Don’t be a “more-on”

Don Day August 12th, 2007

…That’s a mantra I repeat in our newsroom often. Why? It’s so easy to write a generic, cookie cutter web tease that says “for more on this story, log on to our website at klmn.com.” Dumb. Very few viewers will actually follow through. While it might help build awareness - it isn’t very effective. Instead, write a topical tease. Give viewers something specific - something that isn’t in the TV story. Don’t have any content that hasn’t already been featured on TV? Don’t do the tease. The last thing you want is to promise “more on” — and not deliver.

In the iVillage piece we blogged about below, the Today Show’s Phil Griffin seems to get it:

…hosts of the morning program have stopped parroting the line, “For more information, go to iVillage.com,” he said. “Now we try to direct viewers to the site by telling them what specific three related stories they can find if they go there,” he said.