CPM Ads

One thing I’ve noticed is that StumbleUpon traffic generates poor CTR. They just don’t like clicking on Adsense. This may be because they are more Internet-savvy than the average surfer, or maybe the Stumble toolbar button just makes it so convenient to hop from one site to the next. You have about 5-10 seconds to grab their attention, or they move on to the next. A good way to monetize this traffic is to look for banner advertisers that pay per impression, so that all those pageviews count.

Feed Subscriptions

Having a deluge of targeted visitors is a great opportunity to increase your subscriber base. If you got them interested on your post, they’ll look around for more. It’s important that you maintain a high level of quality for your site. A portion of that initial traffic will eventually come back to check out your new posts, and if they see that it’s consistent, they’ll sign up for updates. Your feed icon should be prominently displayed near the top for maximum effect. Then, it’s all up to you to keep them there.

Readership

Don’t stumble all the content you have, just the better ones. If your blog or site is fairly new, chances are these Stumblers or Diggers will be mostly fresh pairs of eyes. First impression is key. If they like what you have, they’ll come back and even tell others about it. Some people posted links to my site on different forums and in their own blogs. This exposure and word-of-mouth effect will give you an even broader readership.

A lot, actually. Erroneously, some people think that traffic = customers which is not always the case. Take for example, Site A. Site A has about a hundred visitor everyday, but no one is buying. So what makes you think that having two hundred or three hundred visitors will bring in the cash flow? In reality, even if you bring in a thousand visitors, if no one converts then there will be no sales.

With that aside, let’s now find out: Does your traffic convert to customers? If you answer barely or no, and that your site is just like Site A above, then its time for some serious re-evaluation. So how do we convert traffic to customers?

1) Relevance

That traffic that you are seeing might just be a result of poor choice of keyword. If you’re into gardening tools and decided to include in your choice of keywords “real estate” and “flower arrangement” then you are in trouble. You must always take into consideration that the keywords that you use should reflect directly what you are into. So instead of real estate, perhaps add the keyword “gardening spades” or “hoes.” The choice is up to you. Just remember that the keyword should be relevant to what you are selling. Not only do you save bandwidth due to wrong traffic, you get more chances of selling your products.

2)Uniqueness

So you sell gardening tools. So does Site B and Site C. Why should I buy from you instead of buying from them? Why should I choose you over the other 2 sites? These questions should be answered in your site in order to create the sense of uniqueness. How are you different from B and C? Once you push the idea that you have more to offer than them, you are getting closer to closing out the deal.

3)Presentation

Make your site easy to navigate and not too cluttered. Also, no one wants a site with broken links, especially if the link happens to be one of the products I am interested in buying. It is important that you continuously check for broken links. Make sure that the product descriptions are perfect and up-to-date. Present data in a simple way. No one wants to read a lot of jargons.

4) Security and Trust

We all know the saying “in the Internet, no one knows you are a dog.” It just goes to show how very little security and trust goes around in the Internet. In order to convert, you must be able to win your audience’s trust. Assure and reassure them about security in your site. One way to do it is by using a merchant credit card processing company that can be quite familiar to your customers. That way, the familiarity with the processing company can increase your customer’s trust.

These are just some of the things you can do in order to transform your visitors to customers. Always remember that your site should facilitate easier transactions and make sure that little or no barrier is present when it comes to product purchasing. Once you have created a site that offers uniqueness, security, presented in a user-friendly way, and caters to the needs of your visitors, they you are on the road towards a successful online business.

How about you? How much of your traffic actually converts into visitors?