Jean Gazis Copywriting & Content Strategy

There's a lot of buzz around content matters these days, but not always a lot of hard facts. The folks at Content Science are aiming to change this with a study on Content and Credibility. Meanwhile, here's their recap of what we already know:

"Consumer Reports sponsored a study of web credibility in the U.S. nearly 10 years ago. The result was a set of tips that we consider to be 'Credibility 101.'

“In today’s information age of Marketing and Web 2.0, a company’s website is the key to their entire business."
—Marcus Sheridan, author of The Sales Lion and blog marketing speaker

How's yours?

If your client or boss doesn't understand why you need a content strategy, s/he sure won't get the what, why, and how. There's a nice summary of pitching content strategy over at Intentional Design's Content Strategy blog, with a downloadable PDF. I especially like the last page of the presentation:

"How much content is out there with your company/organization’s name on it?
• Do you know what it says?
• Is it accurate and up to date?
• Is it helping or hurting your brand?

... Do the next best thing by checking out the results of other people's tests at Which Test Won?, marketing guru Anne Holland's entertaining and informational A/B testing site. It's short and to the point and sometimes surprising. Find out what kinds of small differences can make or break response rates and click-throughs.

I've been trying to mow down the profusion of weeds that is my inbox, and - as previously noted - it's surprising how non-user-friendly some sites make it to unsubscribe. Shop It To Me, on the other hand, absolutely nails it.

My 8yo was reading the Bearitos tortilla chips package, which says "Wholesome corn organically grown, stoneground, cooked, and packed the same day!" and he asked me "Mom, how do they grow the corn in one day?" It ought to read "Wholesome, organically-grown corn, stoneground, cooked, and packed the same day!"

I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree ;-)

A graphic designer I worked with years ago used to quote a printer he had worked with, who said “You can have it fast; you can have it good; you can have it cheap—pick two.” This wonderful bit of conventional wisdom would have you believe that there are always trade-offs between quality, timeliness, and expense. And it’s usually true, there almost always are.

This is a very interesting presentation on "Designing for Social Traction" by Joshua Porter. Even a quick page-through offers some useful nuggets for design and copy.

See it on Slideshare

Usability expert Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox newsletter is always worth reading, and this issue his discussion of when an expert is needed and when an amateur will do is spot on. The article compares usability to cooking as things that are worth doing and learning for everyone, without lessening the value of professional expertise when you need it. I think the analogy works for a lot of other kinds of work, too.

Another of my photos was featured in the Sierra Club's "Daily Ray of Hope" email today. This is my third one to have been selected—not bad, considering there are over 900 contributors and more than 10,000 pictures in the Flickr pool.

Photo Credit: Jean Gazis
Location: Prospect Park in Brooklyn, NY

I took this on a "hike" with my sons' Cub Scout pack on February 20, in Prospect Park. (Near the small bridge over the small waterfall at the West end of the water by the Audubon Center.)

Used with this lovely quote:
"If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow."
—Rachel Carson

Maybe I should go submit some quotations, too.