Which Metrics to Track To Improve Your Blog

Unlike one of those blogs that serves as an online diary for your teenage years (we all did it; I know I have at least 3 floating around somewhere!), your business blog is a vital tool. It can not only help engage your audience, and build your voice, but it can also bring you in front of the right people – potential customers.

If you’re running a small business blog, but aren’t sure whether it’s marking its mark effectively, tracking metrics is a must. But if you’re just getting started, how do you know what to track?

There are some key metrics that can paint a good picture of how your blog is faring. Here, I’ll take you through them.

Website traffic – What metrics matter

When it comes to your website traffic, there are certain things you want to be looking at. These are the number of unique visitors you have within your chosen timeframe, the page views, how long people stay on your site, and what your bounce rate is (how quickly people are moving off your page).

If you have a good amount of traffic, but your bounce rate is high, either your site isn’t user friendly, or your content just isn’t engaging enough.

This brings us on to engagement metrics. Here, you want to measure the average time people spend on your blog, per session. Scroll depth can also be illuminating – you might find that while many people read what’s right in front of them, they’re not engaged enough for the rest of a long piece of content, for example. Then, look at whether your content is being shared socially, and the number of comments you’re getting. If numbers are low, it’s time for a rethink on how you’re structuring your content. 

Next up, we have conversion metrics. These include metrics such as sales, lead generation and email subscribers. Basically, the higher the numbers, the better you’re doing. 

How to track your chosen metrics

Now you’ve narrowed down what needs to be tracked, it’s time to get started. Take a look at tools such as Google Analytics, which provides detailed insights on user behaviour and conversion rates. There are also plenty of tools to track social media metrics, such as Hootsuite or SEMrush. Plus, if you use email marketing platforms such as Mailchimp, for example, these will help show where your emails are hitting, and what content is and isn’t working for you. 

All the gear, no idea!

Once you’ve got all those lovely numbers, you might wonder what on earth you’re going to do with them. There are several steps you might want to take, depending on what data you’ve gathered, including:

• Identifying what content is doing well – Once you know the type of content your audience is responding to most, do more of it!

• Sorting out website sticking points – Optimise your loading speed, and get rid of anything that’s not working for you.

• Improving the quality of your content – Make sure you’re not churning out posts that not even you can get excited about. That said, if you are excited about it, make sure your audience will be too.

• Experiment with different content formats – Try mixing your media; add infographics, videos and different calls to action to see which has the most impact with your audience. 

Remember, while metric tracking looks scary, there are plenty of tools to help you. Once you’re aware of what you’re doing well, you’ll be able to make changes to your current and future content. That way, you can better serve your audience, and your business.