The Value of Good Web Content

April 14, 2003 | 0 Comments

Does your organization value it’s content? In my experience this question is answered differently depending on who you ask. In most cases I think the true answer would be “not enough”. It seems that everywhere I’ve worked in the last 8 odd years has had some problem or issue with the content of their Web site. I was lucky enough to work on a Web team at Boeing for a few years that had dedicated writers and more importantly dedicated editors.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, when I was consulting for Saltmine, I worked on a project where the content was the last thing worried about. I brought it up several times, suggesting they hire a writer and editor to go through everything, but those pleas fell on deaf ears. I wasn’t in a position to do anything about it, besides fire off an email if I found a misspelled word or something. It was pretty bad. I don’t think they are in business anymore.

At the hospital content is an unresolved issue that comes up all the time. We are somewhere between the two above examples. It’s hard because the Web team recognizes the value of good Web content and for the most part the rest of the organization sees that at well, it’s just bridging the gap and getting it all put together. If you read my post about PDF you can see what I’m talking about. I think the organization would benefit from having a Web content manager or editor to help pull the content owners into a more Web thinking mindset. It’s a huge job, and while the existing Web team can do some of this, we can’t do it all.

As you can imagine we have some really great legacy content which, for the moment, isn’t really getting the treatment it deserves. Here is a nice piece from Gerry McGovern on this issue. I think I’m going to send it around the office. For some reason when someone outside the organization says something (and no it doesn’t always matter who that person is) it tends to carry a bit more weight. I think that is pretty typical.

Filed under: Web General