Revenue Journal®

Our first Revenue Journal podcast, in which I interview Brian Livingston, President/Editor of WindowsSecrets.com, who was just named Entrepreneur of the Year by MarketingSherpa.

1) Building plans and getting funding
2) Researching and developing a content management and creation system
3) Manufacturing, including systems and processes
4) Quality control
5) Distribution
6) Promotion
7) Feedback / service / improvement

Chief Content Officer
To win the content battle, someone will have to own it. One person has to be in charge of content creation and content management. Otherwise, content efforts turn into a hodgepodge of warring standards, content repositories, templates, and content management systems.

The owner, a "Chief Content Officer," should do the following:

- Research what customers want to do when they come to the company's site, and how they want to do it

- Set up and manage the company's content management system, so that all chunks of copy, images, and finished pieces/pages are stored in one database and all pages containing those content elements can be simultaneously updated

- Have all content tagged so it can be easily found by logical search or selection criteria

- Hire and manage professional writers

- Train the writers - so that they understand the company, its products, and its customers

- Insist that the writers conduct at least two interviews every single week (with customers, salespeople, and selling partners)

- Consolidate interview findings into a report for management each month

- Establish and manage standards for the content, including templates and instructions for the writers

- Hire people to perform quality control on the content that is produced

- Set up a content obsolescence system that "pings" content creators when the content needs refreshing - and continues to ping them until the content is updated

- Promote new content to all appropriate audiences

- Set up usage tracking and feedback mechanisms, so the content can be continuously improved

Good content brings people to you, engages them, builds trust and appreciation, and leads to new sales. It's time to get serious about good content. Your competitors are.