Analytics Without a CPA Goal: Stump Ian, Question 5 (or 6?)

November 8, 2007 by ian

Zain asks:

“How do you know your Internet Marketing is working, if there is no CPA?”

I use several different metrics:

1. Pageviews / Visit
2. Time on site
3. Non-CPA conversions, like e-mail newsletter signups
4. Segments defined by complete reads of specific site sections, etc.

3 and 4 are the best - they're the most flexible. A conversion doesn't have to be a purchase or a form completion. It can also be any time a user reads more than 5 pages on your site, reads one entire white paper, or spends more than 4 minutes on the site.

For example, on my own blog I track two non-CPA conversions:

Goal 1 is a more typical conversion - an e-mail signup for automatic update notifications from my blog.

2 and 3, though, are not. Goal 2 is defined by any visitor who reads my entire book online, in one sitting. Goal 3 is defined by anyone who reads at least one entire chapter of my book online.

You can track effectiveness using pageviews and time on site, too. I wrote another post about that - you can read it here. The principles I outline in that post work for any form of measurement - you don't have to restrict it to keywords.

So, even if you don't have a cost per acquisition goal, you can still measure marketing effectiveness.

Zain, I hope this answers your question - if not, please comment below and I'll see if I can provide more detail.

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