The 3 types of content

I read a lot online - articles, stories, summaries, blog posts, comments, etc. I think there are only three main types of content:

Worthless - Unreadable. Too wordy. Uninteresting. You think: "I'm too busy for this. What's next? Click."

Useful - Interesting. Informative. Edifying. Worthwhile. Applicable. You think: "I'm glad I read that."

Remarkable - Fascinating. Funny. Thoughtful. Engaging. You think: "This is great. I need to comment on it or share that with someone."

The trick is we're all different. What may be interesting to one person could be incredibly boring to another. What one person may find remarkable and forward to you, you may think is silly and unworthy of your attention. (Ever have those friends that forward you every silly joke they read?)

With so much content available to us every day, we all basically have constructed our own mental spam filters as a method of determining what's important and what's worthy of our time and attention. We bookmark sites we find valuable. We subscribe to feeds of blogs we like to read. We know not to waste time reading that email joke from that certain friend.

Knowing your audience and creating content that "gets around their spam filter" and provides them something useful or remarkable is the key.

"Free news here! Get your free news."

The New York Times announced earlier this week that they would no longer charge for full access to their website. Many have called this the death of paid content on the web. "If the New York Times can't make a pay-for-access model work, it can't be done" goes the line of thinking.

I think it's more a matter of the type of content. News has become commoditized. Many print newspapers have become free at the newstand. It's hard to charge for a product similar in every way to free ones available from CNN, WashingtonPost.com, FoxNews, etc. It's no coincidence that there aren't "premium" news channels" on your cable or satellite service.

But in my opinion, this does not signal the death of pay-for-content on the web. Plenty of sites thrive now with this model by providing content not easily obtained elsewhere. Sports sites give you more or "inside access" to certain information for a fee. Niche sites dealing with particular topics can do well.

The question you have to ask is "Do you have a unique and compelling content offering?" If so, people may be willing to pay for it.

How Dewey find books?

As the amount of content on websites continues to expand, you hear a lot more about taxonomies these days. Basically a taxonomy is nothing more than a classification system - a way to group and organize your content.

I was in a public library the other day and was forced to navigate the Dewey Decimal System, one of the world's most famous taxonomies. The thought that came over me was "If this is so great, why don't bookstores use it?" Or, alternatively, with bookstores like Barnes and Noble and Borders geared so efficiently to the needs of the reading customer, why aren't libraries organized the same way?

Turns out that, in at least one place, they are.

Is your site a conversation or a speech?

Do you talk with your customers? Or do you do as many organizations do and talk at them? Is your website a conversation or a speech?

In school, the best teachers I had talked with the students - engaged them in the conversation.

With my kids, it always seems more effective to sit them down, look them in the eye and explain something. Get the head nod or other affirmation that you were heard and understood. Yelling at them, while it sometimes makes me feel better, seems less effective.

Customers can be like children. If they think their opinion is not appreciated, if they think they are not being listened to, if they think they're being yelled at, they will ignore you and take their business elsewhere.

Reading, recommended

The comma as social commentary.

Tacit communication: How's it going?

It happens like this: you are walking from your desk to the conference room or the kitchen and you see Janet from Accounting walking toward you from the opposite direction. As you pass you both nod and smile a little smile. She says "How are you doing?" and you say "Hi, Janet."

You acknowledged each other. You made each other feel good, known, loved, recognized. But neither of you expected the other to stop and engage in a real conversation. You both knew the "rules of non-engagement" and kept on walking. This can happen dozens of times throughout the day with various people.

This is tacit communication. The actions - the nod, the smile - provide more meaning than the actual words exchanged.

We do this online too. You would never end a voicemail for someone with "Regards" or "Sincerely" but we do it in email. In person you wouldn't offer someone you just met your privacy policy or your terms of use. But online, these familiar conventions can provide reassurance and credibility - a comforting smile and a nod to the user, even if those items go unread.

Station wagon words

In the 1970s it was THE family car. It was versatile and roomy and functional. But these days no one wants a station wagon. Even cars that look like station wagons don't call themselves station wagons.

Why? It's an outdated term - associated with wood paneling, loud clothes and other remnants of a bygone era.

The words we use can have strong connotations. Here are some words I recommend you don't use on your website (or anywhere else for that matter). They have fallen out of favor and connote "web 1.0" instead of current times and technology.

• "Listserv" - Even if you have one - call it something else.
• "Cyber" anything - very 1995.
  
• "Information Superhighway" - Avoid the cliche and refer to it as "the web" or "the Internet."
• "Chat room" - Most chat rooms are not "chat" but are actually message boards or forums.
• "Virtual" anything - Maybe the worst of all to still see. Shudder.

In contrast to those five, here's a post claiming that these are the Five Most Important Words You Can Have on Your Website.

Free! Write Headlines 1000% Better!

A nice article from A List Apart on the most effective ways to write and use headlines online.

LP Content

Think about the changes the music industry has gone through in just the last 30 years. The focus has shifted from 8-tracks and albums to cassettes to cds to digital. A show like "American Top 40" (with Casey Kasem back in my day) used to have incredible power is now marginalized by MTV, iTunes, Amazon and satellite radio.

The focus of music as a product has shifted too. The main focus used to be selling albums: 33 1/3 LPs. Yes, you could buy "45s" - also known as singles, but the main focus was on selling whole albums. Today, it's downloads and ringtones.

Even the name is telling. The name LP stands for "long play." Who has time for long? As we've already discussed, short is the new long.

Written content is undergoing a similarly radical change. Freed from the confines of books and magazines, information is flowing, searchable and available. It's become a commodity. Being an "author" is no longer reserved for only the elite as decided by a publishing company - anyone can blog or self-publish and have their voice be heard.

Just as you are no longer bound to the record player to hear your music, users of the Internet won't forever be tied to a computer. Users will access your content from their phones, PDAs and other portable devices. Just as your Pink Floyd LP can't be played with your iPod, these new devices aren't good for digesting "LP content." Reading a long article or downloading large pages on your phone is tedious and painful.

Content is (and will always be) king. But the king is changing.

The password is...

As a kid I always liked the game show Password. The point of the game was to convey the "password" to your playing partner by giving only one-word clues.

In some ways we play this game with our users on our websites. We label buttons and navigational choices with a word or two that we hope conveys the right meaning to the user. But what we think of when we hear or read a certain word is a complicated thing. A major task of good Information Architecture is choosing words that will mean the same to the users as they do to the organization.

Check your site's search engine reports to see what users are searching for on your site. Sometimes this information can indicate content they are having difficulty finding using the navigation. Often a minor change in wording can help users find their way.

When do you cut off the long tail?

Average life of a major league baseball: 7 pitches
A housefly: 20 days
A giraffe: 25 years
The sun: 10 billion years

Some content on the web? Even longer. Or so it seems.

Much has been written about the benefits of "The Long Tail." And it's true that modern technology has allowed businesses to cater to and profit from niche audiences more than ever before.

But I think it raises an important topic: What's the distinction between "older", valuable content and "old" content that should be deleted? How valuable does something need to be for you to keep it?

In many cases, deleting older articles or files from your website is not a necessity - as long as the information is still accurate. But if old content clogs up your search engine, it may be doing some harm. Consider keeping older items in an archive directory that can be searched separately.

Do an occasional content audit and review the metrics of your site. Then you'll have a better idea of what to keep, what to archive, and what to trash.

The incredible shrinking content

First there were full concerts and recitals. Then came pop music and albums, then singles, now ringtones. First there were plays, then movies, then TV shows, now downloadable clips and vignettes. People aren't reading print newspapers as much anymore. We want our information fast. In bulleted lists. We want the soundbites and the highlights.

Despite having more of it than ever, content is shrinking in size. Wired Magazine examines the trend this month: Snack Culture. It's recommended reading.

Update: Seth's take.

Usable content

The usability of your website is not just about the forms and functionality. It can refer to your content too. Here's an example of good content that is simply not usable. Would you want to read that?

Here are some tips for better writing:

• Avoid alliteration. Always.
• Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
• Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
• Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
• Proofread carefully to see if you words out.

OK, seriously. Go here to learn more about writing for the web.

Context is king

If the Internet is the "information superhighway," maybe online marketing is the collection of billboards and roadsigns along the highway that encourage you to exit.

Gas, food, and lodging are the real-life staples because of context. It's what the users want and need. Online, context is the power behind Google Adwords and other similar programs. You pay for your ad to show up only when users are searching for a keyword related to your product or service. So the ad for your brand of ice cream doesn't show up when people are searching for "cars," but it does show up when people type in "desserts."

Similarly, promotions on your site can be more effective when placed "in context." People will be more receptive to an ad if it makes sense in their current surroundings.