How to Use Analytics to Improve Your Content!

If you’re an author or blogger who currently shares their content online in some form or another, it’s time to get familiar with gathering analytics.

Why keep track of how your content is performing? Well, don’t you want to know if your efforts are paying off?

Keeping track of stats like views, shares, likes, comments and more can help you adjust your content for the future. For example, I use both Jetpack and Google Analytics to view stats from this very blog. If a certain post doesn’t do well, then I know that I might need to try writing about different topics. Conversely, if a post or topic does really well, then I know that my readers will likely want more of that content in the future.

So what platforms or tools can you use to start gathering analytics? Don’t worry, you don’t need to have anything fancy; here are a few options from easiest to most intensive.

Easy Mode: Social Media

If you’re new to looking at analytics and currently share your content on social media, I recommend starting there. Meta (Facebook and Instagram), X, Tiktok and other platforms have their own limited analytics suite built in that you can use to view how your content performs. Be aware that most platforms will require you to have a business account in order to do this, but it’s usually free and easy to switch.

Medium Mode: Jetpack and other native web builder plug-ins

If you have a blog or website, you’re probably already familiar with your web builder’s native analytics plug-ins. WordPress, for example, uses Jetpack but there are plenty of other plug-ins you can try. Some of these are more robust than others but most offer a fairly comprehensive view of your weekly, monthly and yearly views, traffic, and acquisitions.

Hard Mode: Google Analytics

If you get into the groove and want to go sicko mode, I highly recommend learning Google Analytics. It takes time to learn but there is a free Google course and you can even get certified if you like. GA offers a seriously robust suite and can be tailored to gather the analytics that are most important to you.