How to Identify Your Most Valuable Website Traffic Sources [Data Snacks]

It’s been just over a month since we launched the Data Snacks series, and one of the primary goals was to hear from you, the audience, on the subjects you want to learn more about.

The response has been great.

I continue to get thoughtful responses through email, LinkedIn, and Twitter, which can only mean that we’re onto something.

When it comes to the responses themselves, while there are some common themes, the most requested subject (by far) has been around website traffic sources.

“What’s a good benchmark?”

“How do I know where my best website visitors come from?”

“Where should most of my website visitors be coming from?”

“What type of growth should I be seeing from each traffic source?”

“What does it all mean?”

In one form or another, I’ve been asked each of those questions (and more) over the last month.

While this subject could certainly span several episodes (stay tuned) I wanted to focus this episode of Data Snacks on how to successfully identify your channels of high-leverage.

Too many marketers approach channels/sources with a “check-the-box” mentality, meaning they execute campaigns trying to drive growth across all channels rather than focusing on the channels that align with their go-to-market strategy.

The following episode, as well as the accompanying template, will help you break from that approach.

Where are your best website visitors coming from?

Want the free template used in this episode? Grab it here.

What are your primary go-to-market drivers?

Among the points we talk about in this episode, clarifying your primary go-to-market drivers is critical in determining where you should focus your channel efforts.

And while there are no absolutes when it comes to the right answers, the following can help clarify how you think about source/channel growth.

If your primary GTM driver is:

• Content marketing: You’ll see a lean toward organic search, and if content distribution is a focus, likely significant volume through social and email, too.
• Affiliate marketing: Referral sources should play heavily here, as well as direct traffic since first touch attribution tends to be tricky to measure here.
• Paid/Display: Significant volume from social and paid channels, however depending on the frequency of your campaigns, this could fluctuate and swap places with organic and direct month-over-month.

These are just a few examples. To be clear, your GTM drivers aren’t the only indicator of where your traffic should be coming from. Industry niche, market positioning, and other factors should determine the specific channels that deliver in terms of acquisition.

• Consumer-focused? You’ll see a heavy focus on social media.
• B2B-focused? Paid, content, and email.

And this doesn’t even take into effect the industry you’re playing in.

For (much) more on how to track where your best website visitors come from, watch the episode above.