Principles of Effective Content (Part #2) – Scrabble® and Effective Web Content

I have a friend living in Berlin who is constantly trumpeting his winning SCRABBLE® Worldwide scores on FaceBook. His posts include his high scoring words (most of which I have never come across before) and the points these words have earned. To win at SCRABBLE® you can’t afford to just put any old word on the board. You only have so many turns so your chance to score is limited. To be a SCRABBLE® champion you must carefully and strategically choose your words to obtain the maximum results.

The same principle is even truer in producing website content. The most effective websites are largely produced by ruthless editing…removing everything that does not contribute to the focused purpose of the page. In my previous blog, I discussed how knowing your target was the critical foundation for an effective website. The second critical element is the willingness to offload everything that doesn’t “score.” And by the way, YOU don’t get to determine how effective your choice of words has been, your website visitor does…right or wrong, THEY decide.

Too many websites are overloaded with content; information the website owner wants the visitor to know. Too much content obscures and/or dilutes the focused message your website needs. Website visitors have little patience for content overload and quickly lose interest.

A focused and effective website has a specific target visitor in mind and strategically presents only the most attractive and engaging content while stripping everything else off the page. Don’t waste time telling them things they already know or sharing information they have no interest in knowing. Answer the questions they are bringing to the site. Clearly the website can’t be all things to all people. You must choose who it is that is the best fit for your product or service and “dial in” the content to engage them, knowing that some visitors will be unmoved. Know your target and seek to engage them while the others are free to listen in and participate if they like.

The challenge of how to engage this target customer is no simple thing. Choosing the appropriate “call to action” for the target visitor is vital. What is the next step they might be willing to take strengthen the engagement? That will be the focus of the third part of this blog series, “The First Step is a Doozy!”