2. • The more I think about this, the more excited I
get about this opportunity
• I like to write things down as a way to
structure my thoughts on a subject
• These are hypotheses based on limited data
• This is far from comprehensive. At best, it’s a
starting point
Before I begin…
3. The Situation (as best I see it)
• IAC buys About Group
• Good fit with IAC strategy & portfolio
• Great traffic, good content, antiquated design
• Price: $300M
– 4.0x $75M Revenue (source: NYT 10K *)
– 12.6x $13M Operating Profit
– Feels high for a stable (shrinking? **) business
• New senior management
• What does IAC expect?
– Dramatic improvement in top and/or bottom line?
– Big synergies (e.g., with Ask.com)?
– ???
* Forbes claims $25M Revenue, $10M Op Profit, unclear how to reconcile with 10K. Lower values only increase urgency.
** Due to Google algorithm changes
4. Possible Plan
• A “100 day” agenda of quick hits
– Easy to implement design changes
– Focus on boosting traffic and engagement KPIs
• Follow with…
– Growth-supporting features
– Mobile optimization
– Review of cost structure
• Long term strategic objectives
– Rebranding About.com
– Synergies with Ask.com and other IAC properties
– ???
5. How I View the Revenue Side
KPI Timing
Traffic 100M UV/month Near/Mid/Long
2.8 Visits/user* Near/Mid
Engagement 63% Bounce rate ** Near term
2.3 PV/visit** Near term
Monetization 2 Ads/page **** Near term
??% inventory sold Mid/Long
$1-$5 CPM *** Mid/Long
TBD Mid/Long
Integration Clicks to Ask.com? Mid/Long
UGC to Ask.com? Mid/Long
TBD TBD
* Derived from 100M UV, 650 PV, & PV/user ** Source: Alexa
*** Range due to conflicting revenue data **** Excluding AdWords
6. How I View the Cost Side
KPI Timing
SEO/SEM CPC Near term
Editorial Cost per article Mid term
Overhead (varies) Mid term
Note: I did a lot of re-org and restructuring work at Booz & Co
but it’s hard to discuss without data
8. Traffic
Direct • Branding: what does it take for a user to make About.com his home
page?
• Personalization: “My.About.com”
SEO • Optimize article text to keywords
• A/B text Title and Description for SERP performance
• Commission articles to match trending / underserved keywords
• Standard white-hat page optimization
SEM • Automated bids to ad revenue received from session bought
• Segment by device, time of day, et. al.
9. Traffic (cont)
Referral
Links
• Ask.com integration
• Syndication partnerships
• Paid content discovery engines: nRelate, Outbrain, Gravity,
Taboola…
• Content API/widget for blogs & smaller content sites
Social /
Sharing
• Buttons much more visible: show all icons, better placement
• More sharing options: No Pinterest? Really?
Newsletter • Signup much more visible: on home, category, article pages - above
the fold
• Replace daily generic, single-topic newsletter with personalized,
multi-topic newsletter
• Redesign & responsive design
Red: Specific examples to follow
10. Traffic: Paid Content Discovery
nRelate (acquired by Ask.com in July 2012)
Outbrain
Also, Gravity, Taboola, Content.ad, et. al.
11. Traffic: Social / Sharing
What is this? A
treasure hunt?
• FB, Twitter, etc.
icons catch
attention
• Share in pop up
so never leave
article
• Don’t forget
Pinterest!
HuffPost bar only appears
after top share icons scroll
above fold. Slick but overkill.
A floating share bar is always visible
12. Traffic: Newsletters Drive Traffic!
Patch link in header:
AOL footer overlay:
Note: footer overlay is mobile-friendly
13. Engagement
Relevance • Does the page content match visitor expectations?
• Get SEO / SEM right (e.g., negative keywords to reduce false
positives)
Design • Looks matter!
• Use nice, large images
• Avoid text overload
• Clearly define /separate content areas from other elements
• Make it scannable (e.g., bold section headers, bullets)
Mobile • Looks matter a lot! If it looks hard to read, user will bounce
• Absolutely no side-to-side scrolling or pinch-to-zoom
• Responsive design – flexible grid, flexible images
• Single column of text, min. font size, resize image to width, wrap
text as nec.
Red: Specific examples to follow
14. Engagement (cont)
Recommendations • Manual (editorial) suggestions
• Automated suggestions (nRelate, Outbrain, Gravity,
Taboola…)
• Graphics, not (just) text
• Placement
Comments • Drive repeat visits
• Reason to register… and a chance for About to collect data
Pagination • Increase pages per article (within reason)
• Match content length to other elements to avoid awkward
gaps
• Mobile (small screen): shift to single column with in-line ads
Red: Specific examples to follow
15. Engagement: Poor Design »» Bounce
Text slaloms
around obstacles.
My eyes hurt….
Are the accidental
clicks worth higher
bounce rates?
No clear division
between content
text and ad text
Does this picture come
with a magnifying glass?
No Boldface headers to
highlight the key elements
and reassure me that I’ve
come to the right place
• No bullet points either
• (See what a difference
this makes?)
A little more white-space
would also help
Even bullets can’t
help break up the
NeverEndingTextLink
16. Engagement: Good Design Reduces
Bounce (1)
Text flows
unobstructed
Now that’s a
(pin-able) picture!
Yep, I’m in the
right place
Division of content
vs. other elements
is crystal clear
17. Engagement: Good Design Reduces
Bounce (2)
Bold paragraph
headers make the
article easy to scan
White space breaks up
text to make it easier on
the eye
19. Engagement: Comments Drive
Repeat Visits
Easy way to drive
return traffic…
…PLUS
• Registration required – get
data for later monetization
• Social sign in – encourage
comment sharing
Jump to
Comments
section
Expands
on hover
BUT typical placement at page bottom limits commenting.
Inserting a thin commenting widget at end of content, above
recommendations is a good solution.
20. Engagement: (Page)Size Matters
Missed ad
opportunities
Proper pagination
matches content
to ad space.
It’s that simple
Note: not for mobile. Maximize reduced ad space
using single column with in-line ads
21. Parting Thoughts
• These are hypotheses based on limited data
– Understand the status quo
– Formulate hypotheses
– A/B test (and test and test and test…)
– Follow the data
• These are just a few examples – there’s much
more to be done!
• This is a huge opportunity – I’d love to be a part
of it
I look forward to discussing this with
you in more detail.
