April 8, 2007 :: 9:53 PM
If Content is King, This is Treason
As previously mentioned, I work for a company that builds websites (among other online marketing services). At this company, it’s a frequent thing for new clients to come to us with artwork, ideas about design, and a favorite list of bells and whistles they’d like to use on their site. Some even come with suggestions for navigation gizmos - like drop-down menus, fly-outs, even JavaScript heavy menu trees with click-to-expand functionality. They know they want great search engine rankings, and some think they have information to share about how to get them. They’ve got ideas about everything… except content.
How can that be? There’s plenty of information about how important content is. How can companies who want to succeed on the web be so disconnected from such a major key to success? Are those of us who build the web just bad educators? Is it a classic case of companies focusing on style over substance?
To add to that, many of our clients write their own web copy. Though they have no copywriter on staff, and certainly no one who is experienced in writing for an action-oriented medium like the web, they ask us to cut copy writing services from proposals. I understand why boot-strapping start-ups do it (even if they likely need it the most), but I don’t understand why companies with budget to back their marketing would.
I also don’t understand the rampant cart-before-the-horse thinking. What good will great search rankings do if the copy about your product doesn’t sell it? What value is there in turning up #1 on Google if, when I get to your site, I just end up clicking my back button because I can’t figure out what you do or why I should care?
So now I’m working with a non-profit organization, and they have great ideas about the image they’d like to present on their website, what kind of photos are appropriate, which parts of the site they might be able to charge for access to, and where to link in all the methods by which you can donate to them. “Great,” I say, “Do you have a content outline yet?”
The answer: “No, we’ll worry about that after we’ve built the site.”
Sigh.
