Ronell Smith

1. There’s No Magic In
Measurement
Ronell Smith | @ronellsmith | #DSPDX

2. A Process of Discovery

3. “Michelin Man”

4. Cardio(?)

5. Ate Like A Bird

6. Smaller, Not
Healthier

7. Really?

8. A Journey That Changed
My Worldview

9. Where it all came together

10. Discovery #1
Prioritized lean body mass (LBM), not
overall weight

11. Discovery #2
Focused on “simple but not easy,”
especially with regard to exercise
selection

12. Discovery #3
Different from everyone else—
focused on moving better, not simply
looking—in their approach

13. Discovery #4
Focused on the process—better
looking, better movement, better
health was a by-product of the work,
not the focus of it.

14. Discovery #5
Main variables determining success
or failure: diet, exercise, recovery,
stress management and sleep

15. Putting It Together
Goal (e.g., more LBM, less fat) baked
into the Process (e.g., exercise, etc.)

16. Eureka Moment!

17. Inputs > Outcomes

18. Same Soup, Different Bowl
More and better content

19. Same Soup, Different Bowl
More and better content
Grow traffic & links

20. Same Soup, Different Bowl
More and better content
More traffic & links
Be No. 1 on the Google

21. Get Real

22. Lack
Resources

23. 7/19/17 24
Grow traffic & linksWebsite
trapped in
1997

24. Not an
Established
Brand

25. Same Soup, New Bowl
More and better content
More traffic & links
Be No. 1 on the Google
Outcomes

26. Same Soup, New Bowl
Mastered Boring stuff
Didn’t chase shiny things
Did things differently
Inputs

27. In Content Marketing,
the thinking goes…

28. We Know the Right Inputs
+
More Content
More Links
= Citations

29. We Know The Work That Matters vs. Doesn’t
Don’t Do Do Every Day
Create Blog PostsManual Link Outreach
Posting to Google Plus New Facebook Posts
Asking for Google Reviews Monitor Review Sites

30. AFocus on Outcome vs. Input Metrics CanYield Success
Outcome
Outcome
Outcome

31. Focusing on Outcome Metrics vs. Inputs Will Bring Success
My Single Best SEO Tip for Improved Web Traffic, by Cyrsu Shepard

32. How Do We Remedy This?

33. Goals For Content
Marketing3

34. #1 — Awareness & Visibility

35. #2 — Reputation & Brand Trust

36. #3 —
Loyalty
Via Contently

37. We’re good at #1 and #2;
Few truly understand #3

38. Instead of Measuring What
Matters, We Measure
Everything

39. Blindly Chase Shiny Things
These elements might be
well correlated with sites
that tend to rank well, but
that doesn’t mean they’re
the best investments your
site can make?
Via Moz’s 2015 Google Ranking Factors

40. We Don’t Understand The ‘Why’

41. Our Comfort Zone Is Measuring Output
Via Moz’s 1Metric Content Tracking System

42. Our biggest challenge to
finding consistent content
marketing success.

43. Identifying the Work
that Creates Improvement

44. Identifying the Best Targets
for the Correct Metrics

45. Theory for Content Marketing Success
Tolerance
Adherence
Repetition

46. Putting Theory to
the Test

47. Each Effort Can be Broken Down:
WorkMetricsGoal(s)
Eat less,
train more
Scale weight
< 230 lbs.
Lose
weight

48. Each Effort Can be Broken Down:
Work Metrics Goal(s)
Eat less,
train more &
test
Scale weight
< 230 lbs.
Lose
weight

49. Output

50. Waist: 37
Hips: 42.5
Jan. — Mar.
Output

51. Input
The Work That Moved The Needle

52. Input
The Work That Moved The Needle
Train: 2 -3X/week
Jan. — Mar. Apr. — Oct.
Train: 4X/week +
30-45m walk/day
Tracked meals/snacks
Tracked meals/snacks

53. Waist: 37
Hips: 42.5
Jan. — Mar. Apr. — Oct.
Waist: 35 1/8
Hips: 41 1/8
Output
The Results Don’t Tell The Story

54. “There is growth in every process, but
not inANY outcome.”
— Eric Cressey, Cressey Sports Performance

55. “An outcome is result. It’s what
happens when the work is done.
— Eric Cressey, Cressey Sports Performance

56. Outcome-oriented
I want to be lean and ripped in 30
days

57. Process-oriented
I’m going to eat more lean protein and
vegetables, in addition to getting 60
minutes of exercise per day.

58. What Ultimately Matters
Exercising in am
Keep a schedule
Plan all meals
No snacks before first meal
200g/protein daily
200 oz./water daily
Work!!!!

59. This is what’s missing from our
current approach to content
marketing.

60. We ignore the inputs that create
those outcomes.
We measure the outcomes.

61. What are the (unspoken) everyday
actions that consistently improve
your content marketing efforts?

62. When we commit to _______, we achieve
success by _______.

63. When we commit to blogging more
frequently, we achieve success by
attaining more links.

64. When we commit to on page SEO, we
achieve success by
increased web visits.

65. Our Job: Find the
BEST TARGETS

66. Regular Content Creation?
Establish metrics for
content cadence, and
you’ll know the
benefits of 1X/week
vs. 1X/month.

67. Customer Service?
Great customer
service helps move
the needle with
reviews.

68. Infrequent, Higher-Effort Content?
Many times, one piece of
extraordinary content every
quarter or even every year
can be enough.
See Rand’s List of 10X Content

69. Social Shares? Or Social Followers?
What actions earn
social engagement?
Are they worthwhile?
Via Followerwonk

70. Interacting in Online Communities?
A few replies a week, or
each month, may have a
compounding impact

71. Mainstream or Niche Media Coverage
Press outreach, or
crafting a press-worthy
story/event each month
could be a worthwhile
endeavor

72. More Keyword-Focused Pages?
A handful of
keyword-focused
pages could have a
big, long
impact term.

73. Site Crawl to Find and Fix Issues
Fixing, redirecting,
and/or finding the
linking sources to
these may drive
additional rankings &
traffic.

74. Comment Marketing?

75. Guest Blogging
Via Eric Enge, Search Engine Land

76. Concerted-Effort Outreach

77. Each Effort Can be Broken Down:
Work
Put up two Facebook
posts/week
Fix any broken links
Pitch a guest contribution
1X/month
Participate in three
discussion threads/week

78. Each Effort Can be Broken Down:
Work Metrics
Put up two Facebook
posts/week
Fix any broken links
Pitch a guest contribution
1X/month
Participate in three
discussion threads/week
FB shares, new
page likes, traffic
Traffic increase
Acceptance of post,
traffic driven
Traffic from
discussion site

79. Each Effort Can be Broken Down:
Work Metrics Goal(s)
Put up two Facebook
posts/week
Fix any broken links
Pitch a guest contribution
1X/month
Participate in three
discussion threads/week
FB shares, new
page likes, traffic
Traffic increase
Acceptance of post,
traffic driven
Traffic from
discussion site
Grow reach on &
through Facebook
Direct+search bump
Visibility to new
audience, traffic
Brand awareness,
branded search

80. Each Effort Can be Broken Down:
Work Metrics Goal(s)
Fix
broken
links
Traffic
Direct &
Search
increase

81. Putting the Theory to the Ultimate Test

82. Putting the Theory to the Ultimate Test

83. Three important
questions for the brand

84. The Questions:
How can we better serve our audience & grow customer base?

85. The Questions:
How can we better serve our audience & grow customer base?
How can we grow qualified traffic to the website?

86. The Questions:
How can we better serve our audience & grow customer base?
How can we grow qualified traffic to the website?
How do we create more content for our core audience?

87. Three Experiments

88. Special thanks
to Moz’s
Britney Muller,
for amazing
data

89. #1 - How can we better
serve our audience?

90. Work
Brainstormed ideas
Rewrote guides
Revamped
onboarding process
Made help content
more visible
Better Serve theAudience & Grow Customer Base

91. Work Metrics
Brainstormed ideas
Rewrote guides
Revamped
onboarding process
Made help content
more visible
No. of ideas worth
pursuing
No. of guides
rewritten
No. of questions to
help & via social
No. of questions
help team receives
Better Serve theAudience & Grow Customer Base

92. Work Metrics Goal(s)
Brainstorm ideas
Rewrite Learn
Center content
Revamp onboarding
process
Make help content
more visible
No. of ideas worth
pursuing
No. of pages
rewritten
No. of questions to
help & via social
No. of questions
help team receives
Implement
worthwhile ideas
Visits, shares, traffic
More people familiar
with product suite
Fewer product
how-to questions
Better Serve theAudience & Grow Customer Base

93. Work Metrics Goal(s)
Rewrite Learn
Center Content
No. of pages
rewritten
Visits, shares, traffic
Better Serve theAudience & Grow Customer Base

94. Refocused Content on Single Topic

95. New images, better H1s & H2s and Next Steps

96. Added links to similar
Learn Center or on site

97. Optimizing CMS to Select More Relevant Post

98. Rewrote intros to be Featured Snippets-worthy

99. Learn Center Content is on Fiya! (er, Fire)

100. Suggested Pages: Small Change. Huge Impact

101. Pages Per Session: Up 4.79% Vs. Previous Period

102. #2 - How can we grow
qualified traffic to the
website?

103. Work
Audit site
Redirects
Rewrite or remove
thin/poor fit pages
Find & fix tech
issues
Grow Qualified Traffic to Moz.com

104. Work Metrics
Audit site
Redirects
Rewrite or remove
thin/poor fit pages
Find & fix tech
issues
Barriers to site
optimization
URLs redirected
Addition of content,
keywords
Errors shown in Moz
Pro
Grow Qualified Traffic to Moz.com

105. Work Metrics
Audit site
Redirects
Rewrite or remove
thin/poor fit pages
Find & fix tech
issues
Barriers to site
optimization
URLs redirected
Addition of content,
keywords
Errors shown in Moz
Pro
Grow Qualified Traffic to Moz.com
Goal(s)
Featured
Snippets, traffic,
sessions,
keyword visibility

106. Work Metrics Goal(s)
Rewrite or remove
thin/poor fit pages
Addition (or
subtraction) of
content, keywords
Grow Qualified Traffic to Moz.com
Featured
Snippets, traffic,
sessions,
keyword visibility

107. Grow Qualified Traffic to Moz.com
Stone Temple Consulting

108. Grow Qualified Traffic to
Moz.com

109. Grow Qualified Traffic to Moz.com

110. Grow Qualified Traffic
to Moz.com

111. Pruned Low-traffic Pages

112. Pruned Low-traffic Pages

113. Grow Qualified Traffic to Moz.com
Pages Indexed: ~200,000 → ~100,000
Organic Mo. Visits: +100,000
DA: 89 → 92

114. Grow Qualified Traffic to Moz.com

115. Grow Qualified Traffic to Moz.com

116. #3 - How can we create
more content for our core
audience?

117. Work
Map content to need
states
Repurpose/refresh
content
Analyze CRO
opportunities/top
pages
Redesign website
Create More Content For CoreAudience

118. Work Metrics
Map content to need
states
Repurpose/refresh
content
Analyze CRO
opportunities/top
pages
Redesign website
Audience segments
Owned pages
re-done
Opportunities missed
& converted
Steps to customer goal
completion
Create More Content For CoreAudience

119. Work Metrics Goal(s)
Map content to need
states
Repurpose/refresh
content
Analyze CRO
opportunities/top
pages
Redesign website
Audience segments
Owned pages
re-done
Opportunities missed
& converted
Steps to customer goal
completion
Better serve core
audience
More qualified traffic
Drive more
conversions from top
pages
Seamless user journey
Create More Content For CoreAudience

120. Work Metrics Goal(s)
Redesign website
Steps to customer goal
completion
Seamless user journey
Create More Content For CoreAudience

121. Create More Content For CoreAudience

122. Yawn..
Create More Content For CoreAudience

123. Create More Content For CoreAudience

124. Create More Content For CoreAudience

125. Make testing a habit
Refine
Revise
Repeat

126. Ronell SmithRonell Smith
ronell.smith@moz.com | @ronellsmith
THANK YOU