Information Markets - A Workshop Approach

Workshop Information Market Research

AS New Media International

Berlin, 23rd & 24th October 2008

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„If you choose the weapon,

look at the battlefield,

not in your arsenal!“ Aleksy Uchanski, AS Polska

October 2008 WS Information Market Research

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Content is King – but only the RIGHT one

The users will valuate the website based on the content.

Is it interesting? Helpful? Entertaining? Unique?

Or, to summarize it: Does it make sense to come back?

Axel Springer as a publisher has lots of content. Huge archives. Many editors. Millions of photos available.

But, is it unique? Is it significant? Today content is (mostly) commodity. To the user it‘s available for free – everywhere!

Axel Springer has a lot of strong brands and reputation. This is unique, or

not? The biggest brands in the internet are mostly pure online.

Brand value has to be re-earned in the web (i.e. spiegel.de)!


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Print mindset versus web reality

!! Information is precious and therefore

content is unique

!! Production is expensive and capacity

is limited

!! Distribution is expensive and limited

!! Based on that bundling of topics

made sense: a computer magazine

did cover previews, reviews, tests,

tips& tricks for hardware, software

and even games

!! All information is accessible from everywhere

for free. Content became commodity and even

professional writing can be purchased cheap.

!! Everybody can “produce” a website within

minutes and it costs only some money (if any).

!! Distribution of information is much faster,

includes more possibilities (pictures, videos

etc.) and costs nearly nothing.

!! In the internet bundling makes you insignificant

Print Web


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Before you start:

Which way do you want to go?

In general, there are two main reasons why a user could come to a website.

The same user (person) will visit different websites in different situations.

Search/Information

Search for solutions.

Learn new things and get

things done.

Looking for help.

Entertainment

Be surprised, receive

Impulses.

Kill time and be

entertained.

Looking for fun.


October 2008 WS Information Market Research 6

Group Work I: Entertainment vs Search in a nutshell

Entertainment Information

User mentality / need

Publishers job

Standalone examples

Integrated examples

Dominant entry page

Editorial voice

Signal to noise ratio

Primary traffic source

Preferred ad form

Google ad strategy

You want users to


Entertainment vs Information in a nutshell

Entertainment Information

User mentality / need Kill time / stay informed Learn things / get things done

Publishers job Deliver news Fulfil impluse driven (mostly delayed) search demand

Standalone examples Spiegel, engadget, social networks Wikipedia, holidaycheck, about.com

Integrated examples Techcrunch crunchbase

Dominant entry page Homepage Content pages

Editorial voice Punchy, creative, editors, voice Down to the facts, keyword-orientated, users’ voice

Signal to noise ratio Low High

Primary traffic source Word of mouth/links Search engines

Preferred ad form Banner / image / cpm Text / cpc

Google ad strategy Doubleclick / admanager Adsense

You want users to Navigate & generate Pis Leave through ad click

Result: You can’t optimize pages for both simultaneously-

but you can run both types on a website. Or provide two websites!

Entertainment pages

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Entertainment


!! Speed: be first and correct

!! Preferred Design:

blog, pictures, few distraction, comments, short and funny texts

!! Content:

editorial, „fresh“ content

means unique content, gossips & rumours instead of analysis,

previews than reviews

!! Sales:

maximum reach, mostly banner

!! Marketing:

word of mouth, linking, SEO/

SEM limited, (RSS)

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How to build an Entertainment page?


!! Relatively quick ‘n easy with standard open source platforms

!! Set-up within days at low cost and with little technology knowledge

possible

!! Few Features needed (all included in standard platforms): photos,

short texts, archive, categories, search, community

!! Which platform?

!! For pure blogs: e.g. Wordpress, Simplog, Movabletype

!! For blogs with advanced features: Drupal!, Typo3

" can be used for all kinds of websites e.g. integrated websites with blog and database

Search/Information pages

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Information


!! Preferred Design:

Wiki, info graphics, facts,

comments, detailed and serious texts

!! Content:

editorial & UGC, „high quality“

content means unique content, professional analysis, detailed

reviews and tests, experiences

!! Sales:

affiliate and ad sense, mostly PPC

!! Marketing:

SEO/SEM, backlinking

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How to build an Information / search page?


!! Design of a flexible and scalable database structure

!! Critical mass of content is needed to start

!! Find content sources to feed database

!! unstructured data: Manual input takes time and needs human resources

!! structured data: Automatic input needs development of tools

!! Set-up usually takes more time, resources and technological skills

!! Features depend on project and often have to be developed separately

•! Database: e.g. MySQL

•! Frontend: CMS: e.g. Drupal, Typo3

•! Backend: e.g. CakePHP framework for input templates

Blog-Database integration

!! Does a database need a blog?

!! Does a blog need a database?

!! One blog for several databases?

!! Several blog from one database?

!! Channel vs Subpage vs own domain


Points for reflexion and discussion:

Entertainment versus Information

Revenue streams


Points for reflexion and discussion:

Reach vs. Relevance

Banner vs. PPC-Models

•! Google AdSense

•! Pay per lead

•! Pay per order (e-commerce)

•! Pay per download

eCPM (effective Cost per Mille)

•! Skyscraper

•! Rectangle

•! Pop-under

•! Top-layer

KPI#

#Key Performance Indicator

“Manual” for Information Market research

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Steps for creating Information Markets

Information Markets are content topics


!! “Need for that content“?

You have to find out, if there is enough demand for your topic. Are people interested in it

(…more than just a few single ones)?

!! “Can I answer the need?“

Make sure, you are really versed in that topic, which has a huge demand. You offer specific

knowledge e.g. or provide special services.

!! “Can I sell my answers?“’

Brilliant ideas and a huge demand don’t bring you any profit. Analyse, if your site will be

financially rewarding. Who could be the potential advertiser?

!! “Who are the competitors“?

At last you have to analyse your competitors. What separates your offers from those of the

competition? Are there already big players? !! “Which approach do I use?”

Blog or Database?

!! “Do I have a voice?”

Think about a clear opinion. Are you willing to give and defend a point of view?

How to Step-by-step with Google Adwords Tool

Brainstorm keywords

describing your content

Use Adwords tool to check

selected words and find

alternative combination

Analyze Google’s

suggestions for relevance, typos, user

voice, search volume

Check Adword competition,

check keyword in Google Search for

Adword clients

Analyze competition

(SEO/SEM) for your

information market/content

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Shaping your Information Market


•!Is there an information market for your content / product?

•!How big is the market? How relevant is it?

•!Can you narrow down your topic, making it more specific?

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Keyword cloud General list of keywords

Sorted list of relevant

keywords

Impressions about sales

opportunity

Competition from organic

search and sponsored links

Next steps / workshops

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Workshop – EDITING – Editorial Framework “Form follows function”


Topics (discourse oriented site conception)

!! Shape our voice (cynic, ironical, critical, euphorically)

!! Define market to be served (who is our target audience?)

!! Define and limit site’s content (which type of games are we reporting on)

!! Frequency of publication (how many daily updates?)

!! User Integration (trigger user participation?; feedback management)

!! Size of Editorial team (time zones, backup, holidays etc)

!! Content (sources: picture and text, depth of structure)

!! Linking style (give credits, own work?, link to foreign language sites)

!! Trial editorial conference

RESULT Editorial Concept

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Workshop - DESIGNING – Design Framework How to build up a site, which will be high ranked in Google


Topics (SEO Friendly Site Design, Website design & technical issues for setup)

!! Editorial concept

!! Site-Structure

(Domain Name, Subdomains vs. Directories, Directory-Tree (Depth / Naming)

!! Tools & Utilities Setup

(HTML Sitemap, Google sitemap / Webmaster Tools / Analytics)

!! Page-Template

(Title tag, text and elements order in html)

!! Readability Tests

(Browsers, print)

RESULT Pilot (beta site)

30 23rd July 2008 WS Information Market Research – Results and Learnings

Workshop - OPERATING – Operations Framework How to build up a site, which will be high ranked in Google

Topics (SEO Friendly Writing, Link and PR Management, Measurement, Google)

!! Wording

(Keywords: selection /amounts / clouds / variation, vocabulary, signal to noise ratio)

!! Formatting

(Abstract, lists, etc., signals of quality, length of text blocks, column breadth)

!! Link and PR Management

(internal links / hierarchy / anchor texts, links to / from own properties, PR development

and inheritance)

!! Measurement

(setting up measurement tools, understanding and analyzing data, implications for

redesign and development)

!! Google Watching

(understand Google's strategies, get proactive, make sure you're not doing evil,

understand changes in algorithms)

RESULT Final Site

October 2008 30 WS Information Market Research

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Thank you!

Contact:

Nils Reimelt

Manager Business Development

Axel Springer AG


Axel-Springer-Straße 65

10888 Berlin

Phone +49 (0)30 2591-79613

Mobile +49 (0)151 1683 0078

[email protected]

Martin Scholz

Manager Business Development

Axel Springer AG


Axel-Springer-Straße 65

10888 Berlin

Phone +49 (0)30 2591-79606

Mobile +49 (0)151 1683 0120

[email protected]


Documents

Information Markets - A Workshop Approach