A Blog Measurement Guide: Learn to Track Blog Comments

If you're a blogger, you know the feeling of joy when someone comes along and leaves a comment on one of your posts. You helped someone or started a conversation that was compelling enough to warrant a response. Your post mattered to someone. But beyond the happiness comments provide bloggers, is there a larger message your comments are trying to tell you? That's where blog measurement comes in.  Using web analytics tools, today we'll learn how to track blog comments on your blog or website.

We use Google Analytics here on Big Picture Web (along with Quantcast, 4Q and Get Satisfaction) to measure things that happen on our blog. You may be using a different tool.  That's fine.  Just be sure you're using something to measure and track your site. You can track pretty much everything that matters on your site... for free. Ok, I'm done with my measurement rant. Moving on.

In order to track blog comments, you must first set them up as a goal in Google Analytics. Once you've logged in, access your Analytics Settings, then your Profile Settings.  You'll then see a section on goals. You can set up to 20 goals for each Google Analytics profile. Some goals can be specific events such as submitting a contact form. These goals are reached when a visitor arrives at a very specific URL on your site. Some goals can measure broader engagement metrics, such as the number of page views each visit yields. We're going to set up a goal that will allow us to track blog comments.

This next part promises to get just a bit technical but it's worth it to continue on. There are three basic steps to setting up a new goal in Google Analytics to track your blog comments:

1. Goal Information
2. Goal Details
3. Goal Funnel

Goal Information

The first step in setting up a new goal is to define it. Provide a name and select the type of goal you're going to measure. Provide a name, control whether your goal is active and select the positioning of your goal in Google Analytics' reports. To track blog comments, select a URL Destination goal type.

Goal Details

Now it's time to define the point at which a visitor has reached a goal and identify the corresponding URL. For example, when someone posts a comment on your blog, they'll land on a distinct web page immediately after hitting the "Submit" button. That's the URL you're after. Select a Match Type (a whole other topic, but see here and here for help) and Goal URL. Then enter a Goal Value. Enter a specific dollar amount if one exists for your goal. Otherwise, you may be able to estimate an approximate value.

Goal Funnel

The last step is to define the goal funnel. A goal funnel represents the multiple paths people can take to complete your goal. For example, your visitors can most likely "Add a Comment" to a blog post from either the post itself or the home page if that post is featured there. Goal funnels are optional to set up but can provide some really neat blog measurement insights so it's usually best to define your funnel.

The really gratifying part comes when you look at your goal funnels in Google Analytics reports. From your dashboard, you can select Goals, then Funnel Visualization to see your goal funnel. For example, you can see that 45 folks reached my blog post for the time frame I selected. Two of them went on to fill out the comment form. Both of them ended up submitting the comments they created. I know that 4.4% of my blog readers end up leaving comments.

That wasn't so hard, right? Just a few minutes' worth of work and you just learned the basics of blog measurement and how to track blog comments. But now it's your turn. What are you trying to measure? Feel free to connect with me on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook. I'd be happy to help you with any specific questions you have about measuring your blog or website. Or you can simply leave a comment below and make my day.

Selecting Blogging Topics: Fresh Advice on What to Blog About

So you've decided to start a blog but aren't sure what to blog about.  By now you've heard that blogging is a great way to stand out in your market and delivers a platform to reach, help and connect with your community. And, as Twin Cities online marketing expert Lee Odden points out, blogging is an excellent way to build Search Engine Optimization (SEO) traffic.  It's important for new (and seasoned) bloggers to consider a few things when selecting blogging topics.

• Focus on helping people and building a community.  Not every visit will result in a sale.  Blogging allows you to demonstrate your expertise to people over time so that you're on their minds when it's time to make a purchase.  Give today to invest in in relationships for the future.
• Blog about things that will be entertaining and engaging to your visitors but are specific to your market. Don't be afraid to tell a story or make them chuckle.
• What problems could you solve through your blog posts? Where applicable, tell people how to do what you do. You'll help folks out and maybe even get some new customers who don't have the skill or time to do it themselves.
• Resist the urge to deviate from the theme of your site. Many bloggers start sharing cooking tips and vacation stories as soon as they get an audience. Stay the course when selecting blogging topics. Be consistent.

Kaushik's new book. See our book referral policy.Once you've figured out what to blog about, it's important to consider how you're saying it. One of my biggest heroes on the Internet is Avinash Kaushik (blogger, writer and Google's "Analytics Evangelist").  Folks like Kaushik can look at data from web analytics tools like Google Analytics and pull out brilliant insights on how to improve your website to better meet your business goals.

Anyway, Avinash recently posted about web metrics and a neat service called Wordle, which allows you to create a word cloud using the words appearing most prominently on your site.  Think of it as a way to see what overall themes and messages you're sending out through your blog. For example, you can see that Big Picture Web is big on Internet marketing, planning and setting business goals, etc.

After you've been selecting and blogging about topics for a while, use their free tools to put your articles into their word clouds.  What themes stand out?  It's important to take a look at these things to see if your blog is on course to serve your business or if you need to reconsider what to blog about.

And for that matter, this principle applies to your social media interactions as well.  Does your overall presence end up serving your community and your market?  What themes are you sending out through your tweets and updates?

What else should bloggers consider when determining what to blog about? How do you select your blogging topics?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

My Squarespace Website Review: 3 Pro's and 1 Con

(Visit Squarespace)Building a website involves many decisions, including selecting a content platform and hosting.  You can use Squarespace.com(affiliate link)to both host and build your website.  Today's post is a brief history of Big Picture Web's interest in Squarespace and an honest, (mostly) objective review.

(Update: Since joining Squarespace, I've gone on to write the 101 Reasons to Build a Squarespace Website or Blog, and a new Mega Squarespace Review, featuring the thoughts of a dozen Squarespace customers.)

This Week In Tech, Brought to You by Squarespace

It's been nearly two months since I changed my website hosting to Squarespace, the hosting/content management system (CMS) upon which Big Picture Web is built.  Podcast host Leo Laporte introduced me to Squarespace in an ad spot on his weekly show, This Week in Tech.  Laporte has a philosophy where he'll only accept advertisers if he truly believes in the product.  I was immediately interested when he plugged Squarespace.  I went to their site, took the tour and ended up signing up for two week free trial.  I haven't looked back since.

Create Content, Not Code

I started Big Picture Web using Drupal, another very customizable CMS.  Its open source platform made virtually anything possible with the right amount knowledge and skill.  But in the end, Drupal's versatility was its downfall.  I found it took me way too long to add, configure and customize all the necessary modules to make my site run.  Squarespace has allowed me to focus more on creating content than on creating my website.

If you go to their site, you'll see tons of videos and resources about how easy Squarespace is and how stunning some of their templates are.  I agree with them completely.  In addition, I've come up with three of my own reasons to go with Squarespace and one suggestion for improvement.

Three Pro's of Squarespace

1. Accessibility.  It's vital that your web pages load quickly for visitors.  A lot of folks will hit the back button if a web page hasn't loaded in under a second.  Squarespace's infrastructure appears to be much cleaner and lighter than what I had put together on the Drupal framework.  Just look what happened to my site load time since moving to Squarespace (courtesy of Google Webmaster Tools):
2. Time-to-Market.  Creating entire sites takes a fraction of the time it used to.  There are no modules to download or install.  Everything is intuitively integrated into the Squarespace administrative controls.  And while there is a learning curve to any CMS, I think Squarespace would be relatively easy to learn for most.  You won't be able to customize some areas completely to your liking but this will be offset by the time you save using the plug-and-play tools in most cases.
3. Constant Updates.  Squarespace is constantly releasing new tools to maintain your blog/site.  I can post new blog entries (including photos) from my iPhone thanks to their relatively new app.  Also, you can see that my search engine traffic is back in full force now that I've been able to set up my 301 server redirects from my Drupal-era url structure (courtesy of Google Analytics):

One Piece of Feedback for Squarespace

1. Comments.  While most of the Squarespace's features are near-flawlessly implemented, I think their comments area needs a little rework.  Best practices are pretty much in place with systems like Disqus, where you're notified of comments posted and you can reply to particular comments.  Being able to engage with your community is vital in this era of the social web.  I can't wait to see any improvements Squarespace rolls out in this area.

The Final Squarespace Review

Your website hosting and platform should always be selected only after carefully reviewing your business goals.  Review the ones that meet your requirements and ultimately go with the one that delivers the best value.  If you're planning a blog or a website for your small/medium business, be sure to check out Squarespace in your review process. It's certainly been a positive experience so far for us here at Big Picture Web.

Update: If you want to know more about my thoughts on Squarespace, check out these posts:

• Squarespace Vs. the World: The Best Blogging Platform Quest Continues
• Twitter, Flickr and Squarespace: Social Media Widgets are Live!
• Squarespace Vs. Wordpress: Both Sides of the Story

What's your review of Squarespace? Are you a fan or are they over-rated? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

4 Easy Online Reputation Management Secrets

A while back, I did a blog post on how easy it was to begin participating in the world of social media tools.  All you need to do is locate where conversations are happening about you on the web, learn how to monitor them, then learn how to participate and positively impact your brand's online reputation.  Since then there has been a recent expansion in the amount of tools available to aid in your online reputation management efforts.  Today on Big Picture Web, we'll walk you four easy tools used to monitor your online reputation.

1) Google Reader and RSS

Most online reputation management tools are delivered through either email or RSS ("really simple syndication").  While email is convenient and familiar to most, RSS allows you to see up-to-the-minute information and helps keep all your online reputation reputation management efforts more organized.  If you aren't currently using RSS to stay informed, you should be.  RSS has quickly become a well-established, yet often misunderstood communication tool.  Run out to Youtube and watch RSS in Plain English and Google Reader in Plain English.  You'll see the value and be ready to create a free Google Reader account in no time.

2) Search.Twitter.com

Most social media strategies these days involve Twitter to some extent.  And believe it or not, sifting the 140-character tweets can provide some incredibly valuable insights about what people are saying about your brand.  Your second online reputation management secret is to begin searching through Twitter (for free) on a regular basis.  You can actively search Search.Twitter.com on a schedule or set up a few RSS feeds to push notifications to you as they happen.  Just enter terms specific to your brand and see what results you encounter.

3) Google Alerts

Google Alerts is like Search.Twitter.com, but for the whole web as opposed to just Twitter.  See the most recent news events, web site content, videos and more.  Set up a free account with Google Alerts, then set up your alerts.  Include terms specific to your online reputation, typically related to your brand, product or services.  Again, you can choose to set up your alerts to come to you via email or RSS.  

4)  Trackur

Google Reader, Search.Twitter.com and Google Alerts are all free.  But if you want to spend a few bucks to reduce the time you spend performing online reputation management, you may want to set up an account with Trackur.com.  Trackur was created by Andy Beal, author of Radically Transparent and founder of the Marketing Pilgrim blog/website, both excellent sources of online reputation management news and information.  Trackur allows you to monitor your brands across the web and Twitter.  And comes with some extra tools that make reputation management easier, such as bookmarking and the ability to track and trend sentiment (i.e., are the conversations about you good or bad?).  Try their two week risk-free trial to see the extra benefits Trackur can bring to your online reputation management efforts.

Before you start blindly participating in social media, it's critical that you know the lay of the land.  Not doing so could make your reputation management efforts appear contrived and insincere.  I hope following the steps listed in today's post will help your company get started down the path of online reputation management.

Do you have any thoughts or questions about this post?  We'd love to hear them.  Leave a comment below to continue the conversation.

Sign up to receive updates on this topic

Big Picture Web, Now Powered by Squarespace

You may have realized that Big Picture Web hasn't been as prolific recently as in the past.  We've been swamped with many great opportunities but are finally able to come up for a little air.  And we've also finally done something that's been coming for a long time.  Today, Big Picture Web is proud to announce that we've switched our hosting to Squarespace.  

Hosting and Content Management in One

With Squarespace, you get hosting and content management services.  Squarespace provides incredibly intuitive web development tools to help you build your website.  And unlike many content management systems, Squarespace is very comprehensive right out of the box.  Finally, Squarespace is SEO-friendly right out of the box, making it easier for you to concentrate on creating content without getting bogged down in the technical details.

Just a partial list of Squarespace features:

• Content management
• Powerful blogging platform
• SEO-friendly
• Manage your styles, layout and design through a user interface
• Build your website by adding and arranging individual components
• Easily add social networking links
• Onboard web analytics
• Ability to input custom html and javascript

Big Picture Web and Squarespace

Join Internet marketing sources like Leo Laporte and Big Picture Web in trying Squarespace.  And now that we've made the switch, we're looking forward to being a lot more prolific.  Adding new posts is now a breeze and there are a lot of opportunities on the horizon.  I'm looking forward to sharing Big Picture Web with you even more in the future.