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Title: Killer Web Content: Make the Sale, Deliver the Service, Build the Brand
ISBN: 071367704X
Author:
Gerry McGovern
Publicate Date: 2007-09-01
Publish: 2007-09-01
List Price: $24.95
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $16.21
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $16.15
Amazon Merchant Price: $16.47
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Excellent Resource for Writing Web Content
McGovern illustrates strategies for creating more impactful web content without boring the reader to death. The advice is practical, easy to follow, and timely. I have been very satisfied with this purchase.
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2: Oh, so simple. Oh, so complicated. Oh, so absolutely worthwhile....
Gerry McGovern's "Killer Web Content" *seems* to be a primer about writing "killer content." And it is. He talks about simple ideas (e.g., "killer, not filler," or, on the Net, "in self-service mode, people go on gut instinct") in simple sentences, with lots of words in red so you get the idea. Then you put those ideas all together and think about them. And *then* you start looking at websites created from the grad school universe by professionals, all too often FOR PROFESSIONALS, that leave you - us - Everyman - frustrated or even amused (and that is not the intent). Ah, the epiphany: you realize that too many people are getting paid too much money when they have no idea how to talk to us: the folks who are surfing at 2AM in hotel rooms, trying to learn something for tomorrow's presentation to the Executive Committee. Obviously McGovern has practiced medicine: you listen to the patient, and the patient will tell you what the problem is. You listen to the customer, and the customer will tell you what she needs to hear. You listen to your children, etc.
Of course, the devil is in the details. Would that there were a standard operating procedure to ferret out the words that each of us wants to hear. Then we could fire Sales and Marketing - all they do is get us folks in Technology and Operations into trouble, right? Nope, says McGovern, you have to talk to people, relate to them, listen to them, hear what they say, abstract the content, try it out on your site. Each word is a hypothesis: true or false. Does it work? Does it bring people? You measure, you re-frame, you redesign, you re-relate. Surely it must be easier than this! All Jeff Bezos did is slap some stuff onto a website, and look at him! Right? McGovern just smiles, probably lifts a Guinness - he hints at his pleasure in Ireland - and, secure in the knowledge that you'll reread his book, just goes on about his business, writing and consulting.
Oh, it seems so simple. Oh, it's not really that complicated. Oh, it is so, so worthwhile. Read the book carefully.
David Block MD, PhD
Editor & Publisher, "The RoadeWarrior: every consultant's ezine"
www.roadewarrior.com
david@roadewarrior.com
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3: Excellent Resource
I purchased this book specifically to read more about the process for researching usability issues. I am not a market researcher, but I am a web developer who understands SEO, basic usability issues and general web practices. I found this book to be well-written, simple to understand and it provides a pretty good map for researching your web audience. I have actually read it twice now, finding even more the second time around.
I highly recommend this book, I still use it as a resource as I learn more about market research, something I don't particularly care for, but that is essential to my success as a brand manager and web developer.
Gerry is a genius.
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4: This Book Delivers!
I work for a Fortune 500 company and was first introduced to Gerry McGovern through one of his workshops that my company was hosting. I really connected with Gerry's passion for both the customer's perspective, as well as his message to get the fundamentals right. Armed with his book Killer Web Content, I left the workshop inspired with new ideas for solving some of the UX issues we were having with our Careers website (strategic business tool for talent recruiting).
I started to read his book the next week and learned enough useful information with each chapter that I finished it. I got a lot of value from some of the techniques described in Killer Web Content. I appreciated the information specific to generating good content using "Carewords" in the right way and at the right time. I also learned from this book that the web user is a different animal than traditional application users. Gerry has a good handle on the machinations that drive this new information hunter's behavior.
I can honestly say that I've quoted Gerry's work in UX meetings dozens of times since first attending his workshop. Since December, I've given away three copies of Killer Web Content to other UX professionals. All 3 have given it rave reviews! In addition to attending one of his live workshops (absolutely awesome!), I HIGHLY recommend getting this book!
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5: Same quality as Gerry's outstanding newsletters
The book is a good read with a lot of useful information about content design and production. Don't expect a detailed tutorial, it aims rather to show you what is important and what approach you should take.
What I liked
- rich information about user behaviours regarding content consumptions (debunks some myths)
- eye-opener findings (did you know that the word 'special offers' is preferred to the word 'deal' when people are asked though when searching, they use the word 'deal'? etc.)
- clear examples and reasoning that can help you in situations when you have to convince clients about some fundamental content issues
What I did not like
- if you have been following Gerry's newsletters as I did, well, you already know most of what the book is about
- there are some chapters that did not tell me really anything (one is about some very rudimentary SEO, another about the importance of blogging)
- the design of the print: there are complete pages written in bold red letters, some pages look like this is the first Powerpoint presentation with an ISBN number
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