A Word on Credibility
This post will mark the first in a new series at ProWebWriter to emphasize the importance of having a website as a writer. Having your own website offers you a certain amount of credibility. The maintenance of that credibility depends upon the type of content you choose to present on your website. It should contain your Writing Portfolio…your best of the best. Your Writing Portfolio can also illustrate your range as a writer. A blog is optional, but a nice touch.
An Illustration in Credibility
Most Americans have probably seen this commercial:
The star of the commercial hasn't been the guy with the pulsating muscles (CREEPY) per se, but the tiny giraffe on the treadmill. This little fellow has quite the Internet following. I was Stumbling (StumbleUpon.com) last night and came across this website:
Home Page of petitelapgiraffe.com.
This is a website touting the tiny giraffes from the TV commercial above as reality. I admit, I had to check a couple pages on the site and really think it through to realize if there were a such thing as tiny giraffes, I would know about them before now. That is the credibility of a professional website.
Let's take a look at how the content on this website drives home the point. First, they have a live webcam of a tiny giraffe on the Home Page. There is a rack strategically placed for size reference. Second, the site has and About Page that includes some black and white photographs that scream P.T. Barnum's sideshow. These photos give an air of credibility of the grounds that the breeders aren't a new company. Age gives credibility. Third and final, there are just enough photos to present the myth as reality. The whole site makes you stop and say, "Is this for real?"
There one screaming clue indicating that all of the above is false; however, and that is the written content. Since the breeders are supposed to be based in Russia, much of the content is written in broken English. There is also a cheesy quality to the writing. As a writer, make sure your writing is believable. Back yourself up with credible sources, but don't stress yourself out about it. The above site is living proof that it's possible to cause intelligent (and not so intelligent) people to question reality even without proper written content.
Debunking the Petite Giraffe (Irrelevant to Writing – Feel Free to Skip)
A web savvy investigator can easily debunk the above website as a fake. Let's start with a WHOIS domain search. I used: http://www.networksolutions.com/whois-search/ — This search yielded the following data:
Registrant:
Grey Global Group
200 5th Ave
4th Fl
NEW YORK, NY 10010
US
Domain Name: PETITELAPGIRAFFE.COM
The Grey Global Group is a marketing company (a brilliant one) in New York. Fair enough, but not quite telling enough. Let's check out some of their images on the above site. First this one:
It looks like la petit giraffe is taking a bath. Further investigation yields that this image of a marble bath is available via Corbis: http://www.corbisimages.com/Enlargement/42-25705449.html — Showing here:
A myth to the madness. Perhaps all is fair in advertising.
DEBUNKING SOURCE: http://iandennismiller.com/blog/2011/03/petite-lap-giraffes/
