As a business, it is normal to be concerned
with the amount of traffic that your website receives. Traffic means that your business will be presented with more opportunities. Don't let the traffic numbers for your website get you down, instead, use this guide to pinpoint the source of your traffic slowdown and experience smooth sailing for the rest of the summer.
Step 1: Don’t Panic
When website owners see a sudden drop in traffic, they often jump to the conclusion that something is irreparably wrong. Many drops in traffic are fixable and take only a little time to diagnose. Start by taking a deep breath and reminding yourself most website issues can be fixed with a little legwork.
Step 2: Check Your Stats
Analytics and tracking are a basic necessity for website owners but even the best analytics can be compromised. Start your search for the reason for the traffic slowdown by verifying your analytics are up-to-date and accurate. Run a debugger or checker to ensure a recent update or inexperienced programmer hasn’t accidentally altered your code. A drop in traffic can sometimes be attributed to an error in tracking rather than a decrease on your site.
Step 3: Make Sure You’re Discoverable
If your analytics are in order, it’s time to make sure you’re still discoverable. It’s easy to overlook renewing your domain or web hosting platform. Run a WHO.IS search to make sure your domain is still in-date and owned by your business. Then, make sure you aren’t staring at the result of a web hosting downtime issue.
Step 4: Find the Source
When all the technical pieces are in order, it’s time to play detective. Many times, a drop in traffic can be pinpointed to a specific time when traffic started to slowdown. Find that moment and analyze whether it’s linked to a specific action on your part. Did you recently change web hosting services? Switch to HTTPS? Update your site? Have a significant increase followed by a decrease in traffic? Have a great month and are back at baseline? Was there a change in search engine algorithms? Finding the specific time frame of your drop in traffic can help troubleshoot what actually caused the decrease and help you diagnose that problem.
Step 5: Get an Outside Opinion
If you’ve investigated your drop and still can’t find the source, it’s time to call in reinforcements. Get an outside opinion from a co-worker or a web marketing company to look over the data. Often times, the answer is right in front of you and takes a second pair of eyes to see.
While there are literally thousands of reasons for a website to experience a slowdown in traffic, these five steps can address many common reasons for a traffic drop. If you still are experiencing traffic slowdowns, get back in the fast lane and jumpstart your inbound marketing with ADTACK by calling 702-270-8772 to schedule a free consultation.
