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Friday, January 16, 2026

How to Measure Direct Revenue From a Blog Post (The Simple Way)

 

Key Topics Covered

  • Blogs feel like fluff without click → conversion → revenue tracking.
  • Core rule: track the click = track the money.
  • Funnels: ecom (post→product→purchase) vs lead gen (post→CTA→lead→closed deal).
  • Setup: trackable links (UTMs/unique links) + countable conversions (thank-you page or events).
  • Revenue math: orders × AOV or leads × close rate × deal size.
  • Minimal KPIs: sessions, clicks, conversions, revenue.
  • Common failures: no CTA, wrong CTA for intent, no review, weak CRM source tags.


Most marine businesses publish content hoping it “helps SEO” or “builds the brand.”

That’s fine—but it’s also why most people never know if their blog is making money.

Because if you can’t tie a post to a measurable outcome, it gets treated like fluff. Eventually it stops getting funded, stops getting updated, and the blog turns into a graveyard of “nice articles” that don’t move the business forward.

Here’s the good news:

Measuring direct revenue from a blog post is not complicated.
You don’t need an enterprise analytics team. You don’t need a fancy attribution model. You don’t need to become a data scientist.

You just need to set up a simple system that connects:

Post views → clicks → conversions → dollars

And once you do that, your blog stops being a “marketing project” and starts acting like a trackable sales channel.

This guide will show you the simplest way to measure direct revenue from any blog post—whether you sell products online (ecommerce) or generate leads (quotes, calls, bookings, estimates).


The Core Principle: If You Can Track the Click, You Can Track the Money

Direct revenue happens when a blog post leads to a measurable action that results in dollars.

For ecommerce, the chain is clean:

Blog post → product page → add to cart → purchase

For lead gen, the chain is one step longer:

Blog post → CTA → form/call/booking → closed deal

Your job is to build the “bridge” between the blog and the money.

That bridge is tracking.


Step 1: Put a Trackable Link Inside the Blog Post

If you sell products online, this is the cleanest version of tracking.

Because the moment someone clicks a link from your article to a product page, you can follow their behavior like a simple funnel.

What a Trackable Link Does

A trackable link tells your analytics system:

  • which post they came from

  • which link they clicked

  • what page they landed on

  • what they did next (add to cart, purchase, etc.)

Without trackable links, you’re guessing.

With trackable links, you’re running a measurable machine.

3 Simple Ways to Make Links Trackable

1) UTM Tags (Most Common)

UTMs are small bits of text added to the end of a URL that pass source data into your analytics.

So instead of:

  • /products/raw-water-pump

You use:

  • /products/raw-water-pump?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=raw-water-pump-guide

Now you can see exactly how many purchases were influenced by that post.

Best use case: You want clean reporting inside Google Analytics (or similar).

2) A Product Bundle Link Only Used in That Article

This is a “cheat code” because it makes attribution obvious.

You create:

  • a specific bundle

  • or a unique collection page

  • or a unique discount landing page

…and that link only exists in that article.

So anytime it sells, you know where it came from.

Best use case: You sell multiple items that pair well (filters + impeller + gasket kit).

3) A “Featured Products” Section With Trackable Links

This is the easiest way to monetize informational posts without being pushy.

At the bottom (or mid-post), you include:

Featured Products Mentioned in This Guide

  • Raw water pump kit (trackable link)

  • Impeller (trackable link)

  • Gaskets (trackable link)

  • Thermostat (trackable link)

Now you can track which products that post actually drives.

Best use case: Troubleshooting posts and buyer guides.



Why I Wrote The Marine Blog Sales Engines

Most marine businesses treat their blog like a marketing accessory.

A “nice-to-have.” A place to post updates. A box to check so the website feels complete.

I wrote The Marine Blog Sales Engines: How Blogs Drive Parts, Service, and High Dollar Marine Sales because I’ve watched that mindset quietly cost marine businesses real money—every week, every season, for years.

And it’s not because those businesses are lazy or clueless.

It’s because the marine industry has its own buying reality, and most marketing advice ignores it.


What You Can Measure Once Links Are Trackable

Once you have trackable links, you can literally see the money trail.

Here’s what becomes visible:

  • Clicks from the article → product page

  • Product page engagement

  • Add-to-cart rate

  • Checkout starts

  • Purchases

  • Revenue per post

  • Revenue per link

  • Revenue per 1,000 views (RPM)

Now your blog post becomes a measurable asset.

Not a “content piece.”

An asset.


Step 2: Create a Conversion Action You Can Count

If you’re not ecommerce, you can still measure direct revenue—you just need a conversion action that’s tracked cleanly.

That conversion action might be:

  • Request a quote

  • Book a call

  • Schedule an estimate

  • Reserve a date

  • Get pricing

  • Check availability

  • Submit engine details

  • Order a parts recommendation

The key is this:

That action must fire a measurable event.

Two Easy Ways to Track Conversions

Option A: Use a Thank-You Page

This is the simplest and most reliable method.

User submits a form → redirected to:

  • /thank-you-quote-request

  • /thank-you-booking

  • /thank-you-estimate

Now you can track:

  • visits to that thank-you page = conversions

No guesswork.

Option B: Track an Event (Form Submit / Button Click / Call Click)

If you use tools like GA4, Tag Manager, or many form builders, you can track:

  • form submits

  • phone call clicks

  • calendar booking completions

  • “get pricing” button clicks

Pro tip: If you use call tracking numbers, you can attribute phone calls to sessions too.


The Simple Funnel You Want to See

Once the conversion action is measurable, you can track:

Post views → click to CTA → conversions → closed revenue

Even if the sale closes later, you can still attribute the lead to that post.

That’s the whole game.


Step 3: Tie It to Real Dollars

This is where most people get weird.

They’ll track pageviews, clicks, time on page…

…but never connect it to the only number that matters:

Money.

Here’s how you do it.

Ecommerce Revenue Math

If your average order is $500 and a post generates 10 purchases per month:

$500 × 10 = $5,000/month

That means one post is a $5,000/month asset.

If you update it, build internal links to it, and protect the ranking, it can pay you for years.

Lead Gen Revenue Math

For service businesses, you calculate:

Leads from post × close rate × average deal size

Example:

  • 20 leads/month from post

  • 20% close rate

  • $2,000 average deal

That’s:

20 × 0.2 × $2,000 = $8,000/month

Now you can look at a post and say:

“This post generates ~$8,000/month.”

That changes everything.

You stop writing content “because SEO.”

You start building a portfolio of revenue-producing pages.


What to Track (So You’re Not Drowning in Data)

Keep it simple. You only need a few metrics per post:

For Ecommerce Posts

  • Sessions to the post

  • Clicks to product page (from that post)

  • Add-to-cart rate

  • Purchases

  • Revenue

For Lead Gen Posts

  • Sessions to the post

  • CTA clicks

  • Conversions (thank-you page or event)

  • Leads created in CRM

  • Closed revenue (monthly estimate)

That’s it.

If you track those consistently, you’ll know which posts are:

  • winners (scale + refresh)

  • sleepers (need better CTA/linking)

  • duds (wrong topic or wrong intent)


Common Mistakes That Break Revenue Tracking

If you want this system to work, avoid these traps:

1) No CTA, No Money

If you don’t tell the reader what to do next, they won’t magically become revenue.

Education without a next step is a leak.

2) CTA Doesn’t Match Intent

If someone searches “raw water pump leaking,” they’re not ready for “Contact us.”

They want:

  • the right part

  • a quick diagnostic

  • a quote

  • a recommended kit

Match the CTA to the moment.

3) The Link Is Trackable… But You Never Look

A shocking number of businesses set up tracking and never check it.

You don’t need daily obsession.

But you do need a simple monthly review.

4) No Closed-Loop Connection

For lead gen, if your CRM doesn’t tag source or content influence, you’ll lose visibility.

Even a basic “How did you find us?” field helps.


The Bigger Payoff: Posts Become Inventory

Once you do this for 10 posts, a new thing happens.

You stop thinking like:

“Should we publish more content?”

And you start thinking like:

“How many revenue assets do we want?”

Because each post becomes inventory.

  • Post #1: $2,000/month

  • Post #2: $800/month

  • Post #3: $5,000/month

  • Post #4: $1,200/month

That’s not “blogging.”

That’s building a predictable revenue portfolio.


The Only “Marketing Math” That Matters

Impressions don’t pay rent.

Likes don’t pay payroll.

Traffic doesn’t guarantee profit.

Revenue does.

Measuring direct revenue from a blog post is simply:

  1. Put trackable links in the post

  2. Create a conversion action you can count

  3. Multiply conversions by real dollars

And once you do it, you’ll never look at content the same way again.

You’ll know what’s working.
You’ll know what to double down on.
You’ll know what to refresh.
You’ll know what to cut.

And you’ll finally be able to say:

“This post isn’t ‘doing well.’
This post is making money.”

About Colby Uva: Why He’s the Top Resource for Turning Blog Posts Into Real Revenue




1) 15+ Years Focused on One Thing: Traffic That Converts

Colby Uva has spent over 15 years generating millions of high-intent visitors with Search Everywhere Optimization—built around outcomes that matter: sales, orders, and booked revenue, not vanity traffic.

2) He Connects Content to Money (Not “Content for Content’s Sake”)

A lot of people can write. Colby’s edge is turning articles into clear revenue paths: trackable clicks, product recommendations, CTAs, follow-up assets, and content that supports the sales cycle.

3) 6,000+ Blog Posts and Refreshes = Pattern Recognition You Can’t Fake

With 6,000+ blog posts and content refreshes created/edited, Colby has seen what actually happens in the real world:

  • which posts bring buyers (not just readers)

  • what makes people click through

  • what increases conversion rate

  • what makes a post earn links organically

  • what turns into repeatable lead flow over time

4) Proven Revenue Lift Beyond Traffic: +20% AOV With a Statistical Recommender Algorithm

Colby helped his family business increase average order value by 20% by implementing a statistical recommender algorithm for product recommendations—and helped build a sales culture around continually improving those recommendations. That’s the same mindset as content refinement: publish, measure, optimize, repeat.

5) He Builds “Intangibles” Into Measurable Systems

Backlinks, FAQs, follow-up links, reduced objections—most people talk about these like they’re fuzzy benefits. Colby turns them into trackable business levers:

  • what content gets linked

  • what content gets used in sales follow-up

  • what content shortens sales cycles

  • what content increases close rate

6) He Understands Sales Enablement: Content That Makes Your Team Faster

Colby doesn’t treat the blog as a marketing-only thing. He treats it like a sales toolbox—articles your reps can send to prospects to answer objections in seconds instead of rewriting the same explanations all day.

7) Search Everywhere Advantage: He Wins Beyond Google

Colby has generated millions of social views and grown 100,000+ subscribers across Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook from scratch—so your blog isn’t isolated. It becomes the “source” that feeds your whole visibility ecosystem.

8) Outdoors-Driven, Operator Mindset

Colby enjoys fishing, hunting, and the outdoors, and he’s known for intense focus when something needs to get done. He uses the outdoors to reset and come back locked in—same disciplined rhythm that builds consistent output and long-term compounding systems.

Other Topics That You Might Be Interested In 



Creating blogs for your marine or outdoors business that drive traffic, leads, and conversions. 


All sales follow a predictable sales cycle. Structure Your blog so that if follows this sales cycle and helps you to close more deals.  Also train your sales staff so that they can use your companies existing blog to deal with increasing lead volume and keep consistent quality in their work. 


At the end of the day you need to be able to measure the revenue that your blog is generating. Learn different tools, techniques and frameworks to do this. 


How should you choose the topics that you are going to cover with your blog and how to integrate keyword research to see how many people are already asking the questions that you are answering. 



Depending on the size of the blog (number of posts) there may be different ways that you should refine your blog to generate more sales.  Sometimes that is refreshing content, sometimes it's adding additional CTA's (Calls To Action), sometimes it's adding better pictures, and better videos.  This section gets in depth on that topic. 


Youtube is the world's second largest search engine. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then what is a video worth?  Also combining your blog with your YouTube channel is a way to supercharge your success.


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