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The Power of Negative Reviews

Sep 6, ’11 7:53 PM

Today I came across the results of a survey that showed “four-out-of-five consumers have changed their minds about a recommended purchase based solely on negative information they found online.” On the reverse side, the results also indicate that “positive information has a similar effect on decision making, with 87 percent of consumers agreeing a favorable review has confirmed their decision to purchase.”

So what does this mean for your content?

Given our always-on-mentality and ready access to just about everything, it’s doubtful that 100% of the people who read your stuff will like it without qualification. At some point, you will get a negative review of how you’ve written about something. So if the survey says that 80% of people change their minds based on a negative review, you can’t push the negatives aside.

You have to respond to the (valid) comments and make the improvements that enhance your work. The key is to remember that many times, how you respond to the negative can have as great, if not greater, impact than the positive. But when it comes to changing our words, it can be difficult.

Words Hurt

Writers like their words, their sentences, and their paragraphs. Otherwise, in theory, they wouldn’t have written them. Few things seem to stir people up as quickly as a critique of their writing. I know. When I first started writing, my initial reaction to someone questioning my writing was to shoot first and ask questions later.

Over time, I’ve gotten much better at actually hearing/reading the comments and thinking through the intent. Most times the comments aren’t about me personally and do improve the overall quality of my work. But it’s not easy to fight the protective instinct that pops up. For the writers I know, their work is personal to them, and it takes time and experience to separate critiques of our work as being critiques of us individually.

Embracing the Negative

Since we know the risks of trying to be all things to all people, it’s worth remembering that negative critiques may mean you’re doing something right. It’s just a matter of putting it into context. If you’re consistently getting told that your explanations are confusing that’s clearly a negative to avoid. But if your feedback shows that people feel strongly one way or another about an idea you put forth, that’s a different, and not unwelcome, outcome.

Even though it may not feel good taking the hit, it’s worth remembering that the negative can be just as good for you as the positive. Keep that in mind the next time you debate watering down your prose to appeal to the masses.

 

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Give Your Content a Makeover in 3 Easy Steps

Aug 31, ’11 7:58 PM

I Need a MakeoverI hate when my searches land me on pages that are clearly outdated or inaccurate. Too often in our pursuit of building content-rich sites, we skip over the need to review, update, and toss out content as needed. We also forget that the needs of our readers/visitors may have changed, too.

Holding Patterns

Despite being capable wielders of digital (and therefore flexible) technology, I’m surprised at how few writers and companies embrace revision. Solid content can remain so for an extended period of time, particularly if it’s maintained with care.

It reminds me a bit of our approach to personal health. We’ll live a lot longer and feel a lot better if we take care of ourselves along the way. But, just like our aversion to regular exercise and a healthy diet, we’re often resistant to giving the same, regular attention to our content.

A Content Makeover

A few times I’ve been approached to redo a website or a marketing piece with the plea to start from scratch. On rare occasions, this approach makes the most sense. But if it was solid work to begin with, I can usually take the basic structure and give it a new coat of paint, saving both time and money.

Here’s how you can give your content a makeover:

  1. Update references. Things change, and unless the idea or premise you’re promoting is wildly out of date, look for new sources to reference.
  2. Update images. Few things will date your work more than images of 80s bangs and shoulder pads. With so many royalty-free options available, new images are an easy way to give content a fresh appeal.
  3. Remove dated slang/terminology. Reading terms that reflect previous technology, for example, distracts from what may otherwise be solid principles. Look for better ways to describe your concepts that rely less on words likely to change over time.

Toss It Out

Making the recommendation to toss content out doesn’t happen very often. But you owe it to yourself and what you want to accomplish to assess regularly if content is helping or hurting you. Perhaps it’s too vague or related to something you used to do in the past. Maybe it promotes a service or technique that’s since been called into question. Ultimately you’re writing to not only help people learn, but to also establish your authority. Make sure the content that you sign your name to does both.

 

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3 Rules to Help You Wrap Up Your Content Projects

Aug 17, ’11 3:18 PM

The first time I went through a bank drive thru after I got my driver’s license, I drove off with little cylinder you use to send stuff through the air chute. I didn’t notice it until I got to my next stop. Mortified, I drove back to the same drive thru lane to return it. The teller assured me that it happened more than often than you might think. Luckily I’ve never done it again.

In the rush of doing something new for the very first time, I got caught up in the moment. The same things happens when we decide to tackle a new project. Whether it’s something small, like a white paper, or something big, like a business-wide content strategy, we tend to rush our fences.

Fascinated By the New and Shiny

In our pursuit of the new and shiny, it’s very easy to not finish projects. In the bank drive thru I was so focused on things like making sure my mirrors didn’t hit the poles and endorsing the check that I didn’t complete the task. Instead I raced off to the next thing on my list only to discover I needed to go back.

Every time we have to go back to a project because we rushed off to something new is wasted time. We lose the time going back. We lose the time we could be working on our next project. And perhaps most importantly, we lose that sense of satisfaction that something that was checked off the list now isn’t.

Questioning Our Skills

Why does satisfaction matter? Because it’s connected to the way we view our ability. If we’re constantly redoing things, it starts to have a impact. We go from believing in our skills, to questioning our competency. This slide gets in the way of getting things done efficiently, particularly when it comes to creating content. When you’re dealing with a medium that’s built a word at a time, the last thing you want to happen is the belief you need to question every keystroke.

Embrace the Challenge

We will still make mistakes, and we can’t obsess over every detail forever. But these three rules will help you avoid driving off with plastic cylinders AND having to return to projects you thought finished:

  • Make a checklist. While written checklists are preferable, at minimum, establish a set of routines for each time of project that you follow every time. The initial process of creating the checklist may be tedious and time consuming, but it will prevent many headaches in the future.
  • Finish what you start. It’s tempting to hand off projects or tell yourself that you’ll get back to something. You’ll probably regret both. Unless you’re required to give the project to someone else, see things through to the end. The same applies for getting back to something later. Try to keep your work flow as consistent as possible.
  • Look around one last time. Before hitting publish, send, or doing anything permanent, take the time to look through things one last time. You’ll be surprised at the things you catch on that last pass.

It will always seem like the project list only seems to grow. However, we can avoid re-adding things to the list if we don’t get distracted and really finish things instead of pushing them aside.

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Does Your Content Miss Making the Point?

Aug 12, ’11 6:05 PM

Assessing Available Resources

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With every new writing project, we’re (in theory) trying to solve a problem or answer a question. However, when we start a project it can be easy to get the process confused with the point of the project, as Joshua Porter captures quite nicely:

Solve the problem and you’re successful no matter what process you’ve been using. The point is hard to talk about because it’s precisely what’s different in your project…it’s the thing that you probably don’t have a process for yet (if you did it wouldn’t be a problem!). It’s probably something that you can’t talk about anyway because you don’t want other people to solve it before you (e.g. your competitors).

So we instead talk about the process. But we should remember not to confuse the two. The process is valuable…it’s a framework for deciding what to do next…and we need that…but it’s merely a means to an end. Don’t let process details distract you from solving your problem in any way possible.

The Process is important…but it’s not the Point.

Start As We Mean to Go

I always recommend that writers and businesses get really clear about their intent at the beginning. It seems like a no brainer, but I’m always amazed at how many people skip this step and fail to answer three important questions:

  1. What’s the question want to answer or the problem you want to solve?
  2. Do  you want to establish authority and expertise?
  3. How much time do you really have?

The Big Idea

Without fail, the first question draws people up short. They often believe that picking a subject was the only requirement. To create good content requires something a little more. Since we’re literally drowning in content at times, we have to make it really clear why our new content should rise to the top. And that requires answering a question or solving a problem. Nail that down and you’re 50 percent done with the prep work.

Authority and Expertise

I use this question to help content creators understand a few things like tone and even the channels they use to share their content. Depending on the industry, establishing authority varies. So understanding from the beginning if the intent is to submit the original work to a peer-reviewed journal as opposed to a post on a blog, makes a big difference about the direction and resources that will be needed. Again, the point of why one is writing matters more than the process. So the process can’t get in the way of making the point.

Honest About Time

Writing takes time. Really good writing takes more time. If creators are honest from the beginning about the real circumstances, like time and budget, they’ll invariably end up disappointed with the results. Staying aware of time can make a huge difference in the success of a project and whether it accomplishes the big goal of answering the question or solving the problem.

So the next time a new project appears, don’t get too caught up in the process and miss the point.

 

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Getting the Most Out of Your Content Strategy

Jul 28, ’11 4:52 PM

Lazy WorkoutWe’ve all done a workout or two that we gave less than our best effort. But why do we do it? We’re still taking the time to do the workout, so why not do everything possible to get the full benefit?

I see this approach happen all the time in content strategy. Maybe it’s a routine project and it seems like a waste of time to do more than the bare minimum. Maybe it’s a complicated project that feels overwhelming. Whatever the circumstances, people choose to do less than their best. But the work still has to be done. So like the exercise routine, why not do what you need doing to get the greatest benefit?

Here are some ideas to help you get the most out of your content strategy (routine):

1) Add a Warm Up

Ever jump into a snow-fed lake? It’s not pleasant. The shock won’t kill you (probably), but it can bring you to a screeching halt. The same thing can happen if you haven’t built a warm up in to your content strategy. So start with the basics.

Identify the people who’ll contribute to the project. Outline a broad goal of what you hope to achieve. Make a quick assessment of existing resources. Whatever gets you headed in the right direction, make sure you do it every time. Creating consistency from beginning can help you avoid the cold-lake effect regardless of the project size or complexity.

2) Track Project Progress

Tracking the results of a workout can show if you’re improving over past routines. Sometimes in the rush to get things done, tracking individual and overall progress can get overlooked. In some ways, you can’t get to where you want to go if you don’t know where you’ve been. Plus you get the benefit of understand how your scope of work changes over time.

Tracking progress also gives you a baseline for assessing and comparing different projects. Did you really need five people or did a similar project with three people show that the smaller group was more efficient?

3) Don’t Leave Out the Challenge

For workouts to do their job, we have to do things that keep them challenging, like increasing the weight or going longer. The same holds true for your content strategy. Just because you did a project one way six months ago doesn’t mean you should automatically do a new, but similar, one the same way.

You’ve probably learned something new in those six months. Put that knowledge to work on the new project and look for other ways to improve on the status quo. Doing so can keep you focused and interested in the work. I’m not talking about making it harder for the sake of working harder, but instead about making it better.

Overall you’ll get more out of your content strategy (routine) if you look for ways to maximize every project. And like any good workout, you’ll start to feel and see the benefits.

 

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The Dining Alone Content Strategy

Jul 14, ’11 7:37 PM

I dine out alone a lot. My dining experience falls into two categories: ignore me  (and my water glass) or shower me with attention. In both instances, it feels like the server is embarrassed by the fact that I’m there alone, and the embarrassment gets in the way of doing the job right.

We see the same thing happen around creating a content strategy. While it may not be embarrassment, some emotion—frustration, fear, pride—gets in the way of doing the job right. Instead of taking the time to assess the situation and make judgements based on what we do know, we start to assume, which puts us at a disadvantage from the beginning.

The Dining Alone Content Strategy

Over the course of several solo meals, I came up with idea that a solid content strategy could look like good service in a restaurant:

  1. Ask the right questions.
    When I get to a restaurant, the host(ess) automatically grabs two menus, and I have to clarify that it’s just one. What if instead of grabbing the menus, the questions was posed: “Are meeting someone or waiting for the rest of your party?” Asking the right question from the beginning sets you up to get the information you need to do the job right.
  2. Learn to recognize the cues.
    Start by watching for signs that you need to act or react to a situation. When dining out, I like my water glass refilled at least once. But it rarely works out that way. Instead I run out or the server splashes the table by constantly refilling the glass. The same thing can happen with your content strategy. Assess where you really need to apply your effort and don’t force it where it isn’t needed. You’re looking for a balanced approach.
  3. Deliver more value than expected.
    I’m a good tipper unless the service is horrible. In the past, I’ve wondered if I’ve gotten less attention because there’s no expectation of a good tip on one meal. Perhaps I’m the exception, but if my service is good, I usually leave a 30-50% tip. The same lesson applies to content strategy. It may not happen every time, but there will be projects that result in your version of a big tip. Maybe it’s a bonus, promotion or referral. Whatever the benefit, there will be a something good that comes from delivering more value.

I have yet to find a restaurant that consistently does a good job with solo dining. I do know that if I ever find it, I’ll be devoted customer for life. The same can be said if you figure out how to consistently deliver a content strategy that works without leaving a mess on the table.

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