Summary

The author, Tom Handy, reflects on the importance of analyzing writing analytics to improve writing success, particularly focusing on the topic of money, which surprisingly yielded lower engagement despite its practical relevance.

Abstract

Tom Handy, a seasoned writer with a focus on finance and investment, shares his insights on the significance of understanding writing analytics. After reviewing his own analytics, he was surprised to find that his articles on money, a subject he is passionate about, received less engagement than expected. Despite the low read rate, Handy emphasizes the necessity of writing about money due to its critical role in daily life, emergency preparedness, and long-term security. He encourages writers to analyze their statistics to understand reader engagement and to make informed decisions about their writing topics. Handy also draws parallels between the use of analytics in sports and writing, advocating for the value of empirical data in improving performance.

Opinions

The author believes that writing about money is crucial for educating the public, despite the lower engagement rates.
He suggests that the lack of financial education in schools contributes to the public's disinterest in money-related topics.
Handy argues that analyzing writing analytics is essential for writers to understand which topics resonate with their audience.
He posits that consistent learning, akin to mastering the alphabet or basic arithmetic, is necessary to grasp complex subjects like investing.
The author is of the opinion that society's focus on instant wealth, such as lottery winnings, overshadows the importance of long-term financial planning.
Handy compares the use of analytics in sports, as popularized by the movie "Moneyball," to the world of writing, highlighting the benefits of data-driven approaches.
Despite the underperformance of his money-related articles, Handy intends to continue writing on the subject, as he believes in the importance of the topic and its potential to influence readers' lives positively.

You Need to Know How Your Analytics Lead to Writing Success

Your statistics are more than just a few numbers

I looked at my writing analytics today and was surprised to see my favorite topic to write about, money, gave me the worst results. If you take a few minutes to see your own analytics, you could be as surprised as I was.

Most likely you’re a writer or in a similar field. When it really comes down to it, your analytics say 100 words in a matter of seconds. Your blog should have a tool that shows how many people viewed your article, read your article, or who liked your article. These statistics will differ by the blogging platform you use.

Writing is a numbers game more than you realize. You can write the best headline to capture your reader. Or you could use the best image to draw your reader to open your article. The combination of the two says a lot.

When you break these numbers down further by the topic, then you open up another problem. So then you have to ask yourself, is it really worth it to continue writing on this topic if the performance is bad?

I didn’t start writing my daily article today as I normally do. Out of curiosity, I decided to check how many people read my investing articles. This was why the main reason I decided to write. I want to get more people to take ownership of their life and their money. The overall numbers in the US are around 60% of people who invest. I wish the number was higher because having money invested can really help a person when they really need it.

My results look very disappointing

When I first started to invest, I knew nothing. Google wasn’t available so I learned the old fashioned way. I read books and magazines.

Investing was easier than it looks. I don’t chase after stock options or day trade which I think takes a lot more time than investing on a consistent basis. Basically, I buy and hold similar stocks.

If you think investing is complicated, then you haven’t spent enough time learning this trade. Just as you went to school to learn your ABC’s and your 1–2–3’s, learning to invest is very similar. In all of the cases, you won’t learn them overnight, but you have to take time to learn about these topics.

So this year I decided to write about investing. When I looked at my results today, I saw my investing articles had the lowest read time of all my articles. I have 42 investing articles ranging from stocks, emergency savings, real estate investing, and cryptocurrencies. Most of these articles had a read rate of less than 40% based on the viewers.

To me, I would think this would be a higher number but I was wrong. People need to take money seriously but with the education system we live in, I can understand why. Few people are given the proper education to learn about money in school. Then we live in a society that making money is not prioritized unless you can win it instantly by playing the lottery. Americans spent $70 billion playing the lottery in 2019. There may be one winner in a big jackpot out of millions who play a lottery. Yet, so many people flock each week to buy the next ticket hoping they’ll win the jackpot.

When it comes to reading my articles, my investing articles performed poorly among the topics I write about. My overall reading average is 45% based on 101 articles. With 42 of those articles on investing, this pulled down my overall reading average.

So should I spend less time writing on money? For me, the read time plays a big part in earning income from writing. Also, some of my articles also have drawn interest from publications since I have received offers in the past for cryptocurrency and investing.

I know I have fans that are interested in stocks and then others that are interested in cryptocurrencies. Basically, I like to write about money. Sometimes you have to do what you love even if it doesn’t pay the bills. For now, I’ll continue to write about money. So don’t worry, I’ll continue to write future articles about money.

Why you should read money related articles

My goal is to get more people interested in money. You use money almost every day. You need money to keep a roof over your hear and to buy food. For transportation, you need money to get from point A to point B whether you own a car or use an Uber.

For emergency purposes, you need money. For instance, if you have to travel, you may have to buy a last-minute plane ticket. If you own a car, you need money to repair the car if it breaks down from time to time. For some medical reasons, you may need money to pay the doctor or your health insurance. Having an emergency fund has an important place in your life.

Check your own statistics

If you want to be a better writer, you have to spend some time analyzing your results. These are some questions to consider in your analysis.

Are your readers spending enough time reading your article?

What topics are performing well for you?

What topics are performing badly for you?

Are the images you use attracting fewer readers?

Do you have a group of followers who have similar interests as you?

You probably never considered that you should spend time to study your analytics. Reviewing your analytics are part of what every successful team and person does. They want to see what works for them and what doesn’t work for them.

How numbers play a big role in sports and writing

Sports management wants to be a competitive edge against their peers. This became popular with the public in the 2011 movie Moneyball. Baseball manager Billy Beane used empirical data and statistical analysis studying the performance of his players.

The same can be true for writers. Writers want to produce the best article possible for their fans. Spending a little bit of time studying analytics will pay off. Some articles will perform better than others while other articles will barely show any progress in the statistical charts.

Some people say reviewing one’s analytics means nothing but I have to disagree 100%. Your numbers say a lot if you spend time to sit back and find out why certain articles did better than others.

Hopefully this gives you some more thought before you write your next article. Maybe you should spend some time to analyze if that article will do well or not before hitting publish. Figuring out your writing goal will help you figure out your next step.

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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.