Can Web Content Be Created Quickly?

Anyone who takes a serious interest in their Web site knows that it is critical to add content as frequently and consistently as possible.

But as SEO expert Michael Martinez points out in "The art of optimizing with articlets," getting content from clients is about as easy as understanding the intricacies of PageRank.

It’s personally frustrating for me to see someone who is extremely articulate, passionate, and engaged in telling people about their business just freeze up when it comes to writing a few sentences a week for the Web. People who have no problem with walking into 15 strangers’ places of business every week, asking those strangers engaging questions, and providing a semi-canned spiel about what they do, what their value proposition is, and how they can help the 15 strangers deal with their pain should have no problem writing 10 sentences a week about what they do, how they helped solve someone’s pain, or how life is a little easier because of their industry.

Martinez suggests what he calls articlets, "unique, content-rich globs of information about you, your company, your services, your products or whatever that you share with other people." It sounded like a great idea...a really great idea. But then I thought about all the conversations I had with my colleagues when we discussed how to get more content on the Web sites for their print magazines. With a staff of writers, you would think it would be easy to post a couple of small things here or there. But it isn't.

The Web developer in me gives kudos to Martinez. It is an incredible idea and it makes a lot of sense. But the professional writer and pragmatist in me knows that quality content cannot be created quickly. In person, a representative from IBM may have only one opportunity to make an impression on his peers. But on the Web, where what that person has to say is in some ways permanent, he will want to take the time to make sure he is saying what he really has to say. And when he is finished PR, marketing, and maybe even legal will want to take a look at it.

Content On Many Government Websites In The Public Domain

As a web content developer who has looked high and low for internal and external sources of website content, I was very pleased to learn recently about a free source of quality content.

Apparently, works prepared by employees of the U.S. government are in the public domain, including website content.

According to the Commerce, Energy, NASA, Defense Information Managers Group:

In accordance with 17 USC §10571, works prepared by government employees as part of their official duties are not subject to copyright protection in the U.S. (See FAQ Sections 3.1.1 and 3.1.2). This applies to government employee prepared works posted to government Web sites and to the government website itself if government employees as part of their official duties prepare it.

There is a catch. Not all content on government websites is created and/or prepared by government employees. Government websites can contain:

• Copyrighted text that the government entity is licensing from the copyright owner
  
• Logos, images, graphics created by a contractor (which are subject to copyright)
  
• Syndicated news briefs that come from a website that may or may not copyright their content

Some sites, like the National Institute of Health's MedLine Plus, have pages that make a distinction between copyrighted and public domain content on various pages. Others provide attribution on pages that feature copyright content.

I recommend checking with the government entity if you are going to use a significant amount of content. When I did they were thrilled to share their content.