It’s the question that keeps content marketers up at night. How much is your content worth, and for how long will it actually leave a lasting impression?
It’s a fair question. In this world of quantifiable digital metrics and return on investment, it would seem fitting to have the knowledge of what a post is worth, one month, six months or even one year down the line.
However, there is little data that tracks a blog’s value beyond that point; that is, until now.
IZEA contracts study into long term value of a blog post
IZEA contracted Halverson Group to investigate the long term value of a blog post. We wanted to know what the lifetime value is, not just the first month.
The first-month of data isn’t enough. After all, your posts are on your site for longer than a month. Visitors can read a post months, or even years later, and those statistics shouldn’t be ignored.
To go beyond surface statistics, Halverson Group evaluated 500 unique blog posts to ensure the results were defensible and reproducible. The team evaluated the daily impression change across the 500 posts over the course of two years. The results give us a whole new insight into the value of a blog post.
Study shows the life cycle of a blog post
The study revealed some interesting findings. For starters, the average blog post gets a steep spike in impressions within the first ten days, and then slowly declines throughout the month. The infographic below shows this trend. The study also revealed the lifecycle of a post, which is also depicted in the infographic.
Let’s take a closer look at each life cycle phase:
• The Shout Phase
We mentioned the spike in impressions during the first ten days, that’s called the Shout Phase. About 50 percent of impressions are accounted for within the first ten days following publication.
• The Echo Phase
By day 30, about 72 percent of impressions are accounted for. This phase is known as the Echo Phase. Traditional industry metrics stop at this point, but what about the other 28 percent of impressions? They should be accounted for. In this study, they are.
• The Reverberate Phase
By day 300, 90 percent of impressions are accounted for. By day 700, 99 percent of impressions are accounted for. That means the average lifespan of a blog is 700 days, or about two years.
Study uncovers the lifetime value of a blog post
Knowing these statistics we can finally calculate the number we’ve been waiting for – the lifetime value of a blog post.
Don’t worry; you don’t have to wait two years to collect enough data to get this answer. To determine the number of lifetime impressions for a blog post, take the number of impressions your blog post gets in one month and multiple it by 1.4. That will tell you how valuable your post is over the course of its two-year lifespan.
With real statistics and a better understanding of the life cycle of a post, your content marketing efforts can only grow stronger. It’s all made clear in the infographic below. What do you think of these findings? Do they surprise you? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
