KILLER WEB CONTENT EXAMPLES
by Gerry McGovern

Out of 18 choices, why does one piece of content get 49 percent
of the vote while another gets 0 percent?

Over the last six years, I have tested a range of headings and
summaries. The tests were carried out in 14 countries with
almost 3,000 people. People were asked to scan 31 headings and
18 summaries about a particular subject and then quickly choose
the one that stood out for them. The subject areas were:

• The launch of iTunes
• A pet food scare
• A launch of discount software by Microsoft
• The launch of the final Harry Potter book

Here's a summary of the results:

TOP HEADINGS

• Tons of tunes (22 percent)
• Poison found in pet food (30 percent)
• $3 software for developing countries (23 percent)
• Flying off the shelves (31 percent)

BOTTOM HEADINGS

• Apple's Music Store breaks the mould and sells technology (0 percent)
• Rodent poison found in now-recalled pet food blamed for animal
  deaths (0 percent)
• Three-Dollar Windows for Govt-Subsidized Student Computers... (0
  percent)
• 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' sells 2.6 million copies
  in 24 hours (0 percent)

TOP SUMMARIES

• 99 cents per download, no restrictions. One million tracks sold
  online in one week encouraging sign for ailing music industry.
  Apple ... (49 percent)
• By Josh Fineman and Michael Quint. March 23 (Bloomberg) -- Rat
  poison killed at least 16 cats and dogs and prompted last week's
  recall of 60 million cans of ... (38 percent)
• Microsoft plans to offer a US$3 stripped-down package of
  Windows, Office and other software to people in developing ...
  (34 percent)
• WARNING: If you don't want to know what happens in "Harry Potter
  and the Deathly Hallows," stop reading now. JK Rowling is far
  too savvy a ... (38 percent)

BOTTOM SUMMARIES

• The music industry owes a lot to technology. But the new
  millennium has brought slumping sales. Technology now terrifies
  music executives ... (0 percent)
• BY MICHAEL AMON. At first, the pet food recall didn't much worry
  Jack Friedman. His cats love Iams canned food but had never
  eaten the "cuts and gravy" ... (0 percent)
• In its effort to remain competitive and relevant to today's new
  generation of Windows users around the world, Microsoft unveiled
  on Thursday a new program ... (0 percent)
• Cash tills around the world rang to the tune of Harry Potter
  over the weekend and the seventh and final book in the ... (0
  percent)

The Web is the ultimate laboratory for content. It allows us to
know, with increasing precision, what content leads to a
positive action, and what content leads to the Back button.

The content that works on the Web has one key characteristic: it
is customer-centric. The content that doesn't work on the Web
also has one key characteristic: it is organization-centric.

"99 cents per download, no restrictions" is the essence of what
people want today. They want an immediate answer to the
question: What's in it for me? They want brutal, pared down
content that gets to the point immediately.

Your website is not a murder mystery. It is certainly not a
place for we-we content. Short, sharp, second person and active;
that's web content. Get to the point. Then stop.

Content management solutions: Gerry McGovern
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com

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