STUDIO FIVE

Updated November 2024

Increasing Website Traffic and Conversions

A robust online presence is crucial for businesses and professionals in today’s digital landscape. As competition intensifies, understanding how to increase website traffic becomes essential for unlocking your website’s success. 

This blog post will explore techniques critical to drive traffic to your site and increase sales. Whether you are a business owner seeking to expand your reach or a professional aiming to enhance your online visibility, these strategies will provide actionable insights to help you attract more visitors and convert them into loyal customers. 

Let’s delve into the proven methods that can elevate your website’s performance and contribute to your business growth.

How to Increase Traffic to Your Website

You’ve chosen a great product and designed your store. Next, you must determine how to increase website traffic so sales roll in. So, what exactly do we mean by website traffic? And what do you have to do to drive traffic to your website?

Your website is not a shop on a street corner where passersby can peek in and decide to stop by. 
Discovering an online store is far more challenging than finding one offline. There is no foot traffic or chance encounters. Instead, your website is one of countless others in a vast, crowded online space. 
You need to actively drive traffic and stand out from the rest to showcase what you offer.

Without a steady flow of visitors, increasing conversions and boosting your business’s bottom line becomes a steep hill to climb.

What is Website Traffic?

Website traffic tells you how many users visit your website. Analytics tools will often tell you both the number of page views and the number of unique page views. Pageviews are the number of times anyone has visited your site, while unique pageviews tell you how many people visited your site — some multiple times and some only once.

The idea is that the more website traffic you get, the more opportunities you have to engage and convert users.

But you’ll often see that with more traffic comes lower conversion rates. Lower conversion rates could be because the traffic isn’t as targeted — though more people are coming to your site, they might not all be highly qualified leads likely to purchase your product(s).

How can I increase my website traffic?

Look around you! Most people cling to their devices 24/7 – browsing, searching, and buying.

At the start of 2024, there were approximately 5.3 billion internet users worldwide, meaning around two-thirds of the population (68%) are connected globally to the World Wide Web.

The statistics are impressive. As of September 2024, mobile device users contribute to 63.38% of all website traffic.

In comparison, desktops account for 39.76% of total web traffic. The remainder comes from tablets, which account for 2.03% of online traffic.

The volume of website traffic is excellent news for brands with an existing presence, but it is tough for companies just starting out.

The good news is your potential clients are only ever a click away. But the bad news is it’s more competitive than ever to entice them. So, are you doing enough to get noticed?

So, the question is, how can you increase traffic to your website? Here at PixoLabo, we’ve dug deep into Google Analytics to find out, and we’re excited to share our findings with you below!

Website Traffic Statistics

Mobile devices bring 41% of website traffic.

Focus on enhancing mobile SEO to maximize the significant traffic coming from mobile devices. This includes improving page load speed and optimizing your site for local search queries, which can help your website rank better in mobile search results and attract more users. 

Desktop devices account for 38% of web traffic.

Desktops can handle richer media experiences, so showcasing high-quality visuals can make your content more compelling and engaging. You can also show interactive features like filters, comparisons, or detailed content sections. These features leverage desktops’ larger screens and processing power, improving user engagement and providing a more dynamic experience.

Tablets contribute 19% of website traffic.

Optimizing for touch gestures on tablets is crucial. To enhance the user experience, ensure that interactions like swiping and zooming in/out are intuitive and responsive. Design tablet-specific content layouts that take advantage of the tablet’s screen size. For example, split-screen views or larger touch targets can make the content more accessible and visually appealing on tablets.

How to Increase Website Traffic

Direct Traffic

Clients that know about you and seek you out

Direct traffic accounts for 22% of total website visits.

Direct traffic is the most obvious (and, often, least talked about) form of traffic. But it deserves your attention—especially as Google Analytics confirms it accounts for more than half of traffic generated.

Direct traffic means that users type in URLs or use bookmarks to get to your site. It’s usually your most valuable traffic because these users already know who you are or are strongly motivated to visit your website. The higher the direct traffic, the better since it indicates strong brand recognition. 

But, since direct traffic comes from visitors who already know your site and visit it deliberately, it relies on brand awareness, which is where more traditional marketing plays a role.

Contrary to what some may think, offline advertising is far from defunct. Instead, it’s evolving and merging into the digital landscape. Take digital billboards, for instance. These next-gen offline ads can be purchased online, allowing businesses to get the best of both worlds. So, do you have your marketing and PR campaigns adequately lined up?

SEO

Traffic that comes from web searches

Organic search contributes 17% to overall website traffic.

Organic search traffic refers to traffic from search engines and is a good gauge of SEO performance. It depends on how well your content matches what people are searching for.

An estimated 5.06 billion people globally use search engines, which is 64.4% of the world population.

93% of all web traffic comes through search engines. Approximately 2.2 trillion search queries are processed by all search engines each year.

As of 2024, 8.5 billion Google searches are made per day. Google processes approximately 99,000 searches per second. 84% of Google users conduct at least three searches each day. Google holds a dominant 90.01% share of the global search engine market.

That’s where SEO comes in. If you’re savvy (and patient) enough, SEO can give you results that last. Keyword research, quality content creation, and technical SEO improvements (eg, site speed and mobile responsiveness) are some areas that should be taken seriously to maintain a steady flow of organic traffic. Who doesn’t want a free source of passive traffic?

That’s why we’ve put together an easy checklist of what your website needs for technically foolproof SEO:

1. Evergreen content that will stand the test of time and keep your site’s rankings high for months and beyond
2. Focused keywords and phrases that make your site easier for search engines to understand and pick up
3. Simple, well-structured site architecture with clear URL paths
4. A strong strategy for internal linking to reinforce the site’s structure
5. Quick page response time, as low speed and long loading times will weaken SEO.

Finally, monitor your ranking and revisit older pages that are already high-ranking. Even a few careful tweaks can help optimize your site!

Referral Traffic

Other brands talk about your brand – organically.

This traffic comes to your site from external sources, and we love it because it will boost your brand awareness and SEO! It could take the form of press mentions, blog posts, or online articles featuring your brand that link to your site, directory listings, and unpaid reviews, among other things.

Much like offline word-of-mouth recommendations, referrals can also work wonders for your credibility and reputation, especially if the source is respected.

Want to try it? Try guest posting on relevant blogs, sending your products to influencers, and sharing data from your sector (such as a survey you’ve conducted).

Like direct traffic, it cannot be guaranteed, but it’s worth the effort once you’ve earned it!

Affiliate Traffic

Other brands talk about your brand – strategically.

Although not explicitly tracked by Google Analytics, affiliate marketing traffic can boost your website. All you need is an affiliate (anyone from a blogger to a social media influencer) to promote your site on their platform. Of course, this brings more traffic your way, but what’s in it for them? Financial compensation from you – per click, per lead, or sale.

But how do you know who to work with or where to begin? Our advice for you is:

1. Think long and hard about your brand message
2. Search high and low through different platforms until you hit on one that’s a good fit for your brand
3. Seal the deal and boost traffic to your site!

Paid Advertising

You pay to boost leads to your website

Paid search accounts for 9% of the total website traffic.

Paid advertising is another major web traffic booster to have up your sleeve. The pros? Low effort, quick pay-off, and a razor-sharp focus on your target market. Think of it as turning a firehose on your website or e-commerce store, a great way to drive brand awareness and site visits.

Paid search traffic, generated through ads on search engines like Google, is the best metric to know if your PPC campaigns are working. It provides quick traffic by showing your ads at the top of search results based on user queries and the intent behind the selected keywords.

The downside is that it can be very costly, especially if you are in a very competitive line of business. It also requires ongoing optimization and management over time to sustain effectiveness and ensure a favorable return on investment.

Admittedly, it is a strategy that can be hard on your budget in the long term! So, is it even worth a try? Here at PixoLabo, we believe it is – if you work things out smartly. Let us explain:

To begin with, you need to ensure you’re targeting the right audience. Skipping this step could mean wasting money on visitors who don’t qualify or cannot take action.

Then ask yourself: Will your product do better on a paid search (PPC—pay-per-click) or paid social media (social media ads)? Don’t forget—with a paid search, you have data about a visitor’s search but not who they are, and on paid social media, you have data on who the visitor is but not what they’re looking for.

Social Media

Traffic to your site comes through social platforms

Social media drives 16% of website traffic.

Social media traffic indicates user engagement across platforms, but we suggest that you focus on where your audience is most active to streamline your efforts. Create platform-specific content and strategies to boost traffic by sharing engaging posts, running targeted ads, and interacting with your audience. 

We all know that social media is a terrific traffic driver – if you’re ready to put in the time, that is. For traffic to flow in, your social activity has to be more or less ongoing and on the ball. And even then, no one can predict what will trend tomorrow.

But here at PixoLabo, we’re all about what we can control and let go of the rest; in this case, it’s strategy.

Want to be more organized? Delegate, automate and schedule some of those time-consuming online activities to free up time for more creative work.

Are you hoping to take things to the next level? Explore other areas like the influencer market and invest in your PR and customer service.

Are you dreaming of having a brand that shines, no matter the volatile climate of social media? Then, consistently create content that stands out and engages your audience.

Email Marketing

You use your email database to boost traffic.

Email marketing brings in 14% of website visitors.

Traffic from email marketing reflects how your email campaigns are performing in terms of getting users to your site. In other words, how good are your email lists, how relevant is your email content? This is another channel where you get directly measurable results and outstanding ROI because of emails’ targeted and personalized nature.

The best thing about email is that it’s yours and yours alone. When you use email, there’s no other company between you and potential site visitors. Plus, it can be an excellent channel for drawing clients in, keeping them interested, and directing them to specific pages you may want to boost!

But how do you get there?

Remember that even though you probably won’t get immediate results, things will improve with time and steadily, unlike social media. After all, being allowed access to your visitors through email must mean you’ve gained their trust, right?

So, if you’re ready to make the most of email to watch your site visits multiply, these are our tips:

• Keep your content relevant and specific. It’s easy to send targeted campaigns to different groups, maybe based on visitors’ purchase history.
• Stop losing your readers with bland or ambiguous subject lines. Instead, make them clear and snappy so readers know what’s coming and are eager to read on and, hopefully, click on your links!
• Remember that you’re dealing with people. Of course, a professional, informal style makes the interaction more human and personal. But how can this influence your results? By shifting the reader’s attention to the approachable person behind the email rather than the impersonal company that might profit from it!

Standing Out From the Digital Noise

In conclusion, your website is not merely a digital storefront waiting for visitors to stumble upon it; it exists in a vast and competitive online landscape where visibility is paramount. Unlike a shop on a busy street, your online presence requires strategic efforts to attract potential customers and showcase your offerings effectively. 

To unlock your website’s success, you must implement essential techniques that not only increase traffic but also drive sales. Stand out from the crowd and ensure your products and services reach the right audience. 

The main takeaway for you? Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. No single traffic source will give you 100% of your site visits, and each one will require some of your time, money, or effort. But we know that a diverse approach combining different tactics is your best bet and will take you far. We are here to help!

For more information on how to elevate your online presence and navigate this crowded space, contact us today.