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The Truth about Online Content
Google.com, one of the web's hottest search engines, has indexed over
1,346,966,000 web pages to date. The World Wide Web is officially
gigantic, with hundreds of thousands of corporate, small business,
and ecommerce websites vying for something more than just
the "eyeballs" that web analysts hailed in the 1990's. In order to
create success, websites are now searching for a steady, interactive
audience. Why aren't they succeeding' Could it STILL have something
to do with the content'
Understanding The Content Buzz
About a year ago, the entire web was filled with a few wonderfully
hip,fatally cool clich' "Content is King," "Your Website Needs
Stickiness," "CRM is key!" and new resources, allegedly customer-
oriented, began to explode across the internet. Syndicated web
content became a cool way to get free words to fill up space on a
website. Soon, companies such as moreover.com began create a content
overlap. Website competition may be presenting the exact same news
feed at the exact same time, with the exact same keyword-rich
content!
Once again, the web industry began buzzing, "Learn How to Create
Unique Content for Your Website!" The HTML Writer's Guild began
offering classes in "Advanced Web Writing", EEI Communications began
offering corporate training courses in "Writing for the Web and New
Media", and universities across the country added web writing to
their technology-driven and webmaster-centered curriculum. Once
trained, web design companies began touting their new "writing
skills", offering a one-stop-solution to their new website customers.
The Buzzkill for Web-Based Business
Before you ask, "What does this have to do with me, as a writer'"
Answer this question: Did you just read ANYTHING about writers in the
last two paragraphs'
Of course you didn't. Writers, traditionally, have shied away from
web markets. Many writers simply think that their skills are not
Promotional AdvertisingA Dynamite New Web-Based Reporting Service May be Just What You Need to Check Your Search Engine Rankings By Robin R. ..... meant for web-based work, resulting in a strange shortage of web
content writers.
"Wait," the well-informed web surfer may say, "There are plenty of
writers on the web! In fact, there's enough quality writing online
that Salon.com can now charge for content!" While it's true that web-
based magazines that specialize in content attract professional
writers, it is not true that the average corporate website, ecommerce
outfit, or web-based business attract web-specific writers.
As an experiment, go to google.com and type in "content creation"
right now. How many writers are pulled up vs. web developers
offering content services alongside their website development and
design' Why do you think they do this'
Apparently, writers just aren't interested. At a recent Creative
Network gathering, a publisher told me that it is "Great" that I
write for the web. He employs over 60 writers at his consulting firm,
yet none of them are really interested in web writing. They do,
however, want to outsource work to me because their clients are
looking for this skill.
There is a common assumption that web-based solution providers (such
as web designers, programmers and developers) are experts in all
facets of web-based business. Alongside this assumption is
the "technophobia" that plagues many writers and prevents them from
offering their services to online markets. We think that we're
unwanted or unneeded, and our services will be rejected.
Where does this assumption come from' Perhaps it is because
the "techies" created and coined the word "content" when describing
the text on a website. Rather than a pretty word such as "prose" or a
practical word like "writing",the buzz about online content created a
bizarre rebellion against creativity and gave writers a strange
aversion to web-based work; how could a writer be needed for
something as dull as "content"' Isn't this something that web
designers handle'
The context of writing, when applied to online media, is perceived
somewhat differently. New web style guidelines, which helped people
read online without getting a headache, for a time became the sole
criteria for judging whether website content was up to standards.
Jakob Neilson, a famous industry analyst-turned-usability guru,
pigeonholed web writing and content alongside web design. Instead ......
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