6 EASY WAYS TO DETERMINE IF YOUR CONTENT IS ATTRACTIVE

You create content.

You share it with the whole world and hope to interest your audience.

But how do you know if it actually works?

What signals will help you determine if your content is really interesting?

This article provides valuable tips to help you determine how well your content is engaging your audience.

WHAT IS MEANT BY “ENGAGING CONTENT”?

Let’s put ourselves in the reader’s shoes for a moment.

They may not know the exact definition of “engaging content”. However, the reader at first glance will distinguish it from content that doesn’t generate absolutely any interest.

If your site visitor doesn’t like your content, it will simply leave you.

There are tons of places potential subscribers can go – for example, your competitor’s blog.

But…

If visitors read content that interests them, answers questions, or simply entertains, they’ll do something. For example, share it or leave a comment.

While these actions require minimal effort from your audience, you still have to try hard to deserve them.

Now let’s look at a few ways to determine the attractiveness of your content.

ARE READERS SHARING YOUR CONTENT?

The number of reposts of an article or any other content is one of the first metrics that marketers use to measure user engagement.

Naturally, we all want people to like our content so that they are eager to share it with their surroundings.

Reposts help your audience grow organically by providing more “social proof” for your content.

So how often do people share your content?

The answer to this question will help you understand if it resonates with your target audience.

A large number of reposts means that you’ve managed to create interesting content.

Lack of reposts usually indicates that you are not meeting the expectations of your audience.

However, take your time thinking about why your content isn’t good enough. The first step is to make sure that you give your readers the easiest way to repost.

If your resource lacks intuitive social media buttons located in a convenient and visible place, your readers are unlikely to start looking specifically for them in order to repost.

DO READERS LEAVE COMMENTS UNDER YOUR BLOG POSTS?

 

You just need to look at the blog comments section to understand a lot about reader engagement.

Do you feel like nobody ever reads your posts? Or, on the contrary, do many comments appear under them, and active discussions flare-up?

In the second case, you are doing everything right – keep it up!

If there are no comments, encourage your readers to write them. For example, ask them questions. Be sincerely interested in their feedback and opinions, and be sure to respond to comments received. Involve commentators in further discussion of the topic of the article or post.

We always respond to readers who take the time to leave a comment on our blog. In our opinion, this is a great way to build relationships with people who are interested in reading our articles and following our work.

Also Read: 5 Simple Ideas On How To Use Interactive Content

If you develop relationships with people who read and comment on your content, they are more likely to continue to do so in the future.

ARE YOUR ARTICLES READ TO THE END?

Do you know how much of your content people actually read?

Unfortunately, the statistics are unlikely to please you. On average, people read about 20% of the content on a page simply because they are not reading it, but rather skimming through the content.

If you manage to surpass this tiny value, you can be sure your content is truly engaging.

Now let’s find out how you can check this:

1. Time spent on the page. This indicator in Google Analytics or Yandex. Metrica shows how much time users spent on a page who viewed more than one page. If someone comes to your resource, reads an article, and leaves immediately, the counter will not be able to find out how much time the person spent reading it. Time spent on-page is a useful metric (the higher the better), but you should understand that it reflects information about only a small percentage of your audience.
2. The number of pages per session. Another useful metric to help you determine if your site is interesting to visitors beyond the article that brought them in. If the content on your resource is attractive, then readers will be more enthusiastic about moving to other pages.
3. Scroll depth.  Using the scroll map feature, you can see how far visitors have scrolled the page – in other words, whether they are reading the entire article

ARE PEOPLE SUBSCRIBING TO YOUR EMAIL NEWSLETTER?

How many people are subscribed to your newsletter?

We will assume that you are asking your readers to subscribe to updates at the end of your articles, in the blog sidebar, or through special fields in the middle of your content to generate leads.

However, how often and how many people subscribe to your newsletter?

The constant influx of new subscribers is a good sign that your content is interesting!

So how do you track the number of subscribers to your mailing list?

With a tool like Mailchimp, you can grow your mailing list as well as easily track the effectiveness of forms in terms of conversion. It integrates with Google Analytics and monitors the referral page for each new subscriber. With tools like this, you can determine which content elements are driving the most conversions.

Here’s a pro tip for getting more followers:

Offer content upgrade!

A content upgrade is a bonus content that you create for a specific blog post and then offer readers to access it in exchange for an email address.

If the number of subscribers to your resource is decreasing, then it is quite obvious that your content is not interesting enough or valuable for readers.

ARE YOUR CONTENT BEING REFERENCED?

If your site is often linked to, it says a lot about its quality. To achieve this, you must create truly useful content!

It also means your readers are engaged enough to share your content link with other people.

With this in mind, remember to regularly check the number of backlinks to your content. 

By tracking backlinks to your site, you can identify specific pieces of content that your readers are most likely to share.

ASK YOUR SITE VISITORS A QUESTION

 

One of the best ways to understand your site visitors and get their opinion on the content you publish is to reach out to them directly with a small survey.

The feedback received in this way will directly speak about the quality of your content and help you optimize your work.

OUTPUT

Keeping your audience engaged is challenging given so much content. Modern people strive to satisfy their needs as soon as possible. If they fail to quickly benefit from your content, they will leave and probably never return to your site.

However, if you keep a close eye on the metrics mentioned in this article and continually create new content based on the interests and needs of your audience, you will give visitors a good reason to stay on your site.

Are there other ways to check if people are interested in your content? Feel free to share them in the comments below this article!