Exploring the ROI of Blogs, Articles, and Guest Posts

How much traffic does an article actually drive to your website? (And is that even the right question to ask?)

I’m an upfront person and (especially if it will help another entrepreneur) am usually quick to share my company’s numbers and stats as well as the lessons I’ve learned along the way. So when people ask me how much traffic articles drive to my company, I’m happy to share. In fact, here’s a high level breakdown of our traffic referral:

Direct/SEO: 20%

Social Media: 70% (With Facebook bringing the most traffic by a long shot, then Pinterest, then Twitter)

Articles (blogs, guest posts, syndicate content, media coverage, etc.): 10%

I don’t know if this is a “normal” breakdown but it’s been a fairly consistent referral pattern for us here at Avelist. And it doesn’t take a genius to observe that, of these three high level categories, articles drive the least amount of traffic.

That said, I still write a lot of articles, blogs and guest posts. Why do I do it? Because in my experience traffic referral isn’t the only form of ROI (return on investment) from an article. In fact, articles have benefited my company in four distinct ways:

1. Articles Drive Traffic

This is an obvious plus. Any time you can drive visits (new or repeat) to your platform, it’s a big win. And although articles don’t drive as much traffic as social media, 10% of our total traffic is no small number.

Sidenote: We’re happy that social media is our largest source of referral traffic. First of all, it means consumers are talking about us. And second of all, social media (and SEO) are highly scalable traffic sources because they can grow organically (as opposed to the effort it takes to write an article) which ultimately means less work for us and higher growth potential for Avelist.

2. Articles Raise Awareness

True, this can’t be quantified. But experts estimate that a consumer has to read or hear about a brand an average of 3 times before they remember it or purchase it. If this is true (and I think it is) every time a person reads about Avelist it brings them one step closer to fully engaging with our company.

In addition to name recognition, articles and blog posts also help us develop our brand and our messaging. When people talk to me about Avelist they often refer to an article they read about us or a blog post that we wrote. We’ve found that these articles and posts have helped establish our company’s brand and personality and have allowed our community to connect to us in personal ways.

3. Articles Facilitate New Connections

Interestingly enough, blogs that I’ve written and media coverage that we’ve received have opened amazing doors for us at Avelist.

At one point I wrote an article about how I sold my house to fund my company. The connections I made from that article alone were incredible. One investor in particular reached out to me and offered to fund my travel because the article had shown him a new side of me and my company.

Another time, when a newspaper wrote about a new feature we were launching, a retired technology executive read the article and was so interested in our platform that he reached out to me immediately. His initial email evolved into many emails, phone calls, lunches, work sessions, and ultimately an investment. Today he’s one of my most valuable mentors.

I could go on and on with the stories but the point is that I’ve met many incredible people through the articles that I’ve written.

4. Articles Produce Warm Fuzzies

Give it a chance. I consider this form of ROI incredibly legit.

Writing is my creative outlet. I was an English major. I love to read and I love to write. It’s my art form. Call me a nerd but if you put a cup of coffee in my hand and a computer in my lap, I’m instantly in Heaven. Seriously. Dream Friday night right there. Writing helps me process things. And somehow, maybe other writers or artists understand this, it makes me feel connected to the world.

In addition to refreshing me, I occassionally find that my writing helps and refreshes others. Sometimes people (specifically other founders) contact me after they read an article I wrote. They tell me that they can relate, that I’ve put words to their own experience, and that I’ve made their entrepreneurial journey a little less of a lonely experience. Sometimes they’re able to use the lessons I’ve learned while building Avelist to make decisions about their own companies. In other words, writing multiplies me. It enables me to connect with more lives than I could ever touch in person. And for that, I’m grateful.

Jody Porowski is the Founder & CEO of Avelist. Avelist is an online where platform where people can ask for advice and share advice. All the content is organized into a list for easy searching, browsing, saving and sharing. Check it out!