Find out where your Web site traffic comes from by looking at the referrer URLs in your Web analytics software. The referrer URL is the last Web address your site visitor browsed before clicking to your site.
Tracking the sources of your traffic is important to your marketing plan. You'll know which efforts pay off and which ones are a waste of your time.
Is Search Engine Marketing Worth It?
Most Web analytics programs that show referrer URLs can tell you the keyword a visitor typed into the search engine to reach your Web site. This information is a great way to assess whether you've chosen the right keywords for your organic and paid search engine marketing.
One limitation of Web analytics is that it often cannot distinguish clicks from paid or organic search engine links, so it's difficult to directly correlate your return on investment (ROI) for ads. However, if you have a pay per click campaign, it's likely that your bill will reflect the number of people who clicked your paid ad. Use that to track ROI.
Use your referrer URLs to refine your marketing techniques. Increase your budget for keywords that capture your top customers, optimize your Web site for the high-performing words and get rid of the no-results keywords.
Strengthen Your Best Relationships
If other Web sites have links to your Web site, free or paid, your Web analytics will show which sites send you the most traffic. You may be surprised about where your traffic is coming from. You might discover links to your Web site you never knew existed.
This is a great way to identify other Web sites that attract your target audience. If there is an unpaid link that drives a lot of traffic to your site, consider placing an ad on that site. You also might contact the site owner to find new partnership opportunities.
If any of your paid advertisements are underperforming, this is the time to refresh them or get rid of them.