1. Measuring the Success of Your Blog Through
Content, Social Media, and Analytics
#14ntcnpblogs
Emily Weinberg

2. How do you measure success
on your blog?
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3. Basic Ways to Measure Success
• How many hits to blog
• How many people talk about blog on social media
• How many people subscribe to blog
• How many comments
As an organization, you can measure success by how many entries you post.
Your goal could be to write one post a week and if you meet that goal, then you
were successful.
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4. These are good things to look at.
But you need to dig deeper into your
blog to measure your success. You
need to look at specific entries, not
just your blog as a whole.
You should look at your content
strategy, analytics data, and
promotion strategy.
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5. Content
PromotionAnalytics
You need blog content to
look at analytics
You need blog content
to promote
You can find out if your promotion strategy is working by looking at analytics
Content + Analytics + Promotion Cycle
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6. Content
Content is what makes your blog a success, without
content you will not have a successful blog
You need to update your blog regularly (at least once or
twice a month) and post content that your readers might be
interested in.
How often are you posting content to your blog?
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7. Analytics – Existing Content
How many of you look at web analytics for your blog?
Looking at your web analytics is an important step to measure the
success of your blog. It helps you figure out what content people are
interested in and where they are learning about your blog.
The easiest way to record your data is to create a
spreadsheet in Excel. It does not have to be
recorded daily. You should try to update it weekly
or every other week.
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8. Analytics Data to Track
1) Number of times your blog has been viewed
This will give you an overall picture of the success of your blog. You should
see this number increase as your blog grows.
2) Number of times each blog entry has been viewed
This will let you know what content is being viewed the most and the least.
3) Referring sites
This will let you know where people are learning about your blog and blog
entries.
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9. Things to Look for in Analytics
• You might notice that you suddenly get lots of visitors to your blog or to a
particular blog post. This can happen if it was linked on a website or shared
on social media. It could also be a result of your promotion in e-mail or on
social media. Check your referring links to see where this traffic is coming
from.
• You should be looking at your referring links to see who likes your blog or
blog entries.
• Look at the number of times each blog entry was viewed. You can sort the
data in the spreadsheet from most views to least views. Your most viewed
entries will tell you what content is working well and your least viewed
entries will tell you what is not working as well. The entries that have lots of
views are the topics or format of content your readers want to read. You
should post similar content in future entries. Your least viewed entries will
tell you what you should write less about on your blog.
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10. Analytics – Blog Entries
A blog entry can be a success or not a success based on 3 things – the topic,
promotion strategy, and title of entry.
1) Topic
You should be looking at your most viewed entries and seeing if there is a particular
topic that is getting the most views. You should do the same for least amount of
views.
2) Promotion
An entry might have lots of views because you promoted that entry more. Maybe it
was linked on many websites or shared more on social media. You might have
forgotten to share the post on social media and that is why it had less views. You
should be looking at the most viewed entries and see if it had to do with the
promotion strategy.
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11. Analytics – Blog Entries
3) Title
The title of your blog post could also have an impact on your most viewed
entries and least viewed entries. You should look at the titles for your most
viewed entries.
It is proven that certain words in titles will drive more traffic to a post. For
example, titles with numbers get lots of views.
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12. Content Ideas from Website Analytics
You can get content ideas for your blog from your website content.
Look at the analytics for your website and see what is getting the most
views.
Has anyone looked at their website content or website analytics for
blog content ideas?
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13. Web Analytics Questions
For those of you that look at your blog’s analytics:
• How often do you analyze your data?
• What data do you track?
• Has web analytics helped your blog?
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14. Promotion
Blogs can be a success based on how you promote them. You have to promote your
content in order to get people to read it.
Ways to promote:
1. Website
Make sure you have a link to your blog on your organization’s website. Your website
visitors should easily see the link so they know you have a blog.
2. E- News
Highlight blog entries in your e-news.
3. Social Media
Post links to your blog entries on social media sites
(Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn)
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15. Promotion – EDF Example
• Article promoting new blog
• Explains what will be posted
on the blog
• Graphic that promotes blog
http://blogs.edf.org/energyexchange/2013/05/29/edf-releases-new-blog-for-all-our-expert-voices
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16. Promotion Questions
Do you promote your blog entries on….
• Facebook?
• Twitter?
• LinkedIn?
• Pinterest?
Share examples of how you promote your blog entries on Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, and Pintrerest.
For Pinterest you can create a board called “from the blog” or “our blog” and pin
blog images to that board. Remember to keep the board updated.
Do you promote your blog or blog entries on your website? Share examples.
Do you promote your blog or blog entries in your e-news? Share examples.
Are there any other ways you are promoting your blog?
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17. Ways to Measure Success of Blog
on Social Media
Lots of nonprofits share their blog entries on social media.
You can measure the success on social media by looking at the
following data:
Facebook – track shares, likes, comments
Twitter – track tweets, retweets, favorites
LinkedIn – track shares, likes, comments
Pinterest – track pins, repins, likes, comments
How many of you measure these? Share your experiences.
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18. Ways to Measure Success of Blog
on Social Media
Look at your post promoting your blog entry on social media sites.
Does it have lots of likes, shares or comments?
If yes - Your fans are either interested in this topic, enjoyed the blog
entry, or both. Post similar content on your blog.
If no – Your fans are not interested in this topic or post, or did not see
the post. Most likely they are not interested in the topic.
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19. Content Ideas From Social Media
1. Look at the content you share on social media. Content that has the most
comments, shares, and likes means your supporters are interested in this type
of content. Use this information to help you with blog topics. Write a blog entry
about it.
Has anyone done this? Share examples.
2. Ask your supporters what they are interested in learning about. Then write
a blog entry about it.
Has anyone done this? Share examples.
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20. NWF Facebook Case Study
Blog Entry - http://blog.nwf.org/2013/10/were-not-mountain-lion-about-these-facts
Facebook Question Post
Blog Post
Facebook Post
With Blog Post Link
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21. Blog Content Ideas
• Stories from volunteers, donors, clients, and supporters
• Weekly Post Themes
• Roundups
• Advertise e-mail lists and social media sites
• Ways to Volunteer
• Ways to Donate
• How donations are being used
• Share articles that mention your organization
• News related to your mission
• Summarize a report
• Stories from the field
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22. Roundups
Sections
• what is happening with NWF this week
• NWF taking action
• NWF in the newsNWF News Roundup
http://blog.nwf.org
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23. Roundups
http://blog.savesfbay.org/category/weekly-roundup
Weekly Roundups – links to news
articles affecting San Francisco Bay
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24. Roundups
Highlights from member blogs
This is a great idea for organizations
with members or chapters
http://givingforum.wordpress.com
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25. Weekly Post Themes –
Photo of the Week
http://treeswaterpeople.wordpress.com/category/photo-of-the-week
Photos include nature and people
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26. Weekly Post Themes –
Photo of the Week
http://cbf.typepad.com/chesapeake_bay_foundation/photo-of-the-week
Variety of photos of the bay
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27. Weekly Post Themes –
Photo of the Week
http://wilderness.org/blog
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28. Do any of you post roundups on your blog?
What type of links do you include in roundups?
Do any of you post a photo of the week?
Any other weekly themes?
Roundups & Weekly Post Themes
Questions
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29. Promote Social Media & E-Mail List
http://bergenvolunteers.blogspot.com/2013/09/are-you-on-list.html
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30. How to Donate Posts
http://www.cheerfulgivers.org/2009/12/online-donation-opportunities
This an old post so the links do
not work. This is still a great
example to share.
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31. Lessons Learned Post
http://www.donorschoose.org/blog/2012/12/06/5-lessons-learned-from-blogging
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32. End of Year Posts
Many nonprofit blogs have a post at the end of a year with links to their top posts of the
year on their blogs. They get this information by looking at which posts get the most
page views in their web analytics.
They also write posts about their accomplishments in the past year.
I started including these in my roundups a few years ago on the Nonprofit Blog
Exchange linking to these posts. The trend started in 2011 and has grown since then. I
did a special roundup for 2012 and 2013 for end of year posts.
Organizations that do a great job with these posts:
• The Humane Society (they do a bunch of end of year posts)
• First Book - They posted an infographic about their accomplishments in 2012
• ASPCA
Do any of you write end of year posts with accomplishments of the year or top posts of
the year? Share examples.
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33. Blog Action Day Posts
Many nonprofit bloggers write posts for Blog Action Day. (blogactionday.org) It
is a day where bloggers write about an issue. It has been held since 2007 and
it is in October.
I write a special roundup for these posts on The Nonprofit Blog Exchange. You
can read my special roundups for the following years and topics:
• poverty for 2008
• climate change for 2009
• water for 2010
How many of you have participated?
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34. Blog Action Day Posts
The theme for 2012 was “The
Power of We”. I wrote about this
on my blog, Emily’s World, in my
post “The Power of Nonprofit
Bloggers”.
Think about the power your blog
has for your organization.
http://eweinb04.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-power-of-nonprofit-bloggers.html
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35. Posts Related to News
Use news and trending topics to write a post.
The Alliance to Save Energy posted entries with a football theme.
For the playoffs, an entry was posted about “The NFL's 5 Most Energy-Efficient
Stadiums”.
http://www.ase.org/blog/here-are-nfls-5-most-energy-efficient-stadiums
For the Superbowl, they posted “Energy Efficiency Super Bowl Showdown:
Seattle Vs. Denver”.
http://www.ase.org/blog/energy-efficiency-super-bowl-showdown-seattle-vs-denver
Do any of you use the news or trending topics to write entries? Share examples.
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36. Guest Blog Post From Supporter
Milk+ Bookies had a celebrity supporter write a guest post for their blog. Ariel
Winter from Modern Family wrote a post in May 2013. It is a great example of
what a supporter of an organization should write about.
The post mentioned the following:
• Her involvement with the organization
• Why books have been a big part of her life
• Explains what the organization does and her connection to the
organization
• Encourages others to get involved and mentions ways to get involved
http://www.milkandbookies.org/blog/ariel-winter-special-guest-blog-post
Have any of you posted guest posts from supporters of your organization?
Share examples.
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37. Blogging Planner & Checklist
You can keep track of your blog post ideas and what you need to do for each
blog post through a planner or checklist.
You can find some examples by searching the Internet for “blog post planner”
or “blog post checklist” that you can print to use.
This will help you keep track of where you have promoted the entry. For
example, you can make a checklist with boxes for Twitter and Facebook. As
you promote the post on those sites, you can checkmark it.
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38. Editorial Calendar
One way of planning your blog content is by using a calendar. This is helpful to
note events, campaigns, holidays, and other important events.
If you know your organization is having an event, you could plan to write about
the event after it takes place.
Holidays and awareness days are also good to include in a calendar. For April,
you could plan to write a post about Earth Day.
A resource to learn more about different holidays and awareness days (months
and weeks) is Kivi’s Nonprofit Writing Prompts. Each month she sends an e-mail
with ideas you can write about. Sign up for this great resource at
http://www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com/resources/articles/monthly-writing-prompts
Do any of you use an editorial calendar for your blog? How has it helped your
blog?
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39. Topic Buckets
Another way of coming up with content ideas is by topic buckets. Topic buckets
are topics you can write about each week. You should come up with 2-3 topics a
week.
Two general topics nonprofits could have are
1) News (about the organization or related to mission)
2) Events and Campaigns
You can also be more specific in your topics. If your blog has categories or tags
you can look at those for ideas.
This gives you two blog entries you can write each week.
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40. Questions
Is it helpful to see what other nonprofits are writing about on their blog?
What topics do you write about?
How do you get ideas for content?
Is there a blog post that you think was really a success? How do you know it
was a success?
How has blogging helped your organization?
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41. Any Questions?
Any additional questions, comments, or blog examples
can be e-mailed to me.
Add your questions to http://bit.ly/npblogquestions
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42. Resources
Add your blog to the 14NTC Blog List
http://bit.ly/14ntcnpblogslist
Nonprofit Blogging Articles
http://bit.ly/npbloggingresources
Blogging Articles
http://bit.ly/blogginglinks
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43. Stay Connected
This is just the beginning of our discussion on nonprofit blogs. Let’s stay
connected.
Emily Weinberg
eaw1924@aol.com
http://nonprofitblogexchange.wordpress.com
http://eweinb04.blogspot.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/emilyweinberg
http://www.pinterest.com/emilyweinberg
Continue discussion in NTEN’s Blogging Group
http://bit.ly/npblogscop
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