Misleading Headlines, Misguided Content Strategy

Here's a prime example of a headline that misleads its readers.

The Nice List: Santa's Top-Five Cities

Sounds cute, right? So you click on it and scan -- because that's what you do when you see a web page -- for the list that the headline promises, and .... no list for you!

The cities are actually in paragraph form.

Props to the headline writer for pulling me in; it's technically accurate and does its job. Boo to the writer or editor for not presenting it in list-form to begin with.

This is why it's important to take a step back and think about how you present information -- even stories about an imaginary person. :)

Content Strategy and Content Curation

My former colleague Dan Blank just wrote a blog about the importance of curating content -- carefully selecting it and caring for it -- versus collecting content. As a content strategist whose boss likens our job to curating moreso than anything, I of course am on board with the distinction.

If you publish content somewhere, are you curating it or adding to a collection? Have a read and think about it.