This is an easier to read version of my presentation given at Information Development World on Oct 2014.

1. Yahoo Help Content Strategy
Chris Todd
Information Development World 2014

2. How do you
make a case
study of a
strategy?
…the story of how we got here and
what we’re doing now.
Tell you how it
was executed,
of course!

3. Yahoo
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) - NASDAQ
Mail
Fantasy Sports
Answers
Flickr
Tumblr
Aviate
Search
Finance
and many more…
Founded January 1994
by two Stanford grad students
Jerry Yang and David Filo
incorporated March 1, 1995
Yahoo CEO and President
Marissa Mayer
appointed on July 16, 2012

4. We assist millions of unique Help visitors every
My Yahoo
organization
writes customer
help content for all
Yahoo products
…everywhere
month

5. 20 years | Xerox ◆ Mentor Graphics ◆ Oracle ◆ Yahoo
Me
Marketing | Customer Support | Training
Moda Center
Home of the Trailblazers
Mt St Helens
Willamette River
Portland, OR

6. WHAT IS CONTENT STRATEGY?
KRISTINA HALVORSON
“…plans for the creation, publication and
governance of useful, usable content.”
http://alistapart.com/article/thedisciplineofcontentstrategy
USABILITY.GOV
“…focuses on the planning, creation, delivery, and governance of
content. Content not only includes the words on the page but also the
images and multimedia that are used.”
http://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/content-strategy.html
JEFFREY MACINTYRE
“…addresses the specific purpose, form, and development of the content assets
that we have at hand, or those that circumstances (and our analysis) require us to
produce. The analysis of content and assessment of its value lies at the core of our
labors.”
http://alistapart.com/article/contenttiousstrategy

7. Your content strategy is
everything you do
and don’t do related to
your content.
Remember, no strategy is a
strategy too.

8. What might be in your strategy?
Investment
Platform
Translations
Writing style and voice
Process and
governance
What you share
publicly
Hiring practices

9. My Strategy
+
1
Write once for
everywhere
Apply 9
content principles
9

10. Every user
▪ Customer
▪ Support agent
▪ Partner
Everywhere?
Every device
▪ Mobile
▪ Tablet
▪ Desktop/laptop
▪ In-product
▪ Every language
▪ Every locale
(language + country)
Everywhere!

11. Content Principles
Know your audience
Must be able to follow the scent
Easy to scan titles
Easy to scan articles
Support SEO in every way
Use brand voice
Use translation best practices
Make strategic use of videos and
images
Write for multiple UIs
(user interfaces)

12. Personas “ Users often leave Web pages
in 10-20 seconds, but pages
with a clear value proposition
JAKOB NIELSEN
“How Long Do Users Stay on Web Pages”
Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, September 12, 2011
http://www.useit.com/articles/how-long-do-users-stay-on-web-pages/
“If your grandmother and
your 10 year old niece
can read and understand
your content, you’re
Know your audience
doing it right!”
can hold people's attention for much
longer…”
While customers will search on
our site; most searching occurs before
they reach us.

13. “Informavores will keep clicking as
long as they sense (to mix metaphors)
that they’re “getting warmer” -- the
scent must keep getting stronger and
stronger, or people give up.”
JAKOB NIELSEN
“Information Foraging: Why Google Makes People Leave Your Site Faster”
Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, June 30, 2003
http://www.useit.com/articles/information-scent/
Must be able to follow the scent

14. Easy to
scan titles
…that promise what
will be in the article

15. Easy to
scan titles
…that promise what
will be in the article

16. Easy to
scan titles
…that promise what
will be in the article

17. Easy to
scan titles
…that promise what
will be in the article

18. Easy to
scan
articles
Title <H1>
Heading <H2>
Caution
Numbered steps
Heading <H2>

19. Title <H1>
Heading <H2>
Heading <H2>
Support in
SEO in
every way

20. Locale SEO URL
en_US https://help.yahoo.com/kb/aviate/missing-apps-aviate-sln24249.
html
en_AU https://au.help.yahoo.com/kb/aviate/missing-apps-aviate-sln24249.
html
de_DE https://de.hilfe.yahoo.com/kb/aviate/Fehlende-Apps-in-Aviate-sln24249.
html
vn_VI https://vn.trogiup.yahoo.com/kb/aviate/Thiếu-ứng-dụng-trong-
Aviate-sln24249.html
Support in
SEO in
every way

21. Brand voice What’s your
“Brand voice is the purposeful,
consistent expression of
a brand through words and
prose styles that engage and
motivate...
The personality of your brand is
determined, in large measure, by
the words you use and the
sentences you write.”
LARSEN “Creating the right brand voice”
larsen.com/insights/creating-the-right-brand-voice
brand voice?

22. Use translation best practices
One idea per sentence
Simplicity over creativity
Reuse and consistency
Spend the time and get it
right the first time
Own your translation
memory
Seafood
brought in by
customers
will not be
entertained.
LADIES
ARE REQUESTED
NOT TO HAVE
CHILDREN IN
THE BAR
SOURCES
just-one-liners.com http://www.just-one-liners.com/category/translations
SignsFail https://www.etsy.com/shop/SignFail

23. Make
strategic
use of
videos and
images

24. Writing for multiple UIs
Plain vanilla HTML
CSS classes
supported by each UI
Variables for
local values

25. Our Story
Content Principles

26. 2009 Challenges
Global products
Distributed platform
and contributors
Multiple repositories
$$$
Translations
Labor
Writing skills
UI inconsistencies
Emergence of mobile

27. 2010 Stop the bleeding ($$$)
A new platform was needed
• 1 Global repository for self-serve and agents
• Use 14 languages (1 dialect or form per language)
• Reduce from 70+ down to 38 locales
(language + country, en_US)
This forced a new authoring strategy
Did we need content
everywhere?
How many
independent
repositories are
needed?
A new language and
translation strategy

28. Easy!
Go to where the
customers are
Getting to fewer locales and languages

29. en_US
es_ES fr_FR
en_CA
en_GB
es_MX
es_CO
fr_BE
Translate from
Master
to Parent
en_AU es_US * Use variables for
14 languages in 38 locales
MASTER (1)
PARENTS (14)
CHILDREN (24)
: :
local values
fr_CA
Replicate from
Parent to Child
en_US

30. Centralized oversight
Systems used to their fullest
Fewer experts necessary:
systems and content
Buying software once
Content consistency
across the world
Same reporting platform
Prod Groups work with
Benefits realized, so far
one team

31. The move to one system
Easy as flowers
growing after a
volcanic eruption
Come see me
afterward to
learn more

32. Support the language and
translation
2010
-
2012
Who writes it?
When do they write it?
Who maintains it?
Content authoring
strategy
Original Vision
KCS (Knowledge Centered Support)
• Anyone can add or modify content
• When errors are discovered, fix them
• Through coaching, grow skills
• The most skilled publish content

33. Support the language and
translation
2010
-
2012
Who writes it?
When do they write it?
Who maintains it?
Content authoring
strategy
Unforeseen issues
Coaching program challenges
Content updates were frequent;
hence more costly than planned
Sponsorship change
– labor investment reduced

34. Failed authoring strategy!
✱ System is complex even for
full-time users;
* too much for part-time
users to be successful
✱ No DAM (digital asset mgmt) –
more manual management
✱ Writing wasn’t a core
competency of the agents
✱ More coming:
✱ Multi-lingual
✱ Our voice / style
✱ SEO
✱ More coming:
✱ 3 more UIs (5 total)
+ Partner portals
The strategy didn’t support
the realities
of the environment
Was it the strategy or the execution?

35. New content authoring
strategy
Hub and Spoke
2012

36. Product launch timelines
Legal
and
Privacy
Writer
Product
Mgr
Prod
Engineer
Prod
Supp
Mgrs
Rich
Media
Marketing
and PR
Agents
Translate
/ Localize
Writer
Help Site
Admin
Search
Manager
The content Writer is the hub

37. Super Writer!
Skills
Writer
Project Manager
Communicator
Information Designer
SEO Specialist
Data Analyst

38. Writing standards and
processes
2012
-
2013
Applying the Content
Principles – in detail
When to translate
Engaging Legal and Privacy
departments
Utilizing the rich media
experts
Dealing with local content

39. Advantage of customer
support agents
2012
-
2013
Recommend or Draft
Emerging Issues
Urgent translations
Linguistic feedback

40. Using data for
content improvement
2013
Top used articles
Least used articles
Articles not updated
Search tuning data

41. Improving our content
and growing team skills
2014
On-boarding
Writer workshops
Peer-to-peer reviews

42. 2014 Hiring the right people
Marketing, PR, and/or
Communication
background
Must have existing
writing skills
Ability to manage multiple
projects/activities
Ability to deal with ambiguity
Passion for helping people
HTML / technology skills
are a bonus

43. A community
for each Yahoo
product
Writer
Communication model 2014

44. Translation costs decreased
Greater collaboration with
Marketing and others
Same message from self-service
and assisted
More benefits realized
support
“New” bugs are getting self-service
content, fast
Full visibility on all content
expenses

45. Challenges we still face
Site design
vs. content design
Content
discoverability
Goal conflict between
writing for self-support
and agent
support
Better customer
success data

46. How are you
measuring content
success?

47. THANK YOU!
@CHRISdotTODD
http://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisdottodd/
https://help.yahoo.com