Access to the net is here. Now, are we going to make
our sites worth returning to...and worth recommending
to friends and colleagues? Excellent content will make
_all_the difference.
As the number of corporate web sites grows (from 25,000
in 1994 to 170,000 in 1995 and maybe 300,000 in '96 or whatever)
people are going to get _very_ picky about useful content.
Therefore, I humbly suggest the following rules of engagement,
whether you are developing a consumer or business-to-
business site:
IMHO, A CONTENT DEVELOPER'S MANIFESTO
1. In order to dignify the presence of my guests:
I promise, personally and professionally, to give my
visitors something they can use, for free, when they
visit sites I develop.
2. In order to proliferate more worthwhile messages:
I swear that I will not recreate a client's corporate
capabilities brochure on-line. (In fact, I will argue
that your next corporate brochure might be written
to mirror your web site content.)
3. In order not to kid myself:
I take an oath to study visitor activity and feedback
to eradicate dull or self-serving content from my
sites, and freshen my sites with more of the type
of links that prove popular.
4. In order to get my priorities straight:
I hereby testify that I will refrain from graphic gratuity,
however cool my PDF might look to me, using instead
design elements that can be viewed by the current lowest-
common-denominator browser.
5. In order to respect my audience's intelligence:
To wit, and pursuant to the betterment of all visitors
to all sites I develop, I do publicly repudiate
advertising copywriting expertise as a credential
for content development and acknowledge the
veracity of the editorial feature writers' claim to
the righteous role of developer of useful, low-hype,
engaging, one-on-one web site content.
6. And in the spirit of audience interaction:
I hereby invite your feedback on this manifesto,
Be your slashing retort rapier,
your reaction kneejerk-inane,
or your concurrence most sympatico,
I will remain sincerely yours,
John Kowal
Copyright 1996, John Kowal
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John Kowal, COO Charles Puls & Company
jkowal@abracadabra.com 25 Tri-State Int'l. Center
&lt;a href="<a href="<a href="http://www.abracadabra.com">http://www.abracadabra.com</a>">http://www.abracadabra.com</a>"&gt;http://www.abracadabra.com&lt;/a&gt; Suite 100
Voice: 847 374 8000 Lincolnshire, IL 60069
Fax: 847 374 8010
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