The Metrics that Matter: Your Website

Today, we’re starting a short series on something that affects every station—how we measure success online. I recently published an article on radioupdate.com about thinking differently in the new year and just focusing on and improving only the metrics that really matter across your digital platforms.  Rather than cover them all in one episode, I want to address each of these areas over the next few weeks.

We’ve always been great at focusing and selling the numbers that look good on paper, like total audience, number of followers, newsletter subscribers, and so on.  But think about it – if you have this big audience and no one’s listening, clicking, sticking around, or coming back for more, what good are those numbers?

The Real Problem with Vanity Metrics

We love big numbers because they’re easy to brag about. But just because something gets seen doesn’t mean it’s working. It’s the difference between how many people could see your content versus how many people are actually engaging with it. Total reach or impressions won’t tell you that. But things like time on page, click-through rates, and return visits will. What we need to do is stop asking “How many?” and start asking “How well?”

What to Focus on Instead

A lot of stations check their page view count and think they’re doing fine. But here’s the thing—page views only tell you someone showed up. They don’t tell you if that person actually found value or stuck around. What you really want to be looking at is time on page, bounce rate, and return visits. If people are leaving your site in under 10 seconds, that’s a sign that something isn’t working. Maybe the headline didn’t match the content. Maybe it was hard to read or not relevant. Maybe there just wasn’t a reason to stick around.

The goal should be to make your site sticky. You want people to click into more than one page, spend a few minutes reading or listening, and ideally come back tomorrow to do it again. Take a look at which pages perform best. Are there patterns? Are your listeners more engaged with local content, contest updates, or audio clips? That data should be guiding what you produce more of—not just what’s easy to post. If you’re only looking at traffic, you’re missing the bigger picture. Engagement tells you whether your site is valuable. And that’s what makes it valuable to advertisers too.

What You Can Do This Week

Here’s an action step for this week: pull up your website analytics and look past the traffic numbers. Focus on the pages that have the highest bounce rates or the shortest time on page. Those are red flags. Pick one of those pages and ask yourself: what would make someone stay longer here? Maybe the headline could be more engaging. Maybe the layout needs more visuals or easier-to-read formatting. Maybe there’s no clear next step—no related article link, no audio, no call to action.

Now pick a second page—the one that’s performing very well. What’s different about it? Is it more visual? Is the content more local? Does it load faster? This isn’t about a full redesign. It’s about small, meaningful tweaks based on real data. You’re not just trying to attract visitors. You’re trying to keep them there and give them a reason to come back.

Wrapping-Up

Big numbers look good and feel good. But, if your website is only being judged by how many people land on it, you’re missing the most important part—what they do once they’re there. This week, shift your thinking from total traffic to actual engagement. Look at what keeps people on your site. Look at what makes them leave. And use that information to make small improvements that lead to better results—for your audience and your advertisers.

We’ll continue this series on the “Metrics that Matter” next week, when we’ll focus on your newsletter.