In the fast-paced world of digital publishing, yesterday's news is, well, yesterday's news. To truly succeed, you need to know what's happening right now. This isn't just about breaking stories; it's about understanding reader behavior as it unfolds, spotting trends the moment they emerge, and optimizing your content strategy on the fly.
Enter Echobox Realtime.
Why should I use Echobox Realtime?
Imagine having a crystal ball that shows you exactly what articles are captivating your audience, where that traffic is coming from, and how it’s evolving – all updated every 30 seconds. That's the power of Echobox Realtime.
1. Identify viral content early
Don't wait for the daily report to see what worked. By catching "breakout" articles within the first hour of publication, you can immediately amplify them via social media or "breaking news" emails to ride the momentum while it's at its peak.
2. React to traffic spikes (and drops)
Sudden changes in traffic are often loud signals. Echobox Realtime allows you to investigate spikes to capitalize on trending topics instantly, or troubleshoot sudden drops that might indicate technical issues or broken links.
3. Optimize source performance
See exactly which channels are carrying the load. If Facebook is driving 80% of your traffic for a specific story, you can double down on that channel. Conversely, you can quickly identify and troubleshoot underperforming platforms.
4. Benchmark similar content
Compare how different articles on the same topic are performing side-by-side. This helps you identify the specific angles, tones, or formats that are currently resonating best with your live audience.
5. Track momentum decay
By combining publish time with the performance over time of your articles, you can see exactly how long a story maintains its shelf life. This data helps you decide when to refresh a story with new information or when it’s time to stop social promotion.
6. Real-time A/B testing
Take the guesswork out and test different headline variations or social copy and monitor the immediate impact on pageviews. If one version isn't moving the needle, you can pivot in minutes, not hours.
Where can I find Echobox Realtime?
You’ll find Echobox Realtime in the product navigation in the top left corner of your screen.
What is Echobox Realtime?
At its core, Echobox Realtime is your live dashboard for website performance. It’s designed to give you instant, actionable insights into the articles driving engagement on your site, providing a pulse-check on user behavior and overall traffic flow.
What will I find there?
Echobox Realtime puts a wealth of website data at your fingertips. Here’s what you can find:
Pageviews
The top left of the Echobox Realtime page displays the pageview graph, where you can track pageviews from different sources over time. You can also change the date range for the data to look at either the last 60 minutes, 24 hours by clicking on the time filter in the top right of your page. You can also toggle on the “Compare to previous period” tab to contrast your current pageviews with other time periods.
Traffic source
The "Traffic sources” section on the right hand side of the page, shows the percentage of your total website traffic arriving from different sources.
If you want to filter to a specific source, simply click on it to reveal information such as the number of pageviews, the highest performing articles, and any change in those articles’ performance.
At a glance
At the top of the page you can quickly see the headline data on how your website is performing. See how many articles you have up at any given moment, the number of total pageviews, where the majority of your traffic is coming from and the general trend of your traffic.
Top content
Finally, at the bottom of the page you’ll find a ranked list of all of the articles that are producing pageviews on your website. With the columns to the right you can track metrics for each article, from the number of pageviews to its performance over time.