Yahoo Help Content StrategyChris Todd
Information Development World 2014
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!
Yahoo
Fantasy Sports
Answers
Flickr
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) - NASDAQ
Founded January 1994 by two Stanford grad students
Jerry Yang and David Filoincorporated March 1, 1995
Yahoo CEO and President
Marissa Mayerappointed on July 16, 2012
Flickr
Tumblr
Aviate
Search
Financeand many more…
My Yahoo organization
writes customer
Assists over 11M unique Help visitors every month
writes customer
help content for allYahoo products
…everywhere
20 years | Xerox ◆ Mentor Graphics ◆ Oracle ◆ YahooMarketing | Customer Support | Training
Moda CenterHome of the Trailblazers
Mt St Helens
Willamette River
Me
Portland, ORPortland, OR
USABILITY.GOV
WHAT IS CONTENT STRATEGY? KRISTINA HALVORSON
“…plans for the creation, publication and governance of useful, usable content.”http://alistapart.com/article/thedisciplineofcontentstrategy
Your content strategy is everything you do
and don’t do related to“…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
and don’t do related toyour content.
Remember, no strategy is a strategy too.
Investment
Platform
Translations
What might be in your strategy?
Writing style and voice
Process and governance
What you share publicly
Hiring practices
++11Write once for 99
Apply 9content principles
My Strategy
++Write once for
everywhere 99
Every user
▪ Customer
▪ Support agent
▪ Partner
Every device
▪ Mobile
▪ Tablet
▪ Desktop/laptop
▪ In-product
▪ Every language
▪ Every locale(language + country)
Everywhere?Everywhere!
Content PrinciplesKnow 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)
JAKOB NIELSEN
“How Long Do Users Stay on Web Pages”Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, September 12, 2011http://www.useit.com/articles/how-long-do-users-stay-on-web-pages/
“If your grandmother and
Personas“ Users often leave Web pagesin 10-20 seconds, but pageswith a clear value proposition
can hold people's attention for much longer…”
Know your audience
“If your grandmother and your 10 year old niece
can read and understand your content, you’re
doing it right!”
While customers will search onour site; most searching occurs before
they reach us.
“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.”
Must be able to follow the scent
JAKOB NIELSEN
“Information Foraging: Why Google Makes People Leave Your Site Faster”Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, June 30, 2003http://www.useit.com/articles/information-scent/
Easy toscan titles
…that promise what …that promise what will be in the article
Easy toscan
articles
Title <H1>
Caution
Heading <H2>
stepsarticles
Heading <H2>
Numbered steps
Title <H1>
Heading <H2>
Support in SEO in
every way
Heading <H2>
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
every way
“Brand voice is the purposeful, consistent expression of
a brand through words and prose styles that engage and
motivate...
Brand voiceWhat’s yourbrand voice?
LARSEN “Creating the right brand voice”larsen.com/insights/creating-the-right-brand-voice
motivate...
The personality of your brand is determined, in large measure, by
the words you use and the sentences you write.”
Use translation best practices
One idea per sentence
Simplicity over creativity Seafood brought in by
LADIESReuse and consistency
Spend the time and get it right the first time
Own your translation memory
SOURCES
just-one-liners.com http://www.just-one-liners.com/category/translations
SignsFail https://www.etsy.com/shop/SignFail
brought in by customers will not be
entertained.
LADIES
ARE REQUESTED NOT TO HAVE CHILDREN IN
THE BAR
Make strategic
use of use of videos and
images
Writing for multiple UIs
Plain vanilla HTML
CSS classes supported by each UIsupported by each UI
Variables for local values
Our Story
Content Principles
Challenges2009
Global products
Distributed platformand contributors
Multiple repositoriesMultiple repositories
$$$ TranslationsLabor
Writing skills
UI inconsistencies
Emergence of mobile
Stop the bleeding ($$$)2010
Did we need content everywhere?
How many
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
How many independent repositories are needed?
A new language and translation strategy
Easy!Go to where the customers are
Getting to fewer locales and languages
en_US
es_ES fr_FR
en_CA es_MX fr_BE
MASTER (1)
PARENTS (14)
CHILDREN (24)
Replicate from Parent to Child
Translate from Master
to Parent
en_US
14 languages in 38 locales
en_GB es_CO
: :
en_AU es_US * Use variables for local values
fr_CA
Centralized oversight
Systems used to their fullest
Fewer experts necessary:systems and content
Buying software once
Content consistencyacross the world
Benefits realized, so far
across the world
Same reporting platform
Prod Groups work withone team
Easy as flowers growing after a
volcanic eruption
The move to one system
volcanic eruption
Come see me afterward tolearn more
Support the language and translation
2010
2012-
Who writes it? Original VisionUnforeseen issues
When do they write it?
Who maintains it?
Content authoring strategy
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
Coaching program challenges
Content updates were frequent;hence more costly than planned
Sponsorship change– labor investment reduced
✱ 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:
Failed authoring strategy!Was it the strategy or the execution?
The strategy didn’t support the realities
of the environment
✱ More coming:
✱ 3 more UIs (5 total)
+ Partner portals
New content authoring strategy
2012
Hub and Spoke
Writer
Product launch timelines
Product Mgr
ProdSuppMgrs
Rich Media
Legal and
PrivacyMarketing
and PR
Agents WriterWriter
The content Writer is the hub
Prod Engineer
Translate / Localize
Help Site Admin
Search Manager
Super Writer!
Writer
Skills
Project Manager
Communicator
Information Designer
SEO Specialist
Data Analyst
Applying the Content Principles – in detail
Writing standards and processes
2012
2013-
Principles – in detail
When to translate
Engaging Legal and Privacy departments
Utilizing the rich media experts
Dealing with local content
Advantage of customer support agents
2012
2013-
Recommend or DraftRecommend or Draft
Emerging Issues
Urgent translations
Linguistic feedback
Using data forcontent improvement
2013
Top used articlesTop used articles
Least used articles
Articles not updated
Search tuning data
On-boarding
Improving our content and growing team skills
2014
On-boarding
Writer workshops
Peer-to-peer reviews
Hiring the right people2014
Marketing, PR, and/or Communication background
Must have existing 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
A community for each Yahoo
product
WriterWriter
Communication model2014
Translation costs decreased
Greater collaboration with Marketing and others
Same message from self-service and assisted support
“New” bugs are getting self-
More benefits realized
“New” bugs are getting self-service content, fast
Full visibility on all content expenses
Challenges we still faceSite design
vs. content design
Content discoverabilitydiscoverability
Goal conflict between writing for self-support and agent support
Better customer success data
How are you measuring content
success?success?
THANK YOU!
http://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisdottodd/
@CHRISdotTODD
https://help.yahoo.com
WRITERS RICH MEDIA HELP PROD MGRS SITE CONFIG
Team 1
Team 2
Video
Images
Desk top
Mobile
AgentIn-
Product
QA
Nav/Links
Search
FormsSite
Msgs
Organizing: the staff model
ANALYTICS
UI DESIGN | USABILITY
IA AND TAXONOMY
REGIONAL SUPPORT
Top Related