It shouldn't be a difficult question. If you want to know whether your site is a success, you don't have to look further than the last line in your AdSense stats.
If you're happy with the amount that's going to appear on Google's check this month, you're successful.
But what if an advertiser asked how successful your site is. What would you say then? You wouldn't tell him how much you're earning each month, would you?
You could tell him about the number of page views you have, but that's not always an accurate reading of the value of your site to users. If you've got a news ticker running on your home page, for example, your users might leave your site open all the time. You'd get one page view but an advertiser would be showing his message for a very long time.
So maybe you should look at the amount of time people are spending on your website. That's one of the stats you can find easily about your site and it's one that's often ignored.
But there's a danger that you can create a false impression here too. Create short posts and people could read them quickly, giving you short duration stats. But if they're clicking quickly through the ad links after they're done then those posts are doing their job, your ads are optimized and your advertisers can expect some good results.
So maybe clickthrough rate (CTR) then? That tells you how efficiently your site sends users to advertisers -- it's a useful measure for you and it might tell an advertiser how quickly he'll burn through his budget. But it might not tell an advertiser interested in paying on a cost per mille (CPM) basis whether his message will get across or to how many people.
Sound confusing? It is. As publishers, we've got lots of stats at our disposal to share with advertisers, far more than any other media can offer.
The important point is that you understand what each of those stats tells you -- and what it doesn't. You need to know which to share with which advertisers. And you need to know how all your figures contribute to your bottom line.
It's Del.icio.us!
Furl It!
January 23, 2009 10:03 AM
I still waiting for confirmation from google adsense for allowed indonesian language in blog. Million blogger in indonesia hoping it and can be another chance to monetize blog.
Thank'z for Your share.
January 24, 2009 06:06 AM
Hi Joel,
one of my main projects has educational videos on it. So the time people spent should be the average time of a video, right? So round about 5 min.
January 25, 2009 08:57 AM
Determining the best metrics for your business are always challenging. Sounds like from this article, it's important to understand your objective and your audience before you look at your blog's metrics. Some good things to consider. Thanks.
January 26, 2009 07:38 AM
nice little post!
another source of false readings is if you have quite a high number of blog articles on the one page, your time spent on page will be high but page views low.
@Kirsten - anyone correct me if im wrong but ive found 2-3 mins is about the most that an average visitor will view. Maybe have a short/long version this allows for your information junkies to get their fix and the skimmers to get a taste for your product
January 26, 2009 09:06 AM
@david - 2-3 mins is the average length of my educational videos I offer on this side. sometimes I get visitors who spend up to 2 hours on the site, watching all the videos and doing the online exercises :). but that is rather rare.
January 26, 2009 10:44 AM
Joel,
I have seven 'monetized' blogs (!) I know, a lot of typing, but it was done to see what rises to the top of the 'interest-results' as a way of discovering market niches for my (future) PPC campaigns.
So far my blog about 'the way to success' has the most traffic, with my 'iPod review blog' in second place.
I use two programs on my blog LIJIT and FEEDJIT (www.lijit.com) and (www.feedjit.com), which capture my visitors in city level detail using Google satellite images and map overlay.
My challenge in this is that I get 100 unique visitors to six out of the seven blogs on a regular basis. I know that they are indexed in Google and Yahoo because I search for them each week and they are listed high on page one usually.
I have met some Web 2.0 rockstars and placed some photos within a few blogs that increased my readership 50% in one day, (Guy Kawasaki, Sir Richard Branson) etc.
Enjoying joelcommlive on Ustream.com every Wednesday at 1:00 PM EST!
Respectfully,
Nicholas Chase
www.twitter.com/nachase
January 26, 2009 10:46 AM
Joel,
I have seven 'monetized' blogs (!) I know, a lot of typing, but it was done to see what rises to the top of the 'interest-results' as a way of discovering market niches for my (future) PPC campaigns.
So far my blog about 'the way to success' has the most traffic, with my 'iPod review blog' in second place.
I use two programs on my blog LIJIT and FEEDJIT (www.lijit.com) and (www.feedjit.com), which capture my visitors in city level detail using Google satellite images and map overlay.
My challenge in this is that I get 100 unique visitors to six out of the seven blogs on a regular basis. I know that they are indexed in Google and Yahoo because I search for them each week and they are listed high on page one usually.
I have met some Web 2.0 rockstars and placed some photos within a few blogs that increased my readership 50% in one day, (Guy Kawasaki, Sir Richard Branson) etc.
Enjoying joelcommlive on Ustream.com every Wednesday at 1:00 PM EST!
Respectfully,
Nicholas Chase
www.twitter.com/nachase
February 2, 2009 09:01 AM
My website hasn't so much successful but i still trying my best to create and interesting topic
February 16, 2009 10:43 AM
How bizarre...
What happened to the "three strikes and you're out" warning?
Perhaps FB is counting on the "all publicity is good publicity" scenario. I dunno. I'm at a lost for words, especially when you were not intentionally damaging anyone or anything.
Crazy world...
Well, on the bright side, if you do start again, at least you'll have a clean inbox. :)
March 24, 2009 12:23 AM
Hi Joel,
Can you comment my own web in term of design,ads & others.I will try to get more traffic and still not have click from visitor.
http://pro-success.blogspot.com/
Thanks.
June 4, 2009 04:39 AM
I am gona start my own business website i need people to help me!!!..I cannot do this alone...any one interested working with me then please feel free to contact me
Thanks
Regards,
Mascobz
June 4, 2009 11:15 AM
So, what is a good duration for people to stay at your site to make it worth it and successful?? 3-5 minutes?