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"Get It All" with Good Web Content
by: Cherie Davidson
No matr how
goud th infomation... why wood you tak
content like this seriusly? No mater how
good the infomation, if is riddiled with
typos its asta lavista baby. You lose.
Typos,
misspellings, hideous grammar, exclamation
overkill and run-on sentences all undermine
a Web site's message. Your reader will have
to work too hard, and you won't have that
reader long.
Grabbing a
reader's attention is a key point in getting
your message out, but there is such a thing
as too much grabbing--and the wrong kind of
attention. Negative attention can lose a
great many visitors and potential clients.
Clean content
and neat appearance are not merely a matter
of aesthetics. It goes to the core of
establishing trust and reliability between a
Web site and visitor. Relate it to a deli. A
potential customer heard about you through
an ad. Cool ad, got his/her attention, so
he/she stops by on the way home. On the
outside everything looks nice, meets
expectations, so the visitor walks in,
looking for tonight's sandwich goodies. Once
inside it only takes a few seconds to notice
the dust on the shelves, the dirty
footprints, the unidentifiable smudges on
the glass counter-fronts. No matter how good
the food smells, if the counterperson has
dirty hands or there are papers littering
the floor, how many people are going to feel
comfortable reaching over a crumb-covered
counter to pay for their dinner?
That may sound
like a silly comparison to Web content, but
really, it's not so far off. The principle
stands: clean, neat, appealing content
builds comfort and trust. Sloppy, haphazard
or distracting content repels, and breaks
down credibility. And the principle is very
easy to apply to all Web content. Just
remember the acronym, "Get It All"
G- et another
set of eyes to take an objective look
E- xtra
attention to spelling lends credibility
T- ell your
message with exciting words; don't rely on
graphics
I- talics,
bold and all caps are rough on the eyes, use
sparingly
T- ake the
time to read the entire content... backwards
(you'll be amazed at what you'll notice this
way)
A- lways do
one last look-see after it's finished
L- et all
content sit for at least a full day before a
final edit
L- ose the
guesswork--keep a dictionary and
grammar/editing reference at your
fingertips, and use them often.
Whether your
content is a one-line ad or five-page
report, taking that little extra time and
effort will improve your site, build
customer confidence and add respectability.
Saving time now and risking poor content
quality can end up costing you more later.
After all, the object is to get and keep
customers at your site; to keep them
reading. How long would you have kept
reading this article if it had all been
written like that first paragraph?
About The Author
Cherie’ Davidson owns
Suitable Words (http://www.suitablewords.com),
where she provides site content
development, on-line writing services
and promotion services such as press
releases and articles. You can contact
her at
cherie@suitablewords.com
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