Ten No-Cost Ways to Measure Online Engagement

by Katie Delahaye Paine

1. Set up Google Analytics on your blog to find out how many repeat visitors you have. How many pages per visit do they check out? How many go back more than 3 times a week? How many go back and spend more than a second or two on the site?

2. Post a vizu poll on your blog and see how many people respond.

3. Go to xinure and enter the URL of your choice to find out how well it is doing in search engines, links, social bookmarks and a whole bunch of other stats.

4. With many of the leading blog providers like TypePad, check your stats to find out how many people have subscribed, and how many visits per day you're receiving.

5. What's the Conversation Index (the ratio of postings to comments)? In the blogosphere any comment is a good comment because it shows that people are engaged enough in what you are saying to take the time to respond.

6. If you have posted a video on YouTube, or a photo on Flickr, check to see how many people have rated it, and/or commented on it.

7. If you have a presence on Facebook, how many people have joined your group?

8. Ask a question on Facebook and see how many people respond.

9. If you're on Twitter, how many followers do you have? More importantly, how many responses do you get when you ask them a question?

10. Set up a Technorati, Sphere or Icerocket search to find out whether people are writing or talking about you.