Getting the Content Right: I've Learned This Lesson Before, But Never Like This - Page 5

Then there's the pesky task of acquiring the content. If you have worked in the industry, you know how hard it is to get content from the client. Working on content with a client is one of the hardest things to do. If content management does not share a mention in your proposals to client, make the importance of crafting the content to fit the audience a focus from now on in your pitches to clients.

Several metaphors emphasize the point that structuring is extremely important. Here's a list of some of them I've used or have heard others use:

• You wouldn't build a house without blueprints. You plan the size, shape, rooms, utilities, and materials and get the best contractors before you start construction.

• You wouldn't buy a car your crazy Uncle had "just thrown together one day." You want to buy a car that has been planned, assembled, and tested.

• You wouldn't run for a high-level political office without making sure that you have enough money to campaign.

• You wouldn't just show up in Orlando for vacation without having decided where to go for lodging and outings.

Now here's one more:

• Designing a Web site without predetermined content is like making a Twinkie with the wrong filling.

After several years in Web design and development, I've seen lots of white in customers' and project managers' eyeballs who roll their eyes when I'm evangelizing about the importance of content. Somehow, bringing up points using Ford cars, blueprints, and hypothetical vacations to Orlando bores people to tears. Or maybe it's the thought that producing copy is less attractive of a proposition than judging a beauty contest of potential Web site designs.

Regardless of the reason, it is vitally important to iterate the importance of content before the designing and building phases, and I do that by using the Twinkie metaphor. Because a Twinkie is small, inexpensive, and after several hours of troubleshooting Web production errors into the midnight hours, even downright desirable, the lesson tends to goes down faster with the Twinkie metaphor than with auto parts. And just like a sweet, high-fat Twinkie, I hope the point I'm trying to convey goes down easy, but sticks with you long after you sample it.

The Mistake of Design Before Content

If you look underneath a Twinkie, you will see three spots of cream filling. Hostess has a mechanical process of inserting cream filling into the cake shell. The outer cake shell is made first, and then the cream is filled into the Twinkie (see Figure 1.12).

Figure 1.12
In a perfect world, you could build the cake shell and then insert the right amount of cream filling to make the perfect Twinkie.

The cake shell is like the comp that the designer creates for the client. By selling the visual first, the designer hopes to get the creamy content from the client to put into the Twinkie. The problem is that the content rarely fits into this pre-made shell. The designer might not realize that the client's filling is made of artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes. For a Web design firm to be good at selling Twinkies as Web sites, the firm needs to automate the process. Although a developed site will be available for the client and visitors to see, the real success from the site will come as a surprise rather than any serious planning and calculated risks.

Let's say we were to take Twinkie sites as a way of doing business. To make a substantial profit with "Twinkie sites," you would need to hone your craft into an automated assembling line. Just like Hostess does not make one Twinkie at a time, you shouldn't be going after one client at a time. Hostess makes several hundred Twinkies at once—they're not individually and lovingly hand-crafted.

In the Web development world, such businesses already exist. For example, VerisignSites, which VeriSign owns, allows customers to buy a domain name, pick a Web site template, and edit the content in their browser (see Figure 1.13). As another example, at Yahoo!'s GeoCities site, people can build Web sites if they don't need a vanity Web address (see Figure 1.14).

Figure 1.13
VerisignSites is a one-stop place for buying a domain name, selecting a design, and filling it with content. That's good news if you find a site that matches your content perfectly—you'll have a successful Twinkie site!

Figure 1.14
The GeoCities site offers free Web site designs. It even has a page design for birthday invitations.

In these situations, clients are stuck with the Twinkie shell, regardless of their recommended diet. And because you're filling your content into a prebuilt Twinkie cake shell, your content must conform to the inside of the shell, not the other way around. If you force the content into the preformed shell, you will get weird Twinkies (see Figure 1.15).

Figure 1.15
What happens when you have a Twinkie cake shell, but you really want to talk about carrots and broccoli? Your site becomes a Frankenstein–a sugar covering with a healthy center.

Ensure Proper Communication

Because most companies and clients do not have the resources to hire a copywriter full time—much less a freelance job—the act of writing will come from someone in the company who occasionally writes better than anyone else. When you finally receive the content from the client, you likely will need to rewrite or at the least revise some part of it.

You will need to go through the copy as if you were a site visitor. You need fresh eyes, as if you have never heard of this product or service. Although the Vice President of Product Development will no doubt understand his product inside and out, he probably won't be able to educate someone about the product who hasn't heard of it.

Guide, Don't Tell

Most companies who are attempting to stretch their marketing dollar will repurpose marketing copy from print collateral (print pieces such as business cards, stationary, envelopes, and so on) that carries the company's image by publishing it directly to the Web without revisions. This leads to an inability to capitalize on the inherent strengths of the Web medium: the linking of documents at related junctions, which is the nature of hypertext. At the very least, content that is destined for online distribution should take full advantage of what the Web has to offer.

When reviewing content that you have written or obtained from your clients, make sure to look at it from a descriptive angle, leading the user to the different sections of the site. Web sites need what is termed "guide copy," allowing for access and understanding of what is contained within the site and leading users deeper into the site experience.

A Web site's written content can and should be more than simple marketing fluff. Using the content to guide the site visitor toward the intended destination is an important element of any process.

Gathering Content - Page 4
Designing CSS Web Pages
Structured Markup Is Why We Are Here in the First Place - Page 6