The best question you can ask …

… is not WHAT to say, but WHY say it.

I just ran a corporate workshop for a government client and they told me that their Departmental management tended to view successful communication in this way: ‘we published it’.  The whole strategy seemed to be about publishing rather than communicating.

When it comes to the web, there is so much you can say.  And man, do some companies say it … their web site is full of information about every little detail about their product, their service, their history, their company, their CEO, their board, their cleaning staff …

But a great web site – and particularly an effective one – is one that asks the question WHY this information is on the web site in the first place.  The best question you can ask as a writer is WHY ARE WE SAYING THIS AT ALL?  A simple question like this will help you write good quality, engaging material for your audience.

It’s not WHAT you do that is engaging, it’s WHY someone would ask you to do it. And your web site should be swimming in this message.

Our products … should be reworked to highlight the benefits your products provide.

About our team … should be reworked to showcase the expertise your team has that makes my life better, richer, easier or more valuable.

Our facilities … should be reworked to make them irresistable to prospective customers by placing them right in the middle of them.

Make sense? I hope so – if it does, and you rethink your web site accordingly, it will become more engaging … and stand out.