Content Cohort Analysis for Focused Optimization - John Short - Workable - Growth Camp June 2016

MEASURING THE LONG TERMBENEFIT OF CONTENT MARKETING

MY NAME ISJOHN SHORTCurrent VP of Demand Generation at Workable

Started my career in SEO/Content

Expanded into Paid Media

Two Years Ago an Intern Wrote 150 Templates in two months

TWO YEARS AGOAN INTERN WROTE150 TEMPLATESIN TWO MONTHS

AND THEN WE STOPPED BECAUSE THEY “WEREN’T DRIVING TRAFFIC”

SOME TIME PASSED....

And then we noticed,“hey this is pretty

good”

And then we noticed,“hey this is driving a lot of customers, let’s

do more”

Two Years Ago an Intern Wrote 150 Templates in two months

LAST MONTH THOSE 150 PIECES OF CONTENT DROVE 400K VISITORS

BY JANUARY WE’LL BE DRIVING 1.2M VISITORS TO OUR CONTENT

THE PROBLEM IS WE COULD HAVE STARTED SOONER

WE LEARNEDTHREE THINGS

1.Great content takes time to grow

2.But it compounds

3.We stopped too early

They focus on the top 10 posts

The reports are time seriesOld posts are forgotten

MOST ANALYTICS TOOLS DO NOT HELP

HERE IS THE REPORT THAT WOULD HAVE HELPED...

Fake numbers...

LESSONS PUT INTO ACTION

It takes time, recognize

patterns

Evergreen > Big Splash

BI support is key to set targets

Get buy in from the top

IT TAKES TIME, RECOGNIZE PATTERNS

EARLY ON

3 months to drive consistent

traffic

6-7 months to maturity

Double down on what works

Build a repeatable process

Be patient

EVERGREEN VS. BIG SPLASH

TYPICAL CONTENT CURVES

OUR TYPICAL CURVE

EVERGREEN VS. BIG SPLASH

THE PROCESS

Identify Topics that you’re audience will be interested in

Figure out what the blog post will be about

Identify one or two keywords to work in that article

Optimize (but don’t force) the title, URL and in the article

Repeat

SET TARGETS BASED ON QUALITY DATA

WE USE THE TOOL FOR REALISTIC TARGETS

Fake numbers...

Are we getting better at promoting in Month 1?

Fake numbers...

Are we getting better at SEO in month 4?

Fake numbers...

This growth looks familiar…

It seems to be working

Early cohorts as indicators

Show how & why it works

Give early indications of success

Don’t oversell, it’s slow at first

BUY-IN FROM THE TOP

Test a lot of great content

Watch cohorts closely

Double down early on success

Build a repeatable strategy

OUR STRATEGY

The idea is content will look like this

Thank youFollow me on Twitter @jgshortAnd at medium.com/@jgshort