How much website traffic is enough?

How do you know if the traffic – the number of visitors – to your website is good? Is it enough? How much traffic do you need to get to your website?

I hear these questions a lot and you may be asking the same about your website:

  • How do you know if your website is doing well?
  • How many more visitors do you need to do better?

The answers to these questions depend on the specifics of your particular business. If any of these following issues sounds like your situation, then your website traffic probably isn’t enough:

  1. I don’t have the number of sales I want or need.

If you sell online, or market online, and you have all the sales and business you can handle, then whatever you’re doing is enough. Don’t worry about it! On the other hand, if you want more sales, and being online is one way you market (and sell) your products or services, then there is room for improvement.

2)   I don’t have enough customers.

Depending on your product or service, you may have customers or clients who need to find you one time (such as looking for a place to dock their boat during their journey, for instance), or who need you all the time (monthly goods and services, etc.).

If you need to find new clients or customers all the time, you probably need to be sure new visitors are coming to your website. Your Google Analytics will show how many of your site visitors are new versus returning. This data looks like the pie chart below, with “New Visitors” in blue (91% of visitors) vs. “Returning Visitors” in green (9%):

3)   I don’t get as many sales leads as I’d like to.

Many business-to-business (B2B) companies get leads from their websites from prospects who want their products or services but can’t purchase these directly online. Consulting services are a good example, or high-end products and services.

Leads come from prospects who want to learn more and are interested in purchasing, so they’re vital to your business. If there aren’t enough leads coming in per week or month or year, then you probably need more traffic to your website.

4)   I get calls and people fill in my forms, but they’re not the right people.

If you generate leads from your website by people calling in or filling out forms, but they’re not the right kind of leads, then the issue may not be the volume of website traffic. Instead, the issue may be your website itself. For example, is your website clear about what you offer? Is it apparent how you solve a problem? Is why you are different from your competitors obvious?

If you’re not clear in your communication, then people will be confused and that confusion is what’s causing the problem. It’s important to look at what you’re saying on your website, especially if you’re not getting the right people contacting you.

5)   I have no idea if anyone is contacting me or calling me because of my website.

This is one of the most common problems I see, called “attribution.” This isn’t a website traffic problem, either. Instead, this is a problem with the follow-up to your marketing.

Here’s an example: if someone calls you, using the number they see on your website, it’s your responsibility as a business owner (or marketer) to make sure everyone who answers those calls asks new callers, “how did you learn about us?”

If no one asks – and there’s not a special 1-800 number that’s unique to the website – then there’s no way to attribute where that new prospect came from. Did they see your website? Or did a friend send them? Or did they get your information from an event or conference?

If you can’t tie-back new prospects to any of your marketing, you have no way of knowing what marketing is most effective (and what’s worth your time and money).

Did you fall into any of the categories listed above? If so, feel free to contact me and let’s set up a time to talk about what you’re doing now and how you might do better!

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