Book review: Content Strategy for the web, by Kristina Halvorson
I like books. I read a lot of them. The office is full of books, almost all of them mine. Apparently technical people don’t read books much. I seem to remember a figure (from Joel Spolsky? I am on a plane so I can’t check right now) saying that the average programmer had never read any books on programming, and never would. What’s that about? If you don’t think about what you do in that sort of introspective way that makes you want to read books about other people thinking about it that way, then you are not really very engaged in what you are doing.
This blog was meant to have more book reviews than it does; in fact this is the first one. Expect more. Its not that I am not reading the books, but there are other things I need too write about. Expect some more. Why this book? Well I had a plane trip, and it was on the shelf at Foyles and it sounded interesting. I follow @halvorson on twitter, and she sounds interesting, though I have not heard her speak. Its a short book, so I wont make the review too long, after all you can just read the book next time you are on a plane.
I am not a content strategist, but I do like writing. And reading, as I mentioned. Now it is therefore possible that there is a big self selection issue here. It could well be that everyone who reads this book will agree with its central premise about the importance of being strategic and serious about writing on the web. It could be that actually only people who read books ever read anything on the web either. Maybe everyone else just looks at the pictures and laughs at the funny meerkat. Igor the meerkat is the most successful advertising campaign this year, and has turned a failing web property into a great success with no words at all, and not much money either.
Fortunately I don’t have any figures on the importance of written content, and no internet access on the plane to find any. So I am going to say, I read content on the internet. Almost all of what I read is good content, I don’t read the other. If it is boring I skip it. If it is too short I skip it. I don’t watch videos, due to lack of time and headphones. Reading is faster. If you want me in your target audience, you need to write, and write well. Or catch me in the pub over a pint of bitter. (Actually I like good visuals too, underused on the web).
So what are the key things I took away from the book? Think like a publisher. Remember there used to be a whole business managing content; it was called publishing. They planned it and commissioned it and had whole branded collections of it called “magazines”, “books” and “newspapers”. People paid for these they were so good. There is a whole industry to steal ideas and methods from (and people for that matter).
If you don’t have a content strategy, you are just hoping it will all work out. You might get lucky, especially if you have a good writer, who will unconsciously perhaps create you a strategy, or at least stuff people want to read. But help yourself, think strategic in content like you do in other areas of the business. Plan, execute, measure, regroup.
“Page tables” a content wireframe. Don’t like the term, but they are needed for a web project and I cant think of a better name.
Content is to support the aims of the organization. It is not just marketing any more, it is branding, it is product design, it is sales, and it is the conversations you are having through social media that position your company in the marketplace. “Recognize content as a valuable business asset” is it in your investment programme? Is it on your balance sheet?
Web content is long lasting; unlike print which cannot be changed and often has a short shelf life. Kristina has a chilling example of a corporate Youtube channel that no one has logged into for a year. Many corporate blogs just die from lack of care and feeding. A blog is for life, not just for Christmas.
“Push ‘user experience design’ off the pedestal”. UX without content is like a fish without a bicycle, looks pretty and maybe its tasty, but it is not getting you out to the next village. Or something. Actually some agencies do cover content quite well, but many do not, sticking with the pretty pictures and the ooh shiny widgets.
So there you are. Content, words, unsexy, black like coal, and almost as much effort to get out of the ground. An anthropomorphic pun might work for some people, but not you and me, those of us who reached the end of these words.