The 3 Degrees of Content: Context, Terminology and Concept.

Content is content, right?


Have you ever gone to a web page for your industry and said, "Huh?".  Companies seemed to be so focused on getting content out there, they miss the notion of quality.  So what constitutes quality content?  I have always subscribed to what I call the 3 Degrees of Content, as outlined below:


Context.  In order for content to be relevant, the context needs to be correct.  Context issues usually occur when you have a non-industry individual or non-expert in the field write the content.  Many businesses utilize the saturation method, outsourcing their writing tasks to the lowest bidder.   What is the theme, and how are terminology and concept implemented?


Terminology.  Correct use of terminology is absolutely required, and the overuse of acronyms can kill a site quickly.  In the technical/software space, you should always shoot to provide content based on the audience.  You may even need to go so far as to create micro-sites or paths for different users to avoid "term saturation".  This is typically where you want both marketing and technical folks to work jointly on content to avoid a tech heavy feel.


Concept.  Last but not least, is concept.  What are you trying to get across?  Are you trying to sell?  Inform?  Explain?  Having an overall concept for a site, micro-site and page is critical and can go deep.  Stay on task, focus on concept, and incorporate it into your page flow, your graphics, and how you interact with users.