Making Lemonade: Creating Cracking Content from Crummy Copy

1. Making Lemonade: Creating Cracking Content from Crummy Copy

2. What We’ll Cover • What web visitors are really like • The importance of a self-service website • Tips and exercises for editing for the web • Helping your bosses understand why • Group discussion

3. What Web Visitors Are Really Like

4. What The…?!? • They don’t care (about you, your mission statement, or anything not about them) • They will take the shortest path possible to get what they want • They don’t mind digging if they smell something good. • They are ravenous (for content) • They will tear your site up

5. What’s Cracking Content, Then? • Meets the customer where he is by: • Enabling self-service • Offering a clear purpose • Leading with the point • Saying only what it needs to and no more • Making effective calls to action • Can be understood withoutbeing read

6. Let’s Talk About Se…lf Service • There is nothing more important to a website visitor. Nothing. • People come to your website because they don’t want to talk to you. • Your most important job – to make your site work for people outside your unit • Get out of their way so you canstop bugging them already!

7. Always Presume They Don’t Care* • Generally speaking, the things your colleagues are the most interested in are what everyone else cares about the least • Org charts, who runs what, your history, etc. • Ask: if they don’t care now, why will they? • Can you do something to make them care? • If they won’t care, and you can’t make them, DON’T BOTHER.

8. *…Except When They Do • Every web visitor comes to you for a reason • If you don’t connect, you’ll lose ‘em • Think hard about what their purpose is, and if it matches with yours • If not, you need to do some adjusting • If you can’t match your purposes, do you need a page? (No, not really.)

9. Thought Exercise: Top Visitor Tasks • Look at the sheet in your packet and write down 3 top activities you think a visitor might want to complete from those types of pages. • Go with your gut!

10. Lead with the point • Remember the rules about paragraphs from high-school English class? Forget ‘em. • Don’t try to intrigue – put your thesis statement first, then support • Lead with your conclusion, support later • Those who read on want more info • Repeat vital info if need be!

11. Editorial Exercise: Find the Thesis • Look at the sheet in your packet and underline what you think the thesis statement is in each paragraph • This thesis would be your new first line in the paragraph

12. Omit Unnecessary Words • Always look to trim the fat • Every “extra” word is something you put between readers and their goals • Cut until you hit the bone • Trim framing statements, generalities, platitudes whenever possible • Focus on facts and action

13. Editorial Exercise: Trim the Fat • Look at the sheet in your packet and cross out text you think strays from the point of the paragraph

14. Effective Calls to Action • The key to activating tasks and YOUR goals • A good call to action is immediate • Use active, not passive, voice and words • Has a clear purpose • Reader knows what you want them to do • Offers a clear incentive to the reader • What’s the payoff for reading? • Links are NOT calls to action

15. Thought Exercise: Call to Action • Write down one-sentence calls to action pointing to the following: • A web research survey on childhood obesity • An application form for your fellowship • A department event calendar • A frequently asked questions page • “Click Here” is not a call to action

16. Why Callouts Are Critical • They help you highlight your most important info in a way that people will see • Give benefits even if they don’t read copy • They let you shape readers’ actions • They make your page a useful reference • And thus encourage people to come BACK to your site later!

17. Editorial Exercise: Callouts • Look at the sheet in your packet and circle any information you think should be called out in the sample copy • Note anything else you think might add value to the page

18. “But My Boss Likes It The Way It Is!” • Is your boss your audience? (I hope not.) • If so, consider if you need a website at all • Your boss wants the website to succeed • Your boss is also not immune to logic • Your boss needs an advisor, whether he/she thinks so or not • When all else fails, blame PR 

19. Finding a Middle Ground • You won’t win every battle – you shouldn’t • Always presume the author/supervisor is a reasonable human being • Ask a lot of questions • What do THEY want to accomplish? • Who do they want to reach? • What will that person use it for? • What CAN’T you delete?

20. Hitting the Right (Web) Notes • Be the expert – but don’t be a snob • Always advise, always assist • Advocate for your audience • You must work in other rules – say so • Remind that the web is different than print • Remember, you all want the same thing – a successful website

21. Putting It Together • In your packets, open to “The Laboratory Page” and use what we’ve discussed to make this copy more web-friendly • Identify the tasks and purpose of the page • Say the most important info first • Omit unnecessary words • Creating calls to action • Call out critical info

22. Discussion • What did you change? • What did you leave be? • What was the hardest part of this? • What was the easiest? • What else did you want to know?

23. Alex Flagg Associate Director Public Relations aflagg@unmc.edu