October 2003   

What Surfers Want

Web writing research conducted by Internet usability experts John Morkes and Jakob Nielsen pinpointed the web user's main goal: to find information as quickly as possible. Nielsen emphasized that aside from aesthetic design and navigational features, the quality and relevance of a Web site's textual content is crucial to capturing a surfer's extra-short attention span. Relevant content is critical to creating the "optimal user experience" -- in fact, the report states that "content is king in the user's mind."

In a recent WebWord interview on Web usability, Nielsen reiterated that the fundamentals of compelling Web content have remained constant over the years. Nielsen notes the following tendencies, preferences, and expectations of people logging on to the ‘Net: 

Users want to get information fast, so they don't read -- they scan. They pick up the parts of sentences and paragraphs that contain the information they want. They look for instant information, and if they don't see what they’re looking for within the first few seconds, they immediately click elsewhere.

To zero in on information as quickly as possible, surfers prefer reading tables of contents, captions, highlights, topic sentences, concise paragraphs, bulleted lists, summaries, and conclusions. If what they can quickly scan interests them, users will then delve into deeper levels of information. They prefer conversational writing, too, eschewing dense, wordy, time-consuming styles of formal and academic writing.

Users want reliable information, so they expect professional writing, good quality images, and most especially, outbound links that allow them to verify and validate data through other sites. They are turned off by fluff, hype, hard sell, and marketing superlatives. They expect clean and straight facts. 

Experts point out that content is the single most important factor which can cause a consumer to take their business elsewhere. A survey conducted by Cognitiative, Inc., also found that relevant and updated content is the fourth most important factor in deciding whether to purchase from an online business. 

Stay Awhile  

Use traditional advertising, reciprocal links, email communities, and word of mouth to tell users and potential buyers where to find your information. Once inside your Web site, if not instantaneously repelled by its sluggish loading time, eye-stabbing color schemes, or puzzling navigational links, your target viewers will experience their first contact with whatever value the site has for them. What they read will decide whether they will stick around or return to your site.

In a review of major commercial Web sites, Amy Gahran, Vice President of Content-Exchange.com cited various content strategies that can motivate a surfer to stay and explore a particular site:

• Keep it valuable: Providing fresh content that offers real value
  
• Engage your visitors: Presenting content that is interesting, engaging, and useful to a wide range of audiences
  
• Keep it current: Regularly adding content and features to reflect site growth and evolution
  
• Make it applicable: Localizing content and products (for sites that cater to international audiences)

Gahran emphasizes that successful Web sites provide feature-style articles, rich product information, both general and specific advice on use of products, special sections for specific buyer needs, and discussion topics, as just some of the most effective content-related attention grabbers.

A commercial Web site must, therefore, have a good grasp of the appropriate content strategies that will make its target Web surfers stay or come back, and finally decide to buy. If it's any general indication, according to a survey by the accounting firm Ernst & Young, almost a fifth of the prospective online buyers expressed their desire for more information on products.

How Deep Is Your Interest?

Then there is also what Nathan Wallace, founder and CEO of Synop Software (specialists in the production of web-based services), refers to as "multi-level writing". He explains that a Web site must have different levels of writing to address the various levels of readership interest. This way, a Web site can satisfy most, if not all, of its visitors.

Wallace says that quick-browsing skimmers, while hopping about looking for the right Web site to explore, will first be met by the title of the Web site. Effective site titles are the first level of screening, attracting only those who are remotely interested in what the site offers. Those who will be attracted by the site title will pause and read the next unit of information that every good site should offer: one-sentence summaries.

Interest in more in-depth information should lead the visitor to a deeper level of writing within the Web site. This means that a viewer who feels that the information he needs could be somewhere in the back pages of the Web site, will appreciate reading one-paragraph summaries, then some bullets, maybe captions on major points, down to details on some minor points, then finally onto a whole, 2000-word article. If he still needs more information, the site should be able to provide him with outbound links that will lead him to related resources and Web sites. 

A content-efficient site, according to Wallace, whether commercial or otherwise, satisfies its visitors (and encourages them to return and interact further) by providing the appropriate types of content that cater to the different levels of reader interest at any given time.

Who Wants to Buy?  

Also essential in any business endeavor is the ability to target a focus audience, or establish a market niche. Online commercial sites, not exactly working with the same tools used in traditional face-to-face business, discover that they have to keep their ears to the ground in order to actively respond to web users' browsing and buying tendencies. 

According to recent Nielsen/NetRatings data, there is a growing consciousness among brand name Web companies over grabbing a slice of the teenage market. These companies are building Generation Y-oriented communities that cater to these decision makers-of-the-future who, according to surveys, spend an average of $94 a week from personal disposable income. Web sites that nurture these Gen-Yers provide content that respond to teenagers' frailties, insecurities, and need for interaction and community.

Among the grown-ups, on the other hand, Nielsen/NetRatings data in September showed that both men and women, although differing in purchasing inclinations, access the web for the same thing: information. Men may jump into the web hoping to become richer, and women may look for health and lifestyle solutions, but both genders focus on useful and actionable information rather than entertainment.

While men frequent financial and sports Web sites, they prefer digested formats with data that are easy to pick up. Women (now 38% of total online buyers), who frequent health sites and support communities, also want instant information that helps them enhance their core competencies. 

Both men and women want information -- now -- that is easy to access, timely, relevant, and useful. In short, to find out what they want to know, from quality content, in one click. With life in the fast lane, no one can afford to waste time on useless information.

If It Ain't Broke...

Which leads to the question, "How often should a Web site change its content strategy?"

Amy Gahran suggests that a corporate Web site with a content strategy that works for its target audience should stick to it as long as possible. She imparts that a solid content strategy will stand the test of time without getting stale. As for Web sites that have obviously failed in their content strategy, Gahran says that remaining stagnant demonstrates "cluelessness, or a lack of caring". This, in the end, does additional harm to their business.

However, drastic changes to an otherwise well-frequented Web site can also do more harm than good. A new Jupiter survey revealed that a total overhaul or redesign, even if it's for better layout or improved functionality, causes a marked decline in site visits. According to the survey, 44% of the respondents reacted negatively to revisions on a site's overall look and feel -- 24% of the respondents drifted away to other sites. Experts suggest preparing the regular visitors for the changes; but without the old reasons to return to the site, surfers can always opt to ride the wave in another domain.

Killer Content

CommerceNet and Nielsen Media Research reported that the total number of Internet users in North America alone has reached 92 million, more than half of whom shop (search for consumer information as well as make purchases) online. But how exactly do specific commercial Web sites capitalize on content to entice online buyers to frequent their homepages and make a purchase?

Sue Spataro, owner of health and family Web sites, Families First HotFlash!, and The Homeschool Zone reveals her strategy: "People are more interested in up-to-date and useful information as opposed to the web page with the most bells and whistles. Keeping content fresh and new engenders loyalty because it lets folks know this site is up-to-date and has their interests at heart. We have found this to be true in all our Web sites. One other thing to mention which is an intangible but nonetheless very key is how visitors 'feel' about a Web site. People really know who is reaching out for them and trying to make communities which are relevant for them as opposed to putting up a page to just sell a product."

"Without content, we would be nothing," confesses Benjamin Swett, CEO of Windowbox.com, the web's first provider of products and information focused on the needs of container gardeners. "Almost all of our visitors come from good press, and almost all of our press comes from our writing -- journalists tend to appreciate good writing." As for the style that makes Windowbox.com's content effective, Swett says, "It's important that the writing all be in 'the voice of the site' which takes some time and effort from our editors." Swett adds that through their content (an extensive database of above-ground gardening products, how-to articles, and community gardening involvement) they are able to deliver "some helpful advice and a little imagination" to their target audience.

Value Judgments

Jakob Nielsen said it in three words: Content is king. People go online to find answers. They want the right answers, yesterday. If they want to read a novel, they cuddle with a book; if they want to watch pictures, they turn on the TV or go to the movies. But if they want information pronto, in order to make a valued decision a hora mismo, they log on to the Internet.

Maximizing the value of your Web site’s content means to provide the most useful information in your market category, whether your Web site is about products, services, alliances, community, or the organization behind your business. Tailored for the specific needs of your target market and delivered in logical levels of intensity, the content your customers seek will compel them to explore, recommend, interact with, and ultimately trust their money to your Web site.