Metrics for Creating Successful Content

In this lesson we'll learn about metrics for content's success.

Metrics are important, because we tend to improve the things that we measure. If we measure the wrong things, we tend to improve and work on the wrong things. This is so common in online marketing that it's really worth paying attention to so that you know you're putting your efforts into the right things.

We can think of content metrics as sort of a funnel, sort of a conversion funnel because they all lead to an ultimate goal.

Consumption Metrics

The first metrics are consumption metrics. These are simply how many people are consuming your online content, such as page views and visits. Unfortunately, people tend to focus a lot of their attention here.

In the startup world these are sort of known as vanity metrics because they really don't mean anything. Sure you have a million page views, but did it lead to dollars? Did you get any sales on that? Was it just empty visits?

Engagement Metrics

You really want to start focusing on your engagement metrics. These metrics measure how people are actually interacting with your content. Beyond just looking at, are they consuming it? Are they looking at pages on your site? Are they looking at more than just one page?

Some of these important engagement metrics include bounce rate, PPV, time on site, and time on page. You really want to take a look at how people are diving into your content and make sure they're not just looking at a page, that they're actually consuming it.

There's a big misconception about bounce rate; that a high bounce rate is bad. That means that people are looking at one page on your site and leaving, which isn't as important as people getting the answers they're looking for before they leave. Say someone is searching Google, then comes to your site. Here they get the answer and then they leave, which isn't not necessarily a bad thing. What you want to do is make sure they're not searching on Google, looking at one page of your site, not finding what they're looking for, and then doing another search on Google, because that sends signals to Google that your site isn't the best to rank for a term.

Sharing Metrics

Now that people engage with your content, they should want to share it. Here you're looking at things like social shares. Is it shared on Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter? Are you earning links from it? You can look at data with tools like Link Explorer, to see if people are linking to your content. If you want to find out where people are talking about your in the news or on blogs you can use tools like Fresh Web Explorer.

Both engagement and sharing metrics improve your SEO. The better you get here, the more you're going to probably rank higher.

Conversion Metrics

The most important part of the funnel gets us into conversion metrics. This is where your dollar signs are and you want to make sure these are clearly defined before you start any project. Ask yourself things like: Am I selling software? Am I getting ad clicks? Am I getting a certain amount of leads?

If you start here, the rest of these fall in place. Start at the base of your pyramid and work your way up to the content metrics so that you know you're focusing on the right thing.