The Perils of DIY Content
Content. Such a pleasant little noun – sitting there all passive and non-threatening, right? Just try to create all the content for your web-based project, and see how non-threatening it is. I’ve seen grown men in the throes of a website re-development project weep at the mention of content delivery.
Content delivery has got to be the number 1 stumbling block for web projects. It seems easy – you know your product, your company, your service. The user testing and information architecture have already told you how it needs to be organized – you just need to write it down. Why not save on your budget by doing it yourself? Simple.
Two weeks later, you’re knee-deep in re-written drafts, chasing 12 other team members who owe you information, and pulling your hair out by the roots. Not fun.
Content creation is tough. It’s time-consuming, detail-focused, and research-heavy. Just because someone runs a fantastic business and knows every in and out of that business doesn’t mean that that person is qualified to put all their knowledge into words.
If you’re thinking of writing content for your web-based project, consider these issues first:
- Time – How much free time do you have right now? Do you want to start spending that free time writing web copy? For every page of text on a website, you can assume about 2-4 hours of a professional web copywriter’s time went into research, writing, and editing. Non-professionals can easily double that. Take a moment and put a price tag on your time and your team’s time before you decide to write it all internally.
- Objectivity – It’s tough to write about yourself. It’s the same when trying to write about your business. You know everything about it, so naturally, when you start writing, you start communicating everything. Your target audience doesn’t want to know everything. They want to know enough, not be inundated by information. Can you be objective enough to know what to cut and what to keep?
- Tightening your writing – Tuitive’s benchmark statement on writing for the web is “write down what you think needs to be said, then cut it in half, then cut it in half again.” The copy for your web project needs to be simple and informative. Readers should be able to scan for the information they want and move through the site quickly and intuitively. Do you know what keywords your readers are really seeking?
- Search engine optimization (SEO) – Do you know how to optimize your content to be maximally enticing to search engines? How about writing header tags? Entering alt text? Setting up 301 redirects? Are you sure you’re not doing something that will get your blacklisted? Google pays mathematicians truckloads of money to create search algorithms, and SEO companies spend truckloads of money figuring ways to manipulate those algorithms. Take advantage of their knowledge. We do.
Knowing what information is appropriate for a project and the most effective way to present that information is an art form, not something that can be dashed off in a few hours. Anyone considering a new web-based project should carefully consider the short-term expense of paying a professional copywriter vs. the long-term costs of “doing it yourself.” Leave it to the professionals.
Matt Rust November 20, 2009
I love the post. I’m surprised you didn’t mention MS Word. As a web developer I hate getting a client’s copy in Word. But it always happens, they try to center align everything, make up new fonts, go crazy with Comic Sans, etc. But if you leave it to them to enter content you can be almost certain it’s going to be pasted from Word. Adding content is definitely harder than it looks.
Jonathan Arnold November 20, 2009
You said it Matt. We constantly have to de-Word-ize content.
Bill December 7, 2009
The Word thing stinks. I had to learn that the hard way. And apparently, the “strip formatting” function means “strip all but the formatting we want to leave in your document.”
Aaron December 24, 2009
Besides Raidious, who does Tuitive bring in to create and whip content into shape? Scanning your site, this doesn’t appear to be one of your advertised services.
Amanda King January 4, 2010
Hi Aaron - Although Raidious is the only true content development business we work with, there are several individual copywriters who we work with on various projects. I’d prefer not to list their names here for privacy reasons, but if you’re interested, please email me directly and I can check with them before handing off their contact info.
We don’t advertise content development as a service, because Tuitive does not do any actual content creation or editing. However, a discussion of content with our clients is always part of the initiation phase of any project for us. A service we do provide is content guidance; depending on the project’s needs and complexity, Tuitive provides anything from a full content audit to a simple itemized content needs guide. We always advise clients to work with a content specialist for editing or creation purposes, and we’re happy to connect them with a company or individual who meets their needs and budget.
So we provide all clients with the tools to successfully create content, but it’s not something we offer in-house.
Taulbee Jackson January 12, 2010
Nice post!!! Thanks for the shout out, Amanda. We are honored to have been mentioned.
http://blog.raidious.com/tuitive-on-content/