How Do People Find My Website?
You know people are visiting your website, but have you ever wondered where exactly this traffic is coming from? These visitors are most likely finding you through multiple channels, and by identifying what these are, you can fine-tune your online marketing strategy to see continual growth.
Although it may be tempting to throw all of your effort into dominating one channel, it’s typically best to have traffic coming from multiple places. Aside from this helping you reach different people, a balance may protect against potential dips in your traffic due to a change in your marketing tactics. Let’s say, for example, you need to lower your Pay Per Click budget, or maybe your site no longer ranks well for a valuable term in search results—by having other channels optimized for your website, you can maintain a continuous flow of visitors regardless of changes to one area.
Sources of Website Traffic
So, what channels are people using to find your website? When looking at your behind-the-scenes data in Google Analytics, you’ll most likely see a combination of the following categories:
- Organic Search: People find your website through Google or another search engine. (This is a significant part of your SEO efforts.)
- Paid Search: People click on an ad you set up through a paid search system like AdWords.
- Direct: Visitors access your website by typing in your URL, using a bookmark on their browser, or another method that doesn’t indicate a referral.
- Social: They are directed to your website by clicking a link on a social network, like Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.
- Referral: People are taken to your site from another website, such as a news wire service, a professional membership directory, or a patient reviews database.
- Email: Visitors follow a link in an email you sent, such as in a routine newsletter or practice announcement.
- Other: Visitors find your website through a link that is connected to a custom campaign you’ve set up and are tracking.
As you can see, there are different means through which people could be directed to your website. To ensure a steady flow of traffic, you’ll want to actively get your practice involved in a variety of these channels. From optimizing your content and publicizing it on social media, to using paid search and establishing an email marketing campaign, there are a number of ways to enhance your online visibility and attract people to your website. By understanding where your traffic is coming from, you can better determine where to focus your efforts and discover specific areas that could use improvement.
Want to learn more about your traffic and how you can make your website a premier resource for visitors? Contact Rosemont Media to get started!