Hot free sexy xxx content

Gotcha! I know why you’re here. Pervert. Let me be straight with you: There isn’t any hot free XXX content here. So if that was what you were looking for, the browser back button is located in the upper left-hand corner of this window.

Now that we’ve lost 90% of the visitors to this page, I can continue with my actual subject — crafting content for your website and why you should be upfront and real with your audience. Doing this will help you build trust, and trust is key.

I bet the people who came here for porn were pretty upset to be lied to. (I know I would be. But then again, my online exploits are between me and the NSA.)

“So,” you ponder, “being honest and building trust with my audience — how do I accomplish this?”

I’m glad you asked.

It starts with acknowledging the real aspects of who you are, what you do and why people should even give a shit about your company. To do this, you need to drop the corporate jargon and stop fixating on what your competitors are doing.

When figuring out what their site should say, most people start by taking a look at their competitors. This causes what I like to call content regurgitation. A perfect example is most major cell phone corporations. I’m sure we’ve all heard the phrase, “We have the most 4G LTE coverage IN THE UNIVERSE!” Let me pose this question: How can every company accomplish such a herculean feat? The answer is, they can’t. It’s just nonsense. But as soon as one outfit realizes that a certain phrase is attracting customers, all the others break out their proverbial copy machines.

“This makes your audience’s decision nice and easy. No matter which company they choose, they’re all the best. Perfect.”

Cut the crap

After you’ve decided what you want to say, try reading it aloud. Now try to imagine the reaction you’ll get from your audience. Are you making them yawn? Maybe even read it to a family member or significant other. These are the people who keep you grounded. So, if they call you on your bullshit, then it’s time to go back to the drawing board.

Here’s a crazy idea: Try being honest. Maybe you don’t have the best prices or the fastest service. But that’s OK — you have other wonderful assets. (If you don’t, then you have bigger problems than how to write your website content, my friend.) These assets aren’t always flashy or perfect, but that’s often what makes them assets in the first place.

Let’s say you have a gardening or landscaping business, but don’t have a staff of 20 people helping you get the job done quickly. A particular asset could be that you personally do the work. You get your hands dirty creating personalized floral masterpieces. Take pride in your artistry — and promote it. Sure, it takes more time, but it’s worth it.

If you need more inspiration, try asking your customers, employees or friends this question: Why do you trust me? Why do you trust my company? I guarantee their answer won’t include passionless words like dynamic, empowered or synergy. Instead they’ll probably use warm adjectives like confident or happy.

Common content that can be rethought or trashed all together

In researching this post, I came across this wonderful article by Erin Kissane. She describes a few types of content that you can focus on right now. I’ll paraphrase it here:

• Mission statements, vision statements and core values. If your organization is genuinely committed to abstract principles, it will show in what you do. Be sure to supplement this content with examples of how you put your principles into action.
• Press releases. These may be relevant to their very narrow intended audience, but just throwing them on your website is a perfect example of the “how we’ve always done it” mistake.
• Long, unreadable legal pages. Some legal awkwardness is acceptable, but if you want to show your readers you respect them, replace needless legalese with (attorney-vetted) plain language.
• Redundant documentation. Are you offering the same audience three different FAQs? Can they be combined or turned into contextual help?
• Audiovisual crap. Do your videos or animations begin with a long flying-logo intro? Do they ramble on for 30 minutes to communicate ten minutes of important content? Trim.

And now for the money shot

If you’ve read this far, let me be the first to say thank you. I know I didn’t cover everything about content creation and writing for the web. For that, you can go buy a book. This post was meant to simply get you thinking about the message or voice of your company and what you’re putting out there.

I know your mother probably told you something along the lines of “honesty is the best policy.” Who knew that she was well versed in the fine art of content strategy?

The point is, be honest with yourself and your audience. Don’t try to bullshit anyone into buying your product or service. Most people can see right through that. I mean, if you came to an ad agency blog expecting to see free porn, maybe it’s time to reevaluate some life choices. And if you need any help with that, I conduct a rehabilitation clinic — and it’s the best one IN THE UNIVERSE.