If you’re blogging for business, rather than blogging about your cat, baby, fashion addiction, or crush on Taylor Swift, you need to set some success metrics.
Without a statistical measure of your blogging progress, adding content to your blog on a regular basis can be an incredibly lonely proposition. Is anyone out there? Does anyone care?
However, even within the business (non cat) blogging arena, there are a wide variety of potential measures to gauge your momentum. It’s imperative that you select the most relevant ones that match with your blog’s purpose and intent.
What’s the Point?
The first step in that process of course is knowing why it is that you’re blogging. This sounds simple, but it’s shocking how many bloggers aren’t clear on the core business rationale behind their blog initiative.
As I see it, there are 3 options here:
1. Blogging for Content
This is the scenario where you are writing a blog with considerable emphasis on search optimization, attempting to drive traffic to the blog via strategic content creation and keyword inclusion.
2. Blogging for Commerce
Related to the first, but commerce-oriented blogs are more interested in conversion events than in traffic generation. Funneling traffic from the blog to some other Web destination (typically a corporate site or lead form) is the prime objective.
3. Blogging for Community
These blogs seek to guild a consistent readership that interact with the blogger(s) and advocate on behalf of the content on other social outposts.
If you are blogging for content, I see these as your key metrics:
- Total visits
- Percentage of new visits (a recent study by my clients at Compendium Blogware to be released soon shows that among 86% of corporate blogs, first-time visitors comprise 60%+ of their total traffic
- Visits from search engines
If you are blogging for commerce, I’d opt for these success measures:
- Average length of stay
- Number of pages viewed per visit (both of these metrics measure depth of engagement, a key consideration when you’re trying to educate a potential customer and get them to take action)
- Referrers from other sites (if there are other sites that are driving significant traffic to your blog, you need to know what they are, to try to replicate that success with other sites of similar type)
If you are blogging for community, I’d pay closest attention to these statistics:
- Repeat visits
- RSS subscribers (repeat visits and subscribers both measure stickiness and consistency, blog elements that build community over time)
- Comments
- Referrers from social outposts like Twitter or Digg
Note that the recommended success metrics are entirely different for each type of blog. Yet, in much of my social media consulting work corporate blog owners are invariably most interested in total visits and RSS subscribers.
This is especially misplaced with group written blogs, where the broad content focus and inconsistent tonality makes RSS subscription less likely. Imagine subscribing to a magazine that was about tennis one month, and about cooking the next month. That’s what a lot of multi-author corporate blogs feel like, so is it any wonder that there aren’t many subscribers?
Blogging success is a slow march, not a mad dash. If you create consistently good content, and promote it vigorously, your blog should eventually succeed. But, to ensure you aren’t disheartened in the meantime, select success metrics that are appropriate for your goals.
For more on advanced blogging, please see my post and slide presentation: 11 Must-Dos for the Serious Blogger.
(photo by Teriyaki Tofu)
I would add that for commerce-oriented blogs, it would also be possible to track clicks back to a commerce-related part of a website for product information, registration, etc. In the well-documented Marriott case study, they tracked $500 mm in bookings from links on the corporate blog.
Also, I think another viable category for blogging for reputation, or to establish a voice of authority. I believe this idea is mutually-exclusive from what you're offered here? What do you think? Metrics would include the number of times a post is mentioned in other blogs or media, references, RT's, etc.
Very helpful post, Jay.
I would add that for commerce-oriented blogs, it would also be possible to track clicks back to a commerce-related part of a website for product information, registration, etc. In the well-documented Marriott case study, they tracked $500 mm in bookings from links on the corporate blog.
Also, I think another viable category for blogging for reputation, or to establish a voice of authority. I believe this idea is mutually-exclusive from what you're offered here? What do you think? Metrics would include the number of times a post is mentioned in other blogs or media, references, RT's, etc.
Very helpful post, Jay.
RT @jaybaer: How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy: If you’re blogging for busin… http://bit.ly/bf25dm #marketing
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy: If you’re blogging for business, rather than bloggi… http://bit.ly/957iJp
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy: If you’re blogging for business, rather than bloggi… http://bit.ly/957iJp
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy: If you’re blogging for business, rather than bloggi… http://bit.ly/blgFuJ
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy: If you’re blogging for business, rather than bloggi… http://bit.ly/blgFuJ
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy: If you’re blogging for business, rather than bloggi… http://bit.ly/blgFuJ
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy: If you’re blogging for business, rather than bloggi… http://bit.ly/blgFuJ
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy http://bit.ly/blgFuJ
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy http://bit.ly/blgFuJ
New @jaybaer How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy http://bit.ly/blgFuJ
New @jaybaer How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy http://bit.ly/blgFuJ
RT @jaybaer How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy http://bit.ly/bCb7em #SMM
C&C Blog Post – How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy http://bit.ly/9YWmQt RT Please
C&C Blog Post – How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy http://bit.ly/9YWmQt RT Please
RT @jaybaer How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy http://bit.ly/bCb7em #SMM
Jay Baer Blog: How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy http://bit.ly/cEx797 Full http://bit.ly/9fXJpo
Jay Baer Blog: How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy http://bit.ly/cEx797 Full http://bit.ly/9fXJpo
Business blogger? What kind of metrics are you watchings? Some good points based on what you want to get out of it — http://bit.ly/cdosxL
Business blogger? What kind of metrics are you watchings? Some good points based on what you want to get out of it — http://bit.ly/cdosxL
Business blogger? What kind of metrics are you watchings? Some good points based on what you want to get out of it — http://bit.ly/cdosxL
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy http://bit.ly/9ozjvB #news #socialmedia
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy http://bit.ly/9ozjvB #news #socialmedia
Matching Measurement Metrics to Objectives – #COMM215 – How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy – http://bit.ly/bgDbcH
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy http://bit.ly/cSK822 #news #socialmedia
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy http://bit.ly/cSK822 #news #socialmedia
Great read from @jaybaer 10 key metrics for blogging strategy http://bit.ly/d7iCsH
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy http://bit.ly/bgDbcH
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy …: Related to the first, but commerce-oriented blo… http://bit.ly/bbqSIU
http://twitpic.com/16k894 – Think this dude is in love with LESLIE? @jaybaer article: http://bit.ly/dtFhUn
This is great, Jay. It's important to educate businesses about the different permutations of business blogging, and measurement is going to part of that.
@Mark, you're spot on! Blogging for authority is important for businesses like consultants
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy (via Convince&Convert) http://ow.ly/1edMl
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy (via Convince&Convert) http://ow.ly/1edMl
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy (via Convince&Convert) http://ow.ly/1edMl
RT @jaybaer: How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy http://bit.ly/99IqCr
Hey Jay, this is awesome.
One question for you though — are these categories mutually exclusive? We see blogging both as community building and as a function of being a web based business.
Thanks!
You know that tattoo says Leslie from the person's perspective right? Cool ink!
You know that tattoo says Leslie from the person's perspective right? Cool ink!
Cómo medir el éxito de tu blog según el tema del que escribas: http://bit.ly/aIdusE
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy – http://bit.ly/bON3fO (@jaybaer)
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy – http://bit.ly/bON3fO (@jaybaer)
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy – http://bit.ly/bON3fO (@jaybaer)
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy by @jaybaer http://bit.ly/axB8RW
Jay
It is a march and not a mad dash. We hear how twitter and the other SM tools will help to get you on top, blah, blah but that only happens so few times. Blogging is a commitment to yourself and anyone reading. Corporate blogs tend to want or need to show results faster to justify the time, as time is expensive. That is still old school measurements we know but getting that mindset to be changed is never easy.
This does put blogging into perspective and how all blogs are not equal in direction and measurement.
@SuzanneVara
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy by @jaybaer http://ow.ly/1e9PD
The 10 Key Success Metrics for Blogs – (are you picking the right ones?) http://bit.ly/axB8RW RT @jaybaer
How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy http://ow.ly/1edMl (via @JayBaer)
RT @johnfoleyjr "How to Match 10 Key Success Metrics to Your Blogging Strategy" http://ilnk.me/1d26 @jaybaer
RT @jaybaer The 10 Key Success Metrics for Blogs http://bit.ly/axB8RW <<Establish goals which then dictate metrics. Very thoughtful