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Content ROI Calculator

Measure the real return on your content marketing investment. See direct revenue, lead value, and which content types perform best.

Content Investment

$
Value of your time (for opportunity cost)
$
$
Writers, editors, designers, etc.

Direct Revenue

$
$
$

Lead Generation

%
$

Content ROI Analysis

Total Monthly Investment $3,400 Time: $3,200 | Cash: $200
Cost per Content Piece $425
Direct Revenue $1,800 Ads + Sponsors + Affiliates
Lead Revenue Value $2,500 50 leads × 5% × $1,000
Total Monthly Value $4,300
Monthly ROI 26%
Revenue per Hour $134
Revenue per Piece $538
Content Strategy Assessment Profitable

Content Type Comparison

How does your content type compare to typical benchmarks?

Blog Posts

  • Avg. time: 3-6 hours
  • SEO lifespan: 2+ years
  • Lead gen: High
  • Monetization: Ads, affiliates
  • Typical CPL: $20-50

Video Content

  • Avg. time: 4-10 hours
  • SEO lifespan: 1-3 years
  • Lead gen: Medium-High
  • Monetization: Ads, sponsors
  • Typical CPL: $30-80

Podcast Episodes

  • Avg. time: 2-4 hours
  • SEO lifespan: 6 months
  • Lead gen: Medium
  • Monetization: Sponsors
  • Typical CPL: $50-100

Newsletter

  • Avg. time: 1-3 hours
  • SEO lifespan: N/A
  • Lead gen: Medium
  • Monetization: Sponsors, paid
  • Typical CPL: $10-30

12-Month Projection

Month Content Pieces Investment Direct Revenue Lead Revenue Total Value Cumulative ROI

Measuring Content ROI

Direct vs Indirect Value

Direct: Ad revenue, sponsorships, affiliate commissions, paid content sales.

Indirect: Leads generated, brand awareness, SEO rankings, email list growth.

Most content ROI is indirect and compounds over time.

The Compound Effect

Content is an investment that compounds. A blog post written today can generate leads for years.

Your true ROI at month 12 includes value from all previous months' content still working for you.

Time vs Money Investment

Your time has value. If your hourly rate is $100 and you spend 4 hours on a post, that's a $400 investment.

Factor this in to understand true content costs and decide when to outsource.

Improving Content ROI

  • Repurpose content across platforms
  • Update evergreen content annually
  • Focus on high-converting topics
  • Build email list for direct monetization
  • Track attribution to measure lead sources