December 1, 2022
A website is the most valuable tool in your marketing arsenal. It’s how your audience will find you. But it’s not until it’s up and running that you realize the work it takes to build an audience.
Yep, it takes a lot to get the internet to like you.
But before you even start this popularity contest, you first have to know where your audience will come from.
Sure your analytics reports will tell you, but what do those categories really mean?
Below we explore the different types of web traffic and the implications it has for your business.
In “organic traffic,” visitors arrive at your website by typing keywords into search engines and clicking on your site in the results list.
Organic traffic scales a business considerably. Lemarbet’s case studies cover this extensively. The most valuable content ranks highest in search results. But not overnight, unfortunately. You need to optimize the entire website, not just the blog or sales pages.
We talk extensively about SEO. Read up on the trends to stay ahead of the competition.
Paid traffic comes to your site from paid promotions or advertising. You can gather results from pay-per-click (PPC) advertising through Google AdWords, Facebook, or other social media channels.
With PPC, you have complete control of visitors by choosing a variety of parameters.
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Direct traffic occurs when a user types the URL into an address bar. It also happens if they click on a previously saved bookmark. Direct traffic typically yields the smallest number of conversions.
Specific analytics platforms can misrepresent other forms of traffic as direct. Familiarize yourself with UTM parameters. Use them on every post, every time.
Referral web traffic is comprised of people who come to your website through different links on other sites. For example, someone clicking on a link on a press release you’ve put out to the local news.
Backlinks go a long way to benefit your site. Search engines like Google hold websites with more backlinks in higher regard.
Backlinks can be added to:
Get yourself a “piece of the traffic pie” by building a following on social media full of highly motivated and involved users. While you won’t grow by 10 million followers overnight, the more you interact, the faster you’ll get there.
It’s best to build your marketing strategy around your better-performing platform(s).
Email traffic is the following that emerges from your email marketing campaigns and newsletters. It’s one of the most valuable kinds of traffic. Tag all links in your campaigns with UTM codes, or you’ll risk losing this data to dark traffic. Look out for a sudden spike in your “Direct” traffic counts.
UTM codes let you sort incoming traffic from each specific marketing endeavor. We talk a lot about how to use these codes. Read up on them right here.
Step one was building that fabulous website. Now that you’ve got it up and running, it’s time to learn the language of the web. It’s all about where your audience comes from.
If you’re just starting out, try not to worry. Use this guide to walk you through the sources of your traffic. Then, invest in traffic-dense sources and stay involved!
And while you’re at it, shorten those long links right here.
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