using personas to boost online marketing and seo

©2011 Third Door Media, Inc.

Using Personas to Boost Online Marke2ng and SEO

Wednesday, September 21, 2011 Speakers:

Vanessa Fox, Search Engine Land, Erez Barak, Op2fy


Vanessa Fox, Search Engine Land

»  Vanessa Fox is a contribu4ng editor to Search Engine Land and author of the book Marke&ng in the Age of Google.

»  She owns Nine By Blue, which provides educa4on, consul4ng, and tools for building search best prac4ces into organiza4ons at the technical and strategic level.


What is SEO?

§  Using search data to build a comprehensive and effec2ve product and content strategy

§  Engaging with your audience before they interact with your brand or site — at the search box

§  Connec2ng with the right audience and deligh2ng them

§  Taking advantage of the right data to measure, adjust, and improve

What is UX?

§  Figuring out who your users or customers are, and how they think

§  GeRng clarity on, and transla2ng, your business into:

•  Goals that make sense for your team

•  A design and development process that works

•  Products and services that wil l appeal to your users

§  Crea2ng clear cal ls to ac2on

§  Designing things that make sense to regular people


Personas

“ PERSONAS ARE NOT R EA L P EOPLE… THEY ARE HYPOTHET I CA L ARCHETYPE S OF ACTUAL USERS… DEF INED W I TH S IGN I F I CANT R IGOR AND PREC I S ION . ”

— ALAN COOPER’S DEFINITION


PERSONAS LOOK L I KE DESCR IPT IONS OF PEOPLE…BECAUSE THAT ’ S WHAT THEY ARE


SEO and UX Overlap

Goal Clarification

Prioritized Ad Hoc Personas

Feature Brainstorms & Prioritization

Experience Design

Wireframes, Content

Strategy, Etc.

Competitive Analysis &

UX Strategy Conversion

Search Rank

And Display Page Content

(Audience Need) Conversion and

Motivation


CREATING SEARCHER PERSONAS


The Process

3X3 s4cky notes

1 yellow pad per par4cipant + a few pads in other colors

2 easel-‐size s4cky pads

extra-‐fine black sharpies

1 per par4cipant

large markers


CLARIFY BUSINESS GOALS


What is the project goal? What does success look like? What is the brand objec2ve? How do you want your audience to perceive you? What is your value proposi2on? What can you offer the user? Why should the user care?


MAP AUDIENCES TO CONVERSION EVENTS AND MOTIVATIONS


What are the conversion events and engagement events? What makes you money and what brings people back? Who are the key audiences? What events map to what audiences? What mo2vates these audiences? Why do they want to do the things you want them to do?


DRAFT PERSONAS


•  One user per s2cky note •  Include the person + the goal

(or ac2vity or ac2on or problem)

The yellow s2cky exercise

IT manager assigned to

research possible outsourced solu4ons and

recommend one

IT guy assigned to install the new

so`ware

Office worker who just wants it to be easy to find the documents

she needs

Small business owner who can’t imagine this

being worth the investment

person + goal, ac4vity, ac4on, or problem


What problems does your target audience have? What tasks are they trying to accomplish?


Professions Vanity

Categoriza2on Exercise

Geo + Job Type

Category Category Category Category

Audience Need

Audience Need Audience Need

Audience Need Audience Need

Audience Need

Audience Need

Audience Need


Experienced Practitioners Dabblers

Sample: YogaSpot.com

Newbies

I want to start doing yoga

I need answers to specific questions

I want to customize my

own yoga classes

I need work on specific areas

of my body

Executive who travels a lot

and wants ways to stretch

New yoga student who doesn’t know what ‘asana’

means

Newbie looking for local yoga

classes

Mom looking for yoga to do

with kids

Runner strained back

and heard yoga would help

Experienced practitioner

who wants to create her own

class

Practitioner who needs a

‘quick’ routine to do before

work

Pregnant woman wants yoga routines

I want to practice yoga

on my schedule

Busy mom who wants to find time for yoga

but can’t

Use the pa_erns to create persona skeletons

Even though you want target specific needs (you’ll target broader, high volume search terms), it’s helpful to think about what your audience is really thinking to help understand their mo4va4on, engage with them, and get them to convert.

See SITE Goals - Persona Session.docx for details.

Persona 1

•  Needs

Persona 2

•  Needs

Persona 3

•  Needs


Becky Busy

•  I need a way to do yoga that fits into my schedule

•  I want to do yoga away from the studio

•  I want alterna4ves to hour-‐long prac4ces

•  I want a way to augment the yoga I do now

Pete Purposeful

•  I need to address an injury

•  I want to try yoga before I ‘buy in’ completely

•  I need to learn more

•  I want to know that this will work

Olivia Ohm

•  I want to customize my own classes

•  I want to bring yoga everywhere with me

•  I want to learn about teaching yoga

•  I want to connect with other people who love yoga

Sample: YogaSpot.com


Validate and Expand With Keyword Research

Compe22ve research •  What topics is the compe22on targe2ng?

•  What queries does the compe22on buy AdWords for?

•  What does the compe22on blog about/send email about?

Social media •  What are people talking about related to your topic area on Twi_er, Facebook, ver2cal discussion forums,

Q&A sites

Insights and trends •  What are spiking/high volume queries according to Google Insights?

•  What informa2on is contained in industry reports/market research

Keyword research •  What are people searching for and how are they searching?

http://www.ninebyblue.com/marketing-in-the-age-of-google/keyword-research-tools-marketing-in-the-age-of-google/


CATEGORIZE KEYWORD CLUSTERS


CREATE PERSONAS

24

Developing Search Strategy

1.  Determine which personas are most important to the business

2.  Map query clusters to personas

3.  Determine priority of each cluster for the important personas


Meet Becky. Becky Busy is a 33-‐year-‐old mother of two

kids in elementary school. She works in sales for a pharmaceu2cal company (she took 2me off when the kids were very small, but now she’s back to work). Like everyone she knows, she juggles about a zillion ac2vi2es, deadlines, schedules, goals, responsibili2es...she’s the classic modern mom.

Before she had kids, Becky put a lot of effort into her own health and well-‐being, but it’s a lot harder now that she has kids. She wants to take care of herself and ‘model’ a healthy lifestyle for the kids, but she also wants to take 2me for herself just because it feels good and makes her happy. She has a lot of stress at work and exercise helps her manage.

Becky took several yoga classes at her old gym, and she really liked it. It really was a workout too! She thinks that yoga would be a really perfect way to get back into exercising again, but she simply can’t imagine commiRng to a class at a studio. She knows that the only way she’ll really do yoga is if she can fit it in whenever she finds some 2me.

BECKY BUSY WEIGHTED SCORE: PRIORITY:

“I’d love to do yoga again, but I can’t imagine how I’ll fit it in!


Task Becky

wants to accomplish

Sample search queries

What we can provide to help her accomplish her

task

“Oh, by the way...” (what we can offer that she might not think to ask for)

What we want them to do

(related to biz goal)

Why she’ll do it Success metrics

I want to do yoga at home / not in a studio

yoga dvd yoga video yoga books …

“About doing yoga at home” “Like a library of DVDs, always at your disposal” “Always fresh books in your library…grow with you…”

Save and track progress. Professional advice on best videos for you. Beyond beginner, intermediate, advanced. It doesn’t have to take an hour.

Watch a video BECOME A MEMBER

•  It’s free •  Easy to try •  Monitor progress •  Customizing

materials that are relevant to you

•  # videos watched •  # pages viewed •  Creating a free

account •  Saving/favorite •  SUBSCRIBING

I want online yoga videos

yoga online yoga classes online yoga online workouts …

videos “workouts”

One stop shop for yoga videos. Not all teachers are created equal. Save and track progress. Customizability/personalized advice.

Same as above

•  Free •  Lots of content •  Air of authority •  Monitoring

progress •  Centralized

resource

Same as above

I’m looking for a specific yoga pose

yoga poses yoga postures yoga asanas (individual poses in spreadsheet)

Specific videos / articles related to single poses Browsable library of poses Multiple definitions at different levels of detail

We can also give you full workouts with each pose. We can give you beginner to advanced training. You can track your mastery of poses.

Attract visitors, even people looking for simple definitions

•  Easy, accurate, comprehensive

•  Access to a full browsable library

•  Return visits •  Sharing •  Watching second

video (after searched-for video)

I have a specific question about yoga

what is difference between pilates and yoga? can yoga help with fibromyalgia? can you do yoga when pregnant?

Comprehensive blog / knowledge base Discussion / ask the expert

Try it now! Videos related to questions. This is the place to get all your yoga questions answered.

Be in top three visited yoga sites on the web

•  It’s free to come back

•  Comprehensive and credible information

•  There’s a live person to ask

•  Return visits •  Reading more

than one article •  sharing •  Subscribe to RSS •  Watch a video

“I’d love to do yoga again, but I can’t imagine how I’ll fit it in! Becky Busy


Priori2zing Query Categories

§  How well does the cluster relate to the overall business goal/message?

§  Based on intent, how likely is searcher to convert? §  How compe22ve is the query cluster? (What sites rank now)

§  How difficult would it be to add features/func2onality to the site to address this searcher need?

§  Is this cluster best served by an overall site message, landing page/category, set of blog posts, about page, or other component?


MAPPING PERSONAS & QUERY CLUSTERS TO SITE CONTENT


Mapping Query Clusters to Pages

1.  Use “what we can provide” sec4on to determine what content is needed

2.  For exis4ng sites, work backwards from page to find which “what we provide” it matches

3.  For this, you can determine: § gaps (new pages needed)

§ adjustments (edits to exis4ng pages needed)

§ consolida4on (when mul4ple pages fill the same need)


Task Norm wants to accomplish

Target Pages

I want to build my first website

hip://www.microso`.com/web/webmatrix/ hip://www.microso`.com/web/webmatrix/features.aspx hip://www.microso`.com/web/gallery/install.aspx?appid=webmatrix hip://www.microso`.com/web/post/web-‐development-‐101-‐using-‐webmatrix

I’d like to learn to program in ASP.NET

hip://www.microso`.com/web/planorm/framework.aspx hip://www.microso`.com/web/downloads/planorm.aspx

I’m looking for a hos2ng provider

hip://www.microso`.com/web/hos4ng/home hip://www.microso`.com/web/hos4ng/Hos4ngProvider/Details/465 hip://www.microso`.com/web/hos4ng/Hos4ngProvider/Details/276 (and other specific hos4ng provider pages)

“I’m excited about developing applications, but where do I

start?” Norm Novice


What Terminal Does Alaska Fly Into LAX?

Audience Conversion Event Motivator Non-Member Provide Correct Information and

Make Passenger Happy Visitor Goal

Member Provide Correct Information Sign up for Alerts

Be alerted if there’s a gate change or delay

Search Rank

And Display Page Content

(Audience Need) Conversion and

Motivation


Sign up for an alert on your phone if the gate changes or the flight is delayed!


Things To Remember When Designing Each Page

33

What is the goal of this page? For the searcher? For your organiza=on?

Does the page func2on as the entry of the site? Is the organiza=on and site purpose obvious at a glance?

Does the page clearly help searcher accomplish task? Searchers have lots of other search results!

Does the page compel conversion? What’s the call to ac=on?


Set Metrics

34

§  Segment search analy4cs by cluster so you can monitor engagement and conversion metrics for each separately.

§  Use market opportunity calcula4ons for very rough calcula4ons of the traffic you should expect based on keyword volumes.

§  Monitor this over 4me (if you are gesng the rankings you expect, are you gesng the subsequent traffic).


Tamara Adlin | @tamaraadlin adlininc.com

Vanessa Fox | @vanessafox vanessafox.com | ninebyblue.com


Erez Barak, Op2fy

»  Erez Barak is Vice President of Products and Co-‐Founder at Op4fy;

»  Frequent speaker at industry events. »  Prior to Op4fy, Erez was a director of product marke4ng in HP’s So`ware business unit.

»  He was recently named among the Top 25 Innovators in 2010 by Seaile Business Magazine.


Five Steps to Using Search Personas

»  Know Your Audience »  Understand Audience Pain Points

»  Provide Real Solu2ons »  Be Compelling

»  Know Your Data


Step 1: Know Your Audience

»  Iden2fy target audience most likely to turn into customers »  Ask yourself: Who's my perfect buyer?


Step 1: Know Your Audience Example: Segmenta4on by Nielsen

Source: http://www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments/Default.jsp?ID=20


Step 1: Know Your Audience Example: Segmenta4on by Nielsen


Step 2: Understand Audience Pain Points

»  Understand Your Audience's Pain Point(s) & Learn How They Search to Solve Them

»  Ask: How would your target customer ar2culate their need for this in terms of keywords? How do they search?


Step 2: Understand Audience Pain Points Example: Twiier Trends

Source: http://tweetstats.com/trends


Step 2: Understand Audience Pain Points Example: Ask.com

Source: http://www.ask.com


Step 3: Provide Real Solu2ons

»  Create great content that’s well op2mized for search engines, but . . .

»  . . . also meets the needs of your target customer »  Map “pain” keywords to “solu2on” pages


Step 3: Provide Real Solu2ons Example: Mapping of “solu4on” pages to “pain” keywords


Step 3: Provide Real Solu2ons Example: Mapping of “pain” keywords to ranking pages


Step 4: Be Compelling

»  Offer a call to ac2on that compels the searcher to dive deeper into your conversion funnel


Step 4: Be Compelling Example: Landing Page Tes4ng

Source: http://www.attentionwizard.com/Case-Studies/credo-mobile.html


Step 5: Know Your Data

»  Regularly tracking performance metrics that help demonstrate the efficacy of these campaigns


What do I need to track in Real Time ?

»  SEO Indicators »  Keyword Ranks »  Rank Trends over 4me »  Ranking in mul4ple

engines


What do I need to track in Real Time? »  Business Indicators

»  Pageviews »  Visitors »  Conversion »  Revenue


Key Takeaways »  Use Search Personas to align SEO strategy with business

goals

»  Framework makes for easy, repeatable process

»  Measurement in real 2me is key to success

»  Rank isn’t enough! Measure real business impact


More Resources

•  Full Recording h_p://www.op2fy.net/webinars/search-‐personas-‐to-‐boost-‐search-‐marke2ng/

•  Other Op2fy Webinars h_p://www.op2fy.net/category/webinars/

•  Online Marke2ng Resources h_p://www.op2fy.net/internet-‐marke2ng/op2fy-‐resources/

•  Op2fy Lead Genera2on Blog h_p://www.op2fy.net/blog/

•  Op2fy 14-‐day Free Trial h_p://www.op2fy.net/sign-‐up

using personas to boost online marketing and seo

Technology

search engine

provide real

display page

real time

search rank

ill fit

make sense

vanessa fox