Writing Words for the Web.

There is only one important question about Web content: How do you produce stuff so good that customers can't resist returning to the website again and again?

Before we can answer that query, we first have to ponder another perplexity: What exactly is Web content? In most worthwhile revolutions, rebels change the status quo, mocking the old rules and redefining reality. Take the radical use of the term "content" by that upstart media, the Internet. For most writers, content has always meant text. When the Internet Age began, content creators wrote volumes of verbiage and heaps of hyperbole, but everything was built on words.

Not so anymore.

To satisfy the cravings of its users, Internet solution providers have stretched beyond packaged words to offer anything that keeps customers informed and entertained enough to return to the site. Content can be as nonverbal as an interactive calculator.

"People have different ideas on what content is," says John Morkes, who presents the "Content Design & Usability-- Writing for the Web" seminar worldwide for Neilson Norman Group of Mountain View, Calif. "Marketing people think content is their marketing message, a way to validate their company. The user wants information to help solve a problem."

Unfortunately, there is often a mismatch between these two goals.

How to write for the Web

Whether creating your content in-house or outsourcing, you should know the elements of good Web writing. For starters, it's not print writing-yet that's what often goes up first on a new site.

"If you're dealing with print writers to reformulate your existing print content for the Web, remember that Web writing is different," he says. "You're dealing with shorter attention spans and you're competing with millions of other websites for someone's time and attention."

It helps to have a writer who has been exposed to website usability and design. That's not easy with such a new medium. At the very least, Morkes recommends that Web content creators become familiar with the guidelines outlined in a white paper produced by Morkes, along with Jakob Nielsen of Nielson Norman Group.

The three guidelines are as simple as they are sound: When writing for the Web, be concise, be scannable and be objective. Here's what they mean by this:

Be Condse

Make sure the content is in the right place, and be brief, especially in the introductory pages. Morkes says that people are willing to read on the Web once they find what they want. It's the finding that's hard. They also want:

* Useful information.

* Brief text that gives information fast.

* A Web page that makes its points quickly.

* A Web page that fits on one screen, without the need for scrolling.

"Always remember that less is better," advises Morkes.

Be Scannable

Scanning saves time for the reader, so make the content easy to process. You can make it easier to scan with items like headlines, bold text, large type, bulleted lists, topic sentences and tables of contents. If they can get to the content they want very quickly, it reflects well on the organization.

"I want to get to the information and make a decision," says Morkes. "For example, I may want to compare your products and services. What are the specific benefits and value to your bank?"

Be Objective

While strong website content can strengthen the bank's brand, too much "brand" in your content can send readers clicking away. The information your customer is looking for might be in the website, but if it's clouded by overly promotional writing, they won't be able to find it.

"Keep in mind what your customer wants, versus what you think you have to tell them, or it looks like too much hornblowing," says Morkes. "Remove the marketing slants from the information and keep with the facts."

Also, he says, people have become more sophisticated about Web content. Because it's so cheap and easy to create a site, some sites take the lazy route and contain unchecked and unverified information. Sources are often unclear, so trustworthiness and credibility are big issues. If you have a brand image to uphold--and if you have professional design from other sources, such as TV or print--be consistent and build on that positive reputation.

"Content that doesn't match your branding--that has mistakes and shows poor quality--will cause your credibility to suffer," he claims.

Tips for what Web users want

Hollis Thomases, founder of Web marketing firm WebAdvantage.net writes a weekly tip for her website. She says she looks for two things when she visits a site:

1. Who you are. "I don't want to have to click on an 'About Us' button. When you see the word 'bank' you know what they do. But what sets them apart from other banks? That's something I want to know without searching."

2. Language she can understand. "Keep the language simple throughout the site. Relate to all people. Part of the problem with the financial industry is that it's complicated and full of legalese. If they could provide in plain English a lot of the features of banking and financing, then they would have a lot more success at communicating."

Something as simple as a glossary of popular finance terms can keep people loyal to your site.

"It's one-on-one with the computer, so if they've been playing this faking game with the outside world about their intelligence, you really need to explain it to them. Then you're not only playing it safe you're playing it smart Few sites play it too simple, but some can be very impractical or unfriendly."

Turn the churn

Ever since a 1999 Cyber Dialogue survey stunned the banking industry by reporting a 33 percent churn rate in online banking customers, bank website creators have been on the prowl for anything that keeps the customer faithful to the site.

"For customer loyalty, it's all about content," claims Thomases of WebAdvantage.com. It can be informational, she says, like statistics or figures, or more instructional like marketing tips. But it's "echoed consistently throughout my research that loyalty is generated by content."

At least it's no longer a question of "to build or not to build." Today, even smaller community banks are creating websites.

Deciding exactly what to put on that Internet site however provides ongoing confusion.

"How do you ensure (that customers) have a great experience and will come back? How do you retain them?" These are questions that Dan Latimore, director of eStrategies, says they ask all the time at the Mainspring Communications e-business consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass. Latimore's main directive for community banks is to "know your customer."

"To decide what sort of content smaller banks need we have to think about what that customer base might want," explains Latimore. "Our general feeling is the bulk of that population won't need the sophistication of tools of a day trader, nor have as sophisticated an array of financial needs as someone who would turn to a larger firm."

Since banks are in the business of providing a host of financial services, give them transactional services and products, he says. Others agree. The Office of Comptroller of the Currency predicted last July that the number of U.S. national banks offering Internet "transactional banking" would rise from 20 percent in 1999 to 45 percent by the end of 2001.

Those transaction features may be "sticky" enough to generate return visits for basic bank business, but will they keep customers online to learn about other products and services? One Harris Interactive survey found that retail banking and brokerage customers consider the Web a top media source for financial information. This translates into a golden opportunity for a bank to keep an open dialogue with customers and to continue strengthening the bank brand.

In other words, more content. The primary focus should be providing financial information and advice, according to Latimore. At Mainspring Communications, they break out the content sources into three types: data, advice and counsel. Here's what they mean.

Data: Raw unfiltered data like quarterly reports or stock market quotes.

Advice: Basic articles or lessons on "how to." How to save for college, plan for retirement and buy stocks, bonds or mutual funds. It's generic advice that doesn't require any interactivity on behalf of the customer.

Counsel: Counsel is the most sophisticated type of information and the most costly to provide. It requires some input from the customer and processing by the institution. Generally some kind of advice is given back.

Stay focused

The trend for new sites is to try to create a mini-portal brimming with data, advice and counsel as well as news, weather, stock quotes and the virtual kitchen sink. With so many off-the-shelf applications available today, the potential increases for information overkill. Too much general information is a mistake for financial institutions, according to Latimore, because banks are not in the business of being a broad-based information source. Attempting to start out at the level of a seasoned portal like Yahoo! is not worth the expense in most cases, he claims.

"I'm skeptical as to whether these sites really need access to real-time data or streaming news feeds," warns Latimore. "Most of these data providers will have fee models with an upfront fee and an incremental fee on top, but even that upfront fee may be too onerous. Banks need to question the added value they're bringing to the customer base."

Fresh, targeted website content can drive repeat traffic, however. Over 80 percent of Web users returned to a site because of editorial content, according to Forrester Research. And it's been working for AMCORE Financial of Rockland, Ill., which is using content in its strategy to keep customer interest while growing the site.

"We don't have an online banking product yet. It's coming, so we needed another reason to have people come back to our site," explains Cassi Steurer, assistant vice president of communications for AMCORE.

In May 2000, AMCORE went live with a solution called the Business Resource Center by the GreerGroup of Westlake, Ohio. Along with articles, tips and calculators, the Center also provides a subscription feature that notifies customers whenever there's something new. And because AMCORE can pick from a library of articles, they're always putting up something new.

Off the shelf

There are many ways to acquire content. You can lay it all on the in-house marketing department--if you have the resources and they have the time. They should also be well versed in how to write for the Web. Repurposing print content for the Web is an art that newcomers struggle to do well.

You can also buy the whole technological ball of wax. For example, a full application service provider (ASP) like IntelliData/HomeAccount offers software solutions to larger banks, but will also design, create and manage an e-banking service on their own servers for smaller banks.

Clients can pick as many features, called "modules," as they like. They're given the opportunity to add new modules as they are created, and are encouraged to cross-sell products through banner ads and other online media.

"We build these modules in to help community banks have a portal-like solution," explains IntelliData/HomeAccount Marketing Director Gregg Gumbinger, who is located in Emoryville, Calif. "We have a series of Partners that we've signed up with, like CarSmart for car buying, Lending Tree for a greater variety of loans, and AmenVest for brokerage services. We also subscribe to news services for links to financial news."

IntelliData/HomeAccount leaves space on the site so the bank can add information specifically geared to its clients and community. That's a key feature for Commercial Federal Bank of Omaha, Neb.

"It's all designed by IntelliData/HomeAccount, but one-fourth of it is brought in by our corporate site," says Tate Fitzgerald, first vice president of application services for Comfedbank.com, who examined 17 providers before making a choice last June. "It looks like one site to the user, but we write a large portion of it ourselves, such as the history and news, and the transactional side is done by IntelliData/HomeAccount."

Commercial Federal Bank's corporate marketing department does the writing, but also uses outside subscription services that allow them to present it as their own copy.

A la carte

For fresh, targeted, written content, there are content packagers, like Screaming Media and iSyndicate. You tell them your topics of interest--maybe it's investing or economic trends--and they retrieve the relevant articles from a variety of sources. Their content-product fees start at around $1,000 a month for 50 articles. That can mean a considerable savings, considering that professional Web writers can charge from 50 cents to $1 a word for customized articles.

Still, hiring a large content-solution provider may be cost prohibitive for many smaller banks. That's what prompted former KeyCorp bank executive Mike Greer of GreerGroup, to develop his Business Resource Center, the one used by AMCORE.

"When I was in banking, I recognized that it wasn't the products or services that would differentiate you in the banking industry, because they're all essentially the same," says Greer. "Instead, I proved that the fastest way to build your business is to take a proactive interest in the success of your clients."

He started sending his clients print articles on specific financial topics that they could keep in a manual or as a resource center. It was such as success that he sold the content to other banks, eventually moving it all online.

"The Web opens up a new, easier and less expensive delivery channel to do the same thing," says Greer. "To position yourself in front of your clients and customers on a frequent and consistent basis."

Recently, GreerGroup joined forces with Clarke American Checks to create an even more powerful content package that launched in January. Their plan is to

make high quality business and personal finance content affordable to community banks and credit unions through their WebContent Solutions.

"These are articles of financial interest that would require an internal marketing staff if they tried to do it themselves," explains Dan Hereford, spokesperson for ClarkeContent.com of San Antonio. "This solution is very easy. They go in and select the type of content they want...personal finance articles or small business articles or both? Once they select, they decide how they want it presented on the website, linking or framing. But all the customer sees is the bank's look."

A steady supply of calculators and updated articles costs only a few hundred dollars a month. But included in the package comes some powerful outbound marketing tools--e-mail subscription and article forwarding.

"Both features let the bank deliver its marketing message in a value-added way right to their customer's desktop," explains Greer. "And article forwarding is also a great tool for the lending officer or banker to send articles to customers or prospects. It's a way to open doors, cement relationships and differentiate yourself from the other guy."

Janet Bingbam Bernstel is a freelance writer who is a frequent contributor to this magazine.