Measure Your Results
If you've built a solid plan for writing and creating web content, you will have started with some concrete objectives.
Remember them?
After all the work you've done, from choosing your subject to planning your document management, we're going back to the beginning.
Before you even write a word, you should know whether that word will help you achieve your goals.
And that means you need measurement and analytics.
What Are Measurement and Analytics?
In internet marketing, "measurement" and "analytics" refer to the collection and analysis of data about a website or ad.
That data can be anything, from the number of times someone clicks an ad ("click-throughs") to the number of sales those clicks generate ("conversions").
There are many things you can measure, but some measurements are more important (and commonly measured) than others.
These include:
- Impressions and page views: This refers to how many times someone sees your content, be it a search marketing ad or your home page. This measurement is important for understanding your total exposure, such as the amount of times people see your ad on a given website.
- Click-through rate: This refers to the rate (expressed as a percentage) at which people who see your content click. For example, if you have 1,000 impressions and a click-through rate of 1.5 percent, you can expect 15 clicks. This measurement is important for determining the success of ads. For example, if you have a search marketing ad generating a low click-through rate, you probably want to tweak it.
- Conversion rate: This refers to how many people take the action you desire after they click. For example, if your conversion rate is 20 percent for a newsletter sign-up page, then two of every 10 people who visit your sign-up page will complete their subscription.
With just these three measurements alone you can optimize your content.
For example, let's say your objective is to sign up 100 newsletter subscribers in 30 days.
You can use the formula Impressions x Click-through Rate x Conversion Rate to measure your success.
With 1,000 impressions per day, a click-through rate of 1.5 percent and a conversion rate of 10 percent, you'll get only 45 subscribers in 30 days.
Optimize your landing page to convert 25 percent of visitors, however, and you'll more than hit your target.
Why Is Measurement Important?
Measuring your results is important for three main reasons.
First, you'll find out whether your efforts are working.
Metrics show how your site is doing generally. And they can help you track the success of a new initiative.
Second, tracking results helps you optimize your content to improve performance.
For instance, seeing where people on your website commonly exit can pinpoint areas of friction that need addressing.
Third, measurement gives you insight into your market and messaging.
By comparing click-throughs on different ads, for example, you can tell whether your target market responds better to the word "proven" or "guaranteed."
How to Start Measuring
There are many, many ways to track your site's performance.
So it's easy to get bogged down in information that isn't actually useful.
Let's simplify.
Step One: Remember Your Objectives
The best way to focus your measurements is to use your objectives as a guide.
You've used your objectives to plan your strategies—now it's time to measure your results against your goals, and optimize accordingly.
Let's say you want to increase conversions on a landing page by 20 percent in the next quarter.
Your measurements (which some people call "key performance indicators," or "KPIs" for short) should reflect that goal.
You will likely focus your measurements on your page's conversion rate, and see how different tweaks affect it.
Step Two: Install an Analytics Tool
Analytics tools like Google Analytics (which, by the way, is free) help you track how your site is performing.
In fact, Google Analytics can even tell you how your site performs against others.
Installation is simple: Just drop a small piece of JavaScript into your page.
Then just navigate to your Analytics profile and get insight into your content's performance.
Step Three: Analyze the Data
Once you start gathering data, you're going to need to analyze it.
Here's a word of warning: Avoid analysis paralysis and focusing too much on daily fluctuations.
In the early stages of a project, keeping close tabs on a website or campaign can pay off, as you may notice some issues worth addressing immediately.
But after the early stages, it's best to schedule less frequent performance reviews.
In most cases, the more data you have, the greater the reliability.
So don't freak out if you have one bad day.
You need time to gather enough data to take informed action, and to determine the impact of any changes you make.
How Do You Know When Your Measurement Is Working?
You'll know that you've got everything set up well if you're:
- Measuring things that relate to your objectives.
- Getting valid data that provides actionable insight.
- Observing changes to your measurements after tweaking small variables such as headlines.
In such case, you're ready to work on some serious web writing and content production to achieve your goals.
What's Next?
If you're comfortable with your plan, it's time to produce. Get started by sourcing content.
What Do You Think? Post a Comment to Join the Conversation
Download Your FREE Copy of Instant Content Optimization Now!
Discover proven techniques that successful internet marketers use to write high-performance ads, websites and landing pages.
(Or learn more before you download.)
With Instant Content Optimization, you also get free content optimization tips and tools as an exclusive member of our low-volume email list. (We never spam, sell or rent your address, and you can unsubscribe with a single click whenever you like.)
