content

8 Ways To Measure Your Content Performance 

by Josh Biggs in Digital Marketing on 27th September 2022

Creating great content is only half the battle. To be successful, you also need to make sure that your content is resonating with your audience and achieving the objectives you set out for it. Fortunately, there are several ways to measure the performance of your content so that you can continue to improve your strategy. Here are eight of the most important metrics to track.

Digital PR

Many brands today are using Digital PR to help promote their content. By pitching stories to online publications and bloggers, you can increase the exposure and engagement for your brand’s content. To measure the performance of your digital PR efforts, you can track a few key metrics.

One of the most important metrics is the number of links your content receives. You can see your pitches’ success by tracking how many links your content generates. Another important metric is the number of social media shares your content receives. By tracking how often your content is shared on social media, you can gauge its overall success.

Additionally, you can track the amount of traffic your content generates. By monitoring the number of visitors who come to your website from external sources, you can see how successful your digital PR efforts are.

Engagement Rates 

One of the most important things to measure is your audience’s engagement with your content. There are many ways to do this, but some of the most common include measuring: 

  • The number of social media interactions (likes, shares, comments, etc.) 
  • The amount of time spent on a page 
  • The number of pages visited per session 
  • Bounce rate 

These metrics will give you a good idea of how interested people are in what you have to say and whether or not they’re sticking around to read more. If you’re seeing high engagement rates, that’s a good sign that people are finding your content valuable.

Conversely, low engagement rates could indicate that your content isn’t relevant to your audience or isn’t well-written. Either way, keeping an eye on these numbers to adjust your strategy accordingly is essential.

Conversion Rates 

If your goal is to get people to take a specific action (subscribe to your blog, download a PDF, etc.), then you need to track conversion rates. This metric will tell you how many people complete the desired action compared to how many people view your content.

A high conversion rate indicates that people respond well to your call-to-action and find value in your offering. A low conversion rate could mean that your CTA isn’t practical or that it’s placed in a location where people aren’t seeing it. Again, tracking this metric will help you determine whether or not people are doing what you want them to do after reading your content.  

Traffic Sources 

Knowing where your traffic comes from is essential to understanding which channels drive the most readership. Are people coming to your blog organically through Google searches? Are they finding your articles through social media? Or are they coming from another website?

You can usually find this information in Google Analytics under “Acquisition.” By understanding which channels drive the most traffic, you can focus more of your energy on those areas to further increase your readership.  

Shares 

Social media shares are another good indicator of how engaged people are with your content. Not only do they tell you how many times someone has shared one of your articles on their profile, but they also have the potential to expose your brand to entirely new audiences who may not have otherwise found you.

For this reason, it’s always worth looking at how often each piece of content is being shared and looking for patterns among the most popular articles. This will give you a good idea of what type of content tends to perform well so that you can replicate that success in the future. 

Comments 

Another metric related to engagement is comments. If people are taking the time to comment on one of your blog posts, it means that they’re invested in what you’re saying and want to join in on the conversation. This metric can also give you valuable insights into what topics resonate most with your audience and any pain points they may have so that you can address them in future pieces of content.  

Of course, getting people to leave comments on your content is not always possible or practical. But if you can, it’s definitely worth paying attention to. 

Backlinks 

In addition to social shares, backlinks are another way to measure your content’s popularity. A backlink is simply a link from another website that points to your own. And the more backlinks you have, the higher your content will rank in search engine results pages.

So, if you’re noticing that other websites are linking to your articles, it’s a good sign that they consider your content high-quality and worth reading. This is an important metric to track because it can directly impact your website’s traffic. 

Bounce Rate 

The final metric we’ll discuss is bounce rate, which is the percentage of people who leave your website after only viewing one page. A high bounce rate isn’t necessarily bad, as it could mean that people found the information they were looking for and didn’t need to explore further.

But if you’re noticing a high bounce rate pattern, it could indicate that your content isn’t relevant to your target audience or that it’s not well-written. Again, this is something to pay attention to as you continue to create and publish new content.

Conclusion

Content performance is important to track because it can give you valuable insights into what’s working and what isn’t. By paying attention to metrics like pageviews, conversion rate, shares, and backlinks, you can better understand which pieces of content are resonating with your audience and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Categories: Digital Marketing