Friday, 19 October 2007
Dale blogs!
New Webreality team blog kicked off today! Dale Broadhead blogging on software development - right at the heart of what Webreality's all about. Go Dale...
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
Hail the content visionaries!
Just a quicky. If content is king, then every website needs its king maker.
Our experience here at Webreality is that the best sites tend to result from the single-minded pursuit of a content vision which is usually the product of one individual's mind. A website should ideally speak to its user with a compelling single voice throughout. So many corporate sites feel like the product of a content committee - and I guess that's probably because they are, in fact, the product of a content committee. Nothing wrong with that approach, I say, as long as a trusted individual is given the scope to filter everything into a coherent whole.
Some examples of Webreality sites that hit the spot:
- Little Green Rock: two content visionaries, Debbie and Buter Buterbaugh, but somehow they seem to speak with one groovy voice! And Debbie's artwork is stunning.
- Channel Island Executive Coaching: Tracey Turmel's passion for coaching shining through in her web copy.
- French Imports: Julie Rombaut's boundless enthusiasm for wine - and for her wine expert husband Eric! - translates into energetic language that makes you want to taste and buy.
- Spiral Tree: Anyone who's met Sarah Spiral Tree will testify to her intense belief in the power of meditation and focused relaxation. It makes for a compelling web experience!
I'm not naive enough to imagine that large b2b businesses can transform the tone and style of their content overnight. But, at the very least, the biggest b2cs can make a massive impression on their markets by learning from content visionaries and adopting a tone that recognises that people tend to buy most willingly from businesses they like. Making people like you starts with the way you communicate with them - Apple and Orange are good corporate examples of success in this respect. The web offers the greatest opportunity businesses have ever had to transform the tone and style of their comms for the better. And every business needs a content visionary.
Our experience here at Webreality is that the best sites tend to result from the single-minded pursuit of a content vision which is usually the product of one individual's mind. A website should ideally speak to its user with a compelling single voice throughout. So many corporate sites feel like the product of a content committee - and I guess that's probably because they are, in fact, the product of a content committee. Nothing wrong with that approach, I say, as long as a trusted individual is given the scope to filter everything into a coherent whole.
Some examples of Webreality sites that hit the spot:
- Little Green Rock: two content visionaries, Debbie and Buter Buterbaugh, but somehow they seem to speak with one groovy voice! And Debbie's artwork is stunning.
- Channel Island Executive Coaching: Tracey Turmel's passion for coaching shining through in her web copy.
- French Imports: Julie Rombaut's boundless enthusiasm for wine - and for her wine expert husband Eric! - translates into energetic language that makes you want to taste and buy.
- Spiral Tree: Anyone who's met Sarah Spiral Tree will testify to her intense belief in the power of meditation and focused relaxation. It makes for a compelling web experience!
I'm not naive enough to imagine that large b2b businesses can transform the tone and style of their content overnight. But, at the very least, the biggest b2cs can make a massive impression on their markets by learning from content visionaries and adopting a tone that recognises that people tend to buy most willingly from businesses they like. Making people like you starts with the way you communicate with them - Apple and Orange are good corporate examples of success in this respect. The web offers the greatest opportunity businesses have ever had to transform the tone and style of their comms for the better. And every business needs a content visionary.
More bullfighters
Delighted to see that my friends at salterbaxter in London are dedicated to fighting the bull too. They publish "bull of the month" at their site. Click "words" from their home page.
Thursday, 11 October 2007
Trust Mourant
Mourant has just launched a first in the offshore legal profession - you can go to their website (built by Webreality) and buy trust precedent documents.
This might seem an unremarkable development, but most lawyers remain very sniffy about even acknowledging that aspects of their work might become commoditised. Mourant operates in the rarified world of corporates and high net worth individuals. It's not unusual to find "high street" legal services available now online - wills, leases and even divorce documentation can be bought and downloaded in the UK. But in Mourant’s markets "consumer" approaches to service delivery are much slower to take hold. So hats off to Mourant for blazing a trail in the very specialised offshore trust market. I hope it pays them back handsomely.
From a content point of view, the story here is obvious. Lawyers trade in time and knowledge. Knowledge x time = content. Most law firms worldwide have yet to grasp that client expectations are changing, driven not least by the web's ability to deliver information, knowledge and answers quickly and 24/7. Lawyers who recognise that early in their markets, and deliver high value content how and when clients need it, will achieve big market share wins.
This might seem an unremarkable development, but most lawyers remain very sniffy about even acknowledging that aspects of their work might become commoditised. Mourant operates in the rarified world of corporates and high net worth individuals. It's not unusual to find "high street" legal services available now online - wills, leases and even divorce documentation can be bought and downloaded in the UK. But in Mourant’s markets "consumer" approaches to service delivery are much slower to take hold. So hats off to Mourant for blazing a trail in the very specialised offshore trust market. I hope it pays them back handsomely.
From a content point of view, the story here is obvious. Lawyers trade in time and knowledge. Knowledge x time = content. Most law firms worldwide have yet to grasp that client expectations are changing, driven not least by the web's ability to deliver information, knowledge and answers quickly and 24/7. Lawyers who recognise that early in their markets, and deliver high value content how and when clients need it, will achieve big market share wins.
Monday, 8 October 2007
Do you write bull?
Back in 2003 Deloitte Consulting came up with a brilliant little software application that analyses text to find meaningless business jargon. Three of the Deloitte consultants involved then set up on their own, with the kind assistance of Deloittes who let them take this fabulous invention with them.
Download it to your PC here: http://www.fightthebull.com/bullfighter.asp.
Buy the book here...
Or you can be a little bit mischievous with the Mystery Matador. Paste up to 20,000 characters from a particularly jargon-laden website into this page of their site and send the site owner an anonymous bull-busting e-mail with the results!
I love this. It's hardly news, but it's as important and valuable now as it was then. In fact, it's even more important on the web where there's so little time to catch a reader's attention and make a sale. There's no room for space-filling guff!
There are still too many people on the web thinking out of the box and pushing the envelope. Keep fighting the bull.
Download it to your PC here: http://www.fightthebull.com/bullfighter.asp.
Buy the book here...
Or you can be a little bit mischievous with the Mystery Matador. Paste up to 20,000 characters from a particularly jargon-laden website into this page of their site and send the site owner an anonymous bull-busting e-mail with the results!
I love this. It's hardly news, but it's as important and valuable now as it was then. In fact, it's even more important on the web where there's so little time to catch a reader's attention and make a sale. There's no room for space-filling guff!
There are still too many people on the web thinking out of the box and pushing the envelope. Keep fighting the bull.
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