Many reports peg search traffic at about 10% of total web traffic. However, many services spend 90% of their site efforts on seo and marketing. Below I detail why this disproportionate emphasis on search traffic can be spell disaster for an online business.
If just 10% of people are searching, what are the other 90% doing? The bulk are returning visitors. They may have found a site at first by search now they return. If somebody is window shopping, they’ll usually bookmark 5 or six websites, comparing each one with the others. There’s another small percentage that are merely typing in domains. Trying to find lawn furnishings? I’ll simply key in lawnfurniture dot com. Another even smaller proportion in fact type the domain into a search box, then click the domain in the search results.
I think as web designers we get search engine one-track mind when we’re marketing our companies. When someone tells me they’re having problem getting top 10 search positions, I usually ask about the other types of internet marketing strategies they’re engaged with. The typical response is, what else can I do?
There’s a lot you can do! The terrific thing about online marketing is that we’re just restricted by our imagination. Social marketing is large open for the innovative and smart marketer. What much better way to get traffic than to produce word of mouth referrals. How do most offline businesses get clients? Through word of mouth. It’s no various online.
How individuals get to your website is necessary. However, what you finish with a visitor after they come to your website is much more important.
I would argue that our existing clients are our leading marketing vehicles. Do you offer great sevice and assistance? You’ll get referrals. Are you tough to work with, big-headed, or stingy? You will not get referrals. A happy customer will tell another person. A dissatisfied client will inform a minimum of four other individuals.
Among the few points I believe expert internet online marketers solve is traffic diversity. Yes, they focus on getting free, organic search traffic but they also spend a great deal of time on list structure, customer service, and word of mouth.
If your only focus is search traffic, eventually you’ll be dissatisfied. My organization objective is to have as lots of traffic streams as I can develop. I’m slowly getting to a point where even if my search traffic went to absolutely no, I ‘d still keep plugging along.
Online search engine algorithms alter all the time. Time invested surfing online forums to discover the very best ways to beat search engines is time better spent on other marketing techniques. Time spent tweaking a page for keyword density is time much better invested distributing service cards with your site address.
For those of you stuck in a search engine rut, step back and take a look at your choices. What else are you doing to drive traffic to your site? There are many more alternatives than we think if we would just look around.