I was recently asked to discuss the difference between unique visitors and page views and whether there is a benefit of one to the other.
First, some quick definitions:
*A unique visitor is counted once for each IP address that visits your website during a certain amount of time. It does not always equal a unique individual (if you read this at work and then at home then you would be counted as unique twice because of the different IPs). Unique visitors are typically measured per day and per month.
*A page view or impression is generated every time a visitor refreshes the page or visits a new page within your blog or website. Multiple pageviews can be generated by the same unique visitor.
The reason page views are important is because the longer you can keep someone on your site with interesting, relevant content, the more apt they are to either click on your banner ads or subscribe, giving you permission to put your content in front of them in the future.
Blogs that have high amounts of page views often have deeper placed content for their readers to explore: forums for brides to chat with each other or vendor directories that are four or five clicks in, with each click generating a new page. With this strategy, one unique visitor could easily generate over 50-100 page views in one session. One note of caution if you are considering this method: be careful to not bury content so deep into your blog that people give up on clicking and close your site window instead.
Online ads are typically charged per CPM or cost per one thousand impressions (M being the Roman numeral for 1000) whether a blog reader clicks on the ad or not. This means that the more page views a website or blog can generate, the more ad revenue they can generate for themselves. This can also be good for the advertiser depending on their marketing strategy, because it means that their ad is in front of eyes more often, even if they are the same eyes.
The future viability of the CPM model is a hot topic right now in social media and online advertising circles and the subject of much debate (which I'll discuss in another post). In my opinion, there are marketing strategies where purchasing a CPM banner ad makes sense and others where it does not. It really all comes down to what your specific business goals are and what results you need the ad to produce for you.
If your goal with advertising is to generate client contracts with brides, then a blog that attracts a large portion of vendors as well as engaged couples may not be the best place to focus your ad dollars because the clicks generated are more likely not going to be qualified leads. Your marketing budget is probably better spent on a blog that receives lower visitor numbers but is more targeted to your market and has a higher conversion rate of ad clicks to closed sales. However, if your goal is to generate recognition for your brand so that other professionals in the wedding industry say "yes, we've heard of them", then paying for a CPM based ad on a more highly trafficked blog could be a very effective strategy for you.
Do you currently take page views or unique visitor numbers into account for your advertising? Which one shows better results for you?
Welcome to Think Splendid, the blog of Splendid Communications! We are an online media consultancy serving the wedding and hospitality industries. We help companies discover and maximize their online voice in order to effectively increase their brand presence and add to their bottom line.
We believe that social media is a return to old-fashioned roots of real conversations rather than a high-tech race to keep up with the next big thing. While the tools will always evolve, the need for businesses to communicate effectively and deepen relationships with their customers will remain.
Splendid Communications subscribes to the view that the world is a bakery that produces fresh opportunities each day and not a fixed pie where each person has to fight for the last crumb. The purpose of our blog is to encourage you to Think Splendid; both in business and in life.
We believe that social media is a return to old-fashioned roots of real conversations rather than a high-tech race to keep up with the next big thing. While the tools will always evolve, the need for businesses to communicate effectively and deepen relationships with their customers will remain.
Splendid Communications subscribes to the view that the world is a bakery that produces fresh opportunities each day and not a fixed pie where each person has to fight for the last crumb. The purpose of our blog is to encourage you to Think Splendid; both in business and in life.
photo by Melissa Jill
5 comments:
I use unique visitor count when talking to advertisers, but I might need to start using page views.
How do you recommend getting advertisers? Do you wait for them to come to you or do you go to them?
Ashley, I would recommend using both unique visitor and page view stats in your media kits or sales approaches or better yet, create a customized media kit for each advertiser and use whichever meets their advertising needs and goals.
As far as getting advertisers, there is no harm in asking if people are not yet approaching you as often as you'd like. Be prepared for rejection, but the "you have not because you ask not" principle is always in play.
That's for responding Liene!
This was very informative as per usual! Thanks Liene. Still trying to figure out if Wordpress Blog stats provides unique visitors info? Anyone know the answer to that?
Hi Liene,
This is a great breakdown of the CPM method as well as UMVs vs. page views. As I've mentioned, I work at a digital PR and marketing agency and while I handle PR, many bloggers respond to my pitches with advertising requests. I understand and applaud their desire to ask because, as a blogger, I know the importance of advertising. However, bloggers frequently provide massively inflated numbers for their UMVs and page views so my advice is that site owners check their statistics on Compete.com, Alexa.com, and Google Analytics. Most companies take the data from Compete and Alexa and plug it into a very detailed formula to ensure the numbers are not inflated. If a the data a blogger gives in terms of UMVs and page views accurately reflects the site's "score" from the formula, companies are more likely to further investigate if it will be a viable buy-in.
I hope that helps some of your readers as they go out and seek advertising!
Best,
Meg
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