Business Blogging: How to Hit the Sweet Spot of Social Engagement and Revenue Driver

You’ve heard your SEO or marketing consultant recommend a blog, and you get it. After all, a blog allows you to do lots of great things for your business:

• Put a face on your company.
• Do reputation management to deal with negative feedback.
• Strengthen the focus of your site with new ideas and content.
• Publish funny, entertaining, or otherwise “viral” content that will get your attention online.

You know that blogging for your customers will build trust in your brand and improve users’ experience with you, making them more likely to associate themselves with you in the future. But you still have questions. Like, what can I expect the blog to contribute to sales? And if not directly connected to sales, how will I measure the blog’s success?

• Blog KPIs
• Conversion tracking on your blog with Google Analytics
• FAQ: How can I measure the success of my business blogging efforts in terms of social engagement and revenue generation? 

Blog KPIs

First understand that blogging is an awareness channel, positioned at the top of the conversion funnel. Conversions assigned to the blog should be things that create another connection between you and the audience, like a newsletter sign-up or Facebook like. The goal of the blog is to have people actively choose to connect with you elsewhere, a position that will put you at the customer’s top of mind when a need for your product or service surfaces.

A 2011 State of the Blogosphere report from Technorati Media surveyed bloggers, and the results of the question, “How do you measure the success of your blog?” saw a variety of responses:

Along with the metrics listed above, today, it’s generally recommended that businesses engaged in social media track the search volume of branded terms — a good indicator of the effectiveness of social media efforts and the share of market voice.

Conversion Tracking on Your Blog with Google Analytics

Now that you know a few things to measure your blog with, here are some basic steps for putting in place tracking with Google Analytics.

Before you get into GA to set your goals, outline what your blog success metrics will be. Everything from clicking through to social accounts like Facebook, Twitter and Google+, to form completions to signing up for your email list or newsletter, time spent on site and pages per visit might align with your business goals.

With that straight, use Google Analytics set up tracking for those conversions with a variety of goal types:

1. URL destination: When a user hits a page that signals a conversion, like a thank you or confirmation screen, that’s a goal.
2. Visit duration: Time spent on a page is a type of goal that aligns well with the engagement role of a blog.
3. Pages per visit: Here again, your blog will be doing its job if it causes visitors to hit multiple pages on your site.
4. Event: Actions like downloads, video views, specific links and buttons that get clicked — these may line up with conversion goals you have for your blog.

With an understanding of what your blog is doing for you and GA set up to measure and track those actions, you’ll know why you’re blogging and how the investment is contributing to your business.

Ready to hit the sweet spot of social engagement and revenue-driving with your blogging efforts? Talk to us.

FAQ: How can I measure the success of my business blogging efforts in terms of social engagement and revenue generation?

At this rapid-fire pace of online marketing, keeping an eye on your content marketing strategy is paramount. Business blogging is an invaluable way of driving engagement and revenue generation, yet how do you accurately evaluate its effectiveness? This article explores key metrics and techniques for measuring blogging’s efficacy.

Understanding the Primary Keyword: Business Blogging Success

Before diving into metrics, it’s crucial to understand the primary keyword: “Business Blogging Success.” Your journey towards measuring success starts with a comprehensive grasp of this term. It encompasses not only social engagement but also revenue generation, which makes it a multi-dimensional challenge.

The Metrics That Matter

1. Social Engagement Metrics

Engagement metrics are the cornerstone of evaluating your blogging success.

– Shares: The number of times your blog posts are shared on social media platforms can give you a clear indication of audience interest and resonance.

– Comments: The quality and quantity of comments on your blog posts can reveal how well your content is sparking conversations and discussions.

– Likes and Reactions: These show the immediate emotional response of your audience to your content.

2. Traffic Metrics

– Page Views: The more people view your blog posts, the better your chances of generating revenue through ads or conversions.

– Bounce Rate: A high bounce rate can indicate that your content isn’t engaging enough, possibly leading to lower revenue generation.

3. Conversion Metrics

– Conversion Rate: The percentage of blog visitors who take a desired action, such as signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase.

– Click-Through Rate (CTR): Measures how effectively your blog posts lead visitors to take specific actions. A higher CTR can positively impact revenue.

4. Revenue Metrics

– Sales and Conversions: Track how many sales are directly attributed to your blog posts.

– Ad Revenue: If you run ads on your blog, monitor the revenue generated from them.

The Role of Analytics Tools

You’ll need powerful analytics tools like Google Analytics, social media insights, and marketing automation platforms to measure these metrics effectively. These tools provide a comprehensive view of your blog’s performance.

Creating an Actionable Strategy

Once you’ve collected data, it’s time to put it all together into an actionable plan:

1. Determine which metrics are relevant to achieving your business goals.
2. Set specific, measurable, and time-bound targets for each metric.
3. Continuously monitor and analyze the data.
4. Adjust your blogging strategy based on the insights gained from your analysis.
5. Experiment with new content types and promotion methods to improve your results.

Remember that measuring success is an ongoing process. Continuously refine your strategy to achieve better results over time.

Measuring the success of blogging efforts for business in terms of revenue and social engagement is both an art and a science. To maximize its potential, track relevant metrics carefully while drawing insights to refine strategies.

Now, let’s proceed to a step-by-step procedure for mastering the measurement of business blogging success in a formal whitepaper report.

Step-by-Step Procedure: Measuring Business Blogging Success

1. Define your primary keyword: “Business Blogging Success.”
2. Familiarize yourself with the critical metrics for measuring success: social engagement, traffic, conversion, and revenue metrics.
3. Use analytical tools like Google Analytics or social media insights to gather relevant data.
4. Assess data better to understand your blog’s performance regarding shares and comments, likes and page views, bounce rates, conversion rates, click-through rates (CTR), sales revenues, etc.
5. Select metrics essential to the attainment of your business objectives.
6. Set specific, measurable, and time-bound targets for each critical metric.
7. Monitor and analyze the data to track your blog’s performance.
8. Adjust your blogging strategy based on the insights gained from your analysis.
9. Experiment with different content types and promotion methods to improve your results.
10. Remember that success measurement is an ongoing process, and continuous refinement is essential.

By following these steps, you can master the art of measuring the success of your business blogging efforts, ensuring that your content strategy is effective in both engaging your audience and generating revenue.

This article was updated on November 14, 2023.

Virginia Nussey is the director of content marketing at MobileMonkey. Prior to joining this startup in 2018, Virginia was the operations and content manager at Bruce Clay Inc., having joined the company in 2008 as a writer and blogger.

See Virginia's author page for links to connect on social media.