The time has come to change your content, either there has been a fundamental shift (these happen all of the time on web and related topics) or you are experiencing little or no growth in traffic. As well as reappraising Mission Statement (see here) and content innovation (see here), you have decided on a bold new direction, and completing the Cost Benefits Analysis (see here), it is time for Change.
Change is a difficult area in all business, especially on the web, as a readership may not always react well to a shift in direction. All of the information on change management can be found here and it is worthwhile doing a lot of research on change. There is one tool, however, that I have found to be invaluable when contemplating any form of change, and that is the Do Nothing analysis.
In effect it is a simple mind tool which asks you to list all of the things you want to change, and then to consider the question what would happen if I did nothing? It is designed to weed out things that do not need to be changed (because the old adage remains true, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.)
Begin by defining the direction of change broadly, again to utilize WonderWidgetsAreTheBest.com the problem is as follows
“Traffic has not increased as planned with the hiring of two content writers” Therefore, the webmaster has decided to change the following things
- To Include comparative products to the WonderWidgets, namely the OrdinaryWidgets and SuperWidgets, on the site.
- To Fire one of the writers and to start writing content himself.
In ‘Do Nothing Analysis, both of these options are analyzed thus. If I do not widen my content will my readership increase (to answer this a value judgment needs to be made on why traffic has not increased, is it a content problem, or is it a design problem, or is it a marketing problem) Assuming that the value judgment has been made and it is decided that content, and specifically the lack of other Widget products reviewed, is the reason for the poor traffic, the answer to the ‘do nothing’ is that traffic will not increase, therefore this is a change that needs to be undertaken. The second change is to fire one of the writers, in looking at the problem from a do nothing perspective, the webmaster realizes, because of the metrics on the articles that both writers generate similar traffic, therefore it is likely to say that they are being viewed by the audience, and that their writing is not to blame for the poor growth of traffic. If the webmaster does nothing, he will still be free to market the site, and not have his time taken up writing content, so in this case it is wrong to change.
It is important to remember that Do Nothing Analysis is a subjective decision making tool, it emphasizes the alternatives to change, but care should be take in deciding the ‘value judgments’ that form a part of the analysis.
Related posts
- Strategic Content Development – Cost benefits analysis of content
- Strategic Content Development – Innovative Content a few suggestions
- Strategic Content Development an Introduction
- Strategic Content Development – Developing content Mission Statement.
- Success through Planning – A Guide to Effective Web Business Plans – SWOT Analysis
February 9th, 2008 at 7:02 am
Content should be considered a part of your overall master-plan and not just an isolated necessity or discipline. You don’t structure your articles simply to please a group of transitory visitors. There are many other larger factors involved, and if you’re trying to generate as much revenue as possible from advertising, it makes sense to write frequent and shorter blog posts.