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What is Website Traffic?

Margo Upson
Margo Upson
Margo Upson
Margo Upson

The number of visitors to a website, and the pages they click on, is called website traffic. When a visitor arrives at the site, their presence is logged and any links that they click on are also monitored. These numbers get added up, giving the website owner an idea of how many people are visiting his or her site. It is a way of measuring the success of a website, as the more traffic it gets, the more popular it is.

Website traffic is monitored through various tools. Many of the best tools are free, but the results may need some interpretation. There are many companies that provide services that monitor and analyze website traffic. There are also ways for website owners to learn to perform this service themselves. It may take a while to learn, but it is a worthy investment, especially if a website owner is serious about growing the traffic to his or her site.

One of the most cost-effective and efficient forms of harness Internet advertising is search engine optimization.
One of the most cost-effective and efficient forms of harness Internet advertising is search engine optimization.

There are many reasons to analyze website traffic. One of the biggest reasons is that it gives site owners a way to monitor the effectiveness of their site. If, for example, a website is registering 3,000 hits during a two-day span, it sounds like the website is doing reasonably well. On closer examination, however, the owner sees that the visitors are only staying a minute, and are not looking at the other content on the site. Now, the owner can try to solve the problem, and find ways to encourage the visitors to stay longer.

Many companies provide services that can track and analyze a website's traffic.
Many companies provide services that can track and analyze a website's traffic.

Increasing website traffic takes time, luck, and skill. For any one topic, there may be a million or more web pages devoted to it. In order to get traffic to one particular site, the owner needs to know how to get his or her content noticed. One of the best ways to do that is through search engine optimization, or SEO. SEO uses keywords, links, and other methods to improve a websites rank in search engine results. While these methods are not foolproof, and require a lot of research and understanding of how search engines operate, they do give users a step up from other websites not using SEO to build their traffic.

Some traffic tools are capable of seeing which devices were used to visit a site.
Some traffic tools are capable of seeing which devices were used to visit a site.

Understanding website traffic can be the key to unlocking the potential of a website. Being able to develop a targeted approach to increase traffic based on how visitors are using a site and on search engine strategies allows the website owner to improve their site in ways they may not have initially thought of. As the website improves, the amount of traffic it sees increases, giving the owner new information that can be used in further improvements.

Margo Upson
Margo Upson

Margo has a varied academic background, which has involved everything from psychology and culinary arts to criminal justice and education. These wide-ranging interests make her an ideal EasyTechJunkie writer, as she always enjoys becoming an expert on new and unfamiliar topics.

Learn more...
Margo Upson
Margo Upson

Margo has a varied academic background, which has involved everything from psychology and culinary arts to criminal justice and education. These wide-ranging interests make her an ideal EasyTechJunkie writer, as she always enjoys becoming an expert on new and unfamiliar topics.

Learn more...

Discussion Comments

sunshined

Many people will use the various social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to increase website traffic. Wherever you can put a link to your site is always beneficial.

Another way of doing this is using an email signature in all of your emails. When you include a link to your website in every email that is sent out, this can increase the number of visitors to your site as well.

bagley79

You can have the best looking, most professional website design, but if you aren't getting any traffic to your site it probably isn't doing you any good.

The key for online success of any website is to know how to increase website traffic. There is a lot of competition out there and it seems to get tougher every day. Some people spend a lot of money on programs and ideas that will help generate traffic.

It is good to have ways to track this traffic, so you have a good idea of which methods are worth your time and money.

andee

Getting traffic to your website is usually a process that takes time and does not happen overnight. There are many free ways to keep track of your website traffic. One of the most popular is Google Analytics. To use this free program, you insert some code in a certain place on your website which tracks the traffic to your site.

You get a daily report that shows how many visitors and where those visitors came from - whether it be through search engines, facebook, twitter, etc. This can be a valuable tool so you know which sources are driving the most traffic to your site.

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    • One of the most cost-effective and efficient forms of harness Internet advertising is search engine optimization.
      By: ronstik
      One of the most cost-effective and efficient forms of harness Internet advertising is search engine optimization.
    • Many companies provide services that can track and analyze a website's traffic.
      By: bloomua
      Many companies provide services that can track and analyze a website's traffic.
    • Some traffic tools are capable of seeing which devices were used to visit a site.
      By: Eugenio Marongiu
      Some traffic tools are capable of seeing which devices were used to visit a site.
    • Advertising online through Google AdWords or another keyword program may dramatically increase website traffic.
      Advertising online through Google AdWords or another keyword program may dramatically increase website traffic.