4 ways to get more from your top content

A screenshot from Google Analytics.

Tips for extending the life of your most popular blog posts

One way to be smart about using a blog for your nonprofit is to get more from your top-viewed posts. You can find these in a Google Analytics report called “Top Content By Title.”

The questions you need to ask as you look at your top 10-20 posts are:

• Where are these people coming from? Google? Another website? Social media?
• How interested are they in our organization? You can answer this question better if you know where people have come from. For example, if they arrive from Google, they may not know about your organization at all. If they arrive from your Facebook Page, they’ve already been following you.
• What actions would these visitors mostly likely complete? Your ability to answer this question relies on how well you know your donors and fans. You also want to consider what stage they are at in their relationship with you.

How to get more out of your top viewed posts

Once you’ve answered these questions, try these tactics for getting more from your top viewed posts:

1. Give posts more attention – List your top-viewed posts in a sidebar to make them even more popular. This will drive more page views on your site. (See over there on the right? Socialbrite does this.)

2. Add new content to posts – Adding new content to your popular posts and then sending out an email about those updates provides more value for your subscribers. This will also increase backlinks to the page and strengthen its search ranking.

3. Start a topic-based series – Top-viewed posts also hint at topics that your readers like the most. Write a series of posts around these topics, making sure each new post links to an older post on the same topic. Don’t forget to add a link to the older posts as suggested in point No. 1.

4. Optimize these posts for action – Depending upon how interested people are in your organization (see questions at the beginning of this post), include a call to action in each of your top viewed posts. If most of your visitors come from your advocacy email list, you want want to consider asking for donations, or for them to sign a petition. If they arrive from Google, have them like your Facebook Page where you can nurture a relationship.

Let us know how else you get more from your top content.John Haydon delivers social web strategy solutions for “the quick, the smart, and the slightly manic.” Curious? Then visit the John Haydon blog, follow him on Twitter or leave a comment.