5 Reasons I Choose to Look at My Writing Stats Every Day
You learned these numbers in grade school but they’ll help you win when used correctly
Let me explain why I look at my writing statistics every single day. Writing is all about numbers. It doesn’t matter if you made the best headline or have the perfect image. You really need to look at your number of views and reading time on your article.
If you get 50 people who viewed your article but only 10 people read the article, this tells you something. You should think about writing a different topic. If several of your articles on this topic give low numbers, this is probably a sign you shouldn’t write about this topic anymore.
Some writers don’t like looking at their writing statistics and others do. If you’re a brand new writer, the statistics probably won’t mean much until you have figured out what you like to write about. Also, you most likely don’t have a lot of followers. Looking at stats at this point means nothing.
After you have written for a few months, you should start to see a trend. Hopefully, the trend is positive and not negative for you. These are some trends you should look for.
- Your read time should be higher.
- Your views should be higher.
- Your number of followers should be higher.
From month to month, you should see a higher trend in these categories. Make your statistics your friend and not your enemy. This could help you out immensely.
See if your articles are hits or flat-out misses
It takes a lot of bad writing to get to a little good writing.
Truman Capote
Right from the start, you should see if your article is doing well or not within a few days. Yes, you may see a bump in the numbers later on, but you want to see if you picked a good topic or not initially. A later jump in your numbers is not something you can control if and when that happens.
The initial set of numbers will tell if you picked a good topic to write about. You should see comments from your readers. You should also see a good number of views and reads.
If you barely see anyone reading your article, you could probably consider the article a flop. Not all of your articles will be the best article of the day. You’re bound to write a few flops. We all do. What you think is a great article could be a bad article in the eyes of your readers.
In that case, you can always try again. Don’t let it get you down. Maybe your next article will be a lot better.
Identify if your audience likes your new topics or not
Better readers are better thinkers.
James Patterson
Maybe you want to experiment with a new topic to see if your audience likes it or not. You’ll get feedback from your readers. Your audience will like the direction you’re going or they won’t like the topic at all.
Sometimes it’s good to experiment. Maybe you want to change direction and venture on to new topics in your writing. There’s nothing wrong with that. Readers could get bored reading the same thing over and over again. So it’s good to try new ideas. You may have to write a few articles to really get their buy-in.
You are writing for your readers, right? They get a vote.
Before you write about a new topic, make sure you know what you’re talking about. Far too often, writers write on areas they know very little about the topic. Let your readers know that.
Click-bait articles will do more harm than good. Readers can pick up if you write and you miss the mark in your article. You don’t want to do that.
Take the time to do the research and provide the best value to your readers. Yes, this takes a little more time but you want to give your audience the best work possible. Your audience deserves the best that you can give them.
You should be a numbers person, so the higher the better
This is my favorite part about analytics: Taking boring flat data and bringing it to life through visualization.
John Tukey
Reading is all about the numbers. If you’re not into the numbers you should be. Numbers say a lot when you sit back and analyze them.
You want your readers to read your work — so you look at your analytics to see how many read your articles.
You want readers to subscribe to your platform — so you look at how many followers you have.
You want to figure out how much of your article was read — so you look at the read time on your article.
This is all about the numbers. Pay attention to your numbers. Numbers say a lot.
I have seen several people say they don’t look at their numbers which I don’t understand. If you want to be taken as a serious writer, you need to look at your numbers. Numbers say a lot.
Yes, there is a little bit of math but nothing you didn’t learn in grade school. You need to understand what your readers like and don’t like. Top writers look at their numbers. The better their numbers look, the more money they see in their paycheck.
If you don’t follow your numbers, you could make zero dollars for months. Just don’t get carried away. Look at the numbers and see what is working for you. If the numbers are not working for you, then make some changes.
Identify if people are reading your article
Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.
Mark Twain
Are readers leaving as soon as they look at your article? That’s not good. You need to figure out why you have such a low read rate.
Are your topics consistent or do you jump all over the place? For some writers, they can do that since they have built a large following.
Do you have a boring introduction? You may need to get right to the point or try something different.
If you’re a new writer, you may have to niche down so you can get your loyal fans. Your true fans will help you and will always be there for you.
- Your true fans will read your work at least 95% of the time.
- Your true fans will tell you if you’ve messed up.
- Your true fans will applaud your wins.
When you find your voice, you’ll find your true readers who read your work. Sometimes you need to get serious and strategic about your work. Take your writing like it’s a game.
You like to win right? Well, write to win.
Figure out if publications help or hurt your article
We are in the throes of a transition where every publication has to think of their digital strategy.
Bill Gates
The key thing you need to figure out, is that publisher helping or hurting you? There are many publishers to choose from. Any publisher can publish your work.
This is a little bit of trial and error. Some publishers will work great for you. Others will not help you at all. You may have to spend some time figuring out the publication and if they’ll really benefit you in the end.
Some publishers have a large base but will that base of fans read your work? You’ll have to figure that out yourself and submit a few articles to see if it’s really worth it.
If the publication is not working for you, look for another publisher. It’s all about trial and error. The publisher may work for you or they may not work for you.
Do you analyze your writing stats?
Tom Handy is a top Writing, Finance, Investment, and Bitcoin writer on Medium, and the father of two kids. He retired from the Army and sits on several non-profit boards. You can find him on Twitter @tomhandy1.
