I was recently asked to help someone define success metrics for a corporate blog. I thought this was such a great topic that I’d share my answer with a wider audience.
Many of the success metrics for blogs are similar to those that might apply to a Website, since blogs are a variation on a Website.
These ‘shared’ success metrics include:
Blog/Website Traffic
- Unique Visitors
- Unique Visits
- Repeat Visits
- Page Views
- Page Views per Visit
- Average Time Spent on site
Blog/Website Brand/Content Interactions
- Content Page Views
- Content % of Page Views
Blog/Website Responses (if applicable)
- Number of Desired Responses
- Conversion Rate from site visitor to Desired Response
- Cost-Per-Desired Response
In addition to the above ‘shared’ success metrics, there are a number of success metrics that are specific to the unique nature of blogs.
These blog-specific success metrics include:
- Number of Subscribers to the blog’s RSS Feed
- Number of Overall Inbound Links to the blog
- Number of other Blogs that Link to the blog
- Number of Comments Submitted to the blog
- Number of Trackbacks Submitted to our blog
Not all of these success metrics will apply in every case, however these are some of the more common ones.
This is a question I was actually pondering tonight. The metrics you suggest are all good ones, and I would suggest the inclusion of third-party validation like Technorati Rank or Alexa to benchmark your blog against the rest.
By and large, however, I think that “success” for a corporate blog is dependent largely on how you as an organization defines success. For some, it may be by the numbers, but blogging – even corporate blogging – is something that can only be quantified so much.
I know a theatre company that just launched a blog that has mediocre stats by any measure, but has markedly increased the number of patrons who introduce themselves to the Artistic Director because their goal was to make a position that is usually fairly stale and almost figurehead-like more closely tied to the community of the company.
Success can be an improved marketing culture internally, it can be the quality of feedback from customers, and it can be the business relationships that come out of it.
The benefits of blogs for organizations can go far beyond mere numbers, and when you’re envisioning success, I think it’s important to think outside of metrics.
This is a question I was actually pondering tonight. The metrics you suggest are all good ones, and I would suggest the inclusion of third-party validation like Technorati Rank or Alexa to benchmark your blog against the rest.
By and large, however, I think that “success” for a corporate blog is dependent largely on how you as an organization defines success. For some, it may be by the numbers, but blogging – even corporate blogging – is something that can only be quantified so much.
I know a theatre company that just launched a blog that has mediocre stats by any measure, but has markedly increased the number of patrons who introduce themselves to the Artistic Director because their goal was to make a position that is usually fairly stale and almost figurehead-like more closely tied to the community of the company.
Success can be an improved marketing culture internally, it can be the quality of feedback from customers, and it can be the business relationships that come out of it.
The benefits of blogs for organizations can go far beyond mere numbers, and when you’re envisioning success, I think it’s important to think outside of metrics.