Want to know the #1 misconception among Internet marketers and website owners?
Here it is:
The biggest mistake web owners make is thinking that it's all about GETTING MORE TRAFFIC.
The term 'web traffic' gets over 43,000 inquiries per month according to Overture - that's over half a million queries a year! And that's not including the related searches like 'web site traffic', 'get more hits', 'increase web traffic, etc.
Of course this is understandable from one point of view. With search engines changing algorithms and competitor websites multiplying, it's understandable that web site traffic via the search engines is dwindling. (That's not the only way to get traffic but that's a whole NEW article). So wanting more traffic for your website is a noble aspiration.
However it's not the most important thing. Not even close.
There's another factor that's even MORE important than having a well designed website or even getting web site traffic. What is it?
Web Conversion.
Web conversion is the ratio of sales to visitors to your website. So for example, if you get 100 unique visitors to your website and make 1 sale, your conversion rate is 1 / 100 or 1%.
Increasing your web conversion rate is 10 times more important than getting more traffic - in my humble opinion.
Want proof? Just run some numbers.
Let's say you're getting 100 unique visitors to your website per day and that you make 1 sale per day (or per 100 visitors). So your conversion rate is 1%. Let's say that each sale nets you $100. So you're making $100 a day or $700 a week.
Not bad right?
But let's say you want make more money so you decide to get more traffic. You run some pay per click ads and get 50 more unique visitors a day. (Or maybe you hire a SEO expert and pay thousands of dollars to get higher rankings, or maybe you buy some high-ranking links, etc.) Regardless that's a 50% jump in traffic.
Pretty impressive. But you've definitely put out a LOT of effort and even money to get more traffic. Was it worth it?
Well, you're now making an average of 10.5 sales per week (150 hits per day x 7 days x 0.01). That's approximately $1050 per week - or an extra $350 a week.
That's pretty good. But it did cost you depending on how you got that extra traffic.
Now let's look at a much EASIER way to increase sales.
Let's say you do some research on web conversion and how to build a better-converting website. You do some tweaks here and there, test it, take out some text, test it, write better copy, make your website cleaner, test it, make the product benefits stand out...and voila your conversion rate goes up to 3%
(That's not hard to do, some websites even have a 20% conversion rate).
Now let's look at your sales. You haven't gotten any more traffic but at 100 unique visitors a day and 3% conversion rate you're making 100 x 0.03 = 3 sales or $300 a day. That's $2100 per week - an extra $1400.
Wow.
And did you spend thousands of dollars to get better rankings and more traffic? Did you spent $50-$200 a week on pay per click traffic? No - you just spent some time learning and tweaking your site to increase the conversion rate.
See how much easier that is? Now obviously it's a little more complicated than that - you have to test and track your results to see what works and what doesn't work.
But in the end you have a high-converting website that just keeps making money for you while you relax and go on vacation. You don't have ongoing costs to your SEO expert or the pay per click search engines either.
Considering how much easier and profitable it is to focus on increasing your conversion rate over getting more traffic, you'd think that most webmasters and marketers would be more concerned with conversion.
Want to know the shocking thing?
They're not! (Ok, the really smart ones are, but most of the other ones are trying to increase traffic).
Remember how we said above that the term 'web traffic' gets over 43,000 enquiries per month? Guess how many enquiries the term 'web site conversion' gets? 316!
It's absolutely mind-blowing. Very few webmasters are trying to increase their conversion rate. Most of them are spinning their wheels trying to increase traffic!
If you've been wearing yourself out trying to get more web traffic, take a minute and realize there is an easier way to increase sales. Focus on web conversion and you'll be miles ahead of the competition - probably for years to come.
Kate Fox is contributing writer to web conversion
For more free tips and articles on how to improve your web conversion rate and make more sales, visit: web conversion
So what is this all important secret? It can generate... Read More
A websites profitability depends solely on directing visitors to that... Read More
FAQ pages are an often overlooked way to generate free... Read More
In search engine optimization, "off page" factors have become more... Read More
Getting links to a new website, without Google page rank,... Read More
As the saying goes in the business world "The Customer... Read More
Ok so the first way to get traffic is not... Read More
It's been several months now since I've been promoting my... Read More
Nowadays, we have created numerous methods so as to bring... Read More
Link Exchanges also known as "Reciprocal Links" are an arrangement... Read More
Do you know that you can promote your home business... Read More
Link development can be an absolute nightmare. It takes up... Read More
Do you want to pump up sales at your website?If... Read More
As a home business, one of the ways you probably... Read More
I have an ingenious concept in store for you!I am... Read More
One problem with websites is that they often go neglected... Read More
Start building an interstate highway to your website. You're going... Read More
There's nothing new about using joint ventures to get traffic... Read More
The more traffics you get at your website, the more... Read More
So, you have a great product or service, yet your... Read More
Today Internet has over 36,000,000 web sites, and statistics says... Read More
Web site traffic refers to the number of times your... Read More
How can you have effective results in major search engines?... Read More
Links are important to you because of two main reasons:Google's... Read More
Starting a new website and developing a traffic base if... Read More
Once again I used my wacky test marketing strategy to... Read More
I am not a professional photographer nor am I in... Read More
I`ve had people come to me and say "Traffic Exchanges... Read More
Let me ask you a question. What is the most... Read More
We all know that generating traffic to your site is... Read More
As a result of search engine changes, linking with other... Read More
It appears that most webmasters have come from the world... Read More
Internet is an ever evolving business platform. Doing business on... Read More
1. Make all or part of your site into a... Read More
Starting a new website and developing a traffic base if... Read More
1. Vary the keywords in your link 'anchor' textUnless you... Read More
Reciprocal linking is an effective, free way to get more... Read More
Here's what your website must have to get lots of... Read More
If you're feeling a bit of confusion and frustration about... Read More
Internet advertising is not easy.It is a numbers game.The more... Read More
Would you like to get in on one the Internet's... Read More
There are lots of ways to get traffic to your... Read More
It official Yahoo has dropped Google and will be using... Read More
Should link exchanges be used? What are link exchanges? Do... Read More
When adding a link directory to a web site there... Read More
Web site traffic refers to the number of times your... Read More
Increasing your website traffic does not have to be a... Read More
Want to Make Free Money on the Internet?One of the... Read More
Targeted traffic: the demographicAssuming your business is motorcycles, my first... Read More
In the old days of the internet, links were the... Read More
Traffic Building |