Traffic is often seen in terms of headaches and backups on the road. In fact, it is often something annoying and you will avoid it whenever possible. But, when it comes to running a webpage or website, especially an ecommerce site, having traffic is not only important. It is something to strive for and something to work toward attaining.
Yet, as any webpage administrator knows, wanting traffic and garnering traffic are two very different internet beasts to battle. Even the best laid webpages and the most formatted can become lost in the fray of other pages, especially if there are many competitors in the field. But, this is something that can become overcome if there is a strategy in place to do so.
Traffic generation is something a website and webpage should strive to attain. Unfortunately, there are numerous times when garnering traffic seems impossible and as if it is an effort in futility. For other page administrator’s, it may seem like something that should happen organically. The following expounds and explains more on this topic, why it matters, and just what traffic generation is. First though, traffic is understood in the genre of internet speak.
What Is Traffic?
Traffic or web traffic as it is more often called in technological terms is often seen in terms of visitors. Specifically, it is the number of people that view your page. In terms of business speak, foot traffic is often seen as the number of people that walk into a particular business or location. Web traffic is the number of individuals that enter into a business page by viewing it with their own eyes.
But, this analysis of web traffic or rather the explanation of it does not stop there. On the contrary, web traffic is more than just the viewers of a page. It is also the data that is sent and received via that site. For instance, traffic is often analyzed in terms of forms being filled out by a viewer and the data that they share with the site willingly.
It used to be that bots would view pages and automatically send data, giving a false sense of the traffic on a page because it was an automated service rather than a real consumer. At the turn of the twenty-first century, internet analyzers understood that this was occurring and worked to improve the system. Web traffic researchers and analysis experts now try to avoid including these in their analysis of a page’s success or their overall traffic. This helps to clear the waters and get a better understanding of what occurs on a page from the tangible people that are moving the mouse and clicking the link.
Is It Just The Home Page?
Internet pages today have several different facets of them. That is to say that it is not a stationary or single page. For instance, you can look at this in terms of your home page or the page that appears when your link is clicked upon. Chances are that you have other more involved tabs or links within this page that you hope individuals will click on. To get an analysis of the homepage only would provide a false sense of the web traffic you are seeing. You do not know if that individual moved off that page or if they went to other locations from that point of entrance.
Web traffic analysis—if true and comprehensive—looks beyond the homepage. It looks at where the web traffic went and what pages are popular. For instance, if you have ten different products, each with their own tab, an analysis can understand which tab saw the most action and which one saw the least amount of traffic. This comprehensive analysis does more for an individual administrator than a single page analysis would, which will be discussed in more depth later in the piece.
What Drives Traffic?
There are several different aspects of a webpage that drive traffic to it. Of course, these can vary depending on the type of traffic that the site is getting and what the end goal is of the page itself. Web traffic, though, can be developed in several different ways, including these three main avenues of clicking.
1. Organic
Organic webpage traffic comes to a page because the individual happened to click on a link. This type of traffic has no rhyme or reason. Maybe they saw your link on another page. Maybe they randomly came across a webpage on social media and clicked. Basically, to garner organic traffic, there is no real concerted effort on the type or avenue that drives the user or webpage viewer. They simply end up there, as if they randomly walked into a storefront while at the mall.
This organic traffic is valuable to a business because there is no real money or effort put into attracting them. A random webpage search of a name can drive this traffic. They are not directly responding to a concerted effort on your part. It is, then, one of the cheapest forms of traffic. It is also one of the hardest to come by because in today’s technologically savvy world, individuals usually have a reason that they are searching. They have a purpose and they end up on a page because of some effort on their part or yours. Though ROI is huge, if they take an actionable or wanted behavior, you get what you pay for in this case.
2. Search Engine
Another popular way that web traffic ends up viewing a page is through a search engine search. That is to say that they searched for something in a popular engine like Google or Bing and they clicked on your page because you were in the results list. This user is usually looking for something specific. For instance, maybe you have a page devoted to adoptable kittens. Their search of “adoptable kittens” is what drove them to your page to peruse your site. There as an effort on their part clearly and should have been an effort on your part, too, which will also be discussed in further detail.
This type of traffic involves some effort on your part. You had to create the searchable criteria that led your page to a results list, a complicated and involved process for many. Therefore, it is likely that you as a page administrator or marketing team put some thought into this type of traffic generation, or at least should have if you want to garner more.
3. Marketing
Sometimes traffic generation is the result of a marketing plan that is meant to drive individuals to your site. Maybe you placed an advertisement on another page upon which an individual click. Maybe you flooded your social media with links to your page. Maybe you placed an advertisement in a paper, online magazine, or at a marketing event. Whatever the case may be, traffic that is the result of marketing is not always cheap. There can be hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars spent on marketing of this type, depending on the budget, nature of the business, and where the investment was placed. For that reason, the ROI can vary. Sometimes the marketing schematic works to drive traffic and sometimes it doesn’t. Ultimately, though, there is an effort and strategy in this particular traffic type’s case.
Why Traffic Matters?
So, why should you care where your traffic came and why should you strive to garner more? There are several reasons and aspects that you need to know and understand in order to find the value in a web traffic analysis. Your page may thrive or fail based upon such caring.
1. Profitability
If you are an ecommerce site, traffic really matters. You need to sell your products and you need to have tangible transactions to do so. Traffic matters just as it would in a storefront that was located on a street in Middle America or anywhere in the world. You are more likely to make a sale if someone walks through your doors than if they never set foot in the place. This is much the same way that internet traffic works. If you do not get them on to your site to peruse, you may never get that sale.
2. Recognition
Beyond selling items, chances are that if you have a page—of any type really—you want people to know who you are. You want them to see your message, understand your words, or share in your vision. If you are a business page, especially, you want traffic to not only see your page and potentially buy, you want them to recognize you. That is why web traffic is so vital and important.
If you want to spread your brand awareness or your page’s information, you want people to recognize you and what you stand for. If you traffic is invested and interested enough to come to your page—and you do a good job in selling it to them with ease of use and overall aesthetic pleasure—they will not keep that to themselves. They will share with their friends and promote your brand, business, cause, or ideas as well. For that reason, web traffic is important to organic marketing and recognition. It will essentially multiply the traffic that you see or at least has that potential.
3. Investment Spent
Web traffic is also important for your bottom line and profitability. You will inevitably put time, energy, and money to getting individuals to your page. If you do not, then, you will likely rely solely on the aforementioned organic traffic and this can be a trickling and slow result. If you are going to put money into your page, you will want to get a return on that investment. The more traffic that you have, then, the more chances you have at creating a larger profit margin and getting a return on your investment.
This is especially important to your business or ecommerce page but also to other types of pages as well. If your page, for instance, is an opinion blog or low to no cost venture, it still has the potential to make you money in the end. This is because those pages with high levels of traffic see a desire on the part of advertisers to get involved and somehow leave their mark on that page. This is usually done via paid advertisements. Even the smallest of enterprises, then, should be focused on web traffic and understand the ROI that they can see as a result.
What to Do to Drive Traffic
There are several different ways to drive traffic, including the list below. Each page will have to develop their own strategy, their own goals, or find people that will take it seriously for them. The investment in this will pay dividends, as has been reiterated above.
1. Changing Content
One way to drive traffic is to change the content. An analysis that is performed on how individuals are getting to your page, especially via search engines and the terms used to do so, can and should alter the traffic of your site. Changing it to what is being searched or including that information, then, is likely to get you a higher SEO ranking and gets you higher up on the list. This, then, gives you a greater chance at seeing more clicks and traffic.
2. Marketing Efforts
Knowing how web traffic gets to your site can influence the strategy behind your marketing efforts as well. A page that is making concerted efforts in marketing that have failed, based on a web traffic analysis, will shift their strategy if they are aware of the failings. Those that see success from their traffic efforts will likely increase this strategy or potentially repeat the effort in the future. For that reason, marketing and marketing efforts can greatly benefit from a web administrators traffic generation analysis or through the use of a third party company, which is becoming a very rewarding and popular choice in analytical budgets.
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