Some people will tell you it is all about incorporating themes like sex or violence, it is about stirring dissatisfaction then providing solutions. I’m going to propose something different, something that comes way before you try and sell a product or idea. It is about emotional connection and in order to do that you have to seek first to understand, and then be understood.

Where most people go wrong

Emotional connection is difficult, the longing for it is a theme that runs deeply through our art and cultural. The reason it is so difficult is because, quite unwittingly we are so surrounded by our own hopes, plans, concerns and problems that it become harder and harder to be aware of the needs of others. Even if we are working for the benefit of others in a charity or social enterprise, it is very easy to become caught up in our objectives and the day to day ups and downs of working life.

We become incased in our own little shell bumping into other people’s shells unsure about how to get through.

We know what we want, we know what our boss wants, we know our organisation’s mission but, to write effective web copy we have to be concerned only with what our reader wants.

Why is it important to make an emotional connection?

Have you ever had a friend or colleague who you get a real ‘lift’ from talking to? Someone who always remembers what is going on in your life, who takes a real interest in what is happening with you instead of simply talking about themselves?

The reason that kind of experience has such an impact is because positive attention makes us feel cared for, it makes us feel ‘seen’ and understood. It makes us feel connected.

I think that the need for emotional connection is a driving force in human nature, understanding how it works can help you build the kind of community that will invest the time, love and energy needed to help you achieve your aims.

Watch Brené Brown’s amazing ted talk on the power of vulnerability, trust and human connection

Why is connection so difficult?

Every day our attention is bombarded with information. We have become very efficient at switching off the white noise. We have learned to distrust the broadcasts and the sales messages, we’ve become wise to their manipulation, even the very powerful emotive pleas of good intentioned causes leave us exhausted rather than engaged.

How to build trust and connect with people online

The answer to this is simple but it might not be welcome.

Forget what you need, what you are trying to sell or promote, that should make up no more than a 1/4 of your messaging. Instead think ‘how can I learn more about my audience, how can I find out about what they need, what they care about and what they hope for.’

You have to channel that friend, or colleague, the one that always remembers the details of your life, that always focuses their attention on you rather than themselves. If you can do that for your readers you will build a relationship with them, you’ll make a positive impact on their life, and over time you will be paid back in loyalty and support.

So, why use a CMS? There are lots of reasons;

• Ability to easily update content

  New articles, images, posts and other content can easily be added via the CMS. This means you are in control of your site, meaning lower maintenance costs as you do not have to go to your website provider to perform updates.

• …even if you don’t know your RSS from your CSS!

  Updates will be made with a user-friendly interface that ‘hides’ the technical workings of the site. So even those with little technical knowledge can perform updates and maintenance.

• Workflow management

  A CMS will usually have the ability to track content revisions, schedule publishing, and automatically archive old content when no longer required.

• User access control

  Most CMS’s will provide a means to allow differing access privileges to users, For example, a copy-writer may write an article but it will only be published when an editor approves it. Or an administrator could access the CMS but would only be allowed to view and edit certain areas.

• Greater consistency

  Generally, the content of the site is kept separate from the design. A design ‘template’ will determine how the content of the site is displayed, which means greater consistency across the pages of your site.

• Improved search

  You will usually be able to provide a search facility on your site allowing your users to easily find the content they need.

• Always up to date and secure

  Regular software updates ensure your site will be more secure and safer from potential attacks. This will ensure you are keeping up to date with the latest technology and relevant web standards.

• Add-ons aplenty

  Most CMSs will have a wide range of add-ons (often called plug-ins, modules or extensions) that allow you to extend an your site’s functionality.

• A sense of community

  Often a devoted and loyal community will be driving the development of a CMS, meaning quick fixes to bugs, lots of add-ons and a community to go to for assistance.

So what are the downsides?

Well, there is the initial learning curve and there will be a certain amount of maintenance required to keep the CMS up-to-date. But this is usually far outweighed by the time that is saved as the CMS does its job (such as automatically creating the navigation – a real time-saver!).

Perhaps the main risk is that the CMS you choose may cease development. But if you go for one of the more popular ones you should be okay for at least a few years and if the worst does happen there will be a strong user-base ready to assist for years to come.

Examples of CMSs

There are loads out there, but here a few of the more popular ones;

• Drupal
• Expression Engine
• WordPress (strictly speaking, not a CMS)
• Joomla
• CMS Made Simple
• ModX

What does Post Creative use?

The Post Creative site is built using WordPress – we are big fans of WordPress here and we use it a lot for client work too. However, it has its limitations and for more complex sites we use Expression Engine and occasionally Joomla or Drupal. Each have their strengths and weaknesses but we can recommend all of them and are happy to advise further for a particular job as well as provide training and support.

Further Reading

• Web Content Management System on Wikipedia
• Open Source CMS – try before you install
• The CMS Matrix

In the Signal vs Noise post ‘Designers: Make it Memorable‘ Jamie makes the point that pretty or impressive design alone wont really make an impact unless you have the content to back it up. He uses a rather poor example to illustrate his point though. He says that the Drudge Report site is a great site because it has no-frills and just delivers great content. I would disagree with him though as I was immediately turned off by the fact that the site was really difficult to read. It was an amorphous mess of bad typography with no distinctive elements to guide the eye to the most important content. It is ugly and for me that creates a barrier for connection.

There is no point, in my mind, in taking a site that does one aspect well and trying to use that to lessen the importance of the other aspects. Yes it is true that if you don’t have something to say then people wont connect with you, but if you present it in such a way that they don’t want to engage with you then you have made just as significant an error.

You can’t separate good design, good content and good code into a list of what is important in connecting with your audience because they come together as a complete package… it is like an argument about whether the brain, heart or lungs is the most important… the simple fact is without any one of them your dead.

I know that you might be thinking; there are some poorly designed sites out there that survive because of their good content. Is this really something to aspire to? Or is it a comforting excuse that allows you to feel good about cutting corners. Wouldn’t a well designed and coded version of these sites with great content work even better? Your users want something that will be relevant, engaging and a pleasurable experience. If you want them to listen to you, remember you and tell all their friends about you, then give them the full package – the real deal – the thing the whole thing and nothing but the thing!

How can I keep my website accessible?

We have considered accessibility at every stage in designing your website. We have most of it covered. However, as you add content yourself there are a few things you need to remember to do:

• Provide alternative text for images that can act as a replacement for the image, conveying its sense and meaning rather than just describing its content. This should also be done for images that contain text.
• There should be alternative ways of accessing the content of audio and video, these may include: audio descriptions, captions, transcripts and sign language.
• When creating a table use the table summary, caption and header tags so assistive technologies can interpret the information and understand the relationship between different elements.
• Present information in a meaningful sequence. A sequence is meaningful if the order of content in the sequence cannot be changed without affecting its meaning. Paragraphs, tables and ordered lists are examples of meaningful sequences.
• Web pages should not contain anything that flashes more than three times in any one second as this may cause seizures.
• Use images, illustrations, video, audio, or symbols to clarify meaning.
• Links should make sense when read out of context, e.g hyperlink a meaningful word in the sentence rather than using terms like ‘click here‘.
• Headings and sub-headings should be used to organize the content – headings should be clear and concise with the structure of the information reflected in the structure of the headings.
• Using the clearest and simplest language appropriate for the content.
• Avoid centrally aligned text and justification.
• Don’t use words that don’t add any further meaning to the sentence.
• Don’t use complicated words or phrases where simpler ones can be used without losing meaning.
• If using abbreviations, unusual words, jargon or idioms, provide a definition e.g. Accessibility (ensuring web content can be accessed by everyone)