By better understanding what comprises content, we can better use it to accomplish our brand's goals.

1. ronell@ronellsmith.com
Optimize for Experience
Generate Customer Love
@ronellsmith @searchstars

2. http://bit.ly/
customerexperienceftw

3. “Michelin Man”
Nooo…!

4. Not my favorite
coffee brand!

5. Clean, inviting design

6. …informative & educational

7. …easy to learn,
shop & buy

8. I’m here for you Don’t creep me
out.

9. What earned that customer love?
Seamless interaction

10. What earned that customer love?
Seamless interaction
Friction-free experience

11. What earned that customer love?
Seamless interaction
Friction-free experience
Creates positive sentiment

12. Eureka
Moment!!!

13. Favorite brands
create an
experience,
earned my
loyalty, love

14. BUT
WHY?
But why?

15. Free shipping, selection & price

16. Selection, price & customer-first

17. Excellent coffee, in-store, online &
PR experience

18. Price, selection & quality

19. In-store & online experience,
thoroughness of information

20. Customer
evangelism

21. Customer needs >
Brand needs
(…if profits & loyalty are goals)

22. “We’re not competitor obsessed; we’re
customer obsessed. We start with
what the customer needs and we work
backwards.”
—Amazon founder & CEO Jeff Bezos

23. “Customer experience pervades every
single thing a company does. It has to
be a part of the DNA of the company.”
—Avinash Kaushik, Google

24. Benefits?

25. Customer Love
Yep. A tattoo.

26. Rank & authority
for competitive
queries

27. Links from top sites

28. …more profits

29. Philosophical & Practical
constraints

30. #1 Philosophical
Constraint – Content is
EVERYTHING (and anything)

31. New definition for ‘content’
Any element created by, for and/or
about your brand that has the ability to
impact the way employees, prospects,
customers and the competition view
your product, service, your brand or
anything associated with it.

32. New definition for ‘content’
Blog posts, social media posts, podcasts,
videos, etc.

33. New definition for ‘content’
Blog posts, social media posts, podcasts,
videos, etc.
User-generated & sponsored posts

34. New definition for ‘content’
Blog posts, social media posts, podcasts,
videos, etc.
User-generated & sponsored posts
Logos, brand/product name, employees

35. New definition for ‘content’
Blog posts, social media posts, podcasts,
videos, etc.
User-generated & sponsored posts
Reviews, negative press, screenshots
Logos, brand/product name, employees

36. Social media posts
United Airlines
debacle

37. People…
Plus, product (and news of product)

38. News…

39. Brand
Content
Customer Experience

40. #2 Philosophical
Constraint – Think ‘first
chosen’ not first found

41. Oops… Even Moz gets this wrong

42. Web
Searcher

43. Best personal
experience … 4th
result

44. Opportunities beyond the top 10
YouMoz

45. Brand bias is beneficial

46. Requires continuous effort
Are we as a brand doing everything we
can to generate the types of positive
online and offline experiences that would
lead to people thinking favorably of the
brand and being more willing to do
business with us?

47. 5 Practical
Constraints

48. #1 – Think ZMOT,
not simply your
website

49. Online retail is only increasing

50. 18yo – 44yo
is the sweet
spot for
online
shopping in
U.S.

51. How we think of shopping behavior

52. How Google explains ZMOT

53. ZMOT in reality

54. …what we
have to wrap
our heads
around

55. Positive Ubiquity
Optimize onsite & offsite interaction

56. Positive Ubiquity
Optimize onsite & offsite interaction

57. Key takeaway

58. #2 - Lose the
Vending Machine
Mentality

59. Really, Amazon?

60. Really, Amazon?

61. Really, Amazon?

62. Really, Amazon?

63. Finally!

64. A better way: Beard Brand

65. Show me more of what I’m looking for

66. Social proof & purchase option

67. Now, other options

68. “The single most important thing is to
observe real customers try and complete
real tasks on your website. Watch people
try and use your website.”
—Gerry McGovern
Key takeaway – remove obstacles

69. #3 – Optimize for mobile
& beyond

70. Facebook visit opened
my eyes

71. Anticipate questions, goals, needs

72. Learning guides …

73. Videos for learning & inspiration

74. Surprising stats…
Guides: 3,000 – 5,000 words✔

75. Surprising stats…
Guides: 3,000 – 5,000 words
Desktop time on page: 5 minutes
✔
✔

76. Surprising stats…
Guides: 3,000 – 5,000 words
Desktop time on page: 5 minutes
✔
✔
✔ Videos: 5 minutes – 20 minutes

77. Surprising stats…
Guides: 3,000 – 5,000 words
Desktop time on page: 5 minutes
✔
✔
✔ Videos: 5 minutes – 20 minutes
Mobile time on page: 5 1/2 minutes✔
…not a typo

78. Three ideas to
easily execute

79. No. 1 - Interactive guides
Great value
add & helps
prevent
analysis
paralysis

80. No. 2 - How-
to Charts
Shows empathy for your customers

81. 2 years,
200,00
subscribers,
700%
increase in
sales
No. 3 - Videos

82. #3 Cont. … Optimize for
mobile & beyond

83. Traffic from mobile
Stone Temple Consulting

84. TOS tells a different story
Stone Temple Consulting

85. That bounce rate, tho…
Stone Temple Consulting

86. Page views, anyone?
Stone Temple Consulting

87. Where’s the
proof?
(how do we know this customer experience stuff really works?)

88. Putting the Theory to the Ultimate Test

89. Putting the Theory to the Ultimate Test

90. Three important
questions for the brand

91. The Questions:
How can we better serve our audience & grow customer base?

92. The Questions:
How can we better serve our audience & grow customer base?
How can we grow qualified traffic to the website?

93. The Questions:
How can we better serve our audience & grow customer base?
How can we grow qualified traffic to the website?
How do we create more content for our core audience?

94. Three Experiments

95. #1 - How can we better
serve our audience?

96. Effort Measurement Goal(s)
Better Serve theAudience & Grow Customer Base
Rewrite
Learn Center
Content
No. of pages
rewritten
Visits,
shares,
traffic, etc.

97. Refocused Content on Single Topic

98. New images, better H1s & H2s and Next Steps

99. Added Links to similar
Learn Center or on site

100. Optimizing CMS to Select More Relevant Post

101. Rewrote intros to be Featured Snippets-worthy

102. Learn Center Content is on Fiya! (er, Fire)

103. Suggested Pages: Small Change. Huge Impact

104. Pages Per Session: Up 4.79% Vs. Previous Period

105. #2 - How can we grow
qualified traffic to the
website?

106. Effort Measurement Goal(s)
Grow Qualified Traffic to Moz.com
Rewrite or
remove thin
pages
Addition (or
subtraction) of
content,
keywords
Featured
Snippets, traffic,
sessions,
keyword visibility

107. Grow Qualified Traffic to Moz.com
Stone Temple Consulting

108. Grow Qualified Traffic to
Moz.com

109. Grow Qualified Traffic to Moz.com

110. Grow Qualified Traffic
to Moz.com

111. Pruned Low-traffic Pages

112. Pruned Low-traffic Pages

113. Grow Qualified Traffic to Moz.com
Pages Indexed: ~200,000 → ~100,000
Organic Mo. Visits: +100,000
DA: 89 → 92

114. Grow Qualified Traffic to Moz.com

115. Grow Qualified Traffic to Moz.com

116. #3 - How can we create
more content for our core
audience?

117. Effort Measurement Goal(s)
Create More Content For CoreAudience
Redesign
Website
Steps to
goal
completion
Seamless
user
journey

118. Create More Content For CoreAudience

119. Yawn..
Create More Content For CoreAudience

120. Create More Content For CoreAudience

121. Create More Content For CoreAudience

122. How to measure what you cannot see?
2017 Physics Nobel Laureates

123. Interaction should bring customer & brand closer together

124. Ronell SmithRonell Smith
ronell@ronellsmith.com | @ronellsmith
THANK YOU