HRD Talk

Govind Menon is general manager, IT content, with `the managementor.com' and was formerly the content manager for India Times.com and Cyber Media.

PROSAICALLY, YOUR readers need to be contented. On the Internet, content is king. However, be that as it may, its not sparkling prose or fancy graphics are easy to generate, or integrate into the site the way you want them to. So, what can you do to plug the gaps?

As a content provider, we know that generating usable, readable content can be a true nightmare. This opinion is shared by magazine editors, book publishers, and even those unfortunates responsible for in- company newsletters. Finding grammatically correct, well-researched content that will be interesting to the target audience is hard. Making your colleagues prepare it in a usable, publishable format may be next to impossible.

From experience, we see that most Web site developers fail to adequately think through the content needs during the site development period. All too often, it is (wrongly) assumed by the content team that the primary contributors such as the CEO and senior management, product managers, or even public relations have a constant stream of engaging, interesting words that will keep a visitor captivated. Reality is that content takes a backseat in the face of more pressing management and technical issues.

To ensure that you site succeeds, and brings in the "eyeballs," you need to ensure that the content presented is vibrant, interesting, and most importantly, readable. The object remains the same regardless of what the site is selling - subscriptions, products, or advertising. The primary goal is not to sell the product; instead it is to inform visitors and sublimely create a user community.

Newspapers, radio and television faced the same problem. They found a solution: syndication. This ensures that you can have the latest content, often in real time, at a fraction of the cost of generating it in- house. And if some visitors will have read your content elsewhere, we think they're in the minority. After all, you can never please everybody all the time!

The classic syndication model remains a wire service teleprinter clattering away in a corner, spewing reams of paper on the floor. Online content aggregators have morphed this model onto the Internet. Using an infomediary, they feed you with updated news, features, cartoons and even multimedia (streamed audio and video) feeds. You don't even need to program in a complex code; the aggregator sends you a link that you embed on your site. This link is often a small script that queries the host site at a pre- set interval and presents the content to your visitors.

Freshness is the major factor that drives online content syndication. It's infomediaries like iSyndicate or Moreover, add value to the basic package. They offer additional metadata, including keywords and in-content searches. The tools are not esoteric either. Today, XML and Java Script are the most popular code generation languages. Equally popular are band-end engines that use keywords to feed stories into an HTML template. The best part about content aggregations from such sources is you visitors view content from a diverse range of sources. We can certify that syndicate content has revealed some very interesting, previously unknown news, and news sources.

Right now most Web syndicators offer two levels of service: free and subscription-based. In the former, you have no control over the content beyond selection of a specific category such as entertainment or technology. Free content can be a day old, a week, or even a month old! In the paid model, you are billed on the number of sources you subscribe to. You can choose which feeds you want in each category, and the frequency of update - hourly or daily.

Readers are probably wondering if there's a catch. There is; the content streamed to your site is just a link. This link when clicked on by a visitor takes them to a customised page on their site. You customise the page, but the hits (or visits by a browser) are credited to the syndicater. However, they do share advertising revenues received with you on a 50:50 basis.

There is a third type of content syndicater making an appearance as the game matures. Here, you pay extra to have the content hosted on your site. One day down the road we'll probably see online bidding for content.

The biggest casualty of old content is stickiness: making visitors stay on your site for as long as possible. Did you know that even the best sites like Yahoo or MSN have trouble keeping users interested? According to Neilsen Net Ratings, the average home surfer spent 53 seconds on a Web page! The average Yahoo user spent just an hour in total over 30 days. AOL's rating were worse; 12 minutes per week.

If the best online properties have such dismal ratings, it must be a fickle world. Still, stickiness means that you keep visitors interested enough to stay at your site and do many things. Sites like Yahoo and AOL offer a search engine, along with communities, free Web pages, chat and email, shopping, entertainment and more.

If your content teams are feeling a bit left out, they need not be so. Syndicated content can never really address all your visitors. That's where the in-house content crew step in and create focused, niche area features that includes analyses and opinions on what they feel is the best deal for the visitor.

The immediacy of the Internet creates an expectation of real time (fresh) information constantly updated to reflect changes. That's the tough part; keeping abreast of matters as they happen. There is hope: most news syndicators and even venerable wire agencies like AP, Reuters, and PTI in India offer special news feeds. You can also subscribe to a service like NewsBytes (http://www.newsbytes.com). iSyndicate (http;//www.isyndicate.com) is an excellent content resource. As is Moreover (http://www.moreover.com) which at last count had nearly 1,000 different news feeds; most of them free.

When looking for an infomediary or a syndication service, it is important that their delivery mechanisms and technology will seamlessly integrate with yours. And you should always "ramp-up" - starting small and then adding content on the way. If you are working with a fixed and not-so-flexible budget, look for the free aggregators. Once the "hits' start building and your revenues increase, consider a lower-end paid package. Multimedia is a sure stickiness builder; if only for the time it takes and the willingness by visitors to wait for quality content to download.

Don't forget that good editorial judgment is still required. If you don't know who your visitors are, how do you expect to develop content for them? Once the visitors start arriving, you need to stay ahead of the competition to ensure your visitors stay at your site, and not go elsewhere. It is a delicate tight rope act, but if you know what you want and where to get it from, you too can keep those eyeballs glued to your content.

GOVIND MENON

gmenon@mailstart.com