1. Iteration
Iteration allows developers to get products into the marketplace quickly and to avoid front-end expense that may be unnecessary. This is a summary from a presentation by Stacy Lynch, consultant and project manager at Media Management Center at Northwestern University.
Iteration means breaking a project into stages and launching them one at a time. This is common practice in software development, where up to 80 percent of the work may be done after the launch as new versions emerge to reflect user response.
Here is a simple example of iteration applied to the building of a new entertainment site:
- Initially, launch only an events database. Fix any bugs.
- Add a user rating component.
- Enable users to upload photos from different events.
- Build in files associated with different performers.
In addition to getting the product out more quickly, the iteration process helps prevent overspending resources at the beginning—perhaps adding features that users don’t really want. It builds in flexibility and allows you to get feedback as the project develops.
Links: Stacy Lynch’s presentation to the KDMC Leadership Conference in July 2008.
2. Key performance indicator (KPI)
Key performance indicators provide more meaningful information on site traffic than simple counts of visits or visitors. Dana Chinn, a faculty member at the USC Annenberg School of Journalism, details KPIs and their uses:
Often, that KPI is not a simple number such as time on site or unique monthly visitors. Instead, the most meaningful information may be from a ratio or comparison of two different numbers. Here are 12 examples:
Site health
1. Visits per unique visitor
2. Page views per visit
Driving traffic
3. Top entry and landing pages
4. Bounce rate
5. Conversion rate
Growth
6. Visitor frequency
7. Visitor recency
8. New vs. returning visitors
9. Most popular stories
10. Visits using internal search
11. Site exits after using internal search
12. Time spent during visits
Here is one example of a KPI, for Visits per unique visitor:
To calculate, divide the number of visits for a specified time period (say, one week) by the number of unique visitors for that time period.
An increase usually means users are coming more frequently. Frequency and recency indicators may give more detail.
A decrease usually means users are visiting the site less and becoming less engaged. There may be problems with content, design and navigation, refers from print or marketing efforts. Or new competition.
Links: “Measuring Web Success in the Newsroom,” by Dana Chinn, July 2008.
Related tools: Web analytics, SEO, Widgets
3. Multimedia cost-benefit analysis
Elaborate multimedia presentations may not deliver an audience that justifies the effort. Beyond journalistic decisions about story and presentation, simple cost-benefit analysis may help decide how to tell a story on the Web. This summary is based on a presentation by Ashley Wells, creative director at MSNBC.com. Costs and priorities may vary, but the concepts may be applied across different news organizations.
Here are seven ways to tell a multimedia story:
The pink column shows the page views needed to recoup costs of production. The green shows actual page views received. By this calculation, three less labor-intensive and costly presentations – slide shows, map mashups and text – draw more audience than cost while typically expensive custom interactives fall short on audience.
Links: “Multimedia” by Ashley Wells, July 2008.
4. Ning (and other social networks)
Ning is a commercial platform on which users can create their own social networks, typically around a specific topic of interest. One example of a Ning network is Wired Journalists, with nearly 2,500 members as of August 2008. The service is free if advertising is accepted or by monthly fee. Ning may not be a good long term social networking solution for large news organizations. But for those waiting for their corporate parent or other partners to settle on a platform, Ning may provide a stopgap. For the long term, Pluck is a popular option. Among its news industry clients are Belo, Freedom Interactive, Hearst, NewsCorp, McClatchy and wsj.com.
Related tools: Twitter
5. RAID
RAID helps speed decision within organizations by clarifying who is responsible for making a decision and who has advisory power on a given project that involves multiple stakeholders. This summary is from a July 2008 presentation by Stacy Lynch, consultant and project manager at Media Management Center at Northwestern University.
The acronym RAID stands for different roles:
- Recommend: Part of the team to weigh options and design recommendation(s)
- Agree: Have reviewed, weighed in and will implement (this one has implicit veto power).
- Inform: Offer subject expertise and information needed to make a decision
- Decide: Chooses among options, makes final decisions
The goal of RAID is to have a single D, or decision-maker, on any one issue and to spell out the roles of other stakeholders as ones who recommend, agree or inform.
How does it work? Take a hypothetical example of a news organization adding a social networking function to its travel site.
Here is a typical model, with lots of Ds and attendant confusion about who is deciding what. This model may look familiar to newsroom project managers. Anywhere from three to five departments believe they are the decision-maker. For example, IT and the executive office each thinks it is the decision-maker on a final prototype. Everyone thinks they are deciding the launch date. That’s a formula for misunderstanding, conflict and delay.
Here is an example of how RAID can improve the decision-making process in planning for social networking on the travel site. One department alone decides a given issue (the exec office decides on a final prototype, the project team decides the launch date). This model has a lot more Agree and Inform roles—which means everyone gets to have a say without bogging down the process.
Links: Stacy Lynch’s presentation to the KDMC Leadership Conference in July 2008.
Related tools: Iteration, SCRUM
6. SEO keywords
Search optimization techniques to improve content visibility center on use of keywords that users are likely to employ in their searches. This summary is based on “SEO Basics” a June 2008 report by The Bivings Group.
The key to key words is figuring out and using (in headlines, tags, text, etc.) words or phrases that someone searching for content that you have on your site will use in her search. Simple example: “Restaurant” is probably more widely used than “café” or “eatery”. But there are a lot of restaurants, so “French restaurant” or “Thai restaurant” or “‘Name of neighborhood’ restaurant” might fare better in a search. Or “pizzeria” might do better than “pizza restaurant.”
This chart shows how different spellings of “barbeque” fare in one search.
A website’s traffic analytics program is one place to lok for keywords people are using to find your site. Other tools:
Google: Suggest, Adwords' Keyword Traffic Estimator Tool and Trends Feature
Microsoft: AdCenter Keyword Forecast Tool
WordTracker: Basic Keyword Suggestion Tool
KeywordDiscovery: Basic Search Term Suggestion Tool
Links: “SEO Basics,” The Bivings Group, June, 2008.
Related tools: Key performance indicators, Web analytics, widgets
7. SCRUM
Pop up/teaser (Optional): SCRUM is a product-development technique that calls on teamwork and quick-cycle production “sprints.”
SCRUM, based on a Rugby term, is a product development technique that emphasizes speed in getting products to market. Wikipedia has extensive descriptions and links on SCRUM.
A key feature of SCRUM is the “sprint,” a pre-determined cycle of 15 days to six months during which a development team presses to get a product to market. During the sprint, product specifications remain unchanged. The SCRUM process relies on iteration – the product can be tweaked, improved or re-invented post-launch. The SRUM process features a team that includes a manager, a designated voice of the user, and developers who huddle briefly each day.
The illustration shows how the SCRUM model takes on product from a backlog, breaks it down into pieces for the sprint, which cycles through a 30-day period to create a working iteration of the product.
Source: Wikipedia
A related process that also is popular in software development is Agile.
Related tools: Iteration, RAID
8. Twitter
Twitter, a micro-blogging tool, that allows people to keep up with colleagues and friends via “Tweets” of 140 characters or fewer, is emerging as a tool for news organizations. For example:
- The Wichita Eagle in 2008 reported from the courtroom on a sensational criminal trial via Twitter.
- Newspapers including The Oregonian have used Twitter to report on major events, including local appearances by presidential candidates.
- The first documented report of the California earthquake in the summer of 2008 was on Twitter.
- News organizations are establishing regular news feeds that people can follow on Twitter.
Graphic designer Erica Smith has created a site that is tracking news organizations offering twitter feeds and the numbers of people who are following them.
Links: Ryan Sholin “Five ways to gather and report news with Twitter,” Media Shift Idea Lab.
Leadership 3.0 posts on Twitter:
- 11/28/08: Links: Bad news covered well on social networks
- 11/4/08: Twitter is my election 'newspaper;
- 8/4/08: Link: Using Twitter
- 7/30/08: Link: Tweeting the quake
- 6/11/08: Tracking Twitter
- 5/19/08: Editors blogging: 'Doing is learning'
Related tools: Ning (and other social networks)
9. Web analytics
Text: Behavioral and attitudinal research are complimentary ways to look at Web site usage. Dana Chinn, a faculty member at the USC Annenberg School of Journalism, says:
- Behavioral research explores what people do on the site (how many go there, what they visit, how much time they spend on site). Typically, this information will come directly from site analytics. Popular services for measuring Web behavior include Google Analytics and Omniture.
- Attitudinal research focuses on what people reported they did on the site and why. This information usually comes from user surveys or interviews.
Links: “Measuring Web Success in the Newsroom,” by Dana Chinn, July 2008.
Leadership 3.0 blog posts about Chinn’s presentation at the Leadership Conference, July 2008:
- 8/21/08: Key performance indicators
- 8/19/08: Web Math for Editors
- 7/16/08: The Numbers Game
Related tools: Key performance indicators, SEO, widgets
10. Widgets
Widgets offer news organizations another tool for drawing more traffic to sites. A widget usually is a little icon that other sites can post. The widget contains HTML code that connects to content from the originating site. For example, a widget from a news site that connects to news site content about horse racing, might be attractive to any number of associations, veterinarians, bloggers and commercial outlets that focus on racing. A widget that connects users to a local affinity site for pet lovers might also find a home on the sites of local veterinarians, pet shops and service providers.
Related tools: Key performance indicators, SEO, Web analytics
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