Why home brands are the future

“IF YOU’RE only selling other people’s product, you’re their b****.” One of Australia’s most successful retailers explains why home brands are here to say.

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Aldi’s surprising secret weapon

YOU can’t buy the kind of publicity that comes from an impassioned mummy blogger ... well actually, you can if your name is Aldi.

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Female Viagra has been an epic fail

“My husband wouldn’t be satisfied with that.” Why the little pill that’s supposed to revolutionise women’s sex lives is leaving them cold.

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This Coffee Mug Could Help Me Save $335 Next Year

Want to give a great gift this year? If your friends are anything like me, the gift of bottomless coffee would be pretty hard to beat.

If you frequent Breugger’s Bagels, the gift is within your reach.

Subscribe a friend to the 2016 Bottomless Mug Club and the bakery will pour the lucky recipient a year’s worth of coffee, tea or soft drinks — so long as said recipient doesn’t order more than one every 30 minutes.

If you know someone ordering more than one coffee every 30 minutes for a sustained period, you may want to get that person some help.

How Much Coffee Makes it Worth It?

Breugger’s prices for a regular cup range regionally between about $1.49 and $2.49. The mug’s price also varies — between $169.99 and $195 — but the vast majority cost $185.

Let’s say an average cup of coffee costs $2. At that price, you’d need to purchase about 92 cups of coffee in a year to break even. That’s less than two cups a week!

As an every-day coffee drinker — in fact, an every-day multiple-cup coffee drinker — I’m all over this deal. It would quickly pay for itself.

If I purchased the mug, I could drop by Breugger’s on the way to work every morning, and I’d save $335 over the course of a year.

Quick math: If you buy a $2 cup of coffee every workday, you’re spending $520 per year. If you’re a latte-a-day drinker, you’re probably spending double that.

What’s the Catch?

There’s no catch!

You’re just paying for the coffee ahead of time — and the mug, unless your store offers the card or keytag options. You’re basically committing to Breugger’s coffee for a year, so you’ll benefit from a steep discount.

Plus, the store probably hopes you’ll grab (and pay for) a bagel while you’re waiting.

Some restrictions apply: Only the holder can claim the refills, which must be served in the mug itself.

You can get hot or iced coffee, tea, or soft drinks, but not fancy espresso beverages. The deal might include chai tea or hot chocolate, but depends on your location.

But if you’re the plain cup of joe type — this might just be the perfect deal for you.

Your Turn: Will you become a Breugger’s Bottomless Mug Member?

Jamie Cattanach is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder and a native Floridian. She’s passionate about learning, literature, chocolate and finding ways to live the good life as cost-effectively as possible. You can wave hi to @jamiecattanach on Twitter.

The post This Coffee Mug Could Help Me Save $335 Next Year appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Save on Black Friday Transport: 5 Low-Cost Ways to Get to Your Favorite Stores

How much money are you planning to spend this Black Friday? Almost $400, if you’re an average American.

These awesome deals are timed right to save you a nice chunk of change on your holiday shopping. But even if you’re meticulous about budgeting your annual shopping spree, there’s one cost you may have overlooked: transportation.

When Transportation is a Hidden Headache

With many major public transit systems running limited hours or closed completely for the holiday weekend, Black Friday travel could spell traffic jams and accidents.

So we’ve put together this list of five ways to save your time, money and sanity on transportation this Black Friday.

1. Shop Online Instead of In-Store

Welcome to the future, where you can get pretty much every deal you see advertised in stores online. This means no lines and no traffic.

Plus, shopping through Swagbucks or Ebates will get you the best cashback deal available on your purchases.

But we know some of you are looking forward to the Black Friday madness. If you are heading into the fray in person, the following tips are for you:

2. Carpool With Friends

Think about those ridiculous lines you’ll be waiting in: If every single member of the queue drove her own vehicle, wouldn’t that be a huge waste of gas and time?

Even if you take just one friend with you this Black Friday, you’ll save money on gas and create 50% of the emissions you would have taking two cars.

3. Rideshare

Don’t have your own ride? No problem.

Rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft allow you to split the cost with your friends, so you don’t have to worry about IOUs or who has the right change. You’ll definitely save time on parking and stress on navigating packed streets.

Plus, some shopping centers offer incentives for shoppers to come out and spend money. Last year, The Grove in Los Angeles offered shoppers free Uber services, provided they spent $450 or more on their outing — which is not much higher than the national average these past few years.

Although Uber declined to comment and Lyft is not offering any nationwide Black Friday promotions at this time, Paige Thelen of Lyft mentioned passengers could get a ride for up to 60% less than usual in cities where Lyft Line is available (San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Austin and Boston).

Which brings us to our next point…

4. Get Free Rides

Though some transit authorities call it quits for all of Thanksgiving weekend, others offer special or extended services to encourage shoppers to put their dollars back into the local economy.

For example, Spokane, Washington runs a free bus fare day on Black Friday, and riders enjoy a regular weekday schedule.

Check with your local transit authority, shopping centers and community organizers to see what incentives are being offered. You might just score a sweet deal.

5. Get Familiar With Public Transportation

Know what’s not a good expenditure of your time and money? Hiking down to the bus stop or metro station only to learn your planned method of transportation is running on a different schedule.

Here’s the scoop on Black Friday transportation in selected U.S. cities:

NYC: Nothing special is planned, but New York will uphold its no-sleep reputation with public transit running 24/7.

Boston: Boston’s famous T will run its regular weekday schedule this Black Friday.

Philadelphia: According to SEPTA, City Transit, as well as the Frontier, Victory Divisions and Norristown High Speed Lines will operate on a Modified Weekday Schedule.

Washington, DC: The nation’s capital will also run a regular weekday schedule.

Miami: It’ll be a regular weekday transportation schedule — and still warm, to boot! — for Miami-Dade County.

San Francisco: Hallelujah! On Black Friday, selected parking tickets are not enforced. If you’re ditching the car, you’re looking at a regular weekday schedule.

Above all, stay safe out there — increased traffic and groggy morning hours create a good environment for increased accidents.

Your Turn: How will you get around this Black Friday?

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. We would have shared them with you anyway, but a true “penny hoarder” would be a fool not to take the company’s money.

Jamie Cattanach is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder and a native Floridian. She’s passionate about learning, literature, chocolate and finding ways to live the good life as cost-effectively as possible. You can wave hello to @jamiecattanach on Twitter.

This post originally appeared on our special Black Friday site.

The post Save on Black Friday Transport: 5 Low-Cost Ways to Get to Your Favorite Stores appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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10 Things You Shouldn’t Buy on Black Friday (And When to Buy Them Instead)

There’s no doubt you can find great deals on Black Friday. But just because something is advertised as a bargain doesn’t mean it actually is one.

Some items, in fact, should be avoided altogether on Black Friday because you’ll find them cheaper at other times of the year.

Here are 10 items you shouldn’t buy on Black Friday, along with when to buy them instead:

1. Toys

Though these probably comprise much of your holiday shopping list, it’s smarter to wait: Toys are actually at their cheapest the first two weeks of December. (So don’t worry, you’ll still have them under the tree in time for Santa’s arrival!)

2. Ultra Cheap Tablets

You want a tablet, and you spy a really cheap one at the store, cheaper than you can believe. Don’t walk — run — in the other direction.

As Chris Burns explains on Slash Gear: “Every single Black Friday for the past several years, we’ve seen retailers offer a special on tablets. Do not purchase the cheapest tablet. It is a piece of junk.”

3. Fitness Equipment

What’s the most common New Year’s resolution? To get in shape. Fitness equipment manufacturers know that and slash prices in January — so wait to buy that elliptical until it comes time to work off those holiday pounds.

4. Holiday Decor

Sure, you want your house to look festive over the holidays, but don’t go overboard purchasing decorations on Black Friday. If you wait until just after the holidays are over, you’ll find steep markdowns on everything from inflatable snowmen to menorahs.

5. Bargain Laptops

Little known fact: The incredibly cheap Black Friday laptops are tangibly different from the ones available the rest of the year.

“The item on sale is a derivative product, specifically manufactured for Black Friday and the holiday season with lower overall quality and fewer features,” explains Daily Finance. “These items may look like their pricier counterparts, but they probably won’t last as long, costing you more in the long run.” So stay away!

6. Linens

Ever heard of white sales? A tradition since the 1800s, their annual occurrence is the reason you should wait to buy bedding and towels until January.

7. Jewelry

The holidays are the most popular time of year to pop the question: Last year, 16% of couples got engaged in December. And in the new year, the holidays keep coming, with Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, etc. So wait until summer to buy jewelry, when retailers need a reason to draw you in.     

8. Brand Name HDTVs

Contrary to popular belief, Black Friday is not the best time of the year to buy high-quality televisions. You’ll find basic sets for cheap — but if you want a brand name HDTV, you’re better off waiting until March and April, when retailers are getting rid of last year’s models after the holiday and Super Bowl rushes.

9. Winter Clothing

Temperatures may be dropping, but prices on winter clothing aren’t at their best for a few more months. The cheapest time to buy winter gear is in January, or, of course, at the end of the season.

10. Tools

As nicely as they might fit in the stockings, you should skip the screwdrivers and hammers this time of year. Tools are cheapest in June, just in time for Father’s Day and the summer fix-it season.

There are exceptions to every rule, and you shouldn’t view this “not-to-buy list” as a definitive guide. We hope, however, it does remind you not all Black Friday sales are good deals.

Be vigilant and do your research, and you should walk out with some great bargains this holiday season!

Your Turn: What do you avoid buying on Black Friday?

Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.

This post originally appeared on our special Black Friday site. 

The post 10 Things You Shouldn’t Buy on Black Friday (And When to Buy Them Instead) appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Asset managers under FCA spotlight

Michael Trudeau

spotlight.jpg

Asset management firms are set to come under scrutiny from the City authorities as to whether they add real value for money - and whether the market is competitive enough to benefit investors.

Asset management firms are set to come under scrutiny from the City authorities as to whether they add real value for money - and whether the market is competitive enough to benefit investors.

read more

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8 Tips to Spend Less and Reduce Stress While Holiday Shopping

Look for discounts and use gift cards strategically. 

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Is Your Content Marketing Profitable? Here Are 22 Metrics That Will Tell You

It’s a mistake I see time and again…

Businesses invest in content marketing without having a clue whether it’s effective or not.

No matter what your goals are, you need some way of quantifying the results of your efforts.

Otherwise, you don’t know if you’re getting a positive or negative return on investment (ROI).

To determine how successful you’ve been, you need to track metrics (also called key performance indicators (KPIs)).

Metrics are numbers that are related to the goals you want to achieve.

For example, if your main goal is to lose fat, metrics you could track are body fat percentage and weight.

The key factor that indicates a metric is that you can measure it.

There’s no guesswork or statements like, “I feel this is going well…”

You have non-biased numbers to evaluate your progress.

That makes sense, right?

You track metrics to find out whether the numbers are headed in the right direction and make your decisions based on that data.

If your metrics tell you that content marketing is bringing you a better ROI than paid advertising, you’ll probably want to increase your content marketing budget.

Conversely, if your metrics don’t look so good, you’ll need to improve your system or try a different option.

One small problem with metrics: Although metrics are important, they do have limitations.

It’s not always possible to find a metric that completely represents your goal.

Additionally, you might have multiple goals, and one metric will never tell you how you’re doing across all of them at once.

The simple solution is to track multiple metrics.

By combining several important KPIs, you can get an overall picture of your progress.

If you’re investing in content marketing, you’ll care not only about increasing page views but also making sure that those page views are resulting in engagement, growth, and profit.

Everyone has slightly different goals even if they’re similar.

Which is why I’m going to go through the 23 best content marketing metrics to track.

I’ll explain when you should and should not track each of them so that you can find a combination that works for you.

I’ve seen some successful businesses track as few as 3-4 metrics and others track more than 10.

There’s no wrong number. Just try to find a combination of metrics that takes all your goals into consideration.

Type #1 – Content consumption metrics

One of the main goals of content marketing is to produce value.

If you’re creating content that people love, not only are you making a difference in their lives, but you are building a name in your niche.

Oh yeah, it results in more leads and sales as well—I suppose that’s important too.

This is why it’s important to track metrics that tell you whether readers are discovering your content and whether they’re enjoying it.

Here are the best metrics to choose from for this purpose.

1. Page views: Let’s start with the basics—numbers that just about everyone should track.

Page views tell you how many times your content has been viewed. This includes both people who only saw a page once and those who have visited your page multiple times.

Within page views, there are a few different types of metrics that you might want to track.

First is the overall page views. You can see these by going into Google Analytics (GA), Audience Overview (the default screen):

Underneath the graph, you will see a number under “Pageviews”, which tells you how many times all of your content has been viewed in the time period that you have selected (in the top right).

I’d recommend writing down this number once a month.

You want to see your traffic numbers going up over time, which indicates that your content marketing efforts are working.

Since many niches are seasonal, you determine this by looking at two things:

• How each month compares to previous months
• How each month compares to the same month a year ago

If you know that traffic always dips in September, it’s not fair to compare your September traffic to August traffic. Instead, compare it to September of last year.

The second type of page views you might want to track is page views by a piece of content.

You can see this by going to “Behavior > Site Content > All Pages” in GA.

What you should do here is look at all your posts for the last year or so (exclude the newest few).

You want to see that posts are getting more traffic over time, which indicates that your audience is growing.

The reason why you exclude the newest few posts is because they haven’t had time to establish their search rankings, which will influence the number of views they get.

2. Unique visitors: Page views can be a bit deceptive at times. Depending on the content you produce, you may have the same visitors loading the same page 20-50 times per month.

This means that the increase in page views may be due to your existing readers visiting your site more rather than new ones finding it.

This isn’t a bad thing, but effective content marketing should grow your audience.

Unique visitors will tell you how many actual people visited your site. There will be some duplicates because people might visit on multiple devices, but it’s a pretty reliable metric.

To see these, go back to the main audience overview and look at your “Unique Visitor” number for the selected time period.

This gives you a good way to quantify your audience growth. Ideally, you should aim for at least a 5-15% growth per month, but if you’re really pushing content marketing hard, it might be even higher.

3. Downloads: Many businesses, in addition to their free online content, offer content in the form of PDF files.

To track the number of people who actually downloaded those files (not everyone who visits the page does), you need to set up an event in Google Analytics.

To do this, you need to add some simple code to your links of your PDF downloads.

Instead of this:

<a href=”pdfs/my-file.pdf” target=”_blank”>Download my file</a>

Use this:

<a onclick=”_gaq.push([‘_trackEvent’,’Download’,’PDF’,this.href]);” href=”pdfs/my-file.pdf” target=”_blank”>Download my file</a>

Once you have some data, you can go to “Behavior > Events > Overview” in GA:

There, you’ll see the number of events that took place (named ‘Download’ in the code above):

If you want to make it even easier, install Google Analytics by Yoast, a WordPress plugin.

In the advanced settings of the plugin, change “Track downloads as” to “Event,” and make sure PDFs are selected be tracked in the next field.

Then, when you go to GA events, your data will appear for all your PDF links automatically.

4. Emails opened: Those first three metrics measure content consumption from all your readers.

Arguably, content consumption from your best readers (your email subscribers) is the most important metric for long term growth.

If your subscribers are getting bored of your content, that shows you have a bigger issue with your content.

All major email marketing providers show you the number of opens for every email you send your subscribers.

Open rate doesn’t typically go up over time unless you improve your emailing in a major way.

However, if your content is really valuable, it shouldn’t go down much either.

If you’re seeing that your open rate starts to rapidly drop off after the first few emails you send, you have a problem.

If the drop occurs after a specific email, figure out why that email would cause such a drop, and fix it.

5. Email links clicked: You can get emails opened if you use clever headlines.

But that’s as far as they get you. If subscribers immediately close the email after they open it, it’s kind of pointless.

Another good metric to track is the number of subscribers who click on the links in your emails.

Any good email marketing provider will also show you your link click performance right next to your email open rate:

If your click rate is poor (say under 5%), or it’s dropping off over time, that tells you that your subscribers don’t find whatever they think is on the other end of the link to be valuable.

6. Pages per visit: Finally, another great content consumption metric is the number of pages a visitor looks at in a session (on average).

You can also see this in your audience overview in GA under the “Pages/Session” label:

This tells you something a bit different.

Readers can love your content, but they may only visit one page per session.

This could happen for two different reasons:

• your content is very long
• your internal linking sucks

You know I’m a fan of long content. It’s not going to be possible for visitors of Quick Sprout to visit 10 pages every time they visit the website.

However, they still visit more than one.

The bigger potential issue is internal linking. If visitors can’t find other relevant to them and interesting content on your site, they can’t read more even if they want to.

And the fewer pages they visit, the less likely they are to engage with your content.

With this metric, your goal should be to improve it over time as much as possible.

Yes, you will hit a plateau, but put real effort into pushing it as high as possible.

Once you improve it, continue to track it. If you notice a sudden dip, examine why your latest content would cause this.

Type #2 – Conversion Metrics

While creating content of value is an important goal, so is getting a return from all that work.

No one can afford to keep creating and giving out great content if they’re not generating some sort of a revenue.

This second set of metrics contains different metrics that you might want to track—conversion metrics.

The ones that you’ll want to track will depend specifically on your sales funnel. For example, you might want to think about:

• conversions into leads
• conversions into customers
• conversions into followers

7. Opt-in percentage: The most common goal of blog content is to convert a reader into an email subscriber.

It allows you to consistently send your subscribers new content as well as emails that will move them down your sales funnel.

If you create a landing page with a tool such as Leadpages, you’ll have built-in analytics that will tell you your subscription rate:

In general, though, you’re better off setting up a goal in GA.

It’s very simple to do. Start by going to “Conversions > Goals > Overview”:

Then, under “Template,” pick the “Newsletter sign up” option under the “Engagement” heading:

Click Next step, and give your goal a descriptive name.

In the final step, you’ll need to enter a destination page.

For an email list, you should redirect all new subscribers to a “thank you” page. Enter this URL in here. That way, when someone visits the page, GA knows that they are a new subscriber.

If you know how much a subscriber is worth, add a value.

That’s it.

Now, when you go to “Conversions > Goals”, you’ll see a graph like this:

You can look at other reports in GA to see your goal divided by other factors, like conversion rate based on a landing page:

In general, a higher conversion rate is better than a lower one. Track your conversion rate, and try to improve it over time.

8. New subscribers: On top of the conversion rate, you’ll also want to measure the gross number of new subscribers you get on a daily basis.

You can do this using goals in GA, or you can just look at the reports supplied by your email marketing provider:

Your email provider’s numbers will be more accurate, but the difference between the two won’t be significant.

9. Social media follower growth: Another valuable action that readers can take is to subscribe to your social media accounts.

While social media followers aren’t even close to being as valuable as email subscribers, they can still help you spread your content and grow your audience.

Also, some readers would rather follow you on social media first to get your content until they get a better sense of who you are.

The best way to track this is with a paid tool such as Buffer. Once you connect your accounts, you can see your total follower growth over time across all accounts:

10. Revenue generated: Way down your sales funnel, you want to convert readers or subscribers into customers.

This is by far the most important metric to track.

One way to track it is to set up Ecommerce tracking in GA. When you go to “Acquisition > Channels” report, you can see which channels lead to the most revenue.

Then, you can shift your content strategy to focus on the highest converting channels.

Additionally, if you know how well your email subscribers convert into customers, you can determine a value per email subscriber.

Then, you can assign this value to a goal for your new email sign-ups:

When you go to any report, you can see your goal conversion rate and an estimate of the revenue each item produced:

Then, you can go back to “Behavior > Site Content > All Pages” to see how much revenue each piece of content is worth:

This can be really informative in combination with other metrics that we’ll go over later in this post.

Type #3 – Retention Metrics

There are many different levels of success with content marketing.

You can produce content that readers think is cool and helpful but not necessarily life-changing or extremely valuable.

This is a big deal.

If you can create content that falls into that second category—life-changing or extremely valuable—readers will turn into customers at a much higher rate.

But it’s difficult to measure the value of content directly. Instead, you need to use retention metrics that indicate how hungry your readers are for more of your content.

11. Unsubscribe rate: One way to see if subscribers are losing enthusiasm over your content is to look at your unsubscribe rate.

Again, your email marketing provider should have a simple report that shows you unsubscribes over time:

I’d caution you not to put too much stock into your unsubscribe rate unless it’s really high.

Everyone loses a couple of subscribers when they send out an email.

But if you get a spike, you need to investigate it.

If someone doesn’t want to be on your list, you shouldn’t want them to be there either.

12. Bounce rate: When someone visits a page on your website but doesn’t click anything at all, they will count as a “bounce.”

A high bounce rate can indicate a few things:

• the visitors found what they were looking for and left immediately,
• the visitors couldn’t find what they were looking for,
• there was nothing for them to interact with.

The first one isn’t a problem—it’s actually a good thing. That’s why having a significant bounce rate isn’t always a bad thing.

The second point is a big issue. That means you have significant formatting problems or technical problems to fix.

The third one is also an issue because it suggests your formatting or internal linking is poor. You can also find ways to lower your bounce rate.

To check your overall bounce rate, go to your Audience Overview:

Even more useful is to go to “Behavior > Site Content > All Pages” and look at the bounce rate by page.

Use this to determine if any pages have an abnormally high bounce rate that needs to be fixed.

13. Return rate: It’s obviously a very good thing if readers keep coming back for more.

You can see who returns by going to “Audience > Behavior > New vs Returning”:

The two important things here are the sheer number of returning visitors and the ratio of returning to new visitors.

Your goal should be to increase both of these metrics as much as possible.

In a perfect world, all your new visitors would come back again.

Type #4 – Engagement Metrics

In order to create highly effective content, you should always try to make your content as practical as possible.

Why?

Because you need your visitors to take action.

When they see that your advice actually produces a good result for them, they’ll become your loyal readers.

Those readers typically turn into customers because they know that if your free content is that useful, your paid products will be even better.

Again, you can’t measure directly how often people are taking action.

However, you can get a good idea of it by measuring how often they engage with your content in any way.

Here are some things you may want to track.

14. Social media shares or likes: When someone likes or shares content on social media, it reflects who they are to all of their friends and followers.

This means that most people don’t share low quality posts.

So, if you’re getting lots of shares, it means people really enjoy your content and are happy to recommend it to their networks.

You should monitor the number of social shares you get on each post.

Over time, you want those number of increase.

To measure your shares, Tweets, likes, etc., it’s typically easiest to use a tool like Buffer, which automatically tracks all this data:

Alternatively, you can use a number of free social share checkers if you’re willing to do it one by one.

Or if you have some programming knowledge, you could create your own simple report generator using the APIs of the networks you’re interested in.

15. Number of comments: Getting people to comment in the age of social media is difficult. Most people who enjoy content would rather share it on social media rather than comment on the post itself.

But comments tell you that readers not only read your whole post but pay enough attention to say something about it.

Getting a few comments initially also encourages other readers to comment.

Certain topics will automatically get more comments, regardless of content quality. Look at the number of comments over a long time period to make sure they’re going up, and don’t worry about short term changes.

There’s no fancy way of tracking this. Just put the title of each post in a spreadsheet, and add a column for the number of comments.

16. Page depth: This metric is similar to pages per session but can give you different insights.

This set of metrics in GA tells you what number of people viewed a certain number of pages during a session.

You can view it in “Audience > Behavior > Engagement > Page Depth”:

It tells you how many sessions consisted of a visitor seeing only one page, two pages, three pages, and so on.

This really tells you if you’re getting those raving fans who want to check out every single post you’ve written.

This differs from pages per session, which could be skewed because it’s just an average. If all visitors see two pages, you’d have an average of 1.5 pages per session.

However, if they’re stopping at two, that means no one really loves your content.

17. Session duration: I’ve mentioned before that certain metrics such as bounce rate, and especially pages per session, can be messed up by the type of content you produce.

If you create really long content, visitors could stay on your site and read many pages at once. If they spend a lot of time on your site, it shows they are engaged.

To check this, go to “Behavior > Site Content”, and look at the far right column in the behavior section.

When you go to the landing pages subsection, you’ll see the session duration for visitors who landed on that particular page.

You can use this metric to measure any changes you make and to see which page is the best starting point for visitors.

Type #5 – Promotional metrics

There are two major expenses associated with content marketing.

One of them is promotion.

You need people to see your content in order for it to produce any results.

It’s important to track metrics that tell you the cost of promotion so that you can determine if the results are worth it.

18. Emails sent: In modern content marketing, email outreach is almost a necessity.

You need to make connections and get your content in front of them.

Typically, the goal is to let someone know about your content and have them link to it or share it.

The first two metrics you want to track are the number of emails you sent and the time it took you to do it.

This is something you’ll need to track in a basic spreadsheet.

Secondly, you want to track the conversion rate of these emails. Divide the number of links or shares you get out of the emails (whatever your goal was) by the total number of emails.

This allows you to test different email outreach techniques and templates, compare them, and choose the winner.

You can also calculate the time spent per link if you’re more concerned with efficiency.

19. Cost and return of ads: Not everyone does paid promotion for their content. It’s not required, but it can speed up results.

This is where tracking metrics are highly important because if you don’t know your results, you have no clue whether you’re losing money and should stop spending or you are making money and should spend more on these campaigns.

Any good ad network will provide you with your total spend and your cost per click (or, ideally, conversion).

Compare the cost per conversion (calculate it yourself if you need to) with the revenue you get per conversion (a different metric).

If you’re making more than it costs to get a conversion, spend more.

If not, either drop that campaign or continue to split test and optimize it if it’s around a break-even point.

20. Cost per subscriber: Even if you’re not doing paid advertising, every promotional strategy has a cost.

Email outreach takes time. Giving samples to reviewers costs you product. And so on…

You need to quantify the cost of your time, employees’ time, or anything you spend on promotion.

Then, divide that cost by the number of new subscribers you’ve gotten from each piece of content.

You should do this for each piece of content you create.

You’ll end up with a simple table like this, and you’ll start to see that certain promotional techniques are more effective than others.

It’s also a good idea to add the cost of creating the content (metric #21) in order to get an overall cost per subscriber.

Then, you can compare this to the revenue per subscriber and decide if that type of content is effective or not.

Type #6 – Internal content creation metrics

Finally, the other major expense of content marketing is actually creating the content.

You’ll see that certain types of content are more expensive than others.

It’s important to be able to see whether the results of each type of content are worth the money you are putting in to create it.

Track these metrics to get a clear picture of your content cost.

21. Cost to create content: If you’re paying a freelancer for your content, figuring out the cost is simple.

But even if you’re creating your own content, you still need to factor in your own time, just like you did when looking at the cost of promoting content:

22. Content ready to be published: One of the biggest signs of a healthy content marketing process is whether or not you have content ready to be published.

This ensures that you are consistent, which is a big key to success.

This metric is just a simple count. How many pieces of content do you have ready to go?

Check it once a month, and write it down somewhere.

If it’s gone down, make sure you know why, and figure out how to get back on track.

Conclusion

If you want to be successful, you must track metrics.

You should always be looking at your metrics to see how you can improve them in the future.

This allows you to test new tactics and techniques to find those worth implementing.

The best businesses iterate their strategy over and over to improve it, using their metrics as feedback.

I’ve given you 23 metrics that cover six main types of content marketing metrics. Pick as many or as few as you’d like—as long as they accurately represent all your content marketing goals.

If there are any metrics that you particularly like or feel that I should have included, please share them in a comment below.

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Want Free Wi-Fi? Here’s Where to Find It

A lot of us rely on Wi-Fi, whether we’re working from home or out and about. But where do you go if you need Wi-Fi and don’t want to pay extra for it?

Trent Hamm at The Simple Dollar lists 19 places to find free Wi-Fi. And you probably have at least one of these places near your home.

These free Wi-Fi spots might not take the place of your home modem, but they’ll provide you with a quick Wi-Fi fix when you’re out.

Libraries, Museums and Parks

Let’s start with the truly free Wi-Fi spots; the places where you are most likely to get a connection without also having to buy something. Here’s where you should go:

• Public libraries: Your local public library will nearly always have a free Wi-Fi connection. You may be required to take out a library card to get the password or code.

• Public parks: Believe it or not, parks are starting to offer free Wi-Fi connections. Here’s a list of free Wi-Fi equipped parks by state.

• Museums: Check your local museums to see if they offer free Wi-Fi. If the museum has Wi-Fi but also charges for admission, remember you can always duck into the lobby for a quick, free email check.

• Hotels: Some hotels offer free Wi-Fi in the lobby, no doubt for busy travelers who need to check in with the office right away. Hotels change their Wi-Fi policies often, but use this list to see if there might be a free Wi-Fi spot in a hotel near you.

• Airports: If you just need to pull up a few websites, it’s much more trouble than it’s worth to go all the way to the airport for a little free Wi-Fi. However, a lot of airports have added complimentary Wi-Fi to their list of amenities. If you’re flying out of town, check this list to see if your airport’s Wi-Fi is free.

Starbucks, Target and Apple Stores

Hamm notes many businesses offer free Wi-Fi to customers.

If you’re going into a Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Panera Bread, McDonalds or Buffalo Wild Wings, be prepared to buy something. (These restaurants do not guarantee free Wi-Fi at all locations. Check before you go!)

There are also a few stores where you might be able to get away with using the Wi-Fi without making a purchase:

• Target: Target offers free Wi-Fi, so consider wandering the store for a while as you check your email. (Just avoid those impulse buys!)

• Best Buy: Another huge chain store where you can duck in and use the free Wi-Fi without buying anything.

• Apple Store: Apple Stores have free Wi-Fi, and they’re often located in shopping malls, which means you might be able to sit on a bench outside the store and pick up their signal. As Hamm explains, “I often sit outside these stores and access the wireless; they seem not to mind (or even notice) inside the store.”

The next time you’re away from home, don’t pay for Wi-Fi — use one of these spots and connect for free.

Want the full list of free Wi-Fi spots? Read Trent Hamm’s story at The Simple Dollar.

Your Turn: Where do you like to go for free Wi-Fi?

Nicole Dieker is a freelance writer focusing on personal finance and personal stories. Her work has appeared in The Billfold, The Toast, Yearbook Office, The Write Life and Boing Boing.

The post Want Free Wi-Fi? Here’s Where to Find It appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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What Works For Me Won’t Necessarily Work for You

Just because I enjoy a vegetarian diet doesn’t mean you will or should. Photo: Stacy

I’m a married white male in my mid-30s, living in Iowa with my wife and three children. I work from home writing for various sites, primarily The Simple Dollar. I’m a homeowner. I’m a vegetarian (because my doctor suggested trying it for health reasons and I found that I didn’t mind the change once I got used to it). I studied two different areas of science in college and worked in a research environment after that before I decided to change careers. I take a daily maintenance medication (Synthroid) that I’ve taken since I was three days old.

I really enjoy playing board games and reading books. I like hiking and visiting parks. I don’t particularly enjoy watching television, but I will sometimes binge-watch an entire series on a lazy weekend day. I see no reason not to try to be less wasteful and more resourceful with my possessions, time, and energy.

Likely, you’re going to see some things that we have in common and some things that we don’t have in common. Perhaps we have the same race, or the same gender. Perhaps we both studied science in college. Maybe we’re both vegetarians. Maybe we’re both homeowners. Or, maybe not.

What’s the point of all of this? The point is that some things that I do that work well in my life might work really well in your life, but other things might not work well in your life at all.

You can see some examples of that in the things I listed above. I eat a 99% vegetarian diet – I occasionally eat fish, mostly because my father is a fisherman and also because I sometimes find myself in a situation where there really isn’t a vegetarian option and I don’t want to cause a conflict. That means that when I talk about food on The Simple Dollar, I tend to talk about vegetarian dishes. That’s just what we eat at our house. I don’t have much experience these days with meals that involve meat.

For some people, that’s definitely something we have in common and it makes my food posts extra useful. For some others, a meal without meat sounds absolutely atrocious. For yet others, they’re fine either way – they’ll eat meals with meat and they’ll eat meals without meat.

Those are all great stances to have. Everyone is different and we all do our own things in life.

However, it does mean that someone who is vegetarian is going to find it much easier to pull food advice from one of my articles than someone who is practically carnivorous.

That doesn’t mean that my food advice is useless to meat eaters. Most of the principles I use when it comes to meal preparation work just fine for people who eat meat. You can still use the grocery flyer as the basis for your meal plan and, if anything, it’ll actually be easier for you because you can utilize the meat sales. You can still make a ton of slow cooker meals. You can even modify a lot of the actual recipes I post and incorporate meat into them, as many of them work just fine if you substitute my choice of protein (beans or tofu) for your meat of choice.

It’s about picking and choosing the strategies that work for you.

My primary hobbies involve reading books, playing tabletop games, and making homemade beer. I get a lot of personal enjoyment out of those hobbies, and I can talk at length about specific strategies for saving money at those hobbies. I know how to get the best prices on board games and build a collection for very little money. I know how to maximize the value out of a homebrewing setup. I can write all kinds of specific things about those hobbies.

But what if you’re not into those hobbies?

Regardless of your specific hobby of choice, many of the same principles still apply. You can shop around for hobby supplies and use Amazon as your baseline price comparison. You can focus more on “doing” and the experience of the hobby rather than acquiring stuff. You can find groups with which to share the experience along with tips for reducing the costs.

It’s about picking and choosing the strategies that work for you.

I work from home as a writer. That means I don’t have the expenses related to commuting, but I do have other costs – research materials, computer equipment, and the like. I have to set my own hours, manage my own taxes (those lovely quarterly estimated taxes are the bane of my existence, as I seem incapable of estimating them correctly), and keep motivated by myself, which means fighting off a lot of distractions.

But what if that’s nothing like your own work life?

Regardless of your own career path, there are still strategies to use. Almost everyone has to deal with the issue of distraction in the workplace, whether it comes in the form of talkative coworkers, smartphones, or websites. We all have to deal with things like retirement plans, and all of us would like to get paid a little more, too, so knowing how to talk to our bosses or clients about greater pay is a vital skill.

Improving your skills, taking on projects, polishing your resume, speaking in front of groups, networking with people in the same field, finding mentors, being a mentor, attending conventions and conferences – these are things that many, many professionals do, myself included.

It’s about picking and choosing the strategies that work for you.

As I mentioned earlier, I take Synthroid every single day and I’ve been doing so since birth. I drew the short stick in that particular genetic lottery and my thyroid simply doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do. On top of that, it hasn’t exactly been a big secret that my daughter has been through the medical wringer as of late and although talking about it in great detail crosses that personal line I have into violating the privacy of family and friends, it’s reasonable to say that it has been quite expensive.

That probably sounds nothing like your specific medical situation.

However, when you take a step back, we’re probably going through many of the same things. We deal with prescription medicine costs and the challenge of trying generic medications. We’re dealing with the costs of surgeries and hospital bills. We’re dealing with the nuances of insurance. We’re utilizing the value of preventive medicine to keep our medical costs low.

It’s about picking and choosing the strategies that work for you.

That’s the value of a good personal finance website, something that I would like to think that describes The Simple Dollar and the articles I’ve produced for it. My goal isn’t to tell you how to live – it’s to describe how I live so that you can pull out the pieces that are useful and valuable for you.

It’s a principle that you should apply every time you read any sort of personal finance advice from anyone, not just me. You shouldn’t expect that every single piece of advice will perfectly match your life – it won’t. Instead, what you should look for is an understanding of where the author is coming from and what pieces of information you can pull out that are actually useful to you in your life.

Trust me – it’s not all going to be useful. I don’t think I’ve ever read a personal finance book or a personal finance article that perfectly matched me in every regard. I’m always pulling out the pieces that work for me.

Another key tool: If I’m not sure about something, I’ll try it if the relative risk is low. That’s usually my approach when it comes to frugality. The worst case scenario for most frugal tips is that I spent a dollar on some generic product that didn’t pan out or I spent thirty minutes doing something that didn’t really save me any money and wasn’t worth the effort. In the end, no big loss, but sometimes I’ll find that the tactic was really, really worthwhile.

The thing to always keep in mind with any personal finance advice – and this is true for advice in general – is that you have to match it up with your life first. The person giving you the advice is not you – it’s someone different, with different experiences, different income levels, different interests, different personal needs, and so on.

The trick is to always look for the things you have in common with that person, which will give you a strong sense of what you can learn from that person.

Not only is that a smart strategy for reading personal finance articles, it’s also a pretty smart strategy for life in general.

Good luck!

The post What Works For Me Won’t Necessarily Work for You appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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