I Need More Traffic! … You sure about that?

Gimme traffic, gimme traffic, gimme traffic.

It seems like that is the answer to all internet marketing problems. At least that’s what the “Front Page of Google” peddlers would have you believe.

Yes, traffic is important, for sure. But the answer isn’t always MORE TRAFFIC.

I love when I sit down with a business owner to talk about their online marketing and they think our whole conversation is going to revolve around getting more traffic.

It’s been beaten into their heads, over and over, and often times the only “buzz word” they know when it comes to internet lingo.

They fear that I’m going to hit them up for a huge Pay Per Click budget. It’s what they are prepared for.

They are stunned when I say “before we dive into getting more traffic, let’s find out if that’s what your really need”.

“Well, what else is there”?

Conversion…

The most neglected and, in my opinion, most important part of local internet marketing.  If I had to pick one single thing to be great at, it would be conversion.

Think about it. You can buy traffic… instant traffic. It’s pretty much a science.

No mystery, no magic.

But conversion. Getting that traffic to take the next step and actually pick up the phone or visit your store or office and say “I think you have what I need, I pick you”… well that’s an art.

Let’s take the example of a real estate agent.  Let’s say an agent gets 500 hits on her site each month and out of those 500 hits only 8% actually make contact to find out more.

That’s 40 visitors that call or fill out a submission form to get more information. An actual lead.

Now out of those 40 prospects that make contact, our agent can predictably convert 10% into an actual client.

That’s 4 new clients to either help buy or sell a house, and in some cases both.

The average front end value of a new client for this agent is roughly $4000.

So 4 clients at $4000 per month equals a monthly revenue of $16,000.

When this agent goes looking for help with her internet marketing, in so many cases, she will be led to believe that she needs more traffic.

Sure. Why not?  It makes sense. More is better, right?

If we double the traffic we can double the leads, which will double the revenue.

Uh… Maybe, but doubtful.

When you are dealing with local search there is only so much harder you can scrub.

What kind of traffic? Is it purchase driven buyers or just a mass of “click stats” from irrelevant search results?

Let’s just assume for now that we could increase traffic with the same quality of visitors by at least 40%

And what would that cost? $$$

Starting to see the problem?

But what if we looked at the agent’s online presence and found that, like most agents, she had a boilerplate web template with the usual distractions of local weather, schools, house listings etc..  your typical “me too” marketing.

What if, with a simple tweak of the “Marketing”,  we could increase the number of visitors that raised their hands and made contact by only 4%?

No increase in traffic, no increase in our agents ability to turn prospects into clients…

Convince just 4% more website visitors to pick up the phone.

Let’s do that math.

The same 500 visitors to the site,  but we get 12% rather than 8% to make contact.

That’s 60 leads.

Our agent continues to only convert 10% of those into actual clients. That’s 6.

At $4000 per client our agent’s revenue is now $24,000 per month.

So what do you think would be easier and most cost effective?

Increasing the traffic with the same quality of visitors by at least 40%?

Or increasing the conversion of the current visitors by just 4%?

I know what my choice would be.  What’s your?