Content Marketers want to know how their blog’s are performing. But it can be hard to tell which metrics are important for determining success. At Pagezii, we focus on six metrics that highlight blog performance from a variety of data perspectives.
The blog metrics we focus on are:
- Total Views: The total number of views your blog posts have received.
- Readership: The number of unique visitors to your site’s blog.
- Bounce Rate:The ratio of readers who leave your site’s blog without taking any action.
- Device Views: A breakdown of visitor traffic by device type (Desktop / Mobile / Tablet).
- Time Spent: The average time users spend reading posts across your blog.
- Read Posts: The average number of posts read by a visitor.
Let’s take a closer look at these blog metrics and how you can optimize each.
Total Views
Total views is a catch-all metric for blog traffic. This means new readers coming in, as well as returning visitors that are back for more content are counted.
How to Optimize Total Views
There are plenty of ways to increase total views. You can share posts on social networks, optimize blogs for search engines and post content to online communities. Increasing visitor traffic is all about spreading your content any way possible.
Readership
Readership refers to the number of unique readers coming to your blog. Unique readers are visitors that are coming to your blog for the first time. This data helps you understand how big your blog’s audience is.
How to Optimize Readership
If your strategy is to increase readership, then focus on ways to bring new visitors in.
One way you can do this is by bringing your blog SEO score up. Writing SEO friendly content helps new visitors find your content in search engines. The better optimized your posts are, the higher they’ll rank in a search engine. This increases the odds of new visitors coming to your blog.
Bounce Rate
Your blog’s bounce rate is the ratio of visitors that come to your blog and exit without taking an action. Judging a blog’s performance on bounce rate depends on the style of content.
Here’s an example:
You have a post on “How to Connect Google Analytics to Search Console”. This type of blog is most likely written in a step-by-step style:
- Sign into Google Analytics
- Select the Admin Tab
- Etc.
A post like this may attract a lot of visitors to your blog. But once visitors have the solution, they exit without engaging more with your site. The style of blog can expect high bounce rates based on the style of content.
High bounce rates are a problem when users should engage with your site but exit instead.
How to Optimize Bounce Rates
Expected engagement could be a call-to-action, a newsletter sign-up or visiting a product page. Here, the key is to write content that necessitates an action. Write compelling content and align your post with the action that your reader should take.
Device Views
This breakdown shows you which device your audience tends to use when visiting your blog. Device views are important for understanding how to style your content.
How to Optimize Device Views
Let’s break this down by device:
- Desktop Traffic: Users are most likely digesting a variety of content. If you see high levels of desktop traffic coming in, don’t be afraid to write robust posts with more complex subject matter.
- Mobile Traffic: Users are on-the-go and may not stay on your blog for too long. If you see strong mobile traffic, try crafting shorter posts with more simplistic messaging. This makes it easier for readers to digest your content quick.
- Tablet Traffic: The happy medium. Tablet users are casually engaging with content. Try crafting posts that keep the reading level light but also intrigues the user.
Time Spent
Time spent is the amount of time the average reader spends on your post’s.
How to Optimize Time Spent
You want your time spent data relative to the size of your blog. This means that content is well crafted for the intended reader.
Lower than average times may need a more compelling style of writing, or a shift in topic focus to appeal more to the target audience. Higher than average times could mean that the content complexity is is too high, making it hard for the reader to digest your blog.
Posts Read
This indicates how many posts the average visitor reads before leaving your blog. More posts read per-visit means that users are engaging with your content, which is a positive for any blog.
How to Optimize Posts Read
To get visitors reading more posts per-visit, try placing a “related posts” section at the end of each blog. Users that came to your site and read your blog have found your content useful. Provide them with more content on similar topics to keep them engaged with your site.
Understand Blog Performance
These blog metrics give us a 360 degree view of how your blogs are performing. Use them to determine where your strategy is working and where it needs improvement. Once you’ve pin-pointed the strength’s and weaknesses of your strategy, check these metrics on a weekly bases. They will help you figure out if your tweaks are having a positive impact.
