Role: Lead writer, content strategist
Collaborators: Design, data, and audience development teams

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Challenge

Curbed is an online publication that relaunched as part of New York Magazine in 2020. The site’s new editorial direction called for more real estate content catering to discerning New Yorkers. My challenge was to develop a roster of new content formats to cultivate loyal readers.

Solution

Since online publishing provides an abundance of immediate data and feedback (such as real-time analytics and reader comments), my approach was driven by fast-paced experimentation and iteration. After initial ideation sessions, I spearheaded a content development cycle that included twice-monthly check-ins to evaluate active content experiments and plan new ones.

Outcomes

• 3 content format experiments were validated, becoming weekly columns: Under a Million, Listings Edit, and A Truly Terrific New York Listing.

• Real estate content generated significant, consistent traffic to the site, ranking in the top 10 stories by traffic every week.

• 1 email newsletter product, Listings Edit, drew open and click rates far above industry average.

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Voice and tone

An important part of the relaunch was sharpening Curbed’s voice to match New York Magazine’s brand voice, which should sound like a fun and in-the-know friend who’s full of pro-tips and timely intel.

The highlighted texts (left), from a roundup of NYC rental listings, show a few examples of how I was able to was able to convey the new Curbed voice after workshopping word choice and identifying specific kind of details to include.

The repetition of “unusually” in the first blurb underscores our expert knowledge that this apartment is truly a unicorn. Parentheses, as seen in the second blurb, were often used to add additional context, which again emphasizes expertise.

In the experimentation process, there were many opportunities to conceptualize and name new content features. I believe feature naming is another expression of the brand voice and tone, so I often looked to other sections of New York Magazine for naming patterns and conventions.

“Rental Rewind” (left) is one of my favorite feature names I came up with after noticing that alliteration was a common device used for naming content features at the magazine.

One of the format experiments was a 300 to 500 word article that would delve into the history and design of outstanding homes around the city. This kind of story is intended to be interesting to all design-minded readers, whether or not they’re New Yorkers or are currently in the market for a property.

To enhance the experience for readers who are NYC real estate obsessives or actual prospective buyers (both target audiences), I suggested building a separate “Details” sidebar that would complement the storytelling with useful, “at-a-glance” info for easy scanning and reference. The info labels are concise and colons were used to allow quick lists thereafter.

1. The only way to arrive at the right voice and tone is to keep writing words down and sharpen from there. 

The team needs to see concrete examples in order to assess and refine style standards. 

2. It’s good practice to regularly revisit the question: Who is the target audience? And subsequently: Is the content doing the most for serving that audience? 

One challenge I experienced while working on Listings Edit (the NYC rental roundup) was deciding whether the target audience was actual apartment hunters or the real estate obsessives who want to gawk at interesting apartments whether or not they’re in the market for a new spot. Choosing one or the other would lead to changes and optimizations in writing style, length, and distribution strategy.

To address this issue, I wrote a memo discussing why the ambiguity around target audience is a problem, why we should make a decision either way, and potential content changes specific to each audience profile. Then I led a meeting with relevant team members to discuss the memo and chart a path forward. This effort led to a clarified vision for this content format: we decided to optimize for the real estate obsessives and made tweaks accordingly thereafter.