to view and compare metrics. You may discover that your audience is interested in one particular theme - if so, try to focus on that topic more at the expense of groups with less engagement. For example, if your foodie blog has more views on food truck review articles than any other group, then adapt your content strategy to include more of that content.
The Landing Page report in Google Analytics helps you understand where users landed on your site, and where they left from. This will give you insights into the type of content that draws visitors from external sites, and may highlight content that should be re-worked due to poor metrics.
To get the most value from the Landing Page report, track the following:
- Look for pages with high bounce rates. If you find that one or two areas of your site drive your users towards the exit, then ask yourself what you could do to improve them.
- If you’ve got quality content that’s not attracting new visitors, then play with the headline or experiment with different primary images to promote it.
- Analyze page speed. 53% of mobile site visits are abandoned if pages take longer than 3 seconds to load. If some of your pages are slower than others, then it’s likely they contain bloated elements. Consider compressing images or getting rid of animated files. Check out the tactical recommendations to increase page speed in part two of this series.
Plan ahead with your audience in mind
Use the
Demographics and Interests tab in your Google Analytics account to understand who’s reading your content, and what their interests are (you’ll need to
enable this feature before getting started).
The Demographics report will give you insights into the age and gender of your audience, and allows you to segment these groups to see how different people react to your content.
Use the Interest report to shape your content to your audience’s interests, and identify upcoming events they may be interested in. For example, if fans of your digital marketing blog are also interested in new technology and gadgets, you could mention these learnings across your social channels to increase your following.
At this point, you’ll have accumulated data from content grouping, as well as the Landing Page, Demographics, and Insights reports. Use it all to paint a picture of your average user, what they enjoy, what they dislike - then use those insights to build a content calendar.
A content calendar will allow you to plan a content strategy that’s focused on the topics you know your audience enjoys. Be sure to
research seasonal events related to your industry or product, so you can discuss them while they’re still relevant.
Build an audience on social
Growing an audience on social media can provide publishers with a consistent source of referral traffic to their sites. As with content, the best way to compel users to follow your social accounts is to provide them with consistent value.
Here’s some tips to help you set up and maintain a strong social presence:
- Don’t be too self-promotional. You’ll want to link back to your content, but if that’s all you focus on, potential followers will lose interest.
- Use your content calendar to prepare posts around upcoming events in advance. Users care less about an Oscars tweet a week after the ceremony.
- Create relationships with influencers. Retweet them, mention them in a favorable way, and link to their content. These relationships can lead to guest-blogging opportunities or retweets from an account with a large audience. This tactic can help you break through your current organic reach to access new users.
- Build relationships with your users. Answer their questions promptly, engage with them in conversations. If your audience feels valued, they’ll be much more likely to help you promote your content.
- Use Google Trends to discover trending topics on a daily basis, and tie in posts with popular conversations.
For a list of helpful tools to help you manage your social accounts and build your audience, read our
‘Amplify your content with social’ blog post.
And make sure to check in next week, when our series for new publishers continues with a post on improving performance to potentially maximize profits.
If you think AdSense is a fit for your site, then
sign up now and get started.
‘Til next time.
