Website Traffic
What is website traffic?
Definition of website traffic
Website traffic refers to the volume of users visiting a website. How many people visit a website will depend on the website’s purpose, the visitors’ own goals, and the way in which they discovered the site.
Servers monitor website activity and register whenever a page receives a visitor (known as a ‘hit’). One visit to a site, which may involve browsing multiple pages and taking actions, is a ‘session’.
Traffic is considered crucial to determining a website’s success. Of course, someone creating a website as a personal hobby (e.g. a blogger sharing their travel experiences) may not consider their traffic important. But for businesses and organizations, understanding website traffic and identifying ways to improve it is fundamental for consistent growth.
Why is website traffic important?
1. Website traffic leads to conversions
Effective internet marketing strategies aim to attract a qualified audience and turn it into sales. You want to have high conversion rates to help boost your sales potential.
2. Earn loyal customers with repeat visitors
Buyers frequently stick with brands they are familiar with and confident in. Remind those loyal consumers to purchase from you by keeping them updated about your offerings.
3. Qualified traffic vs. random traffic
In 2014 bots contributed to 56% of all online traffic, and when it comes to smaller websites, that number can jump to 80% of website traffic. There are many methods to increase the number of visitors to your website, but if this traffic isn't qualified, you'll probably notice a sharp decline in conversion rates. You need to use an internet marketing plan to draw in qualified traffic that lines up with your customers' intentions.
Different types of website traffic
Organic traffic - The number of users who visit a website after conducting a search on Google or another search engine and clicking the website's link on the search engine's results page.
Direct traffic - This represents people who accessed your website directly by typing the URL into the search bar or who saved it as a bookmark.
Referral traffic - Referral traffic is generated by people who enter your website through a link from a third-party website like a forum or a blog.
Email marketing - is done by programs that give you various information about the generated traffic, like opening rate, clicks on links, unique clicks, total clicks, delivery rate, etc.
Social networks - This refers to any traffic created by visitors arriving on your website from posts on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram.
Paid media - This is the traffic generated by pay-per-click ads on social media networks.
Paid search - This refers to any visitors gained from PPC platforms such as Google Ads. These are different kinds of ads than social media ads.
How do you measure website traffic
There are numerous ways to measure website traffic, including:
Session numbers
This involves looking at the number of visits the website receives across a fixed period (one week, one month, etc.), to assess how effective traffic-building initiatives (SEO, PPC, etc.) have been since implementation.
Purchase percentage
Online businesses selling products through their websites depend on purchases to succeed. Identifying the number of visitors making a purchase reveals how effective the site is in encouraging people to buy.
Channels
Another way to measure website traffic is to find out which channels it comes through, such as email, organic search, email, etc.
Bounce rate
Measuring bounce rates shows the number of visitors who leave after viewing one page only — these should be as low as possible.
How to increase website traffic
You can increase traffic to your website by:
Being more active on social media and engaging followers with quality content that encourages them to click through to your website
Creating video content across YouTube and social media to increase visibility
Enhancing your SEO campaign to increase your site’s ranking and attract more visits
Using automated email marketing software to engage your contacts with discounts and offers, which can drive traffic to your website
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