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September 26, 2019

The Prime Metrics to Collect from Vanity Domains

The biggest mistake brands make is investing in metrics that do not help with decision making. If you can not trace it back to a return on investment…well, it’s not worth investing in.

So, what are the best metrics to collect in a digital marketing campaign?

Ask a room of 100 marketers, and you’ll get 100 different answers. There is no right or wrong, and there are a million different ways to view the same marketing challenges. However, some metrics will have you spinning your wheels, while adding nothing to your bottom line.

After creating your Vanity URLs in a campaign, what are the prime metrics to analyze?

Prior to understanding what analytics are best, perhaps you should consider what to ignore…

Skip it

Page Views/Sessions

The is the most common metric of all, and I suspect it is because everyone likes to be seen. However, just because someone views your webpage, it does not mean they will convert or purchase a product/service. On the contrary. It could be indicative they are never coming back if they don’t like the content.

A page view simply says someone was there and does nothing for the budget of a business. It distracts you from the bigger picture. Don’t ignore this metric from your Vanity domains, but don’t take it too seriously either.

Social Media Likes

Facebook has over a billion active users. However, that doesn’t make them all buyers if they “like” your stuff. A “like” can’t really dive deep into how users truly feel about your brand. A post could have a hundred likes and still produce nothing in terms of conversion.

“Likes” are a quick and simple way for people to acknowledge something. Besides, many social media users jump on the bandwagon and “like” posts arbitrarily. Simply put, it’s not a good measure of your advertising success.

Consider it

Conversions

Perhaps the most important metric of all is conversions. This is the first sign that someone is interested in your brand and the message put out there. A conversion can be considered anything. With a Vanity URL, it is typically getting a user to your end game.

This is the “action” you are asking someone to perform in your “call to action.” The CTA should be interlaced in the text of every piece of content put out there. If someone follows it, that is considered a “conversion” and they are on the path to the next step in the funnel.

Social Media Comments and Shares

If someone in your social media audience goes out of their way to comment on your post or share the content on their own page, this can be considered a conversion of sorts. At the very least, it’s free influencer marketing.

The behavior is much more effective than simply adding a “like” to content. It puts a personality to the user and associates them with your brand messaging. It also opens up marketing reach, meaning more visits to your site, a higher rate of conversion, and more subscriptions/sales.

Influenced Revenue

The prime indicator your Vanity domain is adding to ROI is the influenced revenue. A short link will collect data on how many people click it, are influenced by it, and then go on to buy. The more a campaign influences revenue, the more you can rework it for future success.

Other key metrics to collect from a Vanity URL include:

A vanity URL is so much more than “looks.” It does more than attract people to click. It collects critical data that a brand can use to guide marketing efforts. The more a business measures the proper metrics (and ignores the useless ones) the quicker they can add to their bottom line.

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