If I have only 15 seconds to grab your attention, then I better have content and design that stands out, and stands out quick!
According to data by Tony Haile of Chartbeat, content on the web isn’t being read the way we think it is. So, instead of tracking article views, maybe we should focus on the time spent on the page, and how much, if any, engagement there is.
But be aware, the data compiled by Chartbeat is comprised of “blog posts and the but most are traditional news/media posts. Also, the term "articles" doesn't include homepages or landing pages; they're the news/content/media posts, pages, stories."
The majority of us aren’t traditional news/media content sources. We don’t all have the same goals, challenges or business models. But we all want to engage our visitors. Here are a few ways that can make that happen.
People want fresh, relevant content.
According to TIME, "Articles that were clicked on and engaged with tended to be actual news." On the other hand, articles whose activity was as stale as its content, were those with generic, superlative non-changing content such as articles that were “Top, Best, Biggest, Fictional etc.” This is pretty surprising since these types of articles make up a HUGE chunk of leads and views every month, but then again, we are looking at a definite snapshot of 30 days.Newsworthy content will be a shoe-in for first place. It’s relevant. But keep in mind, views will spike when it is new and plummet when it becomes old news.
According to Ginny Soskey of HubSpot, evergreen content and newsworthy content are two different plays -- one for longterm, sustainable growth, the other for quick splashes of traffic. The point should not be to double down on newsworthy content. You longterm, sustainable traffic to your site. Traffic that converts into sustainable growth for your business, not content that brings you business one month and then trickles off.
If you are trying to reach short-term traffic and lead generation goals then cater to both crowds. Have quality evergreen content and newsjack for the fresh stuff.
Apparently, despite how many times your content is shared, people are still not reading it.
Chartbeat’s data on social media's influence on reading engagement showed that out of 10,000 articles shared on social media, they found that there was no relationship whatsoever between the amount a piece of content is shared and the amount of attention an average reader will give that content.
Refocus to engage only the most avid readers? Find those that consume the most content and spend more time sending them articles?
There are two ways that visitors may have come to your site via social media. They stumbled on a link and something specific caught their eye. They found you passively so small wonder they aren’t the most engaged of readers. Or they found your site through a SERP and are in active search mode already. They are more engaged because they are looking for something specific and will take the time to find it.
Focus on search engine optimization (SEO) to lure those more engaged visitors into your website. Rethink how you are utilizing the platforms available to you and find out whether you need to spend more time on the optimization of your website.
Don't use traditional web banner advertisements.
TIME says, "Click-through rates are now averaging less than 0.1% and you’ll hear the words banner blindness thrown about with abandon."The majority of a visitor’s attention is spent below the fold. It goes without saying that advertisers should probably focus on placing their ads in places people actually look and making them interesting enough to get visitors to look at their for a while.
We, as advertisers, need to look at time and attention instead of views and clicks to get a better ROI. It all points back to #1, create quality content that gets people to stick around and read your stuff.
According to user testing by the Nielsen Norman Group, no matter what the engagement level, people ignore banner ads. They say, "If users are looking for a quick fact, they want to get done and aren't diverted by banners; and if users are engrossed in a story, they're not going to look away from the content."
Ginny Soskey of HubSpot says it best, “Focus on creating your own quality content. Be the content on the page that keeps people engaged -- not the ad on the side that's either interrupting an experience or getting ignored. Get the pageviews on your site instead of renting out others'.
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