I got a marketing email from an app builder that I've worked with today, and the title was Do You Know Where Your Social Traffic Comes From?
To that question I can say, why yes I do! Squarespace has fabulous analytics. And while a girl can get a little too hung up on her web stats, I do like to think about how I'm spending my precious time. So let's take a peek.
Now, this is a slow week. I didn't publish anything, announce anything, post any teaser excerpts or reveal a cover. I sent out a newsletter, though. The lack of activity means the data is even more robust, because the people who are finding my website this week have sought me out or opened my newsletter.
"Direct" is the source for over 60% of my visits. Those visitors came to the site via clicking a link or typing the URL into their browser. Those links are found in the back of my books and in newsletter emails. There's not a lot to be learned there. And 17% came from Googling.
It's further down that I start to really learn something. Facebook is 12% and Twitter is 2%. (Note: I'm not running any FB ads or boosting any posts at the moment, either.) Lately I'd already been feeling that Facebook brought me much more meaningful interaction with readers than Twitter ever will. But it wasn't easy to quantify until I looked at these numbers. How much better is my time spent on FB than twitter? Six times more, apparently.
And Goodreads? Yeah. Not so much. Less than 1% of website visitors found me via Goodreads. And my set-up at Goodreads is fairly robust--with lots of links in my bio, and a blog that populates on my author page and into the news feeds of my friends.
So, while Facebook continues to frustrate us with its new algorithmic stiff-arm, it's still the best social media outlet for reaching readers. This month, anyway!
And since Squarespace puts these trusty web stats at my fingertips, I'll be able to spot the trends.
Sarina