By jrumberger@hubspot.com (Jana Rumberger)

You want to know how to calculate website traffic. That’s smart since your website’s value is both the traffic AND the revenue it can bring in.

Making sure your site works? Check your web traffic. Reacting to changes in your industry? Your website traffic data can help you see how you’re doing.

Measuring web traffic can help you build realistic goals and strategies that lead to increased revenue for your business.

To get started, keep reading, or jump to the section you’re looking for.

• Why measure website traffic?
• Before You Start Collecting Web Traffic Data
• How to Calculate Website Traffic
• How to Calculate Traffic Goals to Increase Website Revenue

Why measure website traffic?

Measuring website traffic can help you pinpoint the performance of specific strategies and campaigns. This data can also help you see if leads are dropping off because of a drop in traffic, forecast annual trends, and notice when a page or link breaks on your site.

Your website traffic tool is like the thermometer in your house. You might think it feels cold, but that tool tells you exactly how cold it is. This helps you decide whether it’s worth turning the heater on.

So, maybe you think your website traffic is lower than it should be. Website traffic data can give you:

• Page views
• Referral sources
• Time on-page

This information can help you figure out where your website needs work and how to make it perform better.

It helps you answer both big-picture and granular questions about your marketing, sales, and growth strategies.

Before You Start Collecting Web Traffic Data

Many businesses claim to be data-driven. But 27% of surveyed small businesses don’t have a documented business strategy.

Without a clear strategy, you can’t use data to help your business grow. And if you’re not measuring current website performance, it will be difficult to set realistic goals.

Comparing your website traffic with competitive benchmarks is one place to start. But even if you know how many visitors you think your website should be getting, this data won’t help you understand where your numbers are now. It also won’t help your team work together to reach your goals.

These three steps will help you create a useful web traffic strategy. They can help you make sure that your data analysis is meaningful to your lead, sales, and revenue goals.

1. Decide what questions you want to answer with your data.

Businesses often fail because they’re asking the wrong questions. So, before you start gathering data, it’s important to think about the questions your business wants answers to.

Keep in mind that your questions may change over time. A startup with a month-old website may have questions like:

• Why is the bounce rate so high?
• What sources will bring the most qualified leads?
• Why is blog traffic rising in May, but dropping …read more

  Source:: HubSpot Blog

        

  

  Author: Aaron