I love television commercials. Where others might search for the remote in earnest to mute, fast forward or channel surf – I prefer to sit through these three minute breaks as sound bites of entertainment in and of themselves. Funny ads that don’t make me laugh remind me of target audiences of which I’m not a part, poignant ads that make me cry speak to the power of story telling, and obscure creative ads make me wonder who called the shots during the creative brief …the client or the agency.

Web content strategies can learn a lot from television advertising. You see, when I talk about web content to clients, I don’t just mean the words on the web page. I mean defining and communicating key messages using the best possible tools available to do just that.

Websites used to only be about branding and messaging – hence, the commonly used online brochure analogy. However, with embedded video and integrated social media applications and campaigns, web content has to be about supporting the purpose of the website in a way that makes it more memorable than brand positioning and recall alone.

This is one of the reasons I advocate clients think about their website’s content before the design. One is the driver for the other. This is also why I believe tools such as wireframes, when done properly, can serve to not only facilitate discussions about what messages need to be communicated on each and every page of the website …but how.

Gerry McGovern talks about the “Content-Attention Paradox” in his book “Killer Web Content”. The premise is quite simple and governs (no pun intended) the practices of professional web content writers everywhere – the amount of written text on a web page is inversely proportional to the attention span of your readers.

Quite simply, the greater the number of words on a web page, the less reading people will do – after 150 words, you’ve probably already lost 80% of your audience.

So, how do you communicate your message in 150 words or less? Take a cue from time constrained 15-30 second television commercials. If a picture is worth 1000 words – adding video or images to your website gives you upwards of 1,150 words to work with. For example:

The message can be the focal point with images and video as supporting players like in the following ad from Wiserhood:

Or the images or video can be the focus of the message with the content merely serving to reinforce or clarify the purpose, like in this ad for Grand Marnier:

The most effective web content strategy approach, therefore, is the one that best articulates the message you’re trying to convey, in a way that engages your target audience, in a manner that supports the primary purpose of your website.

That’s why, when a recent client came to me and asked for a quote for web content writing for a brand new website, I steered them back to the web content strategy phase. The client, a prominent interior design firm, was better served by a website whose message – internationally-renowned, outside-of-the box, creative solution provider – was delivered in pictures, rather than words. Very rarely do I promote web design before web content writing …in this case, it was a no-brainer.

As a profession, web content strategists need to adjust their way of thinking to extend the “Content-Attention Paradox” and provide greater value to clients and target audiences alike, by:

- Implementing a social media strategy that encourages participatory content creation and proliferation – actively (comments on blogs etc) or virally (Share This!);

- Partnering with User Experience professionals whose talents for communicating visually (i.e. infographics) extend beyond the linear parameters of the written word; or

- Expanding our own way of thinking by reading, recognizing and adopting visual communication techniques like those featured in Dan Roam’s book “Back of the Napkin”

While Content is still King …Context can be shaped without adding more blah, blah to a web page!

February, for me, is my favourite time of year because the Super Bowl spawns a whole new batch of creative advertising campaigns. The Super Bowl has a lot riding on it …and for marketers it’s not about which team wins or loses. One 15-30 second commercial has to communicate, engage, leave an impression, and hopefully be something worth sharing long after the winning field goal has been kicked.

Web content isn’t far off from these objectives as well. Whether it’s a 30 second spot or 150 words or less, it has just as much riding on it. Because in the end, it always comes down to numbers …and ROI is the most important one of all.