Aligning website message and content, GOP style
I haven’t blogged in a while because we have been busy launching Tweetiator and a few projects we’ve been working on feverishly that I can’t share with you yet.
I’m breaking my silence because I’ve been watching with some interest the flap around the GOP’s new website which is being ridiculed. Some of this criticism is well deserved, typos are unacceptable in our modern world and the little Michael Steele is silly.
However, I wanted to highlight something different about the site which can serve as a case study and cautionary tale for us all: the message and content don’t align.
The message attempts to be hip and cool and forward looking: Michael Steele’s blog was originally called “What up?” (I’m not making this up); and there’s nice use of dynamic design throughout (I really like the sparkly little Flash flag in the “Heroes” section). The problem is the content focuses on the past, it looks backward in time.
GOP Heroes
Look at the “Heroes” section under the “Learn” tab, black and white photos of people who met their makers years and even centuries ago. No current Republican heroes? Come on. I may have some political differences with these folks but they can’t come up with anyone from the era of color photography?
Look at the Accomplishment section. It starts in 1860 and has nothing more current than 2004. Nothing accomplished in the last five years? This content tells the story that the GOP’s best days are behind it. Once again, content clashes with intended message. And that’s something we all have to watch out for on our websites.
We’re signaling our visitors that something is amiss when our words tell a story that is not backed up, or even contradicts our content. In practical terms this means, don’t have a “partners” page if you can only list your bank and insurance company as partners, don’t have a “Management” page if you’re just a bunch of contractors (not that there’s anything wrong with this arrangement), and don’t say “we’re the market leader in…” if you don’t have a set of customer logos or endorsements you can present.
It’s better to have a small website that aligns message and content, then attempt to flesh out a more ambitious story with an absence of, or contradictory, content.
