How do you objectively measure the success of a blog?

Hi all,

This year my school launched class blogs for all primary teachers. I set up some ways to track usage along with visitors and other analytics. However, I have a missing piece in my research that I wish to see if others have done. 

In short, I am looking at a whole school set of data about class teachers blogging through the year. I want to be able to sort blog posts into categories and see if there is any correlation between type of categories and the number of visitors. I am also tracking how often a person blogs and how this affects the number of visitors.

I'm wondering if I can split the blog posts depending on the audience they are aimed at, such as parent or student, the person blogging (teacher, student, parent) and then split them further into perhaps the following:

information without feedback

information requesting feedback

extension of learning without feedback

extension of learning with feedback

Are there more?

I'm trying to analyze the purpose of a class blog. Are they for parents, students, us? The next step is to then look at the impact in relation to each of those areas, but especially looking at how it may affect and improve classroom practice and student learning.

The aim is to be able to feedback to staff and show them what works in a blog and ways to set it up to make a bigger impact on the learning of the students. This is the first year and I hope to see some positive changes next year, I just need to find the ways to measure this objectively.

Any thoughts, contacts or articles would be much appreciated.

Andy

Primary ICT Coordinator

Hong Kong Academy