According to data by Tony Haile of Chartbeat, I've only got 15 seconds to capture your attention ... so I guess I better make it quick. His data shows that people aren't reading content on the web the way we think they are, and the whole measurement system might be broken. Instead of tracking article views, we should focus on reading time and page engagement.

As a person who makes a living off of people reading, clicking, and sharing content, I was initially terrified. This couldn't possibly be true -- otherwise everything I know about content is pretty much a lie! To quell my panic, I took a little closer look at the data -- it seemed to be mostly from media companies.

In an email exchange, Chartbeat confirmed my suspicions. "The sample we used for our research is a random sample of the clients for whom we have permission to aggregate and anonymize their data," said Lauryn Bennett, Head of Brand at Chartbeat. "There are blog posts and the like included in the articles but most are traditional news/media posts, as we work with mostly media sites. Also, the term "articles" doesn't include homepages or landing pages; they're the news/content/media posts, pages, stories."

Even though we're all trying to be media companies, there are times where we aren't exact copycats. We have different business models. We have different challenges. We have different goals. We should both be working toward being like each other, but the reality is that we're not there just yet.

So I dug through Chartbeat's data to see what kind of takeaways folks like me who are trying to grow a business through content should know. I'll outline the three most important data points I found in the article and then explain what that data means for anyone trying to use content to grow their business.

At this point, at least a third of you have clicked away from this post -- thanks to those of you sticking around for the good stuff -- so hopefully you'll stick around a little bit longer. The data is captivating, and the insights could make you think about your job a little differently. I hope you read to the end (for both of our sakes).  

Data Point #1: People Engage With Newsworthy Content More Than Evergreen Content

The Chartbeat team looked at a random sample of 2 billion pageviews generated by over a half a million articles on 2,000 sites to see which types of topics got more engagement. In an email exchange, Chartbeat defined engagement as "the amount of time, measured in seconds, that a person is actively interacting with their browser. While a user is reading a page, we count up the amount of time s/he spends with the page in an active browser tab -- a foregrounded tab where the user has scrolled, typed, navigated, or moved their mouse in the last few seconds."

According to the TIME article, "Articles that were clicked on and engaged with tended to be actual news. In August, the best performers were Obamacare, Edward Snowden, Syria and George Zimmerman, while in January the debates around Woody Allen and Richard Sherman dominated." On the flip side, articles with little engagement were those with generic, evergreen topics. "In August, the worst performers included Top, Best, Biggest, Fictional etc. while in January the worst performers included Hairstyles, Positions, Nude and, for some reason, Virginia. That’s data for you."

This was one of those takeaways that knocked me on my feet -- after all, evergreen articles contribute a huge chunk of leads and blog post views every month. But, on a deeper look, it's not all that surprising. If you're just looking at single month snapshots, newsworthy content will definitely be on top -- it's still relevant. But, if I had to take a guess, this trend wouldn't look the same if you looked at a longer period of time.

I'd bet that story traffic and engagement rates spike when it's newsworthy, then plummets when it's "old news." Evergreen content, on the other hand, would be a slow growth (including engagement). I'd speculate that if you measure both types of articles over a year, their average engagement numbers would be strikingly similar. They're two different plays -- one forlongterm, sustainable growth, the other for quick splashes of traffic.

Of course, I don't have access to the data, so this could be utter fluff, but the takeaway here should not be to double down on newsworthy content. You're concerned with longterm, sustainable traffic to your site that converts into sustainable growth for your business -- not content that brings you business one month and then trickles off. That being said, if you're looking to reach short-term traffic and lead gen goals, trying to newsjack could help you attain them.

Data Point #2: Social Media Has Little Effect on Reading Engagement

The Chartbeat data on social media's influence on reading engagement was also pretty dire. Out of 10,000 articles shared on social media, they found that there was no relationship whatsoever between the amount a piece of content is shared and the amount of attention an average reader will give that content. The chart below can show you want that means, visually:

Kinda dismal, right? You'd think that because social media helps businesses get traffic, leads, and customers to people's websites, a majority of those would be engaged visitors.

So maybe you refocus your social efforts to engage only the most avid readers -- if you're a HubSpot customer using Social Inbox, you can get a better idea of who you're talking to and where you're spending your time. Maybe you find that leads are those who consume the most content, so you choose to spend more time sending them articles.  

Or maybe you can think about the larger picture. People who come through social media to your site most likely stumble on the link randomly and something specific piques their interest. They passively found your link, so it's no wonder that they might not be your most engaged reader.

On the other hand, people who find your content through search engines are in active search mode already -- they're looking for a specific answer and are committed to taking the time to find it, which may make them more engaged visitors. If that's the metric you're trying to move on your content, you should focus on more SEO optimization. This data doesn't mean all social is hopeless -- it just means you might have to rethink how you're using those platforms and maybe reallocate your time to other marketing activities.

Data Point #3: Banner Ads Don't Work

Chartbeat just comes out and says it: Banner ads are on the outs. "Click-through rates are now averaging less than 0.1% and you’ll hear the words banner blindness thrown about with abandon," Haile says in TIME.

But Haile offers a solution. Since 66% of attention on a normal media page is spent below the fold, and people spending at least 20 seconds on a page with an ad are 20-30% more likely to recall that ad afterwards, advertisers should just focus on placing their ads in places people look, and on getting them to look at the ads for a while.

He's not suggesting that advertising be kicked in the pants, just that advertisers should use metrics like time and attention instead of views and clicks. And by focusing on new metrics, advertisers can get better ROI and media sites can focus on what really matters: creating quality content that gets people to stick around.

So what do these recommendations actually mean for your business? Spend more money on advertising to get better marketing ROI? Not quite.

First, I'd argue that switching up the placement of ads won't impact reader behavior in the long run. That "banner blindness" thing is actually a studied phenomenon. According to user testingby the Nielsen Norman Group, no matter what the engagement level, people ignore banner ads. They say, "If users are looking for a quick fact, they want to get done and aren't diverted by banners; and if users are engrossed in a story, they're not going to look away from the content." Which brings me to my next point -- if the solution is to create quality, engaging content, banner ads could be even less effective.

Instead of buying up ads, just focus on creating your own quality content. Be the content on the page that keeps people engaged -- not the ad on the side that's either interrupting an experience or getting ignored. Get the pageviews on your site instead of renting out others'.

At the end of the day these stats give us a fascinating look into the media world -- the folks we're all trying to model our content after. We shouldn't take every piece of data with a grain of salt, but with a little digging and extra analysis, we can walk away with some tangible takeaways for our business.

What Sets Top Performing Ecommerce Companies Apart?

Research by RJ metrics shows that growth within the first six months is what ultimately separates top performing ecommerce companies from everyone else.

In a study of over 200 ecommerce businesses, analyzing the three year sales trends of  businesses doing between $1 - $60 million in revenue, it was found that top performing companies were making roughly 2.5x more than other companies who started making sales around the same time, and by the end of the first year, were quite literally, off the charts.

Extrapolated out, the growth of these top performing companies over the course of three years ends up looking something like this:

But how is this possible?

In case you didn’t catch it from the first screen grab, RJ Metrics says this:

"This rapid rate of growth so early on in a company lifecycle points to the significance of natural product/market fit and execution. Marketing spend can get you far, but marketing alone is unable to drive this kind of accelerated growth."

I’ve already talked quite a bit about product/market fit before, so I won’t push on that too hard here, but basically, this kind of rapid, off-the-charts growth happens early on because of three main things:

• Selling things to people who want to buy them (duh).
• Securing & owning your marketing channels early on.
• Having a plan to remarket to existing customers.

Looking at other data from the report, we see that top performers aren’t just doing double the revenue, but are actually acquiring new customers at a much faster rates than everyone else too.

This isn’t an accident. As I mentioned in my article about pre-launch marketing, top performing companies plan and test their customer acquisition strategies well ahead of their launch - often securing strategic partnerships, press contacts, and early buzz, months (if not years) in advance of the initial release.

There could be an entire blog dedicated to pre-launch marketing and early traction, but the short version is this, top performing companies aren’t launching to nobody and hoping to make sales.  

Likewise, top performing companies aren’t just acquiring customers once & hoping those customers come back. Instead, there is a plan in place, early on to get a person buying again and again and again as soon as possible, and getting them hooked on buying from you. 

Just look at the difference between the two graphs below:

The graph on the left shows how top performing companies start getting customers hooked, and turning them into repeat buyers almost right away.

By the time these companies reach the three year mark, repeat customers actually end up accounting for more revenue than new customers, which is AWESOME because marketing to existing customerscan be way more profitable and comes at a fraction of the cost. The graph on the right shows a slower, more natural progression. 

What the "average" companies might not realize though, is how much of a missed opportunity that is. For instance, did you know that Harvard Business School found that increasing customer retention by as little as 5% can increase profits between 25-95%?

What’s even better, is that other research by RJ Metrics found that top customers spend up to 30x more than the average customer over their customer lifespan.

I’m not a betting man, but if I had to, I’d bet these top performing companies are focusing on theirbest customers and developing their business around acquiring customers just like those that are spending more and more frequently.

Evidence of this can be found when you see that the average order value of top performing companies is pretty consistently around the $100, whereas there is far more fluctuation of AOV for the bottom performing companies.

It was also found that the average customer for a top performing company makes around 7 purchases in a quarter, whereas the customers for the other companies are doing less than half of that.

Richard wrote a phenomenal article on getting repeat sales and retaining customers that you absolutely need to check out if you want to nail this out of the gate.

Given these two facts, it should come as no surprise that the customer lifetime value of top performing companies was also 5x higher than each of the other groups.

So, What Does All This Mean For You?

If you’re the kind of entrepreneur that wants to light the world on fire with your new ecommerce venture, you need a plan.

That plan needs to address how you’ll:

1. Penetrate the market.
2. Find product/market fit.
3. Get people hooked on your store.
4. Encourage repeat purchases.
5. Increase your order values.
6. Focus on and reward top customers and...
7. Grow as fast as possible in a six month period.

This takes time.

Approaching the market, and knowing how to position your brand in an impactful way requires a great deal of planning and strategy. And the more time you spend dedicated to understanding the market and developing that approach, the better your chances of having that off-the-chart growth we saw in earlier graphs.

But also, it takes money.

This isn’t just the investment in the inventory, but also the tools, talent, relationships, ads, and whatever else is necessary to get you in front of the right people.

Yes, there is a lot that can be done for free (and I strongly recommend you do those things to make your first sale) however if you’re looking to build the “next big thing” you’ll need to invest in breaking into the channels where your most engaged prospects will be, and the talent necessary to position your product as something they want/need.

All that being said, there’s nothing wrong with not being a top performer either. The “average” companies in this study are still doing between $1 million and $15 million in revenue per year, which is nothing to sneeze at. 

But now that you know the difference, the question is, what kind of entrepreneur do you want to be?

The Story of Ugmonk: From Side Project to Lifestyle Product Empire

A love for typography and minimalistic design is all it took for designer Jeff Sheldon to get started on a life-changing path.  

A designer by day, and entrepreneur by night—Jeff has been able to build an online t-shirt, and lifestyle product empire over the past few years.

In this customer spotlight, we catch up with Jeff and learn more about the growth and development of Ugmonk.

Can you give us a bit of background about Ugmonk?

Ugmonk is a design brand focused on producing high-quality products with a minimal aesthetic and intense attention to detail.

It started as a small side project to design t-shirts that I wanted for myself and now it has grown into a full-blown lifestyle brand.

We've shipped tens of thousands of products to over 60 countries around the world and continue to evolve and expand our product range.

It all started with a simple idea – design fresh high-quality unique items.

Just one month after I had graduated college, married my high-school sweetheart, moved to Burlington, VT, and started a full-time design job, I found myself brainstorming about launching my own brand centered around my love for typography and minimal design.

I felt like the design culture at the time was really lacking in this area, and apparently this design sensibility connected with many people all around the world.

What started as an outlet for my passion and entrepreneurial experiment quickly grew into much more than just selling a few shirts.

How did you create, manufacture or source your product? What were some lessons you learned during this process?

Designing a product is one thing but getting it produced is a whole different challenge. In the beginning I was pretty fluent on the design side of things but quickly learned that there was a lot I didn’t know about production.

Screenprinted t-shirts sound pretty straightforward but there are so many variables that go into producing a high-quality tee.

One of the biggest things I can recommend is working with manufacturers who take a true interest in your company and are willing to guide and educate you along the way. Don’t always look for the cheapest option available.

As I branched out into other types of products like leather goods, sketchbooks, and bags, each one has a big learning process. I spent countless hours researching and asking lots of questions to figure things out along the way.

There are no real secrets or shortcuts to this, it’s just about being dedicated and willing to put in the time to learn.

The most involved product so far is our Waxed Canvas Messenger Bag.

Since this was a completely different product than anything I have produced so far, I needed a place that would help guide me through the manufacturing process and give input based on their expertise.

Many of the larger factories I contacted wanted a fully-designed bag to work from and didn’t seem to take a personal interest in helping me through the process.

After contacting over 40 places I finally found a company in Portland, Oregon (with help from Maker’s Row) that specialized in making the type of bag that I was looking to produce.

Moral of the story: don’t give up even when the search seems hopeless.

It took over 2 years from the initial sketches to releasing the finished bags in our shop, but I’m incredibly happy with the results.

We get compliments from customers all of the time about how much they love their bag.

How did you promote your business initially and where did your first sales come from?  Any major media mentions or PR wins since then?

When I launched back in 2008 I was fortunate enough to get featured on several design and tshirt blogs (like NotCot, ILoveTypography, AisleOne and others). Back then social media was nothing like it is today so blogs were still the main way of getting exposure online.

Some sites I reached out to and some reached out to me. I sent personal emails to blogs that I was a fan of and thought their readers might enjoy my products.

I kept every email personal and to the point and avoided sending any type of press release in bulk.

Rather than trying to bribe with free products, I just asked them to post if they liked what I was doing with Ugmonk. Many sites never responded but some did and those helped build some initial traction.

In the beginning word-of-mouth played a huge part is spreading the word about Ugmonk and still continues to be our primary marketing strategy.

I'm all about creating products that customers will like enough that they want to tell their friends about and come back for more.

Over the years we’ve built a very loyal community and following and have our customers to thanks for much of our growth.

This process has been slow & steady and far from an overnight success, but we’re in this for the long haul and are more interested in sustainable growth.

Building personal relationships with influencers in your market can be tremendously valuable in the long run.  It's important to make every point of contact personable and not just a copy-and-pasted email that is sent out to a number of influencers in bulk.

How did your sales pick up?

Sales picked up quite a bit when we were featured on some of the bigger blogs. Those features led to being featured on other design blogs and inspiration websites.

One of the coolest things about being featured online is that we were being seen by people all over the world, not just in the USA.

We are able to connect with people who share the same love for design and typography regardless of their geographic location.

Some hit press spotlights: Ugmonk is featured on PayPal, Ugmonk in the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The band Hawk Nelson rocks Ugmonk, Seen on Cougar Town (ABC), In a Demi Lovato music video, and many, many more dating back to 2008.

I’ve also been invited to share the Ugmonk story and my design philosophy at a variety of design conferences over the past few years.

It's important to continue to build momentum throughout the ecommerce journey.  Having a strong brand, and something that stands out from the crowd will be extremely beneficial in the long run.  Ugmonk is a timeless brand in that sense.

How do you handle fulfilment and organize the back-end of your business?  Can you share some key lessons and tips on doing this successfully?

We still do all of our fulfillment and shipping in-house. It's a ton of work, more than most people realize, but it allows us to have complete control of the process and customer experience.

In the beginning we were doing everything manually. From printing postage in PayPal to filling out international customs forms by hand to standing in line at the post office, it was a tedious process.

As business picked up we spent more and more time on the fulfillment side and new we had to streamline things.

That’s when we discovered ShipStation which has been an absolute lifesaver.

This also allows us to see all of our products in hand before shipping them out and do quality control first hand. Providing great customer service is super important to us.

We want to make sure our customers have a great experience from the moment that they land on our website to the time they receive and use the product.

Thankfully I have help with shipping and customer service and hired my mom and sister-in-law to handle those crucial parts of the business.

You now work on Ugmonk full time.  How did you make that transition?

Through the first two years, we continued to build Ugmonk by working late nights and weekends refining designs, organizing logistics, and packing orders.

Each new release received an enthusiastic response from the community and knowledge of the brand spread organically through word of mouth and online features. My dream of starting my own brand was no longer just a dream.

Just before Ugmonk’s 2nd anniversary, I decided to leave my full-time design job so that I could focus all of my energies on the passion that I had for Ugmonk.

As part of this change, my wife and I moved back to our hometown in PA, and my parents graciously agreed to allow their house to become the Ugmonk warehouse and shipping center.

In the past you've blogged about productivity.  Can you share some of your tips and tricks for staying productive?

I’ve tried a lot of task management apps, but none of them seemed to stick. I’ve spent more hours than I’d like to admit just comparing features, reading reviews, and testing out demos.

While a lot of people have success with digital task apps, they all just felt like too much effort to incorporate into my workflow. I didn’t want to spend time categorizing, tagging, and organizing tasks, I just wanted to get stuff done.

I always seem to come back to good old fashioned pen and paper. It’s the most frictionless method and there are several keys things that make it work for me.

Crossing things off feels so good. Sure, you can digitally cross off tasks, but nothing beats taking a pen and scribbling out a task on the list.

I can easily jot down additional notes, sketches, or info for a particular task. For example, if I’m on the phone with a supplier and need to make some notes about production details, I can easily write it down right next to the task.

My daily routine starts with looking at my whole list of projects on my paper to-do list and then writing the most urgent tasks on a small sticky note. This allows me to focus on the 4-8 things I want to accomplish that day. 

You've done an Ugmonk charity drive in the past—what was that like?

Just a few months after opening shop, we decided to hold our first annual Ugmonk Gives Back charity drive – donating a portion of each sale during the holiday season to provide meals to children in orphanages around the world.

To date we’ve been able to supply over 30,000 meals!

We partner with a great organization called Rice Bowls who is extremely efficient in stewarding the donations they receive in order to serve the children in orphanages around the world.

My wife and I got to experience this first hand when we were invited to visit a few of the orphanages in Honduras and Nicaragua. We are so grateful for the support of our customers that enables us to give back to these children!

What software, tools, and resources are crucial to your business?

There are a lot of different tools that go into running Ugmonk.  These are some of the most important for our online store.

Shopify - for all things commerce related
Wordpress - for all of the non-shop pages
Klaviyo - for email marketing and automation
Google Analytics - tracking website traffic and conversions
Shipstation - is an absolute lifesaver for processing and shipping orders

What are your top recommendations for new store owners?

You only have a few seconds to grab people’s attention so it’s important for your site design to capture your story and clearly tell people what you are about.

Before launching a store, think about what makes you and your products unique and how you want to communicate that message.