When you don’t need more web traffic…
People ask me about “traffic” all the time. As in:
“Laura, how do I get more web traffic?”
Somewhere, somehow, some folks seem to have forgotten that traffic is undesirable!
Sometimes, lots of traffic is stinky, smelly, and annoying!
Don’t get caught in traffic! There are about a zillion attraction and marketing tactics that can lead to the dubious goal of “more traffic.” Search Engine Optimization (SEO), press releases, ad networks, participating vociferously in social media — the list of online marketing tactics can go on and on. Which ones will work best for you and your site?
That’s where “strategy” comes in. The last thing you want to do is spend your time chasing internet marketing tactics without a strategy in place.
Dogs chase traffic.
Smart business people don’t.
photo credit: thetorpedodog
Take a look at what you’ve got. When business owners bark, “More traffic!” — I encourage them to take a hard look at their stats. Too many times, we find that “more traffic” is a lousy goal. In fact, many times, “more traffic” can be the kiss of death for the business. Why? Consider this all-too-typical scenario:
The Case of the Website Abandoners. Let’s say the website gets X number of visitors per month — yet averages less than 10 seconds per visitor. Further, the stats reveal that over 97% of the site’s visitors never return. So — what’s the point of getting “more traffic” to this site? To scare away even more customers?
What to do instead. When a site suffers from a high rate of abandonment, something’s amiss. It might be a simple technical glitch– or a systemic problem with the structure, content, imagery, navigation, or offer. Next, carefully look at the referring site for the visitors. Did visitors come from an irrelevant link, or a badly placed ad campaign? If a website is turning off visitors when it has only a little traffic , find out what the problem is — and fix it — before aggressively pursuing “more traffic”.
Get off the ego trip. It’s really hard to explain to a Creative Director at an ad agency that we need to tweak a few things at a newly developed site — even if it’s merely A/B testing a headline approach or swapping out some pictures. And it’s even harder to tell a business owner that they have a systemic problem that needs complete re-development. In both cases, this is what I’ve heard (from time to time!):
“Nonsense, Laura — if we only had more of the right people who understand what we’re trying to do here, we’d be fine.
Now, how do we get those people to come to the site?”
Gimmee, Gimmee More Traffic!
Woof! Woof! Woof!
Face the stats. When business owners refuse to face their stats, I’ve discovered there’s not a whole lot that I can do to help them. Web analytics teach us volumes –not just about what works online, but about our offline messaging, brand, competition, and customer behaviors, as well. In fact, web stats can often give you more useful information than what you’d learn in a focus group. After all, it’s real and it’s raw! It’s customer behavior! Your stats don’t lie.
More traffic is not the answer... When a site isn’t resonating with a small audience — the last thing you’ll want is “more traffic!” Instead, set appropriate numeric goals — including acceptable bounce rates, conversion rates, page per visit, time on site, percentage of return visitors — and test how well your site performs with limited visitation. In other words, analyze the heck out of your site!
Tweak, test, repeat. When your site successfully meets numeric goals with a small audience, you’re more likely to be in a position to attract more qualified visitors. Instead of “getting more traffic” — you’re more likely to “attract more customers.”
And isn’t that a much better result?
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