Which Metrics Matter for a Personal Blog?

Google Analytics is a powerful tool for almost every type of website.  Whether you run an ecommerce site, a non-profit site or a blog, GA will provide you with valuable insights.  In this post, I am going to discuss which analytics are particularly helpful to bloggers, like myself.

Recently I installed GA on this blog to start tracking traffic and visitor behavior.  When you first open up the program, you see your dashboard with some key insights:

• New Visits
• Unique Visitors
• Visits by Location
• Visits by Browser
• Bounce Rate
• Avg. Visit Duration
• Revenue
• Goal Completion

Clearly, I have not yet customized my dashboard.  Doing so will make my dashboard more meaningful to me.  It’s important to remember that the default dashboard is just a snapshot of information.  The more you poke around the program, the more insights you will find.  After looking at the data, there are a few  specific pieces that were most important to me.

Because this is more of a personal blog, and not a business blog, it was challenging at first to determine what defined success.  Therefore, I had to start thinking about goals.  The main purpose of the blog is to share ideas with people by generating interesting and engaging content.  Therefore, the following questions are crucial to understanding my progress and success thus far.  

1. How many people are coming to my site?

Prominently displayed on the dashboard are the number of visitors.  This will give me an idea of how many people have been coming to my site over the course of different days.  Tracking the number of visitors on certain days can tell me which topics are more popular than others.  Of course, at the beginning of a blog’s life, we want to see some drastic increase in readership over the course of the first few months.  We can also track unique visitors which is another crucial metric.  From this number we can determine how many visits we are getting from people who have already visited the blog once.  These are the people who may grow into loyal readers.

2. How are they getting there?

To answer this question, we will look at acquisition.  For me, this is a really fascinating metric.  We are able to see exactly what brought visitors to our blog.  Were they searching for “Freelance Marketing”? Were they referred from another site?  Google Analytics will be able to answer these questions with specific answers for us.   Currently, the majority of my traffic is “direct traffic”.  This means that people are typing my URL in directly.  This would be unusual for many blogs, but my traffic is mainly coming from other student in my Integrated Marketing Communications course where I have posted my URL.  

3. How long are they staying?

It’s important for personal bloggers like us to remember that bounce rate may not be as negative a metric as it is for ecommerce sites. While ideally we would like readers to come to the site and read post after post, this often is not the case.  Think about your most recent interactions with an informational blog.  You may have found the post through a Google search and then read the post to find answers to your question.  If you were satisfied with the answers you found, then there’s a good chance that you exited the page afterwards.  Google acknowledges this as a reason why bounce rates can be high: “Visitors might also leave the site after viewing a single page if they've found the information they need on that one page, and had no need or interest in visiting other pages” (Google, 2013). The second half of that statement is a bit more worrisome.  No interest in reading any more posts? Maybe that’s something we can change.  We can change the layout of the blog to make links to other posts more accessible.  In addition we can make sure that we are tagging each post so that similar posts will be displayed.  For instance, if someone found a post about Bounce Rates helpful, they may also want to read a post about Site Engagement.  Doing these things will increase the amount of time viewers are spending on your blog!  

4. Which pages/posts are they landing on?

This can be found in Google Analytics under landing pages.  Where visitors are landing also tells us which posts are most popular.  These posts are either getting the most referrals or have popular keywords being used in search engines.  What’s the takeaway?  First, make sure that this page is aesthetically pleasing and that there are clear links to other posts.  Secondly, see what you can learn about this page that makes it so popular.  Try to model other posts after that format and see if they get a similar response!

5. What pages/posts are they leaving from?

This can be found by analyzing exit pages.  The pages that people are leaving from most could imply one of two things.  One, they found the information they were looking for and left without browsing any more.  Or two, they did not find the post helpful and left unhappily. Exit rate is different from a bounce rate because they may exit from the third page they viewed instead of exiting immediately after viewing the first page.   The discerning factor in this is the page duration.  IF the viewer only looked at the page for less than ten seconds, there’s a good chance that the page did not contain the information that the viewer was searching for.  On the other hand, if the viewer stayed for a few minutes, they may have found helpful information and left satisfied.  

For personal blogs, Kaushik recommends analyzing Raw Author Contribution, Audience Growth, Conversion Rate and Cost.  The first and last metrics that Kaushik puts on his list for personal blogs are not something that can be measured by GA.  For those metrics, he recommends using the General Stats plugin for WordPRess or similar program.  We can cover those two in another post.  

However, audience growth and conversion rate are metrics I can analyze using GA.  Audience growth is important for obvious reasons, especially at the beginning of your blog’s life!  This can be seen in the dashboard under the visits graph.  In terms of conversion rates, does your blog have a selling point?  Are you trying to sell an e-book or get people to sign up for your monthly newsletter?  If so, add this as a goal on Google Analytics.  Once you’ve done so, you can easily track your conversion rate for getting visitors to complete your intended action!

References:

Google Analytics.(2013). Retreived from: http://www.google.com/analytics/

Kaushik, A. (2007). Blog metrics: six recommendations for measuring your success. Occam’s Razor.  Retreived from: http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/blog-metrics-six-recommendations-for-measuring-your-success/

Google Adwords vs. Facebook Ads

Google Adwords has been at the core of digital advertising for years now.  Look at any digital advertising or marketing position and you will see the qualification clearly listed: experience using Google Adwords.  You can take classes to become an expert and even become certified. 

Why has there been so much focus on one specific form of digital marketing?  The first reason is that Google has an incredible amount of traffic.  Where do you head first when you need something?  For most of us, it’s Google.  Elisa Gabbert notes 10 Reasons to Use Adwords which include two very appealing reasons: it’s flexible and easier than SEO (Gabbert, 2012).  Google allows you to target your audience and customize your campaign through an array of options.   Geographics, demographics and browsing behavior are just the start.  Google allows you to be very flexible and experiment through different campaigns.  As for SEO, don’t get me wrong, it is extremely important in order to organic traffic.  But with paid search traffic getting more conversions than organic traffic, it is well-worth your time and money to be investing in Adwords as well. 

However, it can be easy to get turned-off or confused by the ever-changing landscape of Google Adwords.  Just recently, the search giant released a statement saying that they will be updating the Adwords Ad Rank algorithm.  You might be thinking: I didn’t really understand the algorithm before, so do I need to try to spend the time learning the new one?  Here’s what you need to know: the cost and placement of your ad is based on expected impact from ad extensions and formats (Kim, 2013).  This means, that if you aren’t using ad extensions, it’s time to start!

Larry Kim says that in lieu of this new algorithm, we should expect a few things to be happening:

●     Expect the mobile transition to pick up the pace.

●     Rising average CPCs.

●     AdWords becomes more competitive.

●     SMBs will fall down or have to outsource help.

●     Goodbye, more organic SERPs space.

So, in addition to Adwords, what are our other options?  Many businesses, both big and small, have been utilizing Facebook as an advertising platform.  Facebook, like Google, is a good place to advertise because of the sheer amount of people who are on the site every day.  You also have the ability to target people by geographic location, age and other simple demographics.  However, the type of hyper-targeting offered by Google is not supported by Facebook yet.  In order to compete, Facebook has recently unveiled a new system of advertising which I briefly outlined in a previous post.  This system will allow marketers to use new “objective-based” buying to purchase ads by determining an ideal click-through rate, amount of likes or app installations.  With this new program, Facebook is hoping to draw in more marketers by providing more options while simplifying the process.

So which platform is for you?  Let’s take a look at this infographic for a few takeaways:

 

●       First we see that the country you are in matters.  The Philippines for instance, has a much higher use of Facebook ads than Google ads. 

●       Next we notice that online revenue for Google Adwords is about ten times as much as Facebook Ads.

●       Market share also demonstrates that Facebook only accounts for 3.10% of global online ads while Google accounts for 44.10%.  However, in the US, Facebook accounts for 16.76% of online display ads which is more than Google’s 16.50%

●       Skipping down to Global Online Advertising Reach, we see that Google has twice as much reach, and about the same amount of unique US visitors

●       Google’s average CPC for the US was significantly higher than Facebook’s

●       However, Google’s CTR is light-years beyond Facebook’s

Each platform has its own forte.  Perhaps the answer is not simply which one is better for your business.  Try experimenting with both, and you may find that certain products or pages are more successful on either Google or Facebook.

References:

Gabbert, E. (2012). Why use adwords? Here are 10 reasons. WordStream.  Retrieved from: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/12/03/why-use-adwords

Kim, L. (2013). Google says: use adwords or else. Search Engine Watch. Retrieved from: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2302679/Google-Says-Use-AdWords-Ad-Extensions-Or-Else

Social Media: Content vs. Conversation

We have really seen this debate come to the forefront lately when discussing social media. 

This, like many debates, isn't one that we are looking to answer with a clear winner.  We know that both need to exist, but in what capacity?  What is our focus?  Where and how should we be spending our budget?

Kaplan and Haenlein of Indiana University discuss the challenges and opportunities that social media present.  One particularly helpful part of their article notes five points about being social (2010):

1.      Be Active

2.      Be Interesting

3.      Be Humble

4.      Be Unprofessional

5.      Be Honest

Points 1,2 & 5 seem straight-forward and fairly obvious to most of us.  Sure, we should be posting interesting things on a frequent basis (CONTENT!).  However, point 3 may be a bit more challenging.  No, we should not just brag about or constantly endorse our products or services.  We can let others do that for us (CONVERSATION!). Lastly, let’s address point 4.  I imagine that this will be controversial.  While you should always use correct grammar and be careful not to be offensive, there’s no reason to be overly uptight.  In fact, a more relaxed tone not only is more relatable, but will also be more likely to spark an interesting/viral conversation. 

Not everyone thinks that conversation is important.  Justin Wise, a social media blogger, agrees with Avinash Kaushik’s statement that “engagement isn't a metric, it’s an excuse” (Wise, 2011).  Justin writes that “the more time and effort I invest into social media, the more I’m convinced these platforms exist to enable people to share content they care about, not conversation. In other words, what matters most to people on social networks is sharing a content-centered, communal experience with their online community.  To put it bluntly, people don’t care about your organization. They care about the experience your social networks allow them to have with their friends, family and co-workers” (Wise, 2011).  There is certainly truth to his words.  But, does anyone want to be part of a community that isn't engaging?  Doesn't a community imply a certain amount of interaction and conversation?  Think about image-sharing sites like Imgur.  The whole point of the platform is to share the web’s most popular images (content).  However, the first thing I find myself doing is reading the comments (conversation).  Without these comments and interactions, the Imgur community would not be nearly as active or popular. 

Without content, there is no reason to visit or follow a business on a social media platform.  On the other hand, if reading the page feels strangely like browsing your RSS feed, there may be a problem.  Conversation is what makes business more likeable, more unique, and more popular. 

The goal of your social media page is also a predictor of which might matter more to you.  Is your business trying to inform and/or educate people on a specific topic?  For instance, The Red Cross would likely be more interested in explaining how people can help certain causes.  Of course, a viral conversation would likely send more money to help tsunami survivors in the Philippines.  However, without them initially posting valuable content, the entire message would be lost. 

References:

Kaplan, A. & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horizons, 53, 59-68.

Wise, J. (2011). Social media are about sharing content, not conversation. Think Digital. Retrieved from: http://justinwise.net/sharing-content

Beware of Link Networks

We want traffic...and we want it now!  Beware of taking the “easy route” and simply joining a link network.  Google has recently been shutting down multiple link networks that ask website owners to pay a fee to receive large numbers of links.  These types of networks are not in compliance to Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and are considered a quick marketing solution.   Using these types of link networks may be too good to be true.  

Of late, Google has been searching out these link networks and forcing them to close.  What happens to the customers?  People who have invested in them are losing their links and money.  What seemed like a great idea to e-commerce owners initially may leave them empty handed.  If it is all so risky, why are people using them in the first place? Many people pay to become part of these networks because they are promised hundreds of links to their site in as soon as the next day.  Owners of these programs use their large networks to drive traffic to subscribers’ sites.  However, we have seen how generating traffic this way is frowned upon.  

But we still want traffic and referrers, what should we do?  Don’t worry! There are many different ways that allow you to drive traffic to your own site without subscribing to one of the aforementioned networks.  Outside of placing ads, one of the most fruitful avenues is analyzing the sites that are currently referring to your site.  Using the information you have from your page referrers and building your own legitimate network and relationships for your website is a much more accepted route to generating traffic (Joyce, 2013).

We understand how important the page referrer is to our website but do we really take full advantage of these referrers?  We should value these referrers and build strong, valuable relationships through honest networking.  So what should we be looking at exactly?  

There are three essential factors to look at when evaluating referrers (Davies, 2013):

1. What sites are directing traffic to you?

These referrers might be review sites, blogs or even another retailer.  

2. What are they linking to?

Are they linking to a specific product?   What are they saying about your product(s) that are encouraging people to go to your site?  Try contacting them about your business and start building a relationship.  

3. Who are they influential with?

Does this referrer have a good following?  Do they have a popular blog that gets hundreds of hits per post?  If so, reach out to the referrer and their connections!

And now for the last important question: how can I find out how many people are linking to my site?  If you run a small business, or are the sole contributor to your site, you will probably want to find the answer to this question without breaking the bank.  In that case, there are a number of free tools online that allow us to check exactly how many links are pointing to your website.  Tools like LinkDiagnosis.com and Majestic SEO are helpful in discovering how many backlinks your site has (Parmley, 2013).  However, it’s always important to remember that these types of free tools are often not 100% accurate. 

  

Happy Connecting!

References:

Davies, D. (2013). The value of referrer data in link building. Search Engine Watch.  Retrieved from: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2302666/The-Value-of-Referrer-Data-in-Link-Building

Joyce, J. (2013). Link networks: don’t build your SEO strategy on a house of cards. Search Engine Watch.  Retrieved from: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2261642/Link-Networks-Dont-Build-Your-SEO-Strategy-on-a-House-of-Cards

Parmley, L. (2013). How to check how many backlinks your site has. Business Bolts.  Retrieved from: http://www.businessbolts.com/check-how-many-backlinks.html

Facebook Ads & Click-Through Rates

Click-through rates are crucial to advertisers, especially through ads and email newsletters.  When measuring the effectiveness of a campaign, we often turn first to a few different metrics, one of the biggest being click-through rate.  When analyzing this metric, we are really trying to understand how many people were interested enough in the ad to click on a prompting link that takes them to our intended destination.  The destination may be our website homepage, specific product page or a promotional landing page.  

Click-through rates are important regardless of the type of website you have.  You may have an ecommerce site, a review site, an informational blog or even just a site promoting your brick and mortar store.  Whether you are trying to get consumers to buy a product, read your blog or subscribe to your newsletter, when we place an ad, our aim is to get consumers to click on it.  

One place that advertisers have been flocking to purchase ad space is Facebook.  With options to choose your target market by demographics, among other targeting options, advertising on Facebook has been appealing to businesses of almost every industry.  Conventionally, click-through rates  on Facebook are smaller than what you might imagine.  The average rate can be anywhere from as low as .05%.    Of course, there are differences in the click-through rate for sidebar ads versus newsfeed ads.  The more prominent newsfeed ads perform at an average rate of “1.19% in September, compared to a .04% average rate for right sidebar ads during the same period” (Stambor, 2013).  The biggest difference between the newsfeed ads and sidebar ads are the size and prominence on the web page.  

In order to increase this statistic, Facebook has announced that it will be changing the design of the ads.  This new look will be created in order to encourage higher click-through rates.  “Photos are 50 to 100 times larger in the new design. The font on link previews is also larger. Overall, individual ads, posts, and stories can take up to twice as much screen space than they did in the old design, which means there are fewer things competing for their attention as users scroll through the feed” (AmPush, 2013).  This is good for advertisers on a couple of levels.  The first is that we have higher visibility.  The second is that the bigger the picture and/or link text, the better the chance that the Facebook user will click through to our intended destination.  

Facebook has realized that advertisers are not only concerned about the visibility of their ad, but the measurable action taken by those who have seen it.   To remedy this,  Facebook is also simplifying the way that advertisers can purchase and place ads.  The new “objective-based” buying will allow us to buy ads by determining an ideal click-through rate.  “Advertisers will now choose from a number of possible objectives for their ad campaigns — such as driving clicks to their website, getting more Likes for their Facebook Pages, or driving app installs — then Facebook will recommend the ads that will help meet that objective” (Ha, 2013).  This new simplification will change the landscape of Facebook advertising for all online marketers.  Be sure to check on your Facebook campaigns frequently to take advantage of the new objective-based buying as soon as it is implemented!

Happy connecting!

References:

AmPush. (2013). Why Facebook’s redesigned news feed will push click through rates to new heights.  Retrieved from: http://www.ampush.com/why-facebooks-redesigned-news-feed-will-push-click-through-rates-to-new-heights/

Ha, A. (2013). Facebook continues to simplify ad buying with new ‘objective-based’ interface. Tech Crunch.  Retrieved from: http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/08/facebook-objective-based-ad-buying/

Stambor, Z. (2013). Facebook ads’ click-through rates soar in Q3. Internet Retailer.  Retrieved from: http://www.internetretailer.com/2013/10/17/facebook-ads-click-through-rates-soar-q3