This document provides tips for effective content creation strategies and workflows. It emphasizes the importance of: 1. Establishing a well-defined business process and workflow that supports SEO goals and provides training for all teams. 2. Strong identification of roles for different teams like IT, marketing, writers, and analytics, and ensuring good education and collaboration across teams. 3. Prioritizing business goals above all else and documenting every decision to avoid issues down the road.

1. Content Creation Winning Tactics for the Real World Presented by: Ted Ulle (tedster) Administrator – WebmasterWorld Senior Search Analyst – Converseon Senior Editor – Search Engine Marketing Journal

2. Don’t build a

3. Business Process & Workflow Must Support SEO

4. Training for SEO Locate & educate everyone in the workflow Dedicated analytics for each person Hold regular team meetings

5. Great Identification of Players IT Dept, Marketing, Web Design, Writers, Analytics Strong Education Kick-Off High Enthusiasm and Collaboration Half of Team Reassigned 4 Weeks Later! War Story #1 Management MUST Buy In (Major Enterprise - Silicon Valley)

6. Marketing strategy 1. Content – concept level Back end decisions Server, CMS, Analytics Keyword Research Information Architecture & Menus 2. Content – develop full copy Graphic Design – Templates 3. Content – ‘web edit’ in a browser Business Goal is #1 – ALWAYS! Document Each Decision

7. Product is aimed at doctors Search term is used by the layman (B2C not B2B) Gained #1 and #2 rankings 150 pages of content & sales decreased! Happy ending Marketing re-thinks entire strategy, from start-up to market leader War Story #2 Beware of Chasing Trophy Keywords (niche market – “homeopathy software” )

8. I nformation Resources: Information Architecture for the Small Site webmasterworld.com/forum21/7649.htm 2. O’Reilly Information Architecture for the World Wide Web – 3 rd Ed Designing Large-Scale Web Sites A rchitecture BEFORE menu decisions – the right buckets for your content – article article K n o w l e d g e access

9. Final Web Edit Content Interacts with Layout CSS is web typesetting you can KILL good content with bad layout or boost weak content with good layout study print typography – centuries of learning Resource: Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst

10. SIMPLE and SEAMLESS - for the End User Make Simplicity your Discipline - for Maintenance - for Search Engines

11. Where Do “Seams” Come From?

12. Someone is Showing Off!

13. Showing Off ... Graphic Design Fancy Programming “Features” IT Folks Writing Content !!! Search Results Error messages Auto-responders A big part of the user experience Works Against Your Business Purpose Typical Culprits

14. Code Geeks Should Not Write Content - EVER ! Yahoo Directory: “ Invalid Payment Instrument Data” Database driven “Menu” click “ Search produced no results” War Stories #3 & #4

15. Despite All Your Planning… Things WILL Go Wrong Data Queries are Slow Content Breaks the Template SEO Mangles the Message CMS Mangles Everything

16. Thou Shalt Not Kludge !!! Better Late Than Lousy ! Expect to Make Trade Offs Keep All the Priorities Straight WHEN IT’S TIME FOR A FIX… HOW???

17. Marketing strategy 1. Content – concept level Back end decisions server, cms, analytics Keyword Research Information Architecture 2. Content – develop full copy Graphic Design 3. Content – ‘web edit’ in a browser Business Goal is #1 – ALWAYS! Document Each Decision

18. Don’t build a