What's brewing on YouMoz? (And how you can Help)

[MoosaHemani]

Interesting idea indeed even from the reader’s point of view, if someone is looking for a tip, they know the place to go instead of finding posts from within the Youmoz section.

I might contribute to my story and problem solved as usually write these kind of stuff on my personal blog as well J

Thanks Ronell, I love the overall idea here!

[DonnaDuncan]

Can you clarify a few other questions that come to mind? Do you still only want original content and what is the expected turn-around from submission to decision. Days? Weeks? Months? I

Obviously if folks can share canonicalized content they've already published on their own blog, there'd be a HUGE incentive to submit. I ask about timing to align expectations and to help folks decide if it's worthwhile submitting posts that are time sensitive.

Are there any other changes to the submission / approval process that I have not thought to ask about?

Thanks!

[ronell-smith]

Hi Donna,

Yes, original only. We don't accept posts that have been published elsewhere.

Turnaround has more to do with the quality of the post than anything else. Almost all posts will need some work, even the best pieces. But if a writer can adhere to these guidelines and incorporate the elements outlined here, the turnaround can be very short.

Below I list the main elements we look for in a YouMoz post. (Assuming the post is, first and foremost, TAGFEE

- Accuracy

• Quality writing

• Depth

• Actionable takeaways

• Novel ideas

The first two are must-haves, but if you can deliver in at least one other area, the post has a good chance of making it onto the blog.

Thank you for asking about the YouMoz process, Donna. We strive to make it as easy as possible for authors to contribute.

RS

[Joe.Robison]

For clarification, are these additional blog post categories that are being added? Or are these just ideas for styles of posts? Or are these the only accepted styles moving forward? Or are these just types of posts that you guys want more of? Thanks!

[ronell-smith]

The latter, mostly. Think of it types of posts we're hoping to see. They'll become veritable categories, however, as they are created and shared, highlighting to other members of the audience how they can share their best ideas.

RS

[DirkC]

Hi Ronell,

Nice ideas but when you do a post to promote Youmoz you might also consider speeding up the review process a bit. Not really motivating if you submit a post to get the message "We'll review your article as swiftly as we can, but because of the high volume of posts we receive, it could take several weeks for us to get to yours. ".  This is not really in line with your answer to the question of Donna ("Turnaround has more to do with the quality of the post than anything else") - you can't judge the quality of a post before reading it.

Dirk

[KeriMorgret]

Hi Dirk,

I'm not with Moz anymore, so I can't speak to how things are at this very moment, but there was a good conversation in the comments of the following post earlier this year that talked about some of the tensions in the review process and factors that affected the timeline. https://moz.com/blog/moz-community-managers#comment-318875. I imagine many of them still hold true.

[ronell-smith]

Hi Dirk,

Your comments are apt. However, I respectfully disagree with the assertion that the quality of the post has nothing to do with review time.

For example, we do a daily quick pass through the queue and the spreadsheet where the articles are kept, with an eye for any gems that might jump out at us. These "gems" are articles that hit the nail on the head for what we're looking for in a YouMoz post. Those posts go right to the top of the pile.

The posts that need the most work aren't excluded, however. It simply takes more time to go through them and make suggestions, which must then be shared with the author.

Over the last several months, I've done an informal analysis of the review process, in hopes of getting more posts on the blog.

Here's what I've found:

• Roughly 90% of the posts we send back to authors are either never returned to us, or they are returned without any changes being made. This rings true for posts that need only minor elements that only the author can provide. As you might imagine, these posts eat up quite a bit of time.
• Typically, when posts are returned to us with the needed changes, the turnaround time is 3.5 weeks. Often it's months.
• The No. 1 reason posts don't make the cut is the author attempts to do too much in a single post and lacks the details needed to make the post work.

YouMoz belongs to the audience. However, we're not willing to trade quality for quantity.

RS

[DirkC]

Hi Ronell

Just to clarify - I don't argue that there is a the link between review time & quality of the post. I am quite happy with the quality of most of the  posts on Youmoz so you are certainly doing a good job.

I am not a native English speaker. If I get a message that it can take weeks before an article is reviewed for me this is equal to "it can take weeks before we read your post". Hence my remark - you can't judge the quality of a post before reading it and so your reply to Donna sounded a bit odd to me.

I understand from your answer that you do a quick review of the new posts every day. Probably it would be better to state this in the initial message (we did a quick review and it's a gem/interesting but will need some rework/needs to be completely rewritten/completely rubbish) rather than stating a generic message that it will take weeks to review.

Reading between the lines - by getting the generic message I understand that my post is simply not good enough at this point and is hidden somewhere at the bottom of the pile

Dirk

[ronell-smith]

Dirk,

You are making me chuckle

My apologies if I'm further confusing things. The generic message is created initially/immediately, as we log the post into the system. Everyone gets that message, unless the post is spam or an obvious poor fit.

Every other post is reviewed in-depth, at which point we begin to separate them out based on return to to the author or deny. Whether the post is accepted or denied, however, in nearly all cases, it will need to be returned to the author with questions.

Also, Dirk, don't hesitate to reach out to me - ronell.smith@moz.com - if you'd like to run an idea by me in advance of creating a post. All I ask for is at least a sketch/outline first, not simply a headline, and I can provide feedback.