Targeted web site traffic is essential to making sales through your website and converting website visitors to buyers. The purpose of targeted web site traffic is not just to bring traffic to your website, but to bring qualified website visitors, meaning visitors that are interested in what you have to offer and are ready to buy. All the website traffic in the world doesn't make one little bit of difference unless those website visitors buy your products or services, or click on the advertisements that generate revenue for your website.

Many people get caught up in the concept of driving traffic to their website without giving adequate attention to whether or not it is targeted web site traffic. The number of hits to the site is important, of course, but not nearly as important as the conversion rate. The conversion rate, by the way, is the percentage of website visitors that actually buy or otherwise generate revenue for your business.

To calculate your conversion rate, you divide your total number of unique visitors per month by your total number of sales. A simple example for instance - if you have 1,000 unique visitors to your website and from those visitors you make a total of 100 sales, your conversion rate is 10 - meaning, for every 10 visitors you make one sale. Is that a good conversion rate? Well, it depends. If you are paying 20 cents per click through a pay- per-click campaign, 1,000 visitors would cost you $200 in advertising fees. If your product price or average sale is $39.00, your revenue from the 100 sales would be $3,900 - not bad.

If you find that your conversion rate is not satisfactory, you likely have one of two problems, or maybe both. First, the traffic coming to your website may not be targeted web site traffic. Second, your sales copy may be inadequate in terms of appealing to the visitor and closing the sale. At any rate, if the conversion rate is not satisfactory, you need to make adjustments to your advertising campaign and perhaps to the website itself to ensure that the website is attracted targeted web site traffic and the sales copy closes the sale.

Other than lack of targeted web site traffic or insufficient sales copy, there are a few factors that can drive traffic away thus hindering your conversion rate. These may include problems with the site itself, terms that visitors don't like, complexity, or lack of confidence. If the pages of your website are slow loading or if there are broken links, visitors may get frustrated and leave the site.

If your payment terms and ecommerce solutions are not user- friendly, you may lose sales. If placing an order is not simple or if the product or service presentations make it difficult for a visitor to understand the benefits of the product or service or if they don't see the value in the product or service, they will likely leave the site. Finally, if you fail to establish your credibility or if your automated payment solution doesn't appear to be secure, you will likely drive traffic away from your site, even if it is targeted web site traffic.

So, the trick to increasing your sales is multi-faceted. For a website that is intended to make sales and generate revenue, attention should be given to the following factors:

1. Bringing targeted web site traffic to the site.

2. Ensuring that your website loads quickly, is easy to navigate, and has no broken links.

3. Using sales copy that attracts attention, prompts interest, creates desire, instills confidence, and closes the sale.

4. Providing ecommerce solutions and payment terms that are appealing to the masses and are easy to use.

5. Enhancing buyer confidence through the use of guarantees, good privacy policies and practices, and secure order processing procedures.