Content Critical: Gaining Competitive Advantage Through High-Quality Web Content

 "The term "bible" is now highly over-used in reference to tech books but if it weren't, that's how I would categorize Content Critical."  
                                                 Rowan Wilson, Knowledge Management Review "This book is highly recommended. It belongs in every design library. It should be on the reading list of every course in Web design. Any Web designer who plans to be in business five years from now should read this book."                                                                  Design Research News, J an 2002

In the age of information overload and content glut, how do you get people to read what¿s on your website?

The modern world runs on content. And the Web is fast becoming the medium of choice for content delivery. Increasingly business is about getting the right content to the right person at the right time ¿ and making a profit out of it. Content is critical.  Content Critical will change the way you think about the Web. If part of your job involves writing original content to be placed on the Web ¿ product support material, a marketing pitch, or internal communication ¿ you¿re part of a publishing process. Think of your website as a publication and it all begins to make a lot of sense. Think of the person who visits your website as a reader and your objectives become clearer.  Content Critical explains the theory and practice of producing reader-focussed, compelling content. It includes highly detailed, practical advice about what it takes to build a professional, content-oriented website, including classification, navigation, search and content layout. It shows you how to organize a publishing team and how to create a web publishing strategy.Discover what high-quality content really is, and learn how to create it.Content Critical will help you:

• discover the key skills required to write compelling content for the Web
• understand the rules of publishing content online
• know how to appeal to your online readers
• develop an effective Internet communications strategy
• build publishing skills within your organization.

 Gerry McGovern is a content management consultant and author. He has spoken and written extensively on Internet issues over the last seven years. He is advisory editor for BOSS (Bloomsbury) on the subject of ecommerce. (BOSS is a 3 million word plus one-stop reference and interactive tool, embracing all aspects of the world of work.) He writes a column for the popular marketing website, clickz.com, on the subject of content management and also has his own highly regarded and widely read online newsletter called New Thinking. He is a member of the Financial Times Knowledge Dialogue, a network of thought leaders advising executives on critical business issues.  Previously Gerry founded Nua, which became best known for Nua Internet Surveys, a leading resource for information on Internet trends.

Rob Norton

is a freelance journalist in New York City. He is a contributing editor at Business 2.0 magazine, for which he writes the Leading Questions column, as well as news stories and feature articles. He also writes and publishes Net Style, a weekly online newsletter. Rob also does consulting work in journalism, publishing, website design and information architecture.

Previously Rob was Executive Editor at Fortune magazine, where he was a member of the management team that revamped Fortune in 1996. He was responsible for "First," Fortune¿s innovative front of magazine section, and directed Fortune¿s economics coverage. Rob joined Fortune in 1984, and worked for several years in the magazine¿s Washington bureau. He has written several cover stories and dozens of feature stories, and also edited Fortune¿s 70th anniversary issue in February 2000.