Awhile back, a friend and I were talking
about website "hits." Our conversation led into
the differences between hits, page views, and visitors. I
then asked if he had any idea how many people visit an average website (not an Amazon.com or Yahoo! or other
large site). He didn't, but this question triggered more
discussion which, in turn, brought us to a mutual agreement
that numbers don't mean a thing.
Certainly, the more traffic that
comes to your website, the more exposure you receive. But
the real question is: how much business are you getting from
that traffic?
If a visitor comes to your website,
reads your first page to learn what you're offering (you do
tell them on the first page, don't you?), and perhaps clicks
through to some of the other pages, that's all well and good.
But if you don't gain that person as a customer from this
or subsequent visits, what value is the "hit?"
Many site owners 'brag' that they
receive thousands of hits per day. In Internet circles, it
seems there are some individuals who are impressed by such
'numbers.' But in my corner of the world, I'm more impressed
when people tell me how many dollars they've deposited into
their bank account as a result of the sales received
from those hits.
There's no doubt that you need numbers. Who wants to look at site statistics and see a grand
total of one or two visitors per day? Numbers do increase
the potential for sales. But even if your traffic analyzer
is 20 pages long, it matters little if you're not putting money in the bank as a result of those statistics.
How can you increase the chances
of translating hits into sales? One way is to make sure you
have a well-designed website with good content and a strong
marketing message that's aimed at your target market.
Internet success comes from meeting
the needs of your potential customers. It does not come
from buying a domain name, throwing together a website that's
a jumble of banner ads, affiliate programs, and a plethora
of unrelated products, then signing up to have someone register
your site at a zillion search engines. You may get the numbers,
but it's doubtful you'll get the dollars.
If you're truly interested in using
the Internet to improve your lifestyle (translated: make more
money), then you must be willing to work at it. This means
not only doing what it takes to promote more traffic to your
site, but also giving visitors something of value when they
get there.
Focus on making sure that each
personwho visits your website recognizes the benefits of what you have to offer and you can't help but see the ratio
of sales to hits greatly increase.
Nan Yielding has nearly 10 years experience as an online business owner. She is the owner of Writing-Etc.com and offers internet marketing services and assistance to help website owners attract more customers and increase sales.
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