When we suggest to clients that they should have a blog, some resist. Are blogs still relevant? Aren’t they so 2010? Actually, no. Research shows that brands utilizing a blog on their site generate nearly 70% more leads than their blogless competitors. How do you track a blog’s performance? What are the blog metrics you should measure? We’re glad you asked. Here are some blog KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that really matter.
TRAFFIC:
- Pageviews: While traffic is vital, measuring pageviews can be a waste of time if you aren’t focused on the specific type of traffic you want and how to achieve that. While some think that views naturally translate into leads, if 20,000 people visit your page and none of them become customers and you don’t capture any of their contact information, that number is large but insignificant. Align your content to your target demo’s needs, optimize your sight to capture their info, and then use Google analytics to track this metric.
- Sources: Figuring out where your visitors are coming from can help you spend your time and advertising dollars wisely. A quick check of Google Analytics can tell you whether more traffic is reaching your sight through social media, organic search or paid advertising.
ENGAGEMENT:
- Time on Site and Bounce Rate: How long do visitors stay on your site? Naturally, you want to keep them engaged as long as possible with interesting content, high quality visuals, and quick loading pages—today’s instant gratification visitors tend to bounce when a page loads slowly. Google considers these metrics when ranking your content so it’s a good metric to stay on top of.
- Comments: The blogs that get noticed most are those that show active audience participation with plenty of comments from visitors. This reflects that the content moved people enough to try to connect with the author. Additionally, comments reveal valuable information about potential customers from the customers themselves.
SOCIAL MEDIA
- Shares: Blogs and social media go together like rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong. Or mac and cheese for the non-Grease fans. Or peanut butter and jelly for the vegans. We could go on but you get it: They’re a match made in marketing heaven. So share, share, share that content and keep track of others who share it as well.
- Clicks: Who clicks on the blog post? What headlines draw the most clicks? What content seems to resonate most strongly with visitors? Knowing the answers to these questions helps you to align future content with your audience’s interests.
