Can anyone spot the deliferate mistale in this article?

The quality of presentation around the web is about as varied as the quality of its content. There are some superb websites out there that are content free and some appalling deliver of very good content. Where are you on the quality spectrum? Where do you want to be? Where should you be?

This is not an easy set of questions to answer and the ideal approach is certainly not as simple as aiming for the best possible quality in both content and presentation. If that’s your answer you don’t understand the question. There’s much more to it.

Consider a few examples. First, an example of very high quality content matched with very high quality presentation: Apple

Apple’s iconic brand is one of the most recognised and trusted in the world. Their products fly off the shelves. Their websites are gorgeous and their content flawless. Apple are the pinnacle of web style. They need to be. As a bleeding edge technology company to have anything less would be unthinkable. Should you aim for that level of content and quality of presentation? It is a worthy aim but you’d need a healthy bank balance. The best websites in the world don’t just happen – there’s good money behind them. You need a lot of money to support a web site of that quality and, lets face it, if you’ve got that kind of money you can just as easily buy your traffic. For most web marketers we have to accept that the quality of our presentation will be a compromise of some sort and our challenge is to work out how far we compromise.

Consider a second example: Ed Dale and the thirty day challenge.

The thirty day challenge is a web marketing course distributed on the internet via podcasts and YouTube videos. Ed himself is a successful, affable, Australian web marketer and he presents much of the 30DC course. He’s a great bloke and his presentation quality is about as bad as it comes. I don’t know how it could be worse. His co-presenters are no better – filming training videos in the car – while driving – if the camera falls off the dash board – no problem – no need to re-film – just put it out as it is. The worst example – Ed himself giving a lesson in the principles of marketing. No Powerpoint from Ed. Instead a scrap of paper – not even a fresh scrap. It looks like he got it out of the waste basket. He draws diagram on this scrap of paper as he talks about marketing – even his diagrams are badly drawn scrawl.

But the content. The content is superb. It is awesome. It is about as good as it gets. Seriously, if you’ve never seen the thirty day challenge – go and dig it out. And this illustrates an important principle. If your content is strong, you don’t need whizzy websites and fancy graphics. The content will speak for it self. Lauren Luke has become famous all over the world for her makeup tips. Filming lessons from her bedroom on a cheap camera, the quality of the movies aren’t exactly professional but her content was spot on and hit the target. In fact, the homemade quality of her lessons added a level of authenticity that helped her to connect with her teenage audience.

So quality of presentation matters less than quality of content. But does that mean it’s OK to cut corners on presentation quality? No. Not even nearly yes. And this is a mistake that many people make. Ed Dale and Laura Luke are among the best in the world as what they do. They can get away with it. Eric Clapton could probable get a tune out of an elastic band and a cardboard box. He’s Eric Clapton. Face it – you’re not.

The SEO Lesson

World class presentation is time consuming, costly and requires highly specialist skills. It is out of reach for most of us and it won’t compensate for poor quality or even mediocre content. (You can’t polish a turd as they say.)

Really good quality content can shine through with lesser quality presentation but don’t make the mistake of thinking that your potential customers will be impressed if you’re sloppy – that’s disrespectful to your readers and they repay you by never returning. Don’t insult their intelligence by pretending that your “mistales are deliferate” or that they don’t matter. Only the best quality content – and I mean the world class best – can survive poor presentation.

Don’t worry that your website doesn’t look like Apple’s but do the best you can with the equipment, software and skills that you have. Show some respect for your audience and demonstrate that you’ve made an effort and above all – ensure that your content quality is as good as it can possibly be.

P.S.

Just in case Eric Clapton is reading this – sorry, you are Eric Clapton