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What is the Ultimate Metric for Blogging Success?

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Blogging Success Metric

Bloggers all have a different approach. They share news, information and opinion with the world, but find ways in which to make their own output unique.

Due to this individuality, finding a universal metric for success is nigh on impossible. For some it might be traffic, others income or you could just be looking for interactions (via comments and social media). Your ultimate goal for the blog will often define which metric defines success.

Driving Targeted Traffic

driving traffic

Let’s take a business blog as an example. If you are using it to channel visitors to money sections of your primary site, then traffic levels passing between the two will probably be the most important measurement.

You’ll probably not be featuring any affiliate adverts or be overly concerned about gaining comments, so finance and buzz won’t be motivating factors. However, that wouldn’t be the case for a news blog.

Earning a Living

earning living internet

However if you’re using your blog as a small business and are producing news to attract visits, you need to be able to generate income. The ability to effectively monetise is therefore going to play a key part in judging success and ensuring longevity.

If it is your sole source of income, gaining visits will be vital in generating clicks on adverts; however, it is the revenue that comes from those click-throughs that will really determine whether you’re being effective. Lots of visitors who are entirely uninterested in the sponsors section won’t do much to keep you blogging.

Building an Online Reputation

building an online reputation

Some people choose to use their blog as a promotional tool. Whilst they might also host affiliate ads, the primary goal is to attract interest and gain clients. This is really where you want to be building a buzz.

A high traffic volume is all well and good, you could get lucky, but reaching out to the right audience is far more vital. Therefore you want to entice visitors who are likely to spread the good word, leave comments and interact with you in the social sphere.

Client conversions might well be the ultimate metric in this instance, but to achieve it you’ll need the subsidiary benefits such as traffic and interaction. Nothing’s ever simple.

We can all be greedy of course. Why not look to be successful on all levels? There are certainly a good few sites that achieve just that.

They are able to use their identity to attract more visitors, who are encouraged to leave more comments and in turn will deliver clicks to the monetising areas of the blog (adverts or otherwise). But even these must have a driving force. The ultimate ego tickler or business booster that defines success or failure.

Unfortunately this isn’t achievable for everybody. Many blogs target niches, they are also managed by unique individuals, each of whom has their own aspirations. Whilst we’d all love to get stupidly rich in double quick time, the reality is often very different.

Understanding what it is that your blog is trying to achieve is the first step to ensuring success. Some might use it simply as a tool for networking, finding new contacts on Twitter and developing useful business relationships. It might just be a passive forum to provide a basis for your social activities – helping to maintain visibility and encourage conversation.

Others follow their analytics software carefully. Always determined to achieve the next step in their Alexa ranking and viewing visits as an indicator of popularity and growing influence.

Comments might be the only thing the writer is trying to attract. Getting feedback on their work and interacting with the posts. This is particularly the case with anybody passionate about writing and perhaps less concerned about the business side of blogging.

So hard currency isn’t always a primary driving factor. Sure businesses and professionals want to get a return on their investment (both in terms of time and money), but for others notoriety and acceptance are often more important.

What would you say?

I’m sure if I asked everybody to write down their (honest) ultimate metric there would be a fair few answers below. Therefore identifying any kind of universal measure of success is next to impossible – it is all down to personal interpretation and aspiration.

About

I'm a professional Copywriter for UK Based Internet Marketing Company Impact Media. I enjoy writing about the challenges and techniques involved in successful online marketing.

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{ 27 Responses }

  1. Tom says:
    I agree that it depends on your blog makeup. If you have adverts on your page then income is an obvious metric for a successful blog. If not, returning vs total visitor ratio is probably the best other metric. Although this really won't be a very accurate value.
  2. Usama says:
    Motivation can take you all the way to your goals and the tool for igniting motivation is passion. If you love it, you'll struggle for it. Thanks for the post.
  3. Jeevan Jacob John says:
    In my opinion, Building reputation is the ultimate measure of successful blogging. I would also like to make some money so that I could afford my domain. I also plan to switch to Wordpress as soon as I could earn some money. I would also consider amount of traffic as a good measure for blogging success. Thanks for article !
  4. Lennart Heleander says:
    Hi Steve, So true; by offering interesting and engaging posts regularly you can attract a bigger audience who may in turn start to convert into custom. I am working with the longtail system on the blog and on the titles on every property.
  5. Luqman says:
    I think the ultimate metric for blog success to is unique content and targeted traffic. All the other points are quite important as well.
    • Tom says:
      Content is king. Also lots of indexed pages with good content can mean people like me will spend hours reading post after post. I just wish more people would put the random post widget on their site. It would make things easier.
  6. Lennart Heleander says:
    Hi Steve, I have exact the same problems as Colleen and Joe; I’m also a real estate agent. In our branch doesn’t we not make any money on a good and interesting blog, that do we when the people click over to our real estate web sites and maybe buy a home from us.
    • Steve Logan says:
      There are probably thousands of bloggers sharing that exact same problem. The blog is simply there to try and attract targeted visitors who may then transfer to the 'money' section of the site where you might secure a sale. There are a lot of variables in that, but a blog can give you a competitive advantage and will certainly aid online exposure. By offering interesting and engaging posts regularly you can attract a bigger audience who may in turn start to convert into custom. Targeted traffic is therefore the ultimate goal for your site I would think.
  7. Tinh says:
    I think the last but foremost metric is MONEY. Reputation and traffic will contribute to increasing your money. Am I wrong?
    • Steve Logan says:
      You're not wrong at all. However, there are some blogs that generate value without necessarily seeing any obvious direct monetary income. For example a business might use a blog to simply build its reputation and attract visits to the main site. Obviously this could generate additional sales, but ultimately it's the additional traffic it generates that is the primary reason for it being there. But cold hard cash is probably the motivating factor for a good majority of bloggers.
  8. Suresh Khanal says:
    Most probably getting targetted traffic is the first goal for every blogger. after this is achieved then there comes the purposes of blogging. And it would be easiest to mould it to any desired purpose - wish for reputation, monetary bennifit, marketting or whatever. It was nice reading. Thanks for the great post
  9. Julius says:
    I guess for me making money would be my primary goal. But I also love to build up a brand and a reputation. I think it's very important when you are blogging.
  10. Bradley Nordstrom says:
    Great post.Thanks for the tips that will help newbies at helping their blogs become blogs that make at least $100 a day.
  11. Colleen says:
    Nice article Steven. I really thing it depends on the niche. In our niche, we need search engine traffic to our blog. Folks could care less about reading about real estate until they need to buy a home. We need to be positioned where they will find us when there once-ever-10-year purchase happens. :)
    • Steve Logan says:
      Very good point Colleen. Sometimes you have to produce a blog almost on spec, waiting to attract those key searchers who are looking for that exact information and then forwarding them on to your 'money' pages or site - i.e. where you list homes for sale or whatever your niche may be.
      • Colleen says:
        Exactly. :)
  12. Marios says:
    Driving Targeted Traffic is the hardest one, once you have big traffic coming in, making money and building reputation comes easy. Traffic is the main goal of almost every blogger, if people don't come then no body is buying any product therefore you can't make any money, Good post, Marios
    • Steve Logan says:
      Very much agreed Marios. The only trouble with just attracting 'traffic' as such, is that it won't always necessarily convert. Sometimes getting fewer hits from visitors who are actually more interested in what you have to say and therefore are willing to follow links to real target pages (if you have any such things) or click on ads, that can prove more valuable. But certainly the more people you get through to your blog, the better your chances of converting them (whatever a conversion may constitute).
  13. Fred says:
    I definitely think that income is the most important metric. Now that doesn't necessarily mean income directly derived from your blog. But, if you get a ton of traffic, but no income, it seems like non-targeted traffic to me.
    • Steve Logan says:
      Definitely agree. If your blog is out there to make you money, then that's what it has to do. Traffic is all well and good, but it has to convert. Clicks can leave you blinkered, unless of course you are simply after mass exposure. Target people that are interested in what you're offering and your chances of converting are greatly improved.
  14. Ryan Biddulph says:
    Hi Steve, This is a tough one as I'm not a metrics guy. If I'm enjoying blogging, readers are commenting and I'm generating targeted leads then I feel successful as a blogger. Thanks for sharing your insight. Ryan Biddulph
  15. TJ McDowell says:
    For me, it's definitely not an either / or situation. If I weren't trying to accomplish multiple goals with my blog, I definitely wouldn't have the motivation to keep it up. Business promotion, making money, and networking are all major goals of the blog. After a few months of regular blogging, I'm now getting the business promotion and networking, and I'm thinking the making money part will follow a little bit later.
    • Steve Logan says:
      I think that's a valid point TJ, particularly for newer bloggers. However would you envisage a point with your blog where there was perhaps one key thing that you looked at more than any other, i.e. the money it makes for your business? Whilst you don't want to ignore the other important aspects of blogging, I think there still should be one that stands above all others. That might just be me though.
      • TJ McDowell says:
        You're probably right about one standing out above the others. I think my primary goal would be business promotion with a side of making money and networking.