How to Measure Site Acquisition Performance – Experts Share Their Top KPIs

The first step in your content marketing playbook is this:

Get visitors to your site.

So in this post, I’ll discuss how to measure site acquisition using KPIs.

Let’s get right into it.

Understanding Goals, Efforts, and Measurement

To measure website acquisition, you need to use key performance indicators.

Because site acquisition is a goal. And you’re trying different techniques to reach that goal.

So to understand your performance, you’ll need to use KPIs.

How You Acquire Site Visitors

There’s a lot of ways visitors land on your site.

But in this guide, we’ll focus on:

1. Search engines
2. Social media
3. Referring sites

So with these acquisition channels in mind, let’s attach KPIs to measure the overall goal of site acquisition.

Search Engines

We want to understand site acquisition performance through search engines. So we’ll use organic sessions as our KPI.

Organic sessions are how users land on your site from search engines.

Here’s Chris Allen, Founder of FirmTree on this KPI.

Organic sessions show how well search engines and visitors value your message.

You can improve this KPI by optimizing content for a target keyword, answering questions, and providing valuable information.

Chris raises a great point. If your content brings in new organic sessions, your message is resonating.

So your goal is to see organic sessions increase as you produce content and optimize your site.

Chris also shares how to improve this KPI. Here’s a break down his strategy.

• Optimizing for a Target Keyword: Use keyword search traffic trends to find a keyword users are searching for. Then, optimize on-page SEO with it.
• Answer a Question: Search engines exists because people are looking for solutions. So use your content to provide an answer.
• Provide Valuable Information: Don’t disappoint organic visitors. Deliver on your promise. Write meaningful content that answers their query.

Not sure if your content is optimized for search engines? Try the SEO Grader Tool to check up on your content’s SEO performance.

Now let’s shift from the search results page to your follower’s news feed.

Social Media

Social media is now the defacto way to promote your content organically.

And you can measure site acquisition via social media the same way as search engines. Through sessions. So our KPI for this channel is sessions via social media.

Again, your goal is to see sessions via social media increasing. Because higher site sessions translate to more opportunity for business success.

Improving this site acquisition KPI revolves around engagement. Here’s how to increase site acquisition through social media:

• Communicate on the Right Platforms: Interact on networks where your customers hang out. Because you won’t be heard when no one is there to listen.
• Discuss Relevant Topics: You’ll boost sessions via social media by focusing on popular industry topics. And to find this out, you have to listen to your community.

These ideas come down to understanding your audience.

Marketing Expert Dawn Gribble from Virtual Solutions explains:

Businesses must track social sharing KPIs if they want to understand their audience. Because it helps you create an optimized and actionable strategy.

And make sure to measure not only where your customers are – but how they are feeling about your products. 

Our last KPI for site acquisition is referral traffic. Let’s dive in.

Referral Traffic

Referral traffic is when other sites link to your site.

Max Schleicher, SEO Manager at ReviewTrackers shares how to track this KPI.

The simplest, smartest way to measure whether your content is generating links is to track the number of different domains that link to your site.

Marketers should report monthly, quarterly, and yearly growth in referring domains.

Max raises a simple strategy for tracking referrals. And this type of site acquisition is valuable. Because it’s a sustainable way to get site visitors.

Here’s an example:

You’re a CRM company. You write an industry report on how SMBs are using artificial intelligence in CRM.

And because it’s accurate and thorough, a publication like Inc. links to it in one of their articles.

This sends website acquisition through the roof. So you have to keep track of these opportunities using referral traffic data.

Here’s how to improve this site acquisition KPI:

• Create valuable content: You can do this by presenting original data and ideas.
• Promote your content: After you craft, valuable content spread the word through social media or advertising.

Gauging Site Acquisition Using KPIs

From a digital marketing perspective, site acquisition is the first step to the ultimate goal:

Making the sale.

And now you know how to measure site acquisition performance through KPIs.

But let’s not end the list here, have any other site acquisition KPIs Marketers have to focus on? Make sure to leave them in the comments below.