Heal Your Church WebSite


Teaching, rebuking, correcting & training in righteous web design.

Content is King

January 15, 2004 by meandean

“Content is King.” I remember the first time I read those words. They were boldly eblazed across from a picture of Vincent Flanders and Mike Willis doing their best Elvis impersonations.

Between the sequins and silliness was a serious message: the majority of the people who use the Internet are purpose driven. That is, they aren’t generally looking to be entertained or wowed. Instead, study after study shows they have problems, questions, needs and/or desires that hopefully your site … or at least the persons and institution represented by the site … meet.

Of course, to you regular readers, this is nothing new. So I as a bit taken-aback when I received the following comment:

FWIW, I think that the reader is king, not the content. Jesus adjusted what he said and how he said it based on the reader and so should the web writer.

How do I put this in a manner that is “teaches” and “encourages? Perhaps the “pulling the bandaid off fast” approach would be the best in this case … so here goes:

While Jesus demonstrated an amazing ability to alter HOW He delivered His message … Jesus NEVER changed WHAT He was saying … ever.

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 5:17-19

Theology aside, I wrote back the person who left this comment that I believe we are actually in ‘violent agreement.’ That is, the reader is indeed king, and as I stated above, our content should always seek to serve them, a point I’ve made several times in several articles that I thought might be fun to revisit:

2 Comments

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  1. Pressed
    January 16, 2004 at 12:01 am

    Jesus never changed His message, he only changed the delivery… different people learn and hear things in different ways and so you constantly have to change your approach to reach a larger majority of people, but with the same message! Unless i’m wrong….

  2. Frank Ramage
    January 16, 2004 at 11:36 am

    >> different people learn and hear things in different ways and so you constantly have to change your approach to reach a larger majority of people
    .
    Right. And in this context, studies repeatedly show that people are hunting for answers, like mom at a new supermarket trying to find the milk. Methods that meet that need most effectively win.
    .
    Methods that hide or obscure answers are less effective. Like putting the milk and eggs on opposite sides of the rear of the store.
    .
    Note that we’re not talking about a multimedia presentation of the gospel here… we talking about HOW EASY IT IS TO FIND IT.
    .
    But I could be wrong .
    .
    -Frank