Do traffic and sales generally correlate?

SirMoby · 2006-04-29, 08:23 AM

It's a good question that's very simple and direct but the answer is complicated.

Some correlations can be seen between traffic and sales but it's rarely a 1:1 ratio since so many factors are involved. Let’s say that you get traffic from targeted blog trades. Now you have to think about where your trading partners are getting traffic and what ads they’re putting in front of surfers. If they’re all using the same ads and trading with the same partners, which is pretty common in the same targeted niche, then how will that effect surfer response to your ads?

Even SE traffic varies a great deal. If you get traffic from 1 key phrase that happens to match your ads perfectly then you can probably estimate a 1:1 ratio and be close to an accurate projection. But if you get additional traffic from other key phrases it’s difficult to say exactly how those surfers looking for something slightly different will respond.

I don’t agree at all that sales are only made from fresh surfers. About ¾ of the emails I get from members appear to be veterans. Sites with a lot of bookmarkers seem to have better ratios then sites that don’t so if you provide a savvy surfer with the right product they will come back and buy from you again.

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2006-04-29, 08:23 AM	#5
SirMoby Jim? I heard he's a dirty pornographer. Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 2,706	It's a good question that's very simple and direct but the answer is complicated. Some correlations can be seen between traffic and sales but it's rarely a 1:1 ratio since so many factors are involved. Let’s say that you get traffic from targeted blog trades. Now you have to think about where your trading partners are getting traffic and what ads they’re putting in front of surfers. If they’re all using the same ads and trading with the same partners, which is pretty common in the same targeted niche, then how will that effect surfer response to your ads? Even SE traffic varies a great deal. If you get traffic from 1 key phrase that happens to match your ads perfectly then you can probably estimate a 1:1 ratio and be close to an accurate projection. But if you get additional traffic from other key phrases it’s difficult to say exactly how those surfers looking for something slightly different will respond. I don’t agree at all that sales are only made from fresh surfers. About ¾ of the emails I get from members appear to be veterans. Sites with a lot of bookmarkers seem to have better ratios then sites that don’t so if you provide a savvy surfer with the right product they will come back and buy from you again.