This is my talk fro CSforum 2011 London. I've updated a couple slides to make it easier for those who didn't hear me speak follow along. The Worksheet is the companion to this presentation, but you can work off of the screenshot in the deck as well.
As always please send me any questions, I had only 40 mins for the talk so I covered a lot of material
“You never have to go back to the basics if you never leave them in the first place”. – I’ve heard this before, but I have a coach at Gleason’s Boxing Gym in Brooklyn that says it all the time and it’s all he does and has taught for years – the basics.
In order to measure content you need to know what content is first.
The question then becomes “how do you measure” content.
Ways and methods of measurement have changed over the years and recent years have brought on great advances in tracking capabilities beyond the “page model”…, while web analytics as an industry and recognized practice are still pretty new, the capabilities to capture web data has been around awhile.
We all use / have access to the same tools…
There have also been LOTS of published info on analytics…
How do you measure a Headline?
How do you measure copy?
How do you measure a video on YouTube?
How do you measure an Ad Campaign?
How do you measure a Homepage?
How do you measure a Privacy Policy?
How do you measure an Article?
How do you measure Enterprise Search Results for a Help / Customer Service section?
How do you measure a a mobile App? iPad?
After all this time… with all the smart people in this room alone… WHY did we have so many diverse answers? Or no answers at all?
Just saying.
Just saying.
If you look across this complex puzzle though, one glaring item has always surfaced…
Enter the Functional Method Process.
If you could play Connect 4 as a kid, no judgment if more recently, you can use this method, For each step, you simply choose an option(s) from a predetermined set of values.
The four steps.
An outcome tells answers the most basic question of “why” are we doing this? How do you plan to stay in businessSelect 1 or more
An objective is still at the strategic level and is a clarification of the Outcome(s) you chose.Select 1 and make sure it aligns with #1. THIS LIST / THE WORKSHEET LIST IS NOT COMPLETE BY ANY MEANS. YOU SHOULD CONTINUE TO BUILD THIS LIST TO SUIT YOUR NEEDS.
Select 1. Make sure it aligns to #2. The list shown above is a traditional marketing funnel, I only chose to show this one as more people will most likely be more familiar with it, but please check the worksheet as I have included two other models, Seth Godin’s & Colleen Jones’s. Since Colleen’s book came out I typically use her model as it is modeled specifically for content.
A Function is a content objects (homepage, video, headline, image, article, etc) functional purpose. I.e. why does it exist? How is it expected to help up achieve steps 1, 2, & 3.Best practice is to select a Primary function, Secondary if you need it. And Tertiary if absolutely necessary, but if you get to 3 I’d start to question and if more than 3 you are definitely asking TOO MUCH of your page, module, feature, etc.
I got you covered… walk this way.
The metrics are pre-selected. Each function you choose has its own set of metrics. No guess work. Ever.
Notes for readers not at talk – most of the able are understandable, but I want to make clear two of them:Cross team understanding: Imagine telling a client, designer, IxD, developer, your mom, etc that the PRIMARY purpose of a homepage is to Route users and its secondary is Engage. Everyone can understand that and it helps set direction for everyone’s work on the homepage. Type specific, functional categorization: Instead of worrying about what you Homepage is doing, and what your Category landing pages are doing, etc. This method allows you to look at pages, modules, objects that have the same functional purpose and compare their performance. All Router pages; all Closer pages; etc. The benefits and insights you gain from this alone are always outstanding when trying to optimize and find your most valuable content.