{"id":172651,"date":"2024-09-02T11:09:16","date_gmt":"2024-09-02T16:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=172651"},"modified":"2025-07-21T09:39:45","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T14:39:45","slug":"content-marketing-roi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/content-marketing-roi\/","title":{"rendered":"Content Marketing ROI: How to Put a $ Value on Content"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"intro-txt\">The formula for calculating ROI is so simple that I\u2019ll share it right here, in the article introduction:<\/div>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code> ((Return from content \u2212 cost of content) \/ cost of content) * 100<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>If your content marketing generated $10,000 in sales and cost $2,000 to create, that\u2019s an ROI of&nbsp;400%:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>(($10,000 - $2,000) \/ $2,000) * 100 = 400%<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Although the math is simple, actually doing this exercise in real life is tricky, for a few reasons. The most important: it\u2019s pretty hard to put a dollar value on every single benefit of your content marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ll show you 3 practical methods for quickly working out your content marketing ROI, and then explain why ROI can become a tricky concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"intro-tok\" id=\"intro_tok\" style=\"display:none;\"><div class=\"intro-title\">Contents<\/div><a href=\"#\" class=\"expand-dots\"><span><\/span><span><\/span><span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"3 practical methods for calculating ROI\" data-section=\"how-to-calculate-roi\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-172651-_jgjegqwtupz8\"><\/a>3 practical methods for calculating ROI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>ROI is complicated, but that shouldn\u2019t stop you from trying to calculate it. Here are three simple methods for quickly working out how much \u201cvalue\u201d you get from your content. To work out your content ROI, just plug these numbers into the ROI formula at the start of the article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"1. Conversion analysis\" data-section=\"conversion-analysis\"><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-172651-_ytatsnwxogxu\"><\/a>1. Conversion analysis<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In a perfect world, we would know exactly how much revenue each and every blog post generated for our business. To calculate ROI this way, we can use a formula as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>Return from content marketing = (New customers from content * ACV)<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1694\" height=\"430\" class=\"wp-image-172654\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-3.png\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-3.png 1694w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-3-680x173.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-3-768x195.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-3-1536x390.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1694px) 100vw, 1694px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To work this out, we need to calculate the number of new customers generated by our content in a given period. If you don\u2019t know this figure, you\u2019ll need to set up some kind of conversation tracking in software like <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-use-google-analytics\/\">Google Analytics<\/a>, allowing you to track the number of people that complete a desired action on your blog post (like filling in a form or starting a free&nbsp;trial)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"further-reading\"><div class=\"reading-title\">Further reading<\/div><div class=\"reading-content\">\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-use-google-analytics\/\">How to Use Google Analytics 4 for Beginners<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In most cases, visitors won\u2019t buy directly from your blog post, so you\u2019ll need to&nbsp;track:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The number of conversions generated by your content (e.g. free trial signups or demo requests), and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The number of those conversions that went on to become paying customers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In the image below, we can see which pages visitors land on before purchasing a product. We can also see the conversion rate and the revenue attributed to the conversions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"595\" class=\"wp-image-172655\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-4.png\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-4.png 1200w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-4-680x337.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-4-768x381.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Next, we need to calculate ACV: <em>average customer value.<\/em> This refers to the typical amount that customers spend with our company over the course of their relationship with&nbsp;us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we sell one product, and most customers buy just once, our ACV will be the price of our product. If we offer multiple products or add-ons, and customers buy regularly or set up subscriptions, then our ACV will be a lot higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s assume that our conversion analysis shows that we had 1,000 free trial signups from our content in February, and 100 of those free trials became paying customers. If our ACV is $2,000, we can plug these numbers into our formula to calculate a return from content of $200,000:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>(New customers from content * ACV) = 100 * $2,000 = $200,000<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>This method is the gold standard of ROI calculations, but (because of the problems mentioned above) calculating ROI like this can be extremely complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"2. Lifetime traffic value\" data-section=\"lifetime-traffic-value\">\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-172651-_sq6o1xg291ot\"><\/a>2. Lifetime traffic value<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>At the other end of the spectrum, here\u2019s a quick and easy method that takes about 30 seconds using Ahrefs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>Return from content marketing = (monthly traffic value * content lifetime in months)<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1550\" height=\"430\" class=\"wp-image-172656\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-5.png\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-5.png 1550w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-5-680x189.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-5-768x213.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-5-1536x426.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1550px) 100vw, 1550px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead of working out how much revenue we\u2019ve generated from our content, this method estimates how much money we\u2019ve<em> saved<\/em> by ranking organically for keywords instead of paying for advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Ahrefs, you can estimate the <a href=\"https:\/\/help.ahrefs.com\/en\/articles\/1012028-what-is-traffic-value-in-site-explorer\">Traffic Value<\/a> of any article\u2014the amount it would cost to generate the same traffic via Google Ads, instead of&nbsp;SEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Below, we can see that it would cost an estimated ~$44k to \u201creplace\u201d the traffic to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/free-seo-tools\/\">our list of free SEO tools<\/a> using&nbsp;ads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"899\" height=\"532\" class=\"wp-image-172657\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-6.png\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-6.png 899w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-6-680x402.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-6-768x454.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 899px) 100vw, 899px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If we add up the traffic value of all the pages in our blog, we have an estimated monthly traffic value of $790,000:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"755\" height=\"397\" class=\"wp-image-172658\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-7.png\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-7.png 755w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-7-680x358.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 755px) 100vw, 755px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Put another way, if we used paid advertising to get the same amount of visits from the same keywords, we\u2019d need to spend around $790,000 on ads, each and every&nbsp;month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most content is useful for longer than a single month, so we can multiply this monthly traffic value by the expected useful \u201clifetime\u201d of our content. If we use two years as a starting point, that gives us a lifetime traffic value of $18,960,000:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>(Monthly traffic value * content lifetime) = $790,900 * 24-months = $18,960,000<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>We have over 2,000 blog articles at Ahrefs, and we were probably never going to spend $19 million on paid advertising. But this calculation allows you to assign a dollar value to your content in a matter of seconds. It\u2019s particularly useful if your company recently switched from a heavy reliance on paid advertising to content marketing, letting you show off the money you\u2019ve saved from the switch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"3. Signup attribution\" data-section=\"signup-attribution\">\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-172651-_z855zavgnjd0\"><\/a>3. Signup attribution<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s wrap up with a best-of-both-worlds approach, very similar to how we calculate ROI at Ahrefs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>Return from content = (% of signups attributed to content * total signup revenue)<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1666\" height=\"430\" class=\"wp-image-172659\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-8.png\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-8.png 1666w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-8-680x176.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-8-768x198.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-8-1536x396.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1666px) 100vw, 1666px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Whenever a new customer signs up for Ahrefs, we ask them a question: <em>Where did you hear about&nbsp;us?&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their answer is piped into a dedicated Slack channel,<em> #registrations<\/em>, which gives us a live feed of new signups and, crucially, how they discovered Ahrefs. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/sam-oh-84593014\/\">Sam, our VP of Marketing<\/a>, regularly uses this feed to work out the percentage of total signups that can be attributed to his YouTube content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If I head to <em>#registrations<\/em> and run a search for signups that mentioned \u201cyoutube\u201d, we can see over 34,000 people that directly attributed their discovery of Ahrefs to Sam\u2019s video content:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"779\" class=\"wp-image-172660\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-9.png\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-9.png 1024w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-9-559x425.png 559w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-9-768x584.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We can use this to estimate content marketing ROI: if 33% of all respondents in a given month attribute their signing up to YouTube, it would be fairly reasonable to assume that 33% of<em> all <\/em>signups came from YouTube, and that 33% of all new revenue should be attributed to our video content efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we assume a theoretical monthly revenue of $300,000, and that 1,000 of a total 3,000 signups could be attributed to \u201cYouTube\u201d, we can plug these values into our formula for a return on content of $100,000:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>(33% of signups attributed to content * $300,000) = $100,000<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>This method will underreport the number of signups generated (people might misspell YouTube, or say \u201cvideos\u201d instead, or most likely, not answer the question at all). The relationship between new signups and new revenue might also be more complicated than we assume here (if you have lots of free users, for example).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it has the benefit of making it easy to compare to other marketing channels. If I search for \u201cgoogle\u201d in the same <em>#registration<\/em> channel, I see 94,000 mentions\u2014bigger than Sam\u2019s 34,000 YouTube mentions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1033\" height=\"414\" class=\"wp-image-172661\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-10.png\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-10.png 1033w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-10-680x273.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-10-768x308.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1033px) 100vw, 1033px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>(Although he\u2019s definitely catching up\u2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Challenges in measuring content ROI\" data-section=\"why-roi-is-hard-to-calculate\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-172651-_hadqm983z3i8\"><\/a>Challenges in measuring content ROI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to talk convincingly about ROI to your boss or your clients, it helps to understand these three points:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"1. Cost can get complicated\" data-section=\"cost-can-get-complicated\">\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-172651-_3ouyhb3ky2cl\"><\/a>1. Cost can get complicated<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>If all of your content marketing is outsourced from freelancers or agencies, it\u2019s relatively easy to work out how much it costs: it\u2019s the amount they bill&nbsp;you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have an entirely in-house team, with team members dedicating 100% of their effort to content, costs are similarly straightforward: it\u2019s their salaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But things can get a little complicated if you source content from multiple sources (like a combination of freelancers, agencies, and in-house team members), or if multiple people contribute to your content in relatively small ways (like a designer dedicating a third of their time to content, and two thirds to product marketing).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1940\" height=\"1606\" class=\"wp-image-172652\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-1.png\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-1.png 1940w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-1-513x425.png 513w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-1-768x636.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-1-1536x1272.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1940px) 100vw, 1940px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>But this is still simple compared to our next complication:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"2. The value of content is hard to measure\" data-section=\"value-is-hard-to-measure\">\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-172651-_26yso59iog22\"><\/a>2. The value of content is hard to measure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The most obvious benefit of content marketing: it attracts new customers. We can theoretically add up all the new customers who found and bought our product because of our content marketing, and work out how much money they spent (I explain how in the next section).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But content has lots of other benefits that are less easy to measure. It&nbsp;can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Encourage upsells and expansion<\/strong>. By sharing product tips and new use cases, content can provide the nudge needed to turn free users into power users, or \u201cLite\u201d plan customers into \u201cAdvanced\u201d plan users\u2014like <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ahrefs-for-content-marketers\/\">My 5 Favorite Ahrefs Use Cases for Content Marketers<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Save money on customer support.<\/strong> Content can help answer customer questions before they become support queries, like the many guides we\u2019ve published to help users understand how metrics like <a href=\"https:\/\/help.ahrefs.com\/en\/articles\/1012028-what-is-traffic-value-and-paid-traffic-cost-in-site-explorer\">Traffic Value<\/a> are calculated, and how they can be&nbsp;used.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Build brand recognition and affinity. <\/strong>Content can give your brand a voice, sharing the motivations and beliefs that underpin the products or services you sell. We generally like to buy from companies we respect, so \u201cbrand affinity\u201d can make a real difference to the bottom line.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Makes paid search advertising more effective<\/strong>. Sending paid search traffic to articles instead of \u201ctraditional\u201d landing pages can reduce the cost of clicks (something we\u2019ve done for articles like our <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/keyword-research\" data-ahr=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-research\/\">guide to keyword research<\/a>).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Help other pages perform better.<\/strong> A page that generates a ton of backlinks but no sales (like our list of <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-statistics\/\">SEO statistics<\/a>) can still contribute to revenue by helping other \u201cmoney\u201d pages rank better for their target keywords.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of these benefits are virtually invisible\u2014how do you measure support queries that content stopped from existing?\u2014but very real. No matter how you calculate ROI, there\u2019s a good chance you\u2019ll be undervaluing its impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Which brings us to our next complication:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"3. Attribution is tricky\" data-section=\"attribution-is-tricky\">\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-172651-_ua87bb97sir5\"><\/a>3. Attribution is tricky<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Working out the role content played in a sale is called \u201cattribution\u201d, and it\u2019s pretty tricky to pin&nbsp;down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Did someone convert <em>because of <\/em>an article or <em>in spite of<\/em> it? When they read multiple articles, which had the biggest impact? If someone buys because of an advert, should we still credit the blog post they read beforehand?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/buyers-journey\/\">Customer journeys<\/a> are also rarely as straightforward as we\u2019d hope. One person might read 50 articles and never buy anything; another might read a single article, disappear for a year, and immediately buy. What role did content play in those journeys?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are different ways of measuring attribution to help with some of this uncertainty:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>First-touch attribution<\/strong> credits the <em>first <\/em>piece of content a visitor engages with before converting.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Last-touch attribution<\/strong> credits the <em>last <\/em>piece of content.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Multi-touch attribution<\/strong> tries to credit <em>every<\/em> piece of content that was involved in the buying process.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1890\" height=\"1744\" class=\"wp-image-172653\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-2.png\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-2.png 1890w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-2-461x425.png 461w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-2-768x709.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/word-image-172651-2-1536x1417.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1890px) 100vw, 1890px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>But in all cases, attribution is never perfect: we just can\u2019t measure every interaction someone has with our content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"ROI modeling and forecasting\" data-section=\"roi-modeling-and-forecasting\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">ROI modeling and forecasting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The main use of content marketing ROI is for reporting. CMOs and other company leaders usually want to know that every growth strategy generates more revenue than it costs; if it doesn\u2019t, the strategy usually needs to be cut or changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But calculating ROI also enables you to forecast future performance, and allows you to start revenue prediction for different strategies and scenarios. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What would happen to your revenue if you improved your baseline conversion rate by&nbsp;1%?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What would happen if you shifted $10k per month away from paid media and into content marketing?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Is it worth enrolling in an ad network and starting to use direct traffic monetization, or will it cause you to lose&nbsp;money?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These questions become much easier to answer with a solid ROI model to tinker with. If you want to start building your own predictive models, check out this webinar from the content agency Omniscient Digital:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vIzMb0Au3KI<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"How to improve content marketing ROI\" data-section=\"how-to-improve-roi\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to improve content marketing ROI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>So you\u2019ve calculated your content ROI\u2026 and now, you want to <em>improve <\/em>it. Thinking back on our ROI formula:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><code>((Return from content \u2212 cost of content) \/ cost of content) * 100<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There can only be two core ways to generate a better ROI from your content: reduce the cost of your content, or increase the return (the traffic and sales it generates).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to reduce the cost of content marketing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Repurpose your content. <\/strong>If you\u2019ve gone to the effort of writing a detailed 2,000-word deep dive, why not try repurposing it into an email series, social media carousel, or webinar?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Use generative AI in smart, selective ways. <\/strong>Generative AI can speed up boring parts of the content workflow, from keyword research to content optimization. Read our guide for more details: <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-seo\/\">14 Ways to Use AI for Better, Faster SEO<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to improve the return of content marketing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Create more evergreen content.<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/evergreen-content\/\">Evergreen content<\/a> is content that is timeless and always useful, needing little in the way of updates or maintenance. The more evergreen content you create, the harder your blog will continue to work for you, months and years after your content was first published.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Focus on topics with high Business Value<\/strong>. Some topics are more likely to turn into revenue than others\u2014we call these topics with <em>high Business Value<\/em>. For Ahrefs, these are SEO-related topics like link building or content optimization. We talk more about keyword research and business value in our guide to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-content-strategy\/\">SEO content strategy<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Work on conversion optimization.<\/strong> While there\u2019s no magic bullet for getting more customers, small tweaks to your site\u2019s calls-to-actions and signups can improve conversion rates and new customer signups.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Other essential content marketing metrics\" data-section=\"other-essential-metrics\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Other essential content marketing metrics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Content marketing ROI is a useful metric, but there are other, often <em>simpler <\/em>metrics that can prove just as useful for guiding your content strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Ahrefs, we focus our monthly content reporting on the following metrics:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Content output:<\/strong> because we have a solid keyword strategy and editorial process, we know that the more content we publish, the better the results we\u2019ll see. We use a content output goal (like \u201c3 articles per writer per month\u201d) as our North Star metric.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Backlinks: <\/strong>we publish a good number of non-SEO articles, so traditional SEO metrics like rankings and organic traffic aren\u2019t always helpful. For these articles, we focus more on the backlinks they acquired and the social media response they received.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Keyword rankings: <\/strong>we use <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/rank-tracker\">Ahrefs\u2019 <strong>Rank Tracker<\/strong><\/a> to regularly check keyword rankings for our target keywords. If we struggle to break into the top three for a given keyword, we know it\u2019s time to schedule an update.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1351\" height=\"831\" class=\"wp-image-179498\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/content-marketing-roi-rank-tracker.png\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/content-marketing-roi-rank-tracker.png 1351w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/content-marketing-roi-rank-tracker-680x418.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/content-marketing-roi-rank-tracker-768x472.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1351px) 100vw, 1351px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Content marketing can serve a diverse range of business goals. These aren\u2019t always easily reflected in ROI calculations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take goals like \u201cincreasing brand awareness\u201d, or \u201cincreasing marketing share\u201d, or even \u201creducing a competitor\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/share-of-voice\/\">Share of Voice<\/a>\u201d. These are all valid goals that don\u2019t necessarily add immediate revenue to your bottom line, and might unfairly distort traditional content ROI calculations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If your company uses content marketing for goals beyond SEO and lead acquisition, it\u2019s a good idea to track and report on some extra content marketing metrics in tools like Google Analytics or <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/web-analytics\">Ahrefs\u2019 Web Analytics<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Learn more about common content marketing metrics in our guide: <a class href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/content-marketing-metrics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">23 Actual Content Metrics From Actual Marketers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a id=\"post-172651-_5tm8ev3su5ne\"><\/a>Final thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are tons of ways to measure content marketing ROI, and none of them are perfect. But for practical purposes, they don\u2019t need to&nbsp;be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Metrics, like content marketing ROI, are most useful as directional indicators. Instead of obsessing over perfect calculations, it\u2019s better to choose a simple methodology, stick to it consistently, and see how it changes over&nbsp;time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If your content marketing generated $10,000 in sales and cost $2,000 to create, that\u2019s an ROI of&nbsp;400%: Although the math is simple, actually doing this exercise in real life is tricky, for a few reasons. The most important: it\u2019s pretty<span class=\"ellipsis\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more \u203a<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"coauthors":[457],"class_list":["post-172651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-content-marketing","odd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Content Marketing ROI: How to Put a $ Value on Content<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"3 quick and easy ways to prove the value of your content.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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