Author: Randy Earl

Trees, Forests, Landscapes

If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve heard the phrase “He can’t see the forest for the trees” to describe someone so focused on specific details that he misses the big picture. Rather than repeat this cliche again, I’d like to discuss a third level I consider more important—the landscape, or how we choose to shape a natural environment to meet our needs.

Let me explain with an example. Recently, I was looking over a heavily-wooded property with a neighbor and discussing ideas for how to landscape it. We agreed the property could be greatly improved by removing many of the trees. However, when my neighbor pointed out which trees he would remove, they were the exact opposite of the ones I would! I realized even though we were gazing over the same property, we had dramatically opposed visions for the new landscape. We agreed on the need for change, but our desired end results could not have been more different.

Trees Are Features. The Landscape Is the Objective.

So, what does this have to do with planning complex digital projects? In this landscaping comparison, we need to think of trees as features—they give shade, add visual interest like color or shape, provide privacy, offset architecture, and so on. The right combination of trees, applied as part of an overall plan, can immensely enhance a landscape. However, features aren’t everything—they need to serve a purpose. Are you focused on individual features (the trees), or do you have a clear vision of the end business objective (the landscape)?

We often have new clients who want to begin the discussion at the feature level—take this one out, speed that one up, redesign another one. We always back up and ask: “What business objective are you trying to achieve?” The answer is usually some benefit to the bottom line like increasing revenue through growth in market share, or decreasing cost by leveraging technology more efficiently.

Ask Five Whys

An excellent exercise for zooming out from the feature level is to ask “why?” Then ask it again, and again, and again, until you have the objective-level perspective you need. Asking why through several iterations—I’d suggest five—can help to get at the real root of what you are trying to accomplish. Let’s try out this technique with an example that’s common in our business:

• We need a new content management system (CMS).

Why?

• Because it will make it easier to generate content for the website.

Why?

• Because our current content management system (CMS) is outdated and hard to use.

Why?

• Because we built it 7 years ago and it hasn’t kept up with the technology that people now expect.

Why?

• There has been no investment in our website for the last several years.

Why?

• Because then we were focused on growth by merger and acquisition, but we are now in a position to focus on organic growth in web traffic.

Look at the evolution—what starts as a question of how hard or easy it is for someone to use a tool ends as a discussion of the overall business goal that tool supports. Now we we know what we really need to achieve!

Next, Ask What

Using this big-picture vision, it’s time to begin from the top and go in the opposite direction, asking “what is needed for that” rather than “why.”

• We want to grow organic traffic on the website.

What is needed for that?

• A solid base of structured content, with a plan to continually generate fresh content.

What is needed for that?

• A content strategy identifying what content our users crave and how to produce it.

What is needed for that?

• Someone in the organization dedicated to defining and curating online content.

What is needed for that?

• A team of subject matter experts and content contributors working through an approval process coordinated by the above person.

What is needed for that?

• An Information Architecture to structure and organize the content generated above.

What is needed for that?

• A governance process defining editorial workflow, approval levels, and communications guidelines.

What is needed for that?

• An online toolset for the content contributors, including a modern Content Management System.

What is needed for that?

• Training in the governance process and using the new CMS.

What is needed for that?

• An SEO strategy to make sure search engines are picking up the content.

What is needed for that?

• Analytics to monitor and review the effectiveness of the online content and SEO strategy.

Notice how the answer still includes the original requirement of a new content management system, but now that CMS is only part of a more comprehensive solution. What’s more, now the company will be much more likely to effectively use their new CMS to achieve their larger business objectives.

Choose the Landscape, Then the Trees

In terms of our original metaphor, remember to think of your objective as the landscape you want rather than a forest of random trees (features) to be addressed individually. To guide you in this process, use the “Why?” and “What is needed for that?” questions to lead you to the strategy you need. This lets you decide each feature for a specific reason, letting them all combine to form an elegant landscape that will stand the test of time.

In a previous post, Why Original Web Content Matters to Your Business, I explained why creating original web content is important. In short, original content plays a significant role in conversion optimization and the organic search performance of your site.

In this post, I’ll focus on how to create original content. Writing original web content can be challenging. However, it is not impossible and becomes easier with practice and a plan. Here are some key things to keep in mind to help you get started:

Identify topics where you have expertise. If people are paying for your product or service, you know something of value to others. You don’t have to be the world’s top expert on the subject, you just need to have information of interest to your audience. Provide a valuable perspective by combining your knowledge with your unique insight.

Know your audience. Make sure you know what you are writing, for whom, and why. An excellent way to really know your target audience and how to address them is through developing Personas; it takes a little time, but the insights gained are invaluable – so much so that we perform Persona Workshops as a first step for all our clients.

Plan ahead. List topics you can write about, do some keyword research, develop a schedule around product releases, calendar events, etc. Build in a draft, review, and publish cycle; this is called an editorial calendar and is very helpful to maintain regular content production.

Start writing. Starting can be the hardest part, but the most important. Write a draft, then rework it as you see fit; it is much easier to work with once it is out of your head and on paper (or screen).

Structure for online consumption. Writing for the web is very different from writing a short story or novel; web content must match the way users scan websites:

• Start with your key point (don’t bury the lead)
• Write in small, digestible chunks (provide individual answers)
• Use headlines and headings (make it easy to scan)
• Write in active voice (be approachable, not remote)
• Write in plain language (be accessible to all readers)

Edit. Edit for grammar, spelling, accuracy, references, flow, voice, and web consumption, etc. Have someone else review it if you can. Finally, remember the adage “less is more” – edit down; omit needless words.

Creating Original Web Content: An Example

Some websites obviously require lots of textual content, such as traditional marketing sites (sometimes called “brochure” sites), while others don’t because they focus on providing very specific functionality. There are certainly variations based on purpose, but all sites need some amount of content and often more than you might think.

For example, Atlantic BT is working with a client to design a website interface for a large, complex data set; the primary purpose of the site is to provide access to reports based on this data to a few well-defined groups of users like researchers and policy-makers. This could initially seem to be a straightforward delivery of a specific application to users who will know how to find it and what to do with it, thus requiring little explanatory content.

However, the Persona Workshop portion of our Discovery process identified that almost every user type had a critical need for explanatory content of some type, ranging from descriptions of the reports and data structures, to how-to’s for accessing the data, FAQs, and more.

As a result of the Persona workshop, it was clear the site would have to include a significant focus on creating the textual content needed to support fully successful user engagement with the reports and data sets. Although the primary objective for site visitors would be the data and reports, those would not necessarily be of value without the supporting content to explain what they were and how to access and use them.

Additionally, the content will provide a valuable secondary function –  it will greatly enhance the search engine rankings for the website. Search engines can not access, nor could they digest, the raw data or reports that are the primary content of the site; the textual content will have to tell the search engines what the site is all about and can provide to the visitor.

In these two posts we have demonstrated the need, the value, and the method for generating quality, original content for your website. If you follow the steps above, you will certainly see improved traffic to your site and enhanced user interaction once they arrive. Happy writing!