Website Hits: They ain't all that and here's why.
I am often asked, even urged, to generate more traffic to my client's websites. So desperate are they that they are lured by unscrupulous companies who promise significant amounts of traffic--thousands, millions of visitors even. WOW! Consider the impact of that many visitors to your website. Surely it would translate into tons of business and vast fortunes, right?
Don't we wish it was that easy.
Let's take it from the perspective that generating that much traffic is even possible. Who knows. Maybe it is. Most web hosting solutions are set up to handle a reasonable amount of traffic, but not a million visits a day. Were that to happen, the web server would quickly become overloaded and shut down. Thus, you don't want that much traffic.
But the reality is, most small- and medium-sized businesses will never generate that much traffic unless they can create a lot of buzz around a new product or service through viral marketing. We'll save Social Media optimization piece for another post. What you really need to strive for is quality traffic. That means taking the time to optimize your website for keyphrases important to your business. And understanding the difference between "Hits" and "Visits."
What is a hit?
A hit is a web server action recorded by a log file on the server. Let me explain. When you visit a website, you pull files from the web server to your computer. Every time you pull a file or a picture, it records a "hit." One pageview could record 10 hits. Giving you a false illusion of human traffic. Visits by automated processes like GoogleBot and other robots also record hits.
What is a visit?
A visit in the internet marketing world refers to a human visitor entering a site. That's what's really important, isn't it? Human beings? Web analytics programs like Google Analytics and ClickTracks use a different method to track visits. They require you to install a litle snippet of code on each page you want to track and then the magic begins. Every single action a visitor makes on a website is recorded along with important information like what city they came from, how long they stayed, which pages they visited, and the navigation path they used...plus, about 500 more pieces of information.
The analytics can also track website conversions like filling out contact forms and making purchases. Aren't conversions what you're after anyway?
So the next time someone suggests that they can drive tons of traffic to your site, start asking tough questions like:
- "Where is this traffic coming from?"
- "How do you know they're qualified visitors?"
- "Are they real human visitors or just some automated process racking up the hit count?"
- "Will the increased traffic increase conversions?"
The bottom line is that it takes time and hard work to make a successful website. Build traffic slowly through search engine optimization, paid search marketing, website popularity, and ethical business practices. Focus on conversions and not traffic. That's the key to success.
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