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Content is King - Community Building Part 3 |
If you listened to my advice in part two, you have already an idea of who your content creators (designers, writers, editors etc) are. These are the top notch people who will keep people coming back to your site and uphold the standard of the site.
These people will be working while the infrastructure of your site is en route. Give them a lap-top each, an office suite and a license to write, and you're already on the right track.
Read the last installment of this series.
Empty Pockets
It isn't much fun standing at the cash register and realizing that you're out of funds. It's darn 0. The same embarrassment can reach you on the web as well.
The day your site goes live you want it to appear solid, no dead ends, no broken links, a lot of material to read, easy navigation, nice graphics. All in all, a site you can be proud of.
That means work in advance. It also means focusing on goals, and focusing on the market.
Focusing on goals is easy. You had an idea about a site, now you're realizing the idea. Work on giving your site meaningful information pertaining to your main idea. Flesh the idea out. Don't believe that your users will fill it out for you by hogging your discussion boards, or sending you articles (or whatever you're expecting).
You don't have your market yet, therefore be careful with what you're adding to your site. Again we're back to fleshing things out. If a part of your site seems empty or non-inviting, leave it out. Ghost towns are fun in movies, but people don't care to spend time there on-line.
Quantity or Quality?
Should you go for quantity or quality? A middle ground will probably suit you best. People generally expect a professional site to update at least once in a day, then again it depends on which market you're operating in. Some examples:
Of course you can define your own publishing schedule, but let people know if they're reading a monthly column, a weekly or some other schedule column.
You should also keep the length of different stories to a minimum. If people do click on a link after reading the lead in paragraph on the front page, don't give them just another one when the rest of the story comes.
OTOH, don't push to much info down people's throat. About 600 words in a news story should cover it. (This article has about 540 words) Then again a review might demand much more as well as a column. Judge your audience, and your authors!
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