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The 6 Cs of Killer Web Content
People read quickly today, like they do everything else. They scan-read emails, websites, newspapers, and magazines. People read particularly quickly on the Web. ‘Most people just look at the first couple of words — and only read on if they are engaged by those words,’ according to Eyetrack III, a fascinating study of how people read on the Web.
Web writing is probably one of the most difficult tasks you will face. That’s why you need to be armed with the six ‘C’s when you sit down to write:
- Who Cares?
- Is it Compelling
- Is it Clear?
- Is it Complete?
- Is it Concise?
- Is it Correct?
Who cares?
What does your customer really care about? People are too overloaded with information today to waste time on things they don’t care about.
Don’t fall into the trap of assuming that, just because you passionately care about something, your customer will. This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Sometimes what you care about can stop you seeing what your customers care about.
Every time there is a suggestion for new content, ask the following question three times: Who cares?
Is it compelling?
Simply knowing what people care about is not enough. You need to sell. You need to make people pay attention. You need to be compelling.
That’s why the Fortune magazine heading ‘Retire Rich’ is so powerful: it is a compelling, concise, and clear statement of what people really care about. I have given audiences the background on this heading, and then asked them to guess it. People have often come up with the suggestion ‘Retire Early’.’ Nice idea. However, there’s little point in retiring early if you’re retiring poor.
Is it clear?
If your content is not clear, you will lose a huge percentage of people almost immediately. To make things simple is not to make them simplistic. In a complex world, you must communicate complex information in a simple and clear manner. Albert Einstein talked about the real challenge being to make things as simple as possible and no simpler.
You are the worst enemy of clarity on your website because you know your subject matter so well. That’s why you must always stand with your audience. Clarity requires empathy and an unrelenting focus on the needs and the level of understanding of those you are writing for.
Is it complete?
What is the task you wish your customer to complete on your website? You must figure out the actions you want to drive with your content. The essence of a Web link is to help people to complete a task. Links are connections between content, allowing people to move from one step in the task to the next.
There are two fundamental differences between Web content and print content. The first is that people can search for Web content using their own words. The second key difference is linking. If you focus on the quality of your links, you are much more likely to create killer Web content.
Write your links as if you are writing a heading. Avoid using expressions like ‘click here’ or ‘download’ in the text of the link. Place links at action points in your text. A link is a call to action.
Is it concise?
Your website is not a murder mystery, so tell them who did it in the heading and the very first paragraph. Nobody is going to wait until the last paragraph to discover the essence of what you’re trying to communicate. Lead with the need. Get to the point. Then stop.
The most natural tendency in the world is to overwrite. You wonder whether someone has really got the point, so you want to hammer it home. There's nothing wrong with a bit of repetition, but there’s a thin line between it and filler — be careful not to cross it. When it comes to clarity, if in doubt, spell it out. When it comes to conciseness, if in doubt, cut it out.
Be correct
In a cut-and-paste world, it’s easy to pull together some content. You might read something in a newspaper, hear it on the radio, or come across it on the Web. It’s an interesting quote and it confirms what you’ve been thinking, but that doesn’t mean it’s correct.
Checking facts is hard, boring, and unsexy work, and that’s why on many websites it doesn’t get done well — if at all. It’s much easier to quote a ‘fact’ than to verify it. Being loose with your facts may well work in the short term, but remember that the digital world has a very long memory. So much is being recorded today as email, on the Web, on video, or in audio. More importantly, so much of what is recorded is more accessible. Never before have so many people had access to what you’ve written. In years to come, something you said in a rush might come back to haunt you.
04/2007, Gerry McGovern
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