Solving the Sub-Domain Equation: Predicting Traffic and Value when Merging Sub-Domains

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Solving the Sub-Domain Equation: Predicting Traffic and Value when Merging Sub-Domains Posted: 27 Sep 2013 04:43 AM PDT Posted by russvirante This post was originally in YouMoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of Moz, Inc. To sub-domain or not to sub-domain, that is the question. Should you keep your content on separate sub-domains or the same domain? If I do merge my sub-domains, will I gain or lose traffic? How much? Since my first days in SEO back in 2004, the sub-folder vs. sub-domain debate has echoed through nearly every site architecture discussion in which I have participated. It seems trivial in many respects that we would focus so intently on what essentially boils down to the ordering of words in a URL, especially given that www. itself is a sub-domain. However, for a long time, there has been good reason to consider the question vary carefully. Today I am writing about the problem in general, and I propose a programmatic strategy for answering the sub-domain/sub-folder debate. For the purposes of this article, let's assume there is a company named Example Business that sells baseball cards, baseball jerseys and baseball hats. They have two choices for setting up their site architecture. They can use sub-domains... http://baseball-cards.example.com http://baseball-jerseys.example.com http://baseball-hats.example.com Or, they can use directories... http://www.example.com/baseball-cards http://www.example.com/baseball-jerseys http://www.example.com/baseball-hats Many of you have probably dealt with the exact question, and for some of you this question has reared its head dozens if not hundreds of times. For those of you less familiar problem, let's do a brief history on sub-domains, sub-folders, and their interaction with Google's algo so we can get a feeling of the landscape. Sub-domains and SEOs: A quick historical recap First, really quickly, here is the breakdown of your average URL. We are most interested in comparing the sub-domain with the directory to determine which might be better for rankings. This may date me a bit, either as a Noob or an Old-Timer depending on when you got in the game. I started directly after the Florida update in 2003. At that time, if I recall correctly, the sub-domain / sub-folder debate was not quite as pronounced. Most of the decisions we were making at the time regarding sub-domain had more to do with quick technical solutions (ie: putting one sub-domain on a different machine) than with explicit search optimization. However, it seemed at that time our goal as SEOs was merely to find one more place to shove a keyword. Whether we used dashes (hell, I bought a double--dashed domain at one point) or sub-domains, Google's algos seemed to, at least temporarily, value the sub-domain to be keyword rich. Domains were expensive, but sub-domains were free. Many SEOs, myself included, began rolling out sites with tons of unique, keyword-rich sub-domains. Google wasn't blind to this manipulation, though, and beginning around 2004, with some degree of effectiveness Google was able to kill off an apparent benefit to sub-domain spam. However, it still seemed to persist to some degree in discussions from 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. For a while, there seemed to be a feather in the cap of sub-domains specifically for SEO. Fast forward a few years and Google introduces a new, wonderful feature called host crowding and indented results. Many of you likely remember this feature, but essentially, if you had two pages from the same host ranking in the top 10, the second would be pulled up directly under the other and given an indent for helpful organization. This was a huge blow to sub-domain strategies. Now ranking positions 1 and 10 on the same host was essentially the same as owning the top two positions, but on separate hosts it was valueless. In this case, it would make sense for "Example Business" to use sub-folders rather than sub-domains. If the content shared the same sub-domain, every time their website had 2 listings in the top 10 for a keyword, the second would be tucked up nicely under the first, effectively jumping multiple positions. If they were on separate sub-domains, they would not get this benefit. Google was not done, however. They have since taken away our beautiful indented listings and deliberate host crowding and, at the same time given us Panda. Initial takes on Panda indicated that sub-domain and topical sub-domain segregation could bring positive results as Panda was applied at a host name level. Now it might make sense for "Example Business" to use sub-domains, especially if segmenting off low quality user generated content. Given these changes, it is understandable why the sub-domain debate has raged on. While many have tried to discredit the debate altogether, there are legitimate, algorithmic reasons to choose a sub-domain or a sub-folder. Solving the sub-domain equation One of the beauties of contemporary SEO is having access to far better data than we've ever had. While I do lament the loss of keyword data in Google Analytics, so much other data is available at our fingertips than ever before. We now have the ability to transform intuition by smart SEOs into cold hard math. When Virante, the company of which I am CTO, was approached a few months ago by a large website to help answer this question, we jumped at the opportunity. I now had the capability of turning my assumptions and my confidences into variables and variances and build a better solution. The client had chosen to go with the subdomain method for many years. They had heard concepts like "Domain Authority" and wondered if their subdomains spread themselves too thin. Should they merge their subdomains together? All of them, or just a few? Choosing a mathematical model for analysis OK, now for the fun stuff. There are a lot of things that we as SEOs don't know, but have a pretty good idea about. We might call these assumptions, gut instincts, experience, intuitions but, in math, we can refer to them as variables. For each of these assumptions, we also have confidence levels. We might be very confident about one assumption of ours (like backlinks improve rankings) and less confident about another (longer content improves rankings). So, we have our variables and we have how confident we are about them. When we don't know the actual values of these variables (in science we would refer to them as independent variables), Monte Carlo simulations often prove to be one of the most effective mathematical models we can use. Definition: Monte Carlo methods (or Monte Carlo experiments) are a broad class of computational algorithms that rely on repeated random sampling to obtain numerical results; i.e., by running simulations many times over in order to calculate those same probabilities heuristically just like actually playing and recording your results in a real casino situation: hence the name. - Wikipedia With Monte Carlo simulations, we essentially brute force our way to an answer. We come up with all of the possibilities, drop them into a bag, and pick one from the bag over and over again until we have an average result. Or think about it this way. Let's say I handed you a bag with 10000 marbles and asked you which color of marble in the bag is most common. You could pour them all out and try and count them, or you could shake the bag and then pick out 1 marble at time. Eventually, you would have a good sample of the marbles and be able to estimate that answer without having to count them all. We can do the same thing here. Instead of asking which color a marble is, we ask "If I merge one URL with another, what is the likelihood that it will receive more traffic from Google?". We then just have to load all of the variables that go into answering that question into our proverbial bag (a database) and randomly select over and over again to get an estimate. So here are the details, hopefully you can follow and do this yourself. Step 1: Determine the keyword landscape The thing we need to know is every possible keyword for which the client might rank, how much potential traffic is available for that keyword, and how valuable is that keyword in terms of CPC. The CPC value allows us to determine the true value of the traffic, not just the volume. We want to improve rankings for valuable keywords more than random ones. This client in particular is in a very competitive industry that relies on a huge number of mid/long-tail keywords. We built a list of over 46,000 keywords related to their industry using GrepWords (you could use SEMRush to do the same). Step 2: Determine the search landscape We now need to know where they actually rank for these keywords and we need to know all the potential sub-domains we might need to test. We queued all 46K keywords with the AuthorityLabs API and within 24 hours we had the top 100 results in Google for each. We then parsed the data and extracted the position and rank of every sub-domain for the site. There were around 25 sub-domains that we discovered, but ultimately chose to only analyze the 9 that made up the majority of non-branded traffic. Step 3: Determine the link overlap Finally, we need to know about the links pointing to these sub-domains. If they all have links from the same sites, we might not get any benefit when we merge the sub-domains together. Using Mozscape API Link Metrics call, we pulled down the root linking domains for each site. When we do our Monte Carlo simulation, we can determine how their link profiles overlap and make decisions based on that impact. Step 4: Create our assumptions As we have mentioned, there are a lot of things we don't know, but we have a good idea about. Here we get to add in our assumptions as variables. You will see variables expressed as X and Y in these assumptions. This is where your expertise as an SEO comes into play. Question 1: If two sub-domains rank for the same keyword in the top 10, what happens to the top ranked keyword? Assumption 1: X% of the time, the second ranking will be lost as Google values domain diversity. Example: It turns out that http://baseball-jerseys.example.com and http://baseball-hats.example.com both rank in the top 10 for the keyword "Baseball Hats and Jerseys". We assume that 30% of the time, the lower of the two rankings will be lost because Google values domain diversity. Question 2: If two sub-domains rank for the same keyword in the top 10, what happens to the top ranked subdomain? Assumption 2: Depending on the X% of link overlap, there is a Y% chance of improving 1 position. Example: It turns out that http://baseball-jerseys.example.com and http://baseball-hats.example.com both rank in the top 10 for the keyword "Baseball Hats and Jerseys". We assume that 70% of the time, based on X% of link overlap, the top ranking page will move up 1 position. Question 3: If two sub-domains merge, what happens to all rankings of top ranked subdomain, even when dual rankings are not present? Assumption 3: Depending on X% of link overlap, there is a Y% chance of improving 1 position. Example: On keywords where http://baseball-jerseys.example.com and http://baseball-hats.example.com don't have overlapping keyword rankings, we that 20% of the time, based on X% of link overlap, their keywords will improve 1 position. These are just some of the questions you might want to include in your modeling method. There might be other factors you want to take into account, and you certainly can. The model can be quite flexible. Step 5: Try not to set fire to the computer So now that we have our variables, the idea is to pick the proverbial marble out of the bag. We will create a random scenario using our assumptions, sub-domains and keywords and determine what the result of that single random scenario is. We will then repeat this hundreds of thousands of times to get the average result for each sub-domain grouping. We essentially need to do the following... Select a random set of sub-domains. For example, it might be sub-domains 1, 2 and 4. It could also be all of the sub-domains. Determine the link overlap between the sub-domains Loop through every keyword ranking those sub-domains we determined when building the Keyword and Search Landscape back in Step 2. Then, for each ranking... Randomly select our answer to #1 (ie: is this the 3 out of 10 times that we will lose rankings?) Randomly select our answer to #2 (ie: is this the 7 out of 10 times that we will increase rankings?) Randomly select our answer to #3 (ie: is this the 2 out of 10 times we will increase rankings?) Find out what our new traffic and search value will be. Once you apply those variables above, you can guess what the new ranking will be. Use the Search Volume, CPC, and estimated CTR by ranking to determine what the new traffic and traffic value will be. Add It Up Add up the estimated search volume and the estimated search value for each of the keywords. Store that result Repeat hundreds of thousands of times. In our case, we ended up repeating around 800,000 times to make sure we had a tight variance around the individual combinations. Step 6: Analyze the results OK, so now you have 800,000 results, so what do we do? The first thing we do segment those results by their sub-domain combination. In this case, we had little over 500 different sub-domain combinations. Second, we an average traffic and traffic value for each of those sub-domain combinations from those 800,000 results. We can then graph all those results to see which sub-domain combination had, on average, the highest predicted Traffic and Value. To be honest, graphs are a terrible way of figuring out the answer, but it is the best tool we have to convey it in a blog post. You can see exactly why below. With over 500 different potential sub-domain combinations, it is difficult to visualize all of them at the same time. In the graph below, you see all of them, with each bar representing the average score for an individual sub-domain combination. For all subsequent graphs, I have taken a random sample of only 50 of the sub-domain combinations so it is easier to visualize. As mentioned previously, one of the things we try and predict is not just the volume of the traffic, but also the value of that traffic by multiplying it by CPC value of each keyword for which they rank. This is important if you care more about valuable commercial terms than just any keyword for which they might rank. As the graph above exposes, there were some sub-domain combinations that influenced traffic more than value, and vice-versa. With this simulation, we could find a sub-domain combination that maximized the value or the traffic equation. A company that makes money off of display advertising might prefer to look at traffic, while one that makes money off of selling goods would likely pay more attention to the traffic value number. There were some neat trends that the Monte Carlo simulation revealed. Of the sub-domains tested, 3 in particular tended to have a negative rankings effect on nearly all of the combinations. Each time a good sub-domain was merged, these 3 would intermix with combinations to slightly lower the traffic volume and traffic values. It turned out these 3 sub-domains had very few backlinks and only brand keyword rankings. Subsequently, there was huge keyword overlaps and almost no net link benefit when merged. We were easily able to exclude these from the sub-domain merger plan. We would have never guessed this, or seen this trend, without this kind of mathematical modeling. Finally, we were able to look closely at sub-domain merger combinations that offered more search value and less search traffic, or vice-versa. Ultimately, though, 3 options vied for the top spot. They were statistically indistinguishable from one another in terms of potential traffic and traffic value. This meant the client wasn't tied to a single potential solution, they could weigh other factors like the difficulty of merging some sub-domains and internal political concerns. Modeling uncertainty As SEOs, there is a ton we don't know. Over time, we build a huge amount of assumptions and, with those assumptions, levels of confidence for each. I am very confident that a 301 redirect will pass along rankings, but not 100%. I am pretty confident that keyword usage in the title improves rankings, but not 100% confident. The beauty of the Monte Carlo approach is that it allows us to graph our uncertainties. The graphs you saw above were the averages (means) for each of the sub-domain combinations. There were actually hundreds of different outcomes generated for each of those sub-domain combinations. If we were to plot those different outcomes, they may look like what you see in the image directly above. If I had just made a gut decision and modeled what I thought, without giving a range, I would have come up with only a single data point. Instead, I estimated my uncertainties, turned them into a range of values, and allowed the math to tell me how those uncertainties would play out. We put what we don't know in the graph, not just what we do know. By graphing all of the possibilities, I can present a more accurate, albeit less specific, answer to my client. Perhaps a better way of putting it is this: when we just go with our gut, we are choosing 1 marble out of the bag and hoping it is the right one. Takeaways If you are an agency or consultant, it is time to step up your game. Your gut instinct may be better than anyone else's, but there are better ways to use your knowledge to get at an answer than just think it through. Don't assume that anything in our industry is unknowable. The uncertainty that exists is largely because we, as an industry, have not yet chosen to adopt the tools that are plainly available to us in other sciences that can take into account those uncertainties. Stop looking confused and grab a scientist or statistician to bring on board. Whenever possible, look to data. As a small business owner or marketer, demand that your provider give you sound, verifiable reasons for making changes. When in doubt, repeat. Always be testing and always repeat your tests. Making confident, research-driven decisions will give you an advantage over your competition that they can't hope to undo. Follow up This is an exciting time for search marketers. Our industry is rapidly maturing in both its access to data and its usage of improved techniques. If you have any more questions about this, feel free to ask in the comments below or hit me up on twitter (@rjonesx). I'd love to talk through more ideas for improvements you might have! Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

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Seth's Blog : When to speak up

 

When to speak up

"This plane is headed to Dallas. If Dallas isn't your destination, this would be a great time to deplane."

After a decision is taken and the organization is moving forward, it's fun and easy to be the critic, the rogue and the skeptic. Easy because the chances that you will have to actually take responsibility for your alternative view of the future are slim indeed--the plane is already headed somewhere, it can't go both places and you missed (or bungled) your chance to change the decision.

No, the time to speak up is before the decision is made, when not only do you have a chance to change where the organization is going, but you have the responsibility to deliver on your vision.

We don't have time to revisit every decision our organization makes. We merely have the time to do the best we can to execute on what we've already committed to do.

Rooting for your team to fail is as bad as it sounds. Even if you said early and often that this path was a stupid one, that this destination makes no sense--if you're on the plane, if you're in the meeting, if you decided to play the game--then once the journey starts, your job is to get us there, safe and sound.

And then come to the next meeting with a better plan about the next decision.

       

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Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

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Bank Robbers and Middle-Class Tax Hikes Posted: 27 Sep 2013 11:57 AM PDT When asked why he robbed banks, William "Willie" Sutton allegedly replied "because that's where the money is." The story, however, is false. Although he stole an estimated $2 million over his forty-year career, Horton denied ever saying that. A journalist made it up. His life was quite interesting though, including a stint of commercials for MasterCard, after his parole in 1969. For further reading, please see some amusing Willie Sutton commentary on Snopes. For the connection between bank robbery and middle class tax hikes, please consider Congress Dawdles on America's Unsustainable Path by Bloomberg writer Caroline Baum. Economist Herbert Stein once said, "If something cannot go on forever, it will stop." We're still waiting. As Congress debates yet another short-term continuing resolution to avert a federal government shutdown down on Oct. 1, a grand bargain isn't even on the agenda. The debate that relates to the budget is over the automatic spending cuts to discretionary programs implemented in March. Spending on everything except health-care programs, Social Security and interest on the debt is on track shrink to 7 percent of GDP -- the smallest share since the late 1930s -- from a 40-year average of 11 percent, Elmendorf said. The number of people eligible for Social Security will rise by a third in the next 10 years.  Neither party wants to face reality: Middle-class taxes will have to go up because that's where the revenue is. The Third Rail The problem is Republicans refuse to cut defense spending, and Democrats refuse to cut entitlements. Little else matters except scrapping entire programs and neither Democrats nor Republicans seem willing. Touching social security is considered to be the "third rail" by both parties. In case you do not understand the term, the "third rail" on Chicago's elevated "L" line (and no doubt other electric lines) is the hot one. Touch it and you will be electrocuted. Republicans had a wonderful chance right before the last presidential election to hold Obama to his pledge to make "tough choices". Instead, they wasted the opportunity with absurd bluffs on shutting down the government. The only reason we see trivial reductions in increases (not actual cuts), is because of sequestration. Even then, Republicans objected to miniscule cutbacks in the rate of increases in military spending. Congress vs. Willie Horton This brings us back to the beginning. What can't go on won't, but "we're still waiting". Yet, I see no reason to believe Republicans will give in on defense cuts and no reason to believe Democrats will cut entitlements. So, if the setup is truly unsustainable, what's it going to be? The answer is middle class tax hikes, because "that's where the money is". Willie Sutton was honest in his denial. Don't expect the same from Congress or state legislatures, especially Democratic strongholds like California and Illinois. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

IMF Proposes Eurozone Fiscal Union, Banking Union, Harmonized Employment, Common Unemployment Scheme, Firewall Tax Posted: 27 Sep 2013 11:28 AM PDT In the biggest nannycrat proposal ever, the IMF announced it's vision for the United States of Europe (without using that name to describe the proposal). Via translation from El Pais, please consider IMF suggests common unemployment benefits for the eurozone. The IMF proposes more discipline, more fiscal integration, and the creation of a common unemployment benefit and risk sharing scheme to help the club of countries that have experienced damage in this crisis currency. Fund staff argues that ommon fiscal governance, along with the banking union, are necessary to offset the "weaknesses in the architecture" of the eurozone, reinforce the club of 17 to future crises. In addition, the study argues that the most urgent step to acquire banking union goes through a firewall overall tax. The pillars of a fiscal union , according to IMF staff, go through a series of mechanisms to pool the risks and avoid further costly bailouts, always subject to greater fiscal discipline. The tighter control over public finances of each country, which occur revenues and expenditures, is the condition of these forward-looking statements, both from the point of view of the IMF and Brussels. Obedience and monitoring standards would allow the creation of a liquidity fund for troubled countries including a common unemployment benefit or "rainy day fund". This fund would be nurtured with an amount equivalent to between 1.5% and 2% of the GDP of member countries, which is in line for a fund with Germany for its most troubled regions. Harmonisation of Employment But there is much work ahead for something like a common shutdown could crystallize into a eurozone labor markets as diverse. "A common insurance scheme would require a minimum of harmonization in taxation of employment plus pension rights, which would be a positive step towards a single labor market," the report warns. The fiscal integration also requires a kind of Eurobonds or form of joint financing, led by the center of power and backed by global revenue, which would be possible once common tax structure is already underway. A single monitoring mechanism should complement a firm commitment to establish a strong firewall " to anchor confidence in the banking system. " And this will require common money too: "While some insurance against banking fiascos be funded by the industry itself, a common fund for recapitalization, liquidation and deposit guarantee would reduce the risk of infection." The True Vision - A United State of Europe That is the most comprehensive vision for the United States of Europe we have seen yet. And I propose an immediate up-or-down vote, right now, in all of the 17 member countries. I am quite sure the unemployed in Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Italy will be 100% in favor of a common unemployment scheme, especially if Germany would foot the bill. And France would always vote for more taxes as a matter of course, the bigger the tax hikes the better. Common work rules would have to be along the lines of the French work rules of course. And who could possibly be against common pension schemes at the expense of Germany and the Northern European countries? The more I think about this the more perfect the proposal is. It is complete with every nuance the nannycrats want. So let's not delay. We need an up-or-down vote right now, not by the governments of each country, but rather by the citizens of each county who can decide if they like all of the proposed benefits and taxes necessary to make the United States of Europe work. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

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Next time someone tells you they don't understand Obamacare:

Hello, everyone -- The Affordable Care Act. Health Reform. Obamacare. Whatever you'd like to call it, it's going mean something very tangible for millions more Americans in just four days. Starting October 1 -- that's next Tuesday -- Americans who need or want health insurance will be able to be able to go to healthcare.gov. They'll be able to compare plans based on their needs, and they'll be able to sign up for quality, affordable health coverage. There are folks out there with questions about what this law means for them. It's on all of us to make sure those questions are answered. That's the only way this is going to work. Our team has put together a great video that unpacks the law, piece by piece, in an incredibly simple way. It explains exactly what October 1 is going to mean for those millions of folks who need coverage. Take a look, but don't let it stop with you. We all know at least one person who either doesn't have insurance, or wants to know more about the law. Forward this on to other folks who you know need to see it. You've probably heard about the 3.1 million young adults who have gained coverage through their parents' plans, the 6.3 million seniors who are paying less for prescription drugs, and the more than 100 million Americans who have gotten free preventative care like mammograms and cancer screenings. Right now, the best thing we can do is make sure that, ahead of October 1, we don't let valuable information like this die in our inboxes. So don't let it happen. Start talking to your friends, your coworkers, your family members. Answer their questions. Make sure they know how to get covered, and then ask them to help others get covered. That starts with sharing this video, right now, with the folks you know need to see it: http://www.whitehouse.gov/share/what-obamacare-means-you Let's get to it. Thanks, David David Simas Deputy Senior Advisor The White House @Simas44  This email was sent to e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com. Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy Please do not reply to this email. Contact the White House The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

Have Questions About Obamacare?

Here's What's Happening Here at the White House           DAILY SNAPSHOT Friday, September 27, 2013             Featured Have Questions About Obamacare?  The Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) means better coverage for those who already have health insurance, and more options for those who don’t -- including a new way to shop for affordable, high-quality coverage. We put together a White House White Board that helps explain the benefits of the law, and what Obamacare will mean for you. Watch the latest White House White Board and learn more.       Top Stories West Wing Week 09/27/13 or, "42 44" This week we take you from Pennsylvania Ave to the heartland of America, to the Rocky Mountains, to the Big Apple and south of the boarder for a packed week of travel with the President and Vice President. READ MORE Introducing White House Shareables Yesterday, we released our latest feature in that effort: White House Shareables. Head over and take a look some of our favorite content in one easy-to-navigate page. You can sort by the issues important to you, or the type of content you'd like to see. READ MORE President Obama Speaks on the Affordable Care Act: "Tell Your Friends. Tell Your Family. Get Covered." Yesterday marked just five days to go until millions of uninsured Americans will be able to purchase quality, affordable coverage at healthcare.gov, President Obama headed out to Prince George’s Community College in Kettering, Maryland to deliver remarks on the Affordable Care Act. READ MORE       Today's Schedule All times are Eastern Time (ET) 9:00 AM: The Vice President meets with President Nicos Anastasiades of Cyprus 10:30 AM: The President and Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing 11:30 AM: The President holds a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Singh of India; the Vice President attends Facebook    Twitter   |   More Ways to Engage Did Someone Forward This to You? Sign Up for Email Updates This email was sent to e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy Please do not reply to this email. Contact the White House The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

Setting Goals (Not Tools) as the Foundation of Your Marketing - Whiteboard Friday

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Setting Goals (Not Tools) as the Foundation of Your Marketing - Whiteboard Friday Posted: 26 Sep 2013 04:13 PM PDT Posted by MackenzieFogelson With new tools introduced so regularly, it's easy for marketers to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out which ones are most effective for their own work. That focus, though, shifts our attention from what really matters: setting the right goals for our companies. In today's Whiteboard Friday, Mackenzie Fogelson walks us through the five-stage process she uses to make sure her team's attention is on what really matters. For reference, here's a still of this week's whiteboard! Video Transcription Hey there, Moz community! I'm so excited to be here with you today. I wanted to share something with you that has been really powerful for the businesses we've been working with in the last year or so about building community. It's a concept that we call "goals not tools," and it works in this pyramid format where you start with your goals, you move on to KPIs, you develop a strategy, you execute that strategy, and then you analyze your data. And this is something that has been really powerful and helped businesses really grow. So I'm going to walk you through it here. We start down at the bottom with goals. So the deal with goals is that you want to make sure that you're setting goals for your entire business, not just for SEO or social media or content marketing, because you're trying to grow your whole business. So keep your focus there. Then once you develop your goals, and those goals might be to improve customer communication or you want to become a thought leader. Whatever your goal is, that's where you're going to set it. Then you move on to determining what your key performance indicators are and what you're going to use to actually measure the fact that you may or may not be reaching your goals. So in terms of KPIs, it's really going to depend on your business. When we determine KPIs with companies, we sit down and we have that discussion with them before we develop the strategy, and that helps us to have a very authentic and realistic discussion about expectations and how this is all going to work and what kind of data they're expecting to see so that we're proving that we're actually making a difference in their business. So once you've determined those KPIs, then you move on to developing a creative strategy, a creative way to meet those goals and to measure it the way you've determined in your KPIs. So this is your detailed roadmap, and it's two to three months at a time. A lot of companies will go for maybe 12 months and try to get that high level overview of where they're going for the year, and that's fine. Just make sure that you're not detailing out everything that you're doing for the next year because it makes it harder to be agile. So we'd recommend two- to-three month iterations at a time. Go through, test things, and see how that works. During your strategy development you're also going to select the tools that you're going to use. Maybe it's Facebook, maybe it's SEO, maybe it's content marketing, maybe it's email marketing, PPC. There's all kinds of tools that could be used, and they don't all have to be digital. So you just need to be creative and determine what you need to plan out so that you can reach the goals that you've set. Then once you've got your strategy developed, that's really some of the hardest part until you get to execution. Then you're actually doing all the work. You need to be consistent. You need to make sure that you're staying focused and following that strategy that you've set. You also want to test things because you want as much data as possible so that you can determine if things are working or not. So make sure that during execution there are going to be things that come up, emergent things, shiny things, exciting things. So what you'll have to do is weigh whether those things wait for the next iteration in two to three months, or whether you deviate your plan and you integrate those at the time that they come up. So once you're through execution, then really what you're doing is analyzing that data that you've collected. You're trying to determine: Should we spend more time on something? Should we pull something? Should we determine if something else needs to completely change our plans so that we're making sure that we're adding value? So analysis is probably the most important part because you're always going to want to be looking at the data. So in this whole process, what we always do is try to make sure that we're focusing on two questions, and the most important one is: Where can we add more value? So always be thinking about what you're doing, and if you can't answer the value question, you know, "Why are we doing this? Does this provide value for our customers or something internal that you're working on? If you can't answer that question, it's probably not something valuable, and you don't need to spend your time on it. Go somewhere else where you're adding the value. Then the last question is where you can make the biggest difference in your business, because that's what this is all about is growing your business. So if you stay focused on goals, not tools, it's going to be really easy to do that. Thanks for having me today, Moz. Hope I helped you out. Let me know in the questions if you need any assistance. Video transcription by Speechpad.com Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. 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On Our Wait-List? You Get a Moz Analytics! Posted: 26 Sep 2013 05:01 AM PDT Posted by Anthony Skinner It is with great pleasure that I announce the wait is over! That's right, we are now letting people from our wait-list into Moz Analytics! In many ways, I feel like a not-as-cute version of Oprah Winfrey. I may not be worth 77 million dollars, and I am not giving you a car, but it does feel good to give new subscribers who patiently waited a 30-day free trial of Moz Analytics! Over the next few weeks we will be sending emails inviting people to try out the tools. The invitation is good for seven days, so when you see the email, make sure you click the link and join us right away. If you're not on our wait-list, you've still got time to get early access. Just head over and sign up! Before too long, we will open Moz Analytics free trials to the general public. We plan to release improvements and fixes to Moz Analytics every 2-4 weeks. Have questions about the application? Feel free to check out the Moz Help Hub. Feedback or suggestions? Check out the feature request forum. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy your new ride. Anthony Skinner CTO and Oprah Impersonator Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

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