admin - February 16, 2016
The important part of measuring the reach of content marketing strategy is to evaluate its success. However the struggle lies in figuring out how, and what needs to be measured. You won’t find a straight road to success with content marketing and SEO. The best way you can answer the question is by thinking about your precise goals and objectives. For instance, bloggers would focus on sharing metrics, and e-commerce sites will derive profit from assessing conversions.
However the most important aspect for the measurement of content marketing is: Engagement. To determine how your readers feel about your content, engagement metrics are one of the most reliable sources. This will help you to understand the preferences of your audience and target what they are more interested in and develop your content accordingly.
Some of the most frequently used engagement metrics in Google Analytics are:
1. Pages per Session
Pages per session are the average number of pages that are viewed in a visit. The value of your pages per session determines the user’s engagement in your website. This also gives a good indication of the visibility your content currently has and where you need to put more efforts. This metric however can’t estimate the various actions that a user can take on your website.
2. Recent and Frequent
The frequency metric measures your traffic by breaking it into sections depending on the number of times the visitors keep coming back. Whereas, the recent metric tells you the amount of days that have passed between each of those visits. The main objective behind content marketing should be to create content that keeps your readers engaged and bring you loyal readers who would visit you frequently and often.
3. New vs. Returning
This metric shows you how much of your traffic is returning and how much of it is new. To determine the results a cookie is given to a user on their first visit. If the percentage of returning visitors is high then you can determine how successfully your content can bring users back to your website. It also tells you that your content marketing is providing a good experience. The difference between new and returning customers can also be analyzed. For example, your returning customers are more likely to make a purchase compared to the new ones.
4. Bounce Rate
The percentage of single-page sessions that visitors access in your website is described by your bounce rate. This happens when a user visits your website, but leaves before progressing to do something else. This generally happens when you accidentally click on a website and immediately hit the back or close button. If you do so then you contribute to that website’s bounce rate. A wide range of different factors determine bounce rate, including your content, competitive landscape, type of business etc.
Higher bounce rate is a sign that your visitors are not interested in your website. It is important you analyze the reasons for this to reduce the bounce rate. Make your website’s content more appealing so that visitors stick around for a longer duration.
