It would be interesting to tie analytics and engagement to content, call to action and conversions. For example: as someone consumers your content over time they will be willing to self identify (as opposed to being “tracked”) either by giving some information in exchange for additional/more in-depth content but also the ability to engage with someone with the domain expertise.

The analytics piece is comprised of tracking anonymous readers with respect to what content they consumer the paths they take prior to filling out a form. This is where content type, get’s tied to content consumption and conversion. This is something I’m exploring with software/app developers from Silicon Halton’s Peer to Peer software engineering group.

Thanks Chris, I think many of our customers have found that trick useful as well.

GREAT point Bryan, forms + mobile = BAD! (generally).

I also think we need to consider the social visitor potentially visiting on a mobile device. The screen is small the keyboard is horrible – let’s not force these people through the traditional gate. If I’m in twitter and a friend posts a cool white paper by a vendor I’ve never heard of – ideally I don’t want an abrupt gate to get the content. regardless of it its early stage content or not – lets approach a brand new visitor and let them in for free or since they are social let them socially sign in for the content instead of filling out the form. Then we can use progressive form technology to learn more about them over time assuming they continue to express interest asking for more content.

Great post I’ll check out the focus session. Thanks!

Thanks Lauren, I completely agree. I think a good rule to follow is to prioritize the following objectives and metrics: 1) attention (reach), 2) engagement (shares, comments) and conversions (leads) in that order.

Thanks Paul, every website should have a conversion path in my opinion. I’m with you that we need to drive business goals and outcomes!

Great tip Doug. In order to conduct the test, the un-gated content needs a follow-on call to action. So it’s great to get 20-50 times more views on a piece of content, but there has to be something to incite action to the next stage. “Attend a webcast” “Explore our solutions” “Sign up for a free demo” all these things are valid calls-to-action for “free” content.

With this, you can see: 1) how many gated content registrations were completed and 2) how many conversions do you get with un-gated content to the follow-on calls-to-action. You can compare these 2 and see their relative value. So, for example, how many of the registrations appear valid vs. how many webinar attendees who actually attended or stayed on for more than 50% of the webcast.

I think it’s important to think through these validation and comparison points because too often, our bias can quickly come through as we jump to the foregone conclusion that supports our personal goals.

You really have to study your analytics and your conversion funnel. In my view, all lead generating websites need to have a call-to-action, otherwise your KPIs are engagement metrics- average time on site, pages per visit, etc. Those metrics don’t necessarily equate to media or keyword analysis, but do tell a story of your website is engaging enough for audiences.

It does come back to goals of a website. If you’re using a website to generate leads into the funnel, you need a sound conversion architecture.

That’s a point-of-view of a lead generator and a conversion-focused professional, me. It’s a great topic to debate.

Paul Mosenson
NuSpark Marketing
https://www.nusparkmarketing.com

One way to decide whether to gate a piece: run an A/B test, one landing page with a form against the same page without the form.

Conversion will be higher without the form, but until you know how much higher, you can’t decide if the upside is worth the penalty.

Would you sacrifice the data capture for ten percent fewer downloads? How about sixty percent? The debate becomes much clearer when you’ve got the numbers.

Thanks Kenny, It’s been a while since 2.1 Million people agreed with me! Most days I’m happy when just my 1 person does. 😉