February 3rd, 2009 by Dave Perks

Writing vs Content Managing

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Filed under Experience Design

 

This person is writing.

This person is writing.

The design of your website communicates the visual aspects of your brand. The writing (notice I didn't say content) establishes the tone and voice. They are both equally important, but for some reason, they don't always receive equal weight in the development process. All too often, home page real estate is reserved with a box that says, "copy goes here" until the 11th hour.

In addition to writing, I've been studying a good bit of SEO strategy for the last month or so. For the most part, the information has been great and right on the money. But there's one aspect in which I have to draw a line in the sand. Everything I read says content is king. Maybe I'm supposed to infer that by "content" the author means "well written and crafted copy", but I don't.

It appears that in the race to be number one on Google, we are collectively forgetting that quality of writing matters at least as much as the quantity of content. Maybe more. Let's face it, there can only be one entry in the #1 slot for each keyword on Google, right? That's kinda what makes it so special.

So if you or anyone else has to occupy the 2nd – infinityth slot, doesn't it make sense to offer something that sets you apart from the crowd? Something like great copy? Something like great copy that speaks in the same voice as the people in your store or the people who answer your phones? That kind of writing takes work and thought. But it's worth it.

I know that nobody hangs around for long, flowery paragraphs when it comes to web copy. But why not spend a little extra time crafting a bulleted list instead of just coming up with a few half-hearted ways to end a sentence that starts out something like:

I Love to Eat BBQ Because:

This person is content managing.

This person is content managing.

I'm not saying that content management is a bad thing. Quite the contrary, it's very important. But many times the two disciplines get confused for each other. Simply put, content management is all about efficiently harvesting information from multiple sources and channeling it to the right audience at the right location. Writing is about communicating effectively.

Unfortunately, what one person considers great writing may be the exact opposite. But with only a content manager as the guardian of copy, this error in judgment is not likely to be caught.

The argument can be made that the person at the helm of a content management system is akin to an editor for a news organization. OK. BUT, consider the journalism experience an editor brings to work every day. The years of schooling. The years of filing well-crafted stories on tight deadlines. The years of agonizing over the right metaphor. The years of suffering the dreaded red pen on his or her own work.

Now consider the person in charge of a content management system. This role typically falls to someone in marketing or IT. This makes sense because content management is a technical process. Again, I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing, but the experience just isn't there to ensure a consistent voice. And when your brand identity doesn't match what you say or do, people won't stick around.

Julie Roads from writingroads.com put it this way, "…if you walked into Best Buy looking for a state-of-the-art stereo, and the store was jam-packed, wall to wall, floor to ceiling with mounds of transistor radios circa 1982, would you be bedazzled by the sheer quantity of radios? Would you actually stay and look around, let alone purchase one? Or would [you] say, 'Woah! Look at these copious piles of crap!' and walk, or run, out the door in search of the real goods?"

She's right. We all have an idea of what the brands in our lives are or should be and we get freaked out when they don't meet those expectations. Mismatched or competing voices on your website are sure to set off those reactions.

Fortunately, I work for a company that takes writing seriously and works hard to ensure that our clients do, too. Before we do anything, we spend a great deal of time getting to know our clients and the audiences they serve.

We learn to speak their language. Most importantly, we learn to write in their language. By doing that, we can almost predict the keywords that will come up in research. Accordingly, those keywords are used naturally throughout the writing process.

Guess what happens when you speak in the language of the people you represent? They find you. They tell other people where THEY can find you. They all start linking to you and then Google finds you. And then your page rankings go up.

So while content is key, well-written content is king.

We all have stories of copy disasters; I'd love to hear yours. With the names removed to protect the innocent, of course.

  • Well said, well put and well written! Great and IMPORTANT post…

    Posted by Juile Roads on 02/03/09 at 10:36AM

  • Hey Julie, Thanks for the kinds words and the quoted ones, too.

    Posted by Dave Perks on 02/03/09 at 12:25PM

  • It’s a shame that those who just fill the web with copious piles of crap can find so much success.  Of course, it’s illegitimate, but it tends to work.
    Writing is more satisfying, though.
    ——-

    Posted by Guffin Mopes on 02/18/09 at 4:03AM

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