Shoddy Product Descriptions Hound Walmart
Think you can slap up a mediocre product description and no one will notice? Think again. Gamers have targeted Walmart for ridicule after the e-commerce giant published a shoddy product description of Diablo III. The original description touted the much-anticipated computer game as a "strategy video game" that revolves around an "interesting plot." Come on people. Part of the plot involves killing somebody's zombie wife and then snatching fuzzy boots...read more >>
It’s Never Too Late to Spring Clean Your Online Content
In the northern hemisphere, spring is already giving way to summer. However, that doesn't mean it's too late to do a little spring cleaning of your online content. Econsultancy has created a comprehensive guide to decluttering your online representation. Why should you audit your online content? Much like cleaning out your kitchen cupboards when locating the cinnamon becomes a herculean task, inventorying and reducing your available pages ensures...read more >>
Content Merchandising Roundup #19
FROM CONTENT PING: Weekly Content Critique: Suit Yourself This week's content critique looks at the underwhelming attempt by Men's Warehouse to convince Millennials it's cool to own a suit. Expedia's Emily Pearce: User Reviews Rule the Roost A behind-the-scenes look at how the travel site Expedia manages the 20,000 user reviews they receive each week. User-Generated Content's Role in Merchandising: Part I How are retailers keeping up with the demand...read more >>
When Your Hero Image Isn’t
A hero image is your webpage's lead and the hook that should sink into your reader to make them want more. Whether it's the lifestyle image in your site's header or the main image of a product description, your hero image should tell the reader why you're both there, why the page exists, and what the logical next step is. But what happens if your artfully shot, aspirational hero is just muddying your message? Get Elastic has a comprehensive guide...read more >>
Content Merchandising Roundup #15
Below is a summary of the week's most interesting content merchandising-related posts from Content Ping as well as from other blogs and news sites. Happy reading. FROM CONTENT PING: Weekly Content Critique: It's a Baby Miracle We take a look at a product page for the BabyBjörn baby carrier as well as the company's use of product video. Engage and Educate Customers for Improved WOMM You can stoke the embers of word of mouth marketing by providing...read more >>
Create Effective CTAs by Mapping Content to the Sales Cycle
Let's say you have stellar content for your product pages, customer service section, and blog. You even have educational and interactive content that might rival the lure of Draw Something if your consumers stop doodling long enough to find it. You still need to get people to that content with good navigation and strong calls to action (CTAs). HubSpot walks us through creating calls to action for every page on a site by mapping them (CTAs and individual...read more >>
Too Many Cooks: The Perils of Content by Committee
Over at Econsultancy today, Catherine Toole addresses one of the more lamented perils of creating effective, expertly written content: too-large groups of too-involved stakeholders. It's hard for stakeholders to step back from something as crucial as content, especially if they're acknowledged experts in the subject. However, if you're a content creator, you're an acknowledged expert in combining voice, tone, and accuracy--and possibly SEO, CTAs,...read more >>
Content Merchandising Roundup #14
Below is a summary of the week's most interesting content merchandising-related posts from Content Ping as well as from other blogs and news sites. Happy reading. FROM CONTENT PING: Avoid the Telephone Game with Content Blueprinting Companies need to devise an internal system for collecting, sharing, and approving product information. This content blueprinting process is an essential part of producing compelling web copy. Will Amazon Get into the...read more >>
Avoid the Telephone Game with Content Blueprinting
Remember the childhood game "Telephone"? You come up with a sentence and whisper it to your neighbor, who whispers it to her neighbor, and so on? By the time the sentence reaches the end of the line, it barely resembles its former self. In my day, Telephone was a fun excuse to say wacky, nonsensical, and sometimes unspeakable things, like curse words or obvious hints about someone's secret crush. Telephone was also instructive--it showed how easily...read more >>
An Introduction to Content Syndication
If you're a regular reader of Content Ping, you know the value of creating concise, compelling, and accurate product information. Content26 has produced well over 1 million product descriptions for nearly 600 manufacturers, and if we know nothing else from our experience, we know this: good content sells! But content isn't always enough. If you have multiple channels that sell your products, you also need to get the word out by distributing that...read more >>