HAS YOUR WEBSITE TRAFFIC TAKEN A DIVE? HERE ARE SOME REASONS YOU MAY NOT HAVE CONSIDERED FOR LOWER MONTHLY TRAFFIC!
Website traffic is a finicky beast … just when we think we have the perfect formula for traffic, it turns on us and dives down and we have zero clue what the culprit was! Back during my Style Unveiled days I remember when Google rewrote their algorithm and I watched 5,000-10,000 DAILY VISITORS get cut down by more than half … it was painful to say the least … and it made me have a great respect for website traffic and a deeper understanding for how it should be viewed and weighed.
I categorize traffic into 2 main columns:
RANDOM VISITORS
2. YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
because of all the different ways people can find themselves inside of our websites, it’s important to keep in mind that not all traffic is even wanted! A ton of traffic in one day to a post that went viral isn’t the type of traffic that is realistic and if you do have a giant leap in traffic and get super excited, it’s important to look back 6 months later or even a year later to see what your average is.
For instance, below is a screenshot of my traffic for all of last year:
As you can see, I had a huge jump in April … during that month as I saw my traffic take a huge leap, I didn’t let myself think: oh wow, this is the new normal for me …. all my hard work has finally paid off … what I did was see WHAT was bringing in that traffic … turns out, a blog post I wrote went majorly viral because it was very polarizing and people were enraged or celebrating what I said … haha … so it got shared hundreds of times across social media … as you can see, my average is really around 1,500 visitors per month … with my lowest month being February with only 1,240 visitors.
If you have seen your traffic take a dip and you are curious as to why it happened, here are a few questions to ask yourself:
DID YOU CANCEL ANY ONLINE ADVERTISING?
Online advertising plays a crucial roll in traffic and SEO … even if you don’t get a lot of DIRECT INQUIRIES from your online advertising, it’s still a link that goes to your website … it’s still a ‘search wave riding’ tool (because national and local blogs typically come up first in searches) … and these days a lot of online advertising outlets will also push you across their larger audience social media feeds, which generates interest and traffic. Don’t focus on ROI when it comes to advertising … below is a link with more on that topic!
ARE YOU INVOLVED IN LESS STYLED EDITORIAL SHOOTS?
If you had a ton of editorial shoots last year and got all pumped and cozy with how that pushed you into being busy with lots of new clients … so you backed off because you were busy … and then your traffic took a dive … uhm … that probably has a lot to do with it! The ‘busy work’ we do as business owners directly relates to those ‘highs’ we have … and removing even just one part of the equation can adjust it all and create dips and dives. I strongly urge all my clients to be involved in at least 4 editorial shoots PER YEAR … even if they aren’t huge productions … below is a bonus post about creating a successful styled shoot!
HAVE YOU HAD LESS FEATURES OR PUBLISHED WORK?
Piggybacking off of styled shoots would be: less or more features … if you are creating a styled editorial shoot you are probably also hoping that it gets picked up by a publication … but it’s also important to get your real weddings and events featured or at least submitted for a feature! If you have noticed a break in traffic, take a peek at the last time your work was featured and if it’s been a while, get something in the works!
HAVE YOU WORKED WITH VENDORS WHO DON’T HAVE AS LARGE OF A SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWING AS YOU DID PREVIOUSLY?
I’ll never forget the day that Jose Villa shared my website design on his Instagram feed after I designed his sister's website (Janet Villa) … My Instagram following, traffic, inquiries, etc jumped in a major way … it was one of those ‘is this really happening!!??’ moments … if you are working with some MAJOR NAMES and they are sharing the work you are involved in together across their social media and tagging you in, it is going to affect your website traffic in a positive way. If you had a crazy year of working with the best in the business and then it got a bit quieter after that, it could be causing the ‘lower than you are used to’ traffic to your website. Similarly, if you were involved in a lot of workshops or even just one and then you weren’t … just some food for thought ;)
ARE YOU USING SOCIAL MEDIA LESS?
I am hugely guilty of taking LONG social media breaks … I get tired of it … I think it’s not working … I basically take all the advice I give and throw it out the window … and then, I notice things get awfully quiet around here … the minute I pick it back up again on Instagram??? BOOM, traffic, inquiries, interest … even if my posts aren’t getting a bunch of ‘likes’ !!! If you are hearing crickets lately or just not feeling the momentum you usually feel, post a few amazing things on IG and see if it helps :)
ARE YOU BLOGGING LESS?
OMG, she said the ‘b word’ … how dare she!!!! Yep, I did … blogging: are you doing it? Do you blog? What I like to remind myself about a blog post is this: it’s an investment for 6-10 months down the road … because that’s typically how long it takes for the SEO gods to catch on and take notice … so if you put in the work once a week to blog about something that MATTERS TO YOUR TARGET MARKET << which is key, btw … it could return something to you later … just sayin’ … something to consider doing.
HAS LIFE BEEN HAPPENING TO YOU MORE?
This is a BIG ONE … life … it happens to all of us … life happening can be GREAT: taking more family trips, focusing more on being a mom with your kids, taking time off to reflect, having a new baby … life happening can also be HARD: getting sick, bills piling up and financial stress, divorce, kids going through something hard … regardless of HOW life is affecting you, it will definitely impact your business … therefore, affecting all the things above and more … and (yep, you guessed it!!) ding ding ding: it will affect the traffic to your website. So, take a look back … see what’s been up around your house … and that could give you the answer you’ve been looking for!
With all of that said, it is important to know if your website is just ‘unfindable’ … meaning, you have an old website that is broken, or it’s super spammy, or it’s ugly as f*ck … if you just don’t have ANY TRAFFIC at all or barely any, then it’s time to decide what needs to be done about that … and that’s where I come in ;)
