Content is King!
3 commentsAnyone familiar with a creative design project, from print to web-based initiatives, understands that content is king and a major player in the success of a project from the very beginning. Since our inception at Rockbeatspaper, we have been preaching to our clients the value of content from the beginning of a project, which has been met with mixed responses. Some clients understand the value of great content and others believe it can play second fiddle to a great design or concept. So let's set it straight... content is the keystone of a project and everything builds upon its successful creation.
Users return to your site and pay attention to your marketing efforts because of great, relevant content and not just a pretty design. Great content is also the major factor in converting a prospective user into a paying customer. It also makes sense that the people closest to the business with the best understanding of the product or service would be the best people to generate the content, but most often this is not the case. In-house at RBP, we do alot of things very well, however copywriting is not one of our core competencies. Enter the content strategy to the rescue.
Every project team member, from information architects and designers to project managers, can benefit from the creation of a successful content strategy. A content strategy can help meet your communication goals and messaging with the major task being an audit of current content. Is the content current and relevant to the user? Does it help to build and/or reinforce the brand of the product or service? Does the content work to meet the goals for the user at each point of the user experience? Once a content strategy is in place, every team member can work concurrently to meet the project goals and complete the project.
A great article on content strategies can be found at A List Apart. Another great tool to use in the generation of content after the content strategy has been created are content templates. We hope you find this article informative and we would love to hear your feedback in the comments area below.
About the Author
Dave is the resident developer, accountant, daily operations manager and Chief Common-Sense Officer here at Rockbeatspaper. When he is not implementing wonderful designs into highly functional web sites and managing his Sudoku addiction, Dave enjoys spending time with his wife, daughter & son, attending church, working out and watching Carolina basketball. GO HEELS!
3 Responses to "Content is King!"
Caitlin
Sep 2, 2009 6:23pmThanks for this! As a content writer, I’m always interested in reading how others tackle the problems I face.
Dave Peele
Sep 3, 2009 12:49amYou are very welcome! We are glad you found it useful! We would love to hear any suggestions that you may have from a copywriter’s perspective on the subject.
"old man" Ras Au-t Amam
May 28, 2011 1:04pmI agree content is king
you gotta put it down on this internet thing
No matter what you do if you rap or sing
You should put it on your blog then give it a ping.