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Killer Web Content: Make the Sale, Deliver the Service, Build the Brand
vBulletin Book Store > vBulletin books beginning with K
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Killer Web Content: Make the Sale, Deliver the Service, Build the Brand |
Author: Gerry McGovern
Published: 2007-09-01 |
List price: $24.95
Our price: $16.47
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Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: May 12th, 2008 11:06:39 AM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 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!
 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
Easy read, worth the time and money
I love when authors get to the point, and McGovern does it. A lot of this stuff is common sense, but it becomes more top-of-mind when someone writes about it. McGovern mentions some good tools to help write "killer web content," and while some of the practices he uses for testing content aren't necessary do-able for most companies/people, I'm still able to take away the basics and make them part of my process for writing web content.
ANYONE involved in any aspect of websites NEEDS to read this book!
I have been a subscriber to Gerry's weekly e-mails for over two years. As a web editor for a large organization, his advice has guided me in my career and helped me enormously in every area of website management.
When I learned about Gerry McGovern's book Killer Web Content, I immediately ordered it. Because I was about to leave for vacation, I had Amazon ship the book to where I was holidaying - that's how excited I was to read it. Sure enough, I devoured the book, and (almost) couldn't wait to get back to work so I could start applying his teachings.
Killer Web Content is THE authority on how to have a successful website. Using real-life examples, it feels as though McGovern is having a conversation with you. His advice is invaluable and this book should be necessary reading for anyone creating a website.
I cannot recommend this book enough - not just for communicators and marketers, but for graphic designers and techies too. McGovern is a visionary and ahead of his time. YOU MUST READ IT!
 Very basic overview of web usability in general; few specifics on writing
I'm a usability researcher who's looking to get some concrete suggestions about how to write better for the web. That's what I was hoping to find in this book--a guide with detailed suggestions for how to do this type of technical writing. Instead, there are very few concrete suggestions in this book about how to write well, other than vague platitudes about keeping phrases short, and providing users with the content they'd like to see. Duh.
I read this thing cover to cover in about an hour. Mostly I learned that "killer" rhymes with "filler." A lot. If it has not yet occurred to you that you might want to talk to your customers about what they're looking for on your webpage, then I guess this book would be for you and would provide you with that revolutionary insight. That's all the advice there is in this book--talk to your customers to find out the content they're looking for on your webpage, and then deliver that content to them in small, easily digestible phrases. Again, duh.
For people who are just starting out on this type of research, there's really no detailed advice on how to conduct this "talking to your users to find out what they want" research though (other than some more platitudes like "be a good listener."). If you want more detailed advice on how to do research like this, I'd say search the web for "wants and needs analysis" because that's basically what this guy is recommending. If you can't find enough things for free on the web about that, there is a good chapter in the book "Understanding your users" by Catherine Courage on this technique. That book is also great for giving you a wide toolset of techniques for usability.
He also gets a little bit into persona creation, which is basically a fancy way of saying it helps to imagine who your customers are and have a picture of them in your mind as you design your user experience. Again, you can find free stuff on the web about this or check out Tamara Adlin and John Pruitt's book "The Persona Lifestyle" to get lots of great information about this technique.
If you're truly just starting out trying to figure out how to make your website better and you don't know where to begin, I think a way better guide is Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think." That book provides a great overall context for providing great user experiences in general.
I am looking forward to reading the new Ginny Redish book on this subject! Her stuff has been high quality in the past and so I expect she will have a bunch of actual information on how to write for the web as opposed to the filler in this book. It's pretty ironic that a book all about providing great content without a bunch of filler is...a bunch of filler. It was a killer for me but not in the way it intended to be.
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