So often people just keep throwing more traffic at their website with the mindset of more traffic equals higher sales. Makes sense right? Traffic is always going to be an important part of the equation but should not be doing all the work. It needs to be partnered with an ongoing conversion optimization strategy.

The Usual Plan

Let's assume that for every 1000 visitors to your website you get 10 sales. Logic indicates that if you increase traffic to 2000 visitors you should get 20 sales. So you set out to gain these additional 1000 visitors and buy a banner placement on a niche website in your industry for 1 month for $100. You get the visitors and the additional sales. Everyone is happy, but to continue enjoying the improved sales you have to continue to throw money at more traffic or put in the social media work to keep the traffic coming in.

A Smarter Approach

10 is 1% of 1000 so your current conversion rate is 1%. There is significant room for improvement there. You look at your website carefully and try to identify usability issues, bottle necks or any areas in the sales process that could be improved. You realize that the buy button is below the product description on the product page. You decide to move the buy button above the product description so your users can find it easily without scrolling. After testing you find out that your conversions have increased by 2%. You now are getting 30 sales for every 1000 visitors.

Long Term Payoff

Now you get to enjoy some nice long term ROI. The $100 you spend in advertising will gain you 30 sales per 1000 visitors. This is an extremely simplified example but the concept is in tact. The time and money spent optimizing for conversions almost always has a greater return on investment than money spent acquiring traffic, especially in the long run.

The Takeaway

Continue your traffic generating efforts but never stop optimizing for conversions. Make sure you test every change you make.