Activerain Metrics

Posted by Help Now on Wednesday, January 5th, 2011 at 6:28am.

Could the statistics section of Active Rain be useful in determining Featured posts? What new metrics could be added to make the statistics more helpful for blog writers?

The statistics section of Active Rain provides three metrics for evaluating Blogs: View, clicks, and comments. The views are how often the Blog title appeared on the blog roll. Effectively, how many times your blog COULD have been read. If you are familiar with Facebook insights, this is similar to "impressions". Once your blog has been viewed, you want it to be read. Active Rain calls this next step "Clicks".

Clicks are when a viewer actually clicks the link to your blog, instead of just looking at the title and summary on the blog roll. Obviously no one can click your blog without viewing it, so optimizing views should help increase clicks. However, compiling my top 10 list for 2010 didn't show any evidence to support this idea. (Below I've included my top 10 by views and by clicks.)

The next objective it to get your reader to comment on your blog. These comments are vital to keep the conversation going, and provide you useful feedback for future blogs. On Facebook, the more interactive posts spread because user activity is clearly visible. As a result the more engaging material is "featured" on the news feed. To some extent this is the way Active Rain selects posts when basing them on how many recommendations a blog receives. Which is why those with the most "friends" or followers tend to show up in the Feature roll more often. More followers translate into more recommendations, clicks, and comments.

Which metric is the most important? and What other metrics would be useful?

Watching your views can help you determine when and where to post blogs for the most exposure. Watching your clicks will help determine what titles and content are engaging and interesting. A quick calculation to determine a "click rate" (click's per views) may prove especially useful when evaluating content. However, another useful metric to have might be how many times your blog is recommend for a feature.

Would an algorithm taking all of these elements into account be useful in determining Featured posts? Should all blogs be graded equally by using ratios instead of absolute numbers? Or should bloggers with a large network be rewarded for their following?

Using the statistics I have calculated my top 10 blogs based on "views" and "clicks". Surprisingly, there is little to no correlation between the two.

Based on my statistics here are my top 10 blogs with the most "views"

#1 2968 Views: Office with a View (99 Clicks = 3.3% Click rate)
#2 2855 Views: Should I sell this month? (112 clicks = 3.9% Click rate)
#3 2802 Views: Don't Panic (83 clicks = 2.9% Click rate)
#4 2761 Views: Mortgage Rate Forecast (168 clicks = 6% Click rate)
#5 2621 Views: Utah versus the US (96 clicks = 3.7% Click rate)
#6 2306 Views: It's a Great Time to be Selling Homes (122 clicks = 5.29% Click rate)
#7 2263 Views: Utah 6th in the Nation (91 clicks = 4% Click rate)
#8 2218 Views: Double Dip? (100 clicks = 4.5% Click rate)
#9 2173 Views: The Face of Foreclosure (132 clicks = 6% Click rate)
#10 2104 Views: October Hot Spots (80 clicks = 3.8% Click rate)

Here are the top 10 Blogs of 2010 based on Clicks.

#1 679 Clicks: They Just Don't Understand (732 Views = 93% Click rate)
#2 223 Clicks: Military Grant Money Still Available (1154 Views = 19% Click rate)
#3 213 Clicks: Mid-Jordan TRAX line update (1054 Views = 20% Click rate)
#4 204 Clicks: Free Parade of Homes Tickets (1671 Views = 12% Click rate)
#5 196 Clicks: Crazy Hail Storm in South Jordan (1035 Views = 18.9% Click rate)
#6 186 Clicks: Mountain View Corridor (993 Views = 18.7% Click rate)
#7 168 Clicks: Mortgage Rates Forecast (2761 Views = 6% Click rate)
#8 148 Clicks: Hot News! Fresh From Washington D.C. (1017 Views = 14.6% Click rate)
#9 140 Clicks: Coming Changes Can Cost Buyers $7,000 (1582 Views = 8.85% Click rate)
#10 139 Clicks: How waiting can cost you $20,000! (1307 Views = 10.6% Click rate)

About the Author:

Utah Dave - Neighborhood ExpertUtah Dave - Daybreak Neighboorhood Expert and Local Resident

My friends nicknamed me Utah Dave in high school because they said it didn't matter where we went in Utah, I would know how to get there and who we needed to talk to. The name sticks today as UtahDave has formed into a professional real estate network of Neighborhood Experts all across the state. I live in Daybreak with my wife and 4 amazing children. I enjoy dancing (which is how I met my wife Dawn) as well as traveling, coaching, and learning.

Leave a Comment

Format example: you@domain.com
Format example: yourwebsitename.com