outdated?
- Where is the best place on the site to share the content?
- Why would your users choose you over another organization?
- How can you use your site content to build on those competitive differences?
- How do your users find you when they find you? How long do they stay when they get there?
If you can’t keep tabs on all your content in these ways, make less of it for a while. Minimize the content elements you can’t easily govern … until you have the resources or the budget to do so.
The key is to set standards your organization can easily support and routinely evaluate.
Most importantly: Set standards (and a schedule!) for evaluating quality. Make a plan for adding/subtracting content elements to reflect current demand while innovating in your area of expertise. (If you’re the bomb at slow-cooking meats, make that your thing. Then whip up a few side dishes to give that carne some context.)
In summary, make sure the content on your site helps your users accomplish a task. Ditch everything that gets in their way. Bam!
Posted in Content Strategy, User Experience
After spending some quality time with our pal Jonathan Kahn at Web Content Chicago 2010 in June, we convinced the fellow content strategy evangelist to make a trip to sunny Minneapolis. Jonathan is founder of London-based web design agency Together London, author of the blog Lucid Plot, and an all-around smart cookie. We like him.
Amidst his whirlwind of tourist activities and an intense round of bar trivia (we won third place), Jonathan obligingly sat down with me to talk shop. I can’t wait to revisit the podcast myself: I was too entranced by his charming accent to pay much attention at the time. (Kidding!)
Listen in to hear this brilliant Brit wax poetic on:
- How he came to the practice of content strategy
- How to fix a broken web development process
- Content strategy: A job for one or many?
The best part, though, is where I make him say something Minnesotan. (You won’t be disappointed.)
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You may also download the mp3.
Posted in Around the Office, Brain Traffic, Content Strategy, Web Content
