Spinning Knowledge and Passion Into Content

I love proving how successful smaller businesses can be when they leverage content to distinguish themselves as unique and fascinating. I’m on the heels of an article I just read in NYTimes, The Difference Between a Good Web Site and a Great Web Site, by Gabriel Shaoolian. He profiles a somewhat recently redesigned website of […]

Speak Unique: Distinctive Web Content

I wrote the following post over a year ago. And I have additional thoughts: “What Are Your Competitors Doing? Not an uncommon question in the web world. I was reading a new book the other day in which the author urged her audience to use this metric–competitors’ websites– as a key way to measure my/your […]

The Stirring New Case for Web Content in 2012

Anne Handley’s article Why Content Is Still King When It Comes To Lead Generation is a great way to sound off in the New Year–if you’re me. She’s retrofitted the dusty adage, “Content is King,” with an ingenious new hook–”Lead Generation.” She’s right—content IS king and that hasn’t changed. The challenge for content providers like […]

Does Your Web Content Match Your Brains and Business Ethic?

Building an online business takes “Effort” and “Commitment.” The good news is that many of your competitors can’t stand to hear those words! Why? They want “it” for free or automatically, and they are lazy. (yeah, keep drinking that guru koolaid, kids). They have no grit. This sloth-dom is good news for you. Kiss ‘em […]

Adding Message Maps to a Content Strategy

Why mapping messages can strengthen customer engagement, win you trust, and fortify your overall content strategy. Recently I’ve built into my own strategy toolkit this little content artifact that I would probably not fly without ever again. I’ve dubbed it a “message map” because that’s precisely what it is. When you have a complex user […]

Quick Examples of Voice, Tone, and Style

Tone and style figure prominently in a content strategy, but they are powerful ways to strengthen any kind of content, particularly that of a business, organization at large or the content on a website or as part of a standalone work. How do you establish a tone and voice? Identify and explore the content goals […]

Exercise: Mapping A Site’s Key Content Messages

For larger websites that incorporate various types of customer messaging, I’ve found it helpful to sketch out a high level message map. I’ve used a sitemap and a UX user flow diagram to do this, but I could just as easily have sketched something out on a paper napkin.   Identify the site’s major sections […]