Questions publishers want answered

Short list of questions publishers want answered that I believe could be answered with the right data:

• Who are my best writers?
• What topics are my audience most engaged in?
• Which types of pieces do best over time?
• What type of stories should I have my writers work on?
• When is the best time to publish?
• What’s the best length for a piece?
• Does including rich media help with engagement?
• Do my writers actually need to include links? How many?

What am I missing?

Obviously most publishers know most of these by heart, it’s key to running a successful business. What’s more interesting is to use this type of data as a baseline for experimentation.

It’s important to remember the difference between creation and optimization, and how data can be used for each.