“Your average Web site is an unattractive, unorganized shell full of disconnected thoughts, filler and marketing spiel.” Article Link >>
Keith Robinson checks in with a article on the importance of (and difficulty in getting) good web content.
This is an issue near and dear to my heart, both for church websites, and business websites.
As a web developer, I found some of the comments in Keith’s article interesting. - like the notion of putting up a text-only version of a client site while the content rolls in, and only adding design once it’s all there. What I fear is that without a hard deadline for launch, some of that content would never get written.
I also have to wonder - we in the web world talk about content like everyone knows what it is. The word sounds simple enough - it’s the “stuff inside” a website like the cereal in a box. But what does that word mean to people not in the web world?
I think one of the challenges in working with business owners to develop content is that few people are good communicators. There’s a skill or talent for knowing what should go on the site - but it’s something I haven’t found a good name for yet. It’s the reporters “nose for news”, applied to the web.
What I don’t know is if this is a natural or learned skill. I also wonder if we tend to develop sites for businesses that don’t let them experiment to find out what kinds of content work for them.
In one way, that’s an advantage of a blog-based company site. New content can be quickly added, and through tools like commenting an author can start to gauge what’s interesting or valuable.
I’m just not sure how to best gauge or justify the time required.
Your thoughts?
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