Web content is a hidden asset: January 17, 2005: New Thinking by Gerry McGovern

New Thinking by Gerry McGovern: web content management

Web content management solutions

Home I About I Solutions I Clients I Contact

New Thinking Home

Subject Classification
Reader Feedback
Subscribing
Unsubscribing
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996

Books by
Gerry McGovern

Content Critical

Gaining competitive advantage through high-quality web content

The Web Content
Style Guide

The essential guide
for online writers, editors and managers

January 17, 2005

Web content is a hidden asset

By Gerry McGovern

Most people within most organizations don’t value content. In a typical organization, the higher up you go the less appreciation there is. That’s all about to change because content is a ‘hidden’ asset of great value.

Let me tell you about a typical web project. If the writer gets paid X, then the graphic designer will get paid 2X, whoever does some basic programming and HTML will get 3X, and if there’s advanced programming involved, well then that person will get 4X. In other words, the writer is the worst paid by far.

I was checking out commercial writing forums on the Web recently, and I was shocked at how little writers were being paid for their work. These were talented people with degrees and they were getting paid a pittance.

I was saying this to someone who runs a web agency, and they agreed. In fact, they never tell a client that they are giving them a writer, because they know that the rate will drop through the floor. They come up with some fancy name; something that sounds a bit technical.

Here’s how a typical web project gets done. IT spends a load of money on some content management software. It’s handed over to marketing who gets a graphic design company to create some concepts. Halfway through the project, someone mentions the idea that content will be needed for the website before it can be launched.

The manager in charge of the project will get the most junior person they can find to go round up some content from the other departments. If this content is absolutely awful, then the manager may get this junior person to rewrite it. Or perhaps they have a summer intern who can throw a few words together. That’s how content is treated in many organizations.

I came across a major report recently from a well-known consultancy. It was a plan for a web portal. This report cost a lot of money, ran into a lot of pages, and hardly mentioned the content at all. There was great detail on the technical strategy, but hardly any detail on the publishing strategy.

The world is full of accidental publishers sitting on this hidden asset called content. Of course, most of them are not exploiting their asset because they don’t even know that it’s there. We web content management professionals need to dig up and polish this hidden asset and show the organization what can be done with it.

I am a writer, and I am proud to be a writer, but I do not tell a potential client that I am a writer. I tell them I am a content management consultant who puts content first, technology second. Every year I make a better living from what I do because I help my clients do things with content that make them more productive and more profitable.

This is for all you true content management professionals; you writers and editors. Stand firm. Stand up for well-written content. Go for quality over quantity every time. Spend time to get rid of the out-of-date content. Spend time to truly understand who your reader is. Your time is coming because web content will in time be seen as one of the most valuable assets of the modern economy.

Gerry McGovern

You are welcome to republish this article once you place the following text and link at the end of the article:

Gerry McGovern provides website content management solutions

Related content
Yearly predications

See full New Thinking classification

Next issue: How to measure the value of your web content
Previous issue: Web content management: Top 10 predictions for 2005

Subscribe or unsubscribe

Email Address:

 Subscribe  Unsubscribe

New Thinking homepage

"The input we received from Gerry McGovern's Scorecard was a critical component to assessing our customer positioning and defining our work priorities for the next 18 months.”
Maurice Coleman, Head of Commercial Strategy, Aer Lingus

More client feedback

More on the McGovern Scorecard

Information on upcoming content management seminars and workshops

New Thinking Newsletter
Subscribe to this free weekly newsletter covering the role and function of content on the Web.
More info | Privacy policy

Email Address:

 Subscribe  Unsubscribe

Web content will in time be seen as one of the most valuable assets of the modern economy.

Selected clients

Find out more about Gerry McGovern's clients

Content management solutions