"Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can’t measure something, you can’t understand it. If you can’t understand it, you can’t control it. If you can’t control it, you can’t improve it." – James Harrington
Sadly, and much to my obvious disgust, numbers trump letters when it comes to the overall language of the world. Boo!
But it’s true – business is about figures, so your content must prove its worth.
You must know if a campaign is working for you. If not, it’s a waste of your time and, sometimes, your money.
You can’t just build a website, blog or social profile and walk away. It doesn’t work like that. You need to know what is working so you can do more of the same and what isn’t working so you can change it up.
For example, if one of your goals is to increase subscribers and you discover 50 people subscribed after reading a certain blog post, you’ll want to know exactly what happened so you can replicate that result.
It may be that the content struck a chord with your readers, you posted a link to the blog post in a certain Facebook group, or even that someone else in your industry shared it with their audiences.
Now imagine if you weren’t measuring any of this – you’d keep writing blog posts here and there, hoping that something might work. By measuring, you can find out exactly what worked, and do more of it.
TIP: What gets measured gets managed, so ensure you record and monitor everything you do. That way you can see what works and what doesn’t, and do more of what does.
How to measure your results!
One easy way to measure is to use an Excel spreadsheet to track what’s working and what’s not.
If you don’t have a content writer or a marketing expert at your fingertips, or you manage you own website, then you are going to have to do it yourself.
It’s actually pretty easy once you know what you’re doing. All you need is a Google Analytics account.
But it’s a good idea to call in the professionals to set this up for you and show you how to use it properly so you get the stats you need; after that it’s just a matter of logging in regularly to see what your site is up to.
I recommend looking at the number of return visitors, how long they spend on your site, how many pages they are looking at while they are there and also your bounce rate.
The bounce rate is when someone jumps on your site but jumps off just as quickly without having a look around at hat you have to offer. Chances are, you’re not what they are looking for.
It’s also important to know where your readers are coming from, such as social media platforms and other sites, along with your lead captures such as a newsletter or other opt-in where readers leave their name and email address.
All of this information will help you to see what your traffic is doing so you write more of the same info or change the style. You will be able to see what areas are working and give them more attention, or try something new.
You’re right – there is a bit to know, but once you have everything set up it’s a downhill ride on the Content Catwalk.
Depending on your goal and your calls to action, there are a number of ways you can measure success. Talk to your developer, designer, content writer or marketer about measuring your activities.
Word Style Step: Set up a Google Analytics account for your website and start exploring. Make a habit of regularly logging in (once a week or once a month) and monitoring your website visitors, seeing where there are spikes in traffic. Then, use this information to tweak your content writing strategy – perhaps a certain type of content gets a better response, or posting content on a certain day, or even sharing your content in a certain place.
Run an experiment – see what works
As you start on your content writing journey, you’ll soon realise that content is about finding your groove, trial and error, and hopefully more hits than misses. The benefit of measuring your results is that you can run experiments to see what works for you and your business.
Try these three things to get started:
- Test different content on different social media platforms. Remember, your blog audience may differ to your LinkedIn audience, so create content that suits them.
- Try a multitude of different topics and then rework the content for the ones that work.
- Try posting on different days and times to see when your audience is watching. Or point them in the direction of the day that you post your blog.
If you need a hand with our web words or creating wow blog posts, get in touch via email at hello@ecwritingservies.com