When business owners evaluate the success of an Internet Marketing campaign, many tend to look only at traffic.  How many visitors this month?  Is this an improvement over last month?  Traffic is certainly a worthy benchmark to be monitored.  With an increase in traffic and thus a larger audience, one can assume that there would also be an increase in potential customers. 

 

However, when the success of an internet marketing campaign is solely based on traffic, an important attribute is ignored:  quality.  Although, the goal of any website should be expanding its exposure, you should also prioritize the channels that will result in high quality site visitors.  The quality of a visitor is based on their direct interest in your website material or better yet, the likelihood that visitor will be converted to a customer.   

 

To increase the quality of your site traffic, you should examine your internet marketing campaign closely.  Can it be more focused on your specific market?  Are there fundamental problems with your website that inhibits online conversions?  Reasons why you are having trouble converting your site visitors can be grouped into two main groups:  it’s the wrong traffic or something about your site isn’t working. 

 

 

Your visitor traffic is up, but so is your bounce rate.  The percent of new visitors is high, but they are only spending a few seconds on the landing page.  First, look at the keywords visitors are using to come into the site.  Do these keywords make sense or is there a possibility that these visitors were looking for something else, something entirely different than the material presented on your website?  You may need to target new search words altogether to find keywords more aligned with the information presented on your website.

 

Next, make sure that your page titles and search result descriptions accurately describe the information found on each page of your site.  Each title and description should be unique, giving the searcher a better idea of what they will see when they click on your link.  If you are running a pay-per-click advertising campaign, this is especially critical.  Because you are paying for each click into your website, you want to ensure that you are attracting qualified visitors.  Ad copy should be carefully written and monitored closely.   Run a couple of similar ads at the same time until you gauge which copy is the most successful.  Then pause or delete the ads that are ineffective.  Try several different keyword matching options; in Google AdWords you can choose broad, phrase, exact, or negative options.

 

Lastly, you may be targeting the wrong third party websites for link building.  As with any marketing effort, traditional or online, the objectives of the campaign need to be aligned.  Use your website’s important keywords as a way to drive your link building.  Search for your own keywords in a search engine; any non-competing websites that display in search results may be good sites for you to partner with. 

 

 

When a visitor first arrives on your website, is it clear what you want them to do?  Whether it’s to read about your products and services or a direct call-to-action, you need to clearly tell your visitors where you want them to click.  Establish a path through your services, either using the design of the website or text.  Use graphical buttons or bolded text to tell your visitors about special offers.  Contact information should be displayed on all pages, usually in a uniform spot on the page.  Make sure to take into consideration multiple methods of contact (phone, email, or form) to appeal to everyone’s different preferences. 

 

Additionally, be careful not to send your visitors in too many different directions.  A website that has too much going on can be overwhelming and the visitor may return to search results to find a website that presents information more clearly.

 

You also need to make sure that you are doing everything you can to elicit an immediate response.  If a site visitor does not contact you when they are on your website, the time that passes may discourage them from ever contacting you.  They may postpone their purchase or interest in your services only to revisit it in another 3 months, conduct a new online search, and pursue one of your competitors.  When you have them on your website, you need to convert them before they get away.  Demonstrate that a need exists and persuade them to take action NOW!

 

If you want a successful internet marketing campaign, make sure you continue to drive traffic to your website, but more importantly focus on the quality of the visitors.  Find new methods to connect with your market, and leverage these resources online through targeted link building or keyword management.  Once you attract these high quality visitors to your site, convert them to customers!  Entice them to take-action by picking up the phone, completing a form, or sending an email.  Attracting more visitors to your website is great, but ultimately gaining new customers is even better.  
 

For more information, Jennifer Brant may be reached at 412.353.0646, or at jbrant@bluearcher.com.