Ian Lurie - No More Scrambling: Search Leadership Tactics

Transcript

1. SEO LEADERSHIP THROUGH FRICTIONLESS CLARITY WHY THE HELL NOT?!
2. Woo-Woo Po﬛ break schedule
3. h﬙p:/ /portent.co/why-the-heck-not
4. @portentint This presentation scares the crap out of me
5. @portentint Examples and exploding heads portrayed in this presentation are based on an aggregation of actual events. I smushed them together. Names have been changed to protect the innocent. I am not talking about you. Really. Honest. I’m not.
6. @portentint If you get fired, it is not my fault.
7. @portentint This story has a happy ending.
8. @portentint WE’RE SMART
9. @portentint HERE’S THE THING AW YEAHHH WE GOT THE GOOD IDEAS WE’RE GONNA KICK SOME ASS
10. @portentint heeelllllppp meeeeeeee ALAS.
11. @portentint “Start producing good content.” “What’s the impact?” “You’ll build authori﬚ & brand.” “We’ll need to test that.”
12. @portentint “Fix all of your broken incoming links.” “What’s the impact?” “You’ll reclaim all this link juice.” “I’ll need to run this by my IT team.”
13. @portentint “Tweak your site architecture like this…” “No, we can’t do that. Can we just skip to the next thing?” From @gfiorelli1  
14. @portentint “Please let us know when you change anything.” “Anything?” “It’s really, really important.” “It’s not up to us, but I’ll ask.” From @LocalSEOGuide  
15. @portentint “Fix these on-page issues.” “[NAME HERE] tells me it’s not necessary.” “Sorry, but it’s really imporatnt.” “We’ll have to agree to disagree on that...” “I…” (partly) from @ShahMenz  
17. @portentint One time, I kinda lost it.
18. Part 1: In which you learn from my mistakes.
19. I was puzzled
20. Our job: Move towards the goal
21. Their job: Move towards the goal
22. why won't you take my good advice?
23. @portentint he wants us to change the nav?! OMG he's so cute and innocent i could just hug him.
24. @portentint
26. @portentint
27. fix this thing and we'll do better. trust me. HOW YOU THINK YOU LOOK
28. @portentint fix this thing and we'll do better. trust me. HOW YOU REALLY LOOK
29. You bring risk, effort & ambigui﬚
30. In that context, their first question is…
31. “Why should we?”
32. Once that question is asked…
33. …you’re scrambling, chasing the question, trying to answer it, losing focus on the goals
35. @portentint WE are asked to LEAD But we’re not in charge
36. “BECAUSE I’M RIGHT” WILL NEVER WORK IF YOU’RE NOT IN CHARGE,
37. BECAUSE I SAID SO IS NOT LEADERSHIP IT’S NOT THEM, IT’S US
38. Part 2: In which we sometimes fix it
39. We have to crush ‘why should we’
40. And replace it with…
41. Why the hell not?!!!!
42. @portentint “Please let us know of upcoming changes to architecture/server setup.” “OK, how oſten.” “Daily updates would be great.” “Our internal process is weekly.” “That works.” “Great, we’ll get that set up.”
43. @portentint The heavens opened
44. @portentint “We need to consolidate these 3 links.” “Why?” “It’ll help channel authori﬚.” “Done.”
45. @portentint The heavens opened
46. @portentint “You need a content strategy.” “Can’t do that.” “How about if we try one longform piece?” “Go for it.”
47. @portentint The heavens opened
48. We got to ‘why not’
49. To get to why not, know the numbers and establish frictionless clari﬚
50. @portentint Frictionless: In comparison to other options, requiring almost no effort
51. @portentint Clari﬚: Easy to understand the action, how to do it and what it’ll require
52. @portentint “Please let us know of upcoming changes to architecture/server setup.” “OK, how oſten.” “Daily updates would be great.” “Our internal process is weekly.” “That works.” “Great, we’ll get that set up.” Frictionless Clari﬚ Nirvana
53. Part 2: In which I share my retirement plan (and the three steps to get to why not)
54. Capybara Kingdom how could you not love this face?
55. Capybara Kingdom Petting Zoo Season Tickets Recipes Events Welcome to Capybara Kingdom! We’re the world’s first capybara preserve and zoo. Come take in the spectacle of the world’s largest rodents as they cavort and frolic in our best imitation of their native habitat. We have a capybara petting zoo, capybara events, capybara information and yes, weekly capybara adoptions. For more informations, please lick here All capybara, all the time!!! Season passes for only $50!!!! 10 things you didn’t know about capybara New therapy capybara program launches Seriously, if you want to learn about Capybara, try this link Escape rumors completely false
56. You’re hired
57. @portentint HERE’S THE THING AW YEAHHH WE GOT THE GOOD IDEAS WE’RE GONNA KICK SOME ASS
58. @portentint “Start producing good content.” “What’s the impact?” “You’ll build authori﬚ & improve engagement.” “What will that change?” “You may rank higher.” “How much higher?” “I can’t be sure.” “We’ll need to test that.”
60. “Why should we?”
61. Time to get to why not
62. FIRST, KNOW THE NUMBERS
63. No numbers gets you here
64. @portentint visitors Things to know
65. @portentint visitors revenue Things to know
66. @portentint visitors revenue conversion rate Things to know
67. @portentint visitors revenue conversion rate micro conversions Things to know
68. @portentint visitors revenue conversion rate micro conversions current ad spend(s) Things to know
69. @portentint visitors revenue conversion rate micro conversions current ad spend(s) labor costs Things to know
70. “Ian slow w/ maths”
71. @portentint visitors revenue visitor value =   Things to know
72. Handy-dandy calculator
73. @portentint 5% conversion rate no micro-conversions avg order = $10 Things to know
74. @portentint $50k/year on Adwords 1% conversion rate $2000 in sales Things to know
75. @portentint Something else you need
76. The goals The Goals
77. $10,000 revenue goal
78. $5,000 revenue goal
80. Handy-dandy calculator
81. The goals Handy-dandy calculator
82. CREATE CLARITY
83. @portentint LACK OF CLARITY SHORTENS ATTENTION SPAN
84. @portentint “I think you should produce good content.” “You’ll build authori﬚ & improve engagement.” “You may rank higher.” “I can’t be sure.” A﬙ention Span: Your Mom
85. @portentint “I think you should produce good content.” “You’ll build authori﬚ & improve engagement.” “You may rank higher.” “I can’t be sure.” A﬙ention Span: Your Dad
86. @portentint “I think you should produce good content.” “You’ll build authori﬚ & improve engagement.” “You may rank higher.” “I can’t be sure.” A﬙ention Span: Your Dog
87. @portentint “I think you should produce good content.” “You’ll build authori﬚ & improve engagement.” “You may rank higher.” “I can’t be sure.” A﬙ention Span: Yourself
88. @portentint “I think you should produce good content.” “You’ll build authori﬚ & improve engagement.” “You may rank higher.” “I can’t be sure.” A﬙ention Span: Your Client
89. @portentint LACK OF CLARITY HIDES THE DESIRED OUTCOME
90. @portentint LACK OF CLARITY MAKES RESOURCING IMPOSSIBLE
91. @portentint LACK OF CLARITY FRUSTRATES STAKEHOLDERS
92. @portentint Lack of clari﬚ brings back the Question Of Doom
93. @portentint “Why should we put our collective ass on the line for this!?”
94. @portentint Clari﬚ comes from context
95. The goals Handy-dandy calculator
96. @portentint we need to add 10,000 visitors OR double conversion rate OR do a li﬙le bit of both
97. COMPETITION: BUZZSUMO
98. COMPETITION: SEMRUSH
99. COMPETITION: MOZ/MAJESTIC
100. COMPETITION: RIVALIQ
101. ADS: ADAGE DATACENTER
102. @portentint Hmmm. Videos get a lot of a﬙ention. I wonder if we could add 10,000 visitors that way? Or do the equivalent?
103. @portentint If we could get 12,000 views on our video channel, and we could get 120 of those to become season ticket holders, that’ll sure help us hit our goals.
104. Why not try it?!!!
105. @portentint Clari﬚ = A well-defined action
106. @portentint “You should produce good content.” “Create a weekly, 10-20 second video recorded using a cell phone, posted to the Capybara Kingdom YouTube channel”
107. Why not do it?!!!
108. @portentint Clari﬚ = Understandable
109. @portentint “Since the Panda update thin content’s really been a problem. Google’s trying to incorporate more human factors into content. We need to build out substantial content to balance the thin stuff….. ”
110. @portentint “Since the Panda update thin content’s really been a problem. Google’s trying to incorporate more human factors into content. We need to build out substantial content to balance the thin stuff….. ”
111. HEMINGWAY EDITOR
112. BLANK SHEET OF PAPER TEST If you showed this to a non-SEO stranger, would they understand it?
113. @portentint “Create a weekly cute capybara video.”
114. Why not do it?!!!
115. @portentint Easy to delegate
116. @portentint Anyone with a cell phone that records video and relatively steady hands can do it.
117. @portentint ahem
118. Why not try it?!!!
119. @portentint “We want to modi﬌ the navigation.” “What do you recommend?” “Something like this.” [shows example]
120. Cool tool: Skitch
121. Why not?!!!
122. @portentint “We need to speed up your site.” “What’s slowing it down?” “These images and this script. I can get you the faster versions today.”
123. Why not fix it?!!!
124. @portentint Must-have: Narrative
125. @portentint “Let’s get armadillos into the next video.” “I told you last month: Capybara eat armadillos.”
126. Cool tool: Gmail
127. Cool tool: Evernote
128. Cool tools: Hipchat/Slack
129. Cool tool: PM soſtware (really)
130. CREATE CLARITY
131. REMOVE FRICTION
132. @portentint Friction is about perspective
133. @portentint No round trips
134. @portentint “Create a weekly cute capybara video.” “Why?” “All of these people ask questions about them.” “What will that change?” “You’ll get a﬙ention and links…” “Interesting. What will it take?” “Let me check on that.” “Go for it.” doomed
135. @portentint “We really need to speed up your site.” “OK, what do we need to do?” “I’ll need to ask the development team.” doomed
136. @portentint “Since the escape, we’ve had fewer visits.” “How many?” “I’ll check the data when I get back to the office.” doomed
137. @portentint “We want to modi﬌ the navigation.” “What do you recommend?” “Let me talk to the team.” doomed
138. @portentint we’re working on it let me check that i’m not sure hang on while i look i’ll have that answer for you in a couple days it’s in your inbox i don’t know i thought you’d know here are the 25 ways we could do it i have no freaking idea heh i know, but it’d be be﬙er if you figured it out for yourself hmmm squirrel! let me see if fran’s available to answer that
139. @portentint we’re working on it let me check that i’m not sure hang on while i look i’ll have that answer for you in a couple days it’s in your inbox i don’t know i thought you’d know here are the 25 ways we could do it i have no freaking idea heh i know, but it’d be be﬙er if you figured it out for yourself hmmm squirrel! let me see if fran’s available
140. Round trips waste time
141. Round trips cause decisions in a vacuum
142. Round trips create friction
143. @portentint To reduce round trips, learn the @#)($* out of everything
144. OGILVY ON ADVERTISING
145. INFLUENCE
146. GETTING NAKED (NO, NOT THAT WAY)
147. TREEHOUSE.COM
148. KHAN ACADEMY
149. STACK EXCHANGE
150. QUORA
151. @portentint pick one social network. learn to use it as a marketing tool, top to bo﬙om. move on.
152. @portentint Must have: Knowledge base (info at your fingertips)
153. EVERNOTE Evernote
154. PLAIN TEXT Plain text
155. Cool tool: Confluence Questions
156. @portentint what is the…? where are the…? how do I…? who do I ask for…? who is…? what if…? can I…?
157. Get ‘seed’ questions from Quora
158. @portentint No silly mistakes
159. @portentint mistakes ≠ errors
160. From Hubspot: h﬙p:/ /blog.hubspot.com/marketing/14-worst-﬚pos-ever
161. From Hubspot: h﬙p:/ /blog.hubspot.com/marketing/14-worst-﬚pos-ever
162. Every mistake erodes trust and creates friction
163. USE THIS
164. Cool tool: Grammarly
165. Cool service: Wordy.com
166. Not a brain substitute
167. @portentint Thinking > Testing
168. @portentint
169. @portentint
170. @portentint WHAT HAPPENS IF WE PUT ALL OUR CONTENT BEHIND A LOGIN WALL?
171. @portentint WHAT HAPPENS IF WE HAVE 19,523 DUPLICATE PAGES?
172. @portentint Must have: The knowledge
173. @portentint CRO: See what’s already been tested Cool resource: WhichTestWon
174. @portentint Drag race your site Cool resource: Webpagetest.org
175. @portentint MOZ ranking factors Local ranking factors SEO by the Sea seo-theory.com
176. @portentint See the links
177. Why not fix it?!!!
178. @portentint Know the relative cost/benefits
179. Make it a no-brainer
180. @portentint It’ll require about 1 hour per week.
181. @portentint You already have someone training the animals. Just have them do a 30-second recording every day.
182. @portentint 1 video = 1 hour of work $50/hour $50/video
183. @portentint If the video generates 100 visits to the site in its lifetime we get a measurable 1:1 ROI
184. @portentint If the video generates 5 orders to the site in its lifetime we get a measurable 1:1 ROI
185. @portentint Adwords budget = $50,000/year 20,000 clicks 1% conversion rate 200 orders @ $10/order $2,000 …
186. @portentint 6-month Cat Fancy ad = $25,000 ??? calls ??? conversion rate …
187. @portentint Se﬙ing up compression = .5s faster load time = 4 hours’ work = $400
188. @portentint Se﬙ing up compression 25% faster load time 40 orders = 1:1 ROI
189. @portentint Compare to Adwords…
190. Relatively low cost/clear benefit reduces friction
191. Why not try it?!!!
192. FRICTIONLESS
193. We have clear actions that are relatively low-cost, high-benefit
194. This is no longer ambiguous risk.
195. It’s a set of actions to which we all say…
196. @portentint why not! why not! why not!
197. @portentint thanks for the help. ian's happy. we're happy. time to return to our vats for regeneration.
198. fix this thing and we'll do better. trust me. HOW YOU LOOK
199. What about strategy?
200. Strategy only ma﬙ers if you execute on it.
201. Our advice only ma﬙ers if $#!! gets done.
202. You validate a strategy by implementing it.
203. SEOs are leaders who aren’t in charge
204. SEOs must get to why not
205. Know the numbers
206. Create frictionless clari﬚
207. @portentint WE’RE ALL ON THE SAME TEAM
208. most clients won’t get to why not
209. that’s ok. we still love them.
210. be brave.
211. ‘why not’ always helps
213. Ian Lurie @portentint www.portent.com h﬙p:/ /portent.co/why-the-heck-not SMALL, UNMARKED BILLS PLEASE