I receive traffic from numerous sources; from my e-books to YouTube, social networking sites you name it.
But when I look at my traffic stats and review my top two sources, they have been the same for many years…
1) search engines
2) bookmark traffic
Of course, the percentage of traffic I receive from these various sources has changed. For example, my bookmark traffic has increased by quite a bit over the past few years.
Nevertheless my top three sources have typically been search engines, bookmark traffic and voluntary inbound links.
So I thought I’d open up a discussion about traffic here. What are your top two (or three) sources right now and how have they changed over the months/years (if at all)? Noticed any patterns?
Let’s talk!
{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
Follow on Twitter: @WindowsTalk
According to Google Analytics:
Search Engines: 70%
Direct Traffic: 15%
Referring Sites: 14%
Other: 1%
James Fisher´s last blog … Monday Morning Blog Review
Follow on Twitter: @toshopoholic
According to analytics:
Search engine traffic 44%
Direct Traffic 28%
Referring sites 27%
Follow on Twitter: @southbayfoodies
Another report from Google Analytics!
Search Engines (65.10%)
Happy New Ye…! Oh. The Party’s Over. 
Referring Sites (23.49%)
Direct Traffic (10.74%)
Other (0.67%)
Michael / South Bay Foodies´s last blog …
Follow on Twitter: @McKnightikus
Google Analytics say:
Referring Sites (71.48%)
Direct Traffic (22.89%)
Search Engines (2.82%)
Other (2.82%)
Hmm I guess that’s pretty expected for a blog, for others to refer to your good posts.
Gordon´s last blog … Getting Your First Traffic Spike
Follow on Twitter: @TheNewEnglandWx
According to google analytics I have:
42% direct traffic
37% refering sites
11% SEO
ok there u go
Try and resist clicking my name´s last blog … As we close a crazy weather week, I think despite a quitet near term the long range remains exiting as always!
Follow on Twitter: @carlarose
For my blog (I dont use Google Analytics) most of of my traffic come from search engines.
For my retail store:
Search Engines: (48.32%)
Referring Sites: (28.29%)
Direct Traffic: (23.39%)
Follow on Twitter: @haleet
my 4 month old website, receives about 60% from organic searches and 30% from other sites voluntarily linking and the rest is just direct and unknown.
I don’t get tons of traffic but its decent and for a 4 month old website what i’m getting is more then expected.
___________
As for my other sites, I have built them to target a major keyword in google, 1 receives 10k and 90% of it is from Search engines. I’m about to sell this site too, I think Google is changing the way they rank sites, I have lost my place from 2.nd place to 7th and I have so many voluntary links on other websites.
Start-A-Site.Com´s last blog … How to set link colors with Style Sheets
Follow on Twitter: @technicallyeasy
According to Google Analytics:
Search Engines – 90.39%
Direct Traffic – 5.65%
Referring Sites – 3.86%
Other – 0.10%
I remember when I first started and had trouble getting any search engine traffic. Man, that seems like a long time ago.
Paul´s last blog … Delayed Write Failure With External Hard Drive
I don’t know what you refer to as “bookmark traffic” — do you mean social bookmarking sites like Digg or Stumbleupon or do you mean one’s browser bookmarks? For you have no way of knowing the latter.
As for my GA traffic source metrics over the past 30 days…
14.15% – Direct Traffic
12.34% – Referring Sites
71.41% – Search Engines
The top 5 referring sites were twitter.com, google.com, smartbrief.com, facebook.com, and images.google.com.
The top 5 search engines were google (67%), bing, search, yahoo, and aol.
Ari Herzog´s last blog … Why Do You Subscribe to Blog Comments?
I meant direct traffic or people who bookmark my site. Sorry about that.
Follow on Twitter: @ewealths
though I am new to all this stuff you are are referring to but from alexa.com my forum is the 496 traffic site in NG, though I am really trying to enable the google analytics for my site I have not found the way yet!!! Thanks Lisa for all the stuff you write.
Follow on Twitter: @juhasan
Search engines always been my major traffic source, analytics as follows:
Search Engines (74.63%)
Direct Traffic (12.55%)
Referring Sites (12.02%)
Other (0.80%)
Jinnat Ul Hasan´s last blog … Google Adsense Cheque – November, 2009
Follow on Twitter: @dwaynehuggins
Google Analytics say:
Direct – 30.16%
Google – 22.98%
Facebook – 9.69%
BetterNetworker – 9.34%
Bit.ly – 6.46%
My blog is 2 months old, so not bad going. I still have a way to go, but I will get there.
Dwayne
Dwayne Huggins´s last blog … Do You Know Where To Get Quality Network Marketing Content?
My almost 3 months blog has had 3200 visits.
Google Analytics stats:
- Google (52%)
- answers.yahoo (13%) – Yes, I started answering questions about photography (DSLRs) on Yahoo and it’s working very well
- Direct (13%)
- Youtube – I have an account there and I make YouTube videos and post links to my site.
There are more, but these 3 (no direct) are the most important ones to me and I keep on working on them.
Chio´s last blog … White Balance
Follow on Twitter: @dckidsmom
I have a two month old blog with Alexa ranking of 303,825. I still wish I could get more traffic to the site on a daily basis, but it is still pretty knew. My Google analytics stats are:
2019 visits with:
18% direct traffic
69% referring sites
8.87% search engines
3% other traffic (not sure what that means)
I wish I could find a way to increase my search engine traffic, but not too sure how to do this. Perhaps my niche is just one that’s not as important or needed.
Blia´s last blog … Whine Festivals and Pre-pregnancy Pants
Follow on Twitter: @CanadianGamer
-About 65% from search engines, mostly google.com and images.google.com
-Forums I attend in, I post my posts in there, about 13%
-Direct Traffic 16%
- The other 4-5% is from emails, Twitter, Youtube, Facebook.
How can I increase my direct traffic?
Follow on Twitter: @YPRuck
I shortened my domain name & now have all my traffic f/ my old domain name forwarded to my new one. My search engine traffic is the worst of any traffic source:
Direct: 84.35%
Referring: 12.46%
Search Engines: 3.19%
I need help! Lol, really tho!
Follow on Twitter: @YPRuck
I didn’t leave my last blog on here when I commented so here it is: http://ypblogspot.com/success-you-changed/
Follow on Twitter: @JWENSR12
According to Google Analytics:
Search Engines – 1.49%
Direct Traffic – 16.42%
Referring Sites – 82.09%
Follow on Twitter: @Tanhak
These days, my experience mirrors a few others who have chimed in (like Michael’s from South Bay Foodies and Carla).
At first, most of my traffic came from referring sites and direct traffic. Then, the trend changed and slowly more and more traffic began coming in from search engines.
Now, most of my traffic comes from search engines, but referring sites is in the second place and third is direct traffic.
Great conversation topic, by the way
.
Follow on Twitter: @Ileane
Hi Lisa,
I get about 80% of my traffic from Twitter and the other 20% is split between the forums I belong to like Website Babble (of course) and Blog Engage. I also get incoming traffic from my other blogs (I have 4).
ileane´s last blog … Say Goodbye to Family, Friends and A Good Night’s Sleep!
Follow on Twitter: @krenee76
I get most of my traffic from LinkReferral, about 50%, then probably 20% comes from posting authentic comments on high traffic blogs like this great one!, then I’d say 10% from Google, and the last 10% from Twitter.
Kiesha @ Highly Favored´s last blog … If you don’t plant seeds how do you expect anything to grow?
Follow on Twitter: @Tanhak
Oldest site:
92.05% search engine
4.58% referring
3.37% direct
(there is a couple in between as well)
Newest site:
48.03% search engine (newest site, 3.5 weeks old)
38.58% referring
13.39% direct
I see a trend that in the beginning referring and direct is stronger, quickly swinging to search engine traffic as the site gains traction.
Michelle´s last blog … Jan 13, Importance of Time Management: Advantages of Learning Effective Skills
Follow on Twitter: @tamingtime
I am not @skincaregeek not sure why it says that???
Michelle´s last blog … Jan 13, Importance of Time Management: Advantages of Learning Effective Skills
Follow on Twitter: @tamingtime
A little confused?
My other comment disappeared? Take 2!
Oldest site:
direct: 3.37%
referring: 4.58%
search: 92.05%
(A couple in between)
Newest site:
direct: 48.03%
referring: 38.58%
search: 13.39%
I have noticed that when a site begins, referring sites and direct traffic (presumably yourself) are the strongest… which changes to search engine traffic as you develop traction.
Michelle´s last blog … Jan 13, Importance of Time Management: Advantages of Learning Effective Skills
Follow on Twitter: @Kenya Inez
Direct Traffic 87.00 (76.99%)
Referring Sites 20.00 (17.70%)
Search Engines 6.00 (5.31%)
Granted, my site just officially launched yesterday I don’t exactly know what this means.
Follow on Twitter: @treehouse4rent
I’m grateful to have found 2createawebsite! Its’ easy to understand and full of positive information for succeeding. As far as stats, still too new to publish but stay tuned!
Search engine and direct traffic, yep! Looks like the trend is consistent.
Jonathan´s last blog … $50 Amazon.com Gift Card with Xbox 360 Elite Winter Bundle Purchase
I find that traffic that converts the best is closely related often niche sites.
PowerPoint Templates´s last blog … Homestead PowerPoint Template
Follow on Twitter: @imstrategies
Most of my traffic comes from the SE’s which is a great thing. I also notice that article marketing plays a significant role as visitors will come through those venues as well. Some hot products for my affiliate sites generate a lot of traffic from Stumble and Reddit, again these are for specific products that are very popular.
Follow on Twitter: @imstrategies
One more thing I noticed today, as many here have commented is the Direct Traffic source, which I have researched before was never really clear on where it comes from, I understand it to be people who went there by typing the url themselves into browsers, but seems strange when brand new sites have a good amount of visitors via that source.
JR´s last blog … List of 128 Comment Luv Blogs by Niche
In the case of my main website it’s the same as with most of you guys:
Google: 86%
Direct: 9%
Referral: 4%
But I have another website which is of interest only to a very small group of people and the stats are very different there:
Google: 41%
Direct: 9%
Referral: 52%
Paul Pela´s last blog … Szybkie porady dla sfrustrowanych pocz?tkuj?cych
my traffic has been very low i do not know why. and also google has not indexed some of my pages. i do not know why. can you help?
please take a look at http://www.freelancing-on-net.com
thanks,
steven
Follow on Twitter: @agpzoebeatz
* 39.77%
Direct Traffic
* 53.18%
Referring Sites
* 7.05%
Search Engines
Angelo Jules´s last blog … Rihanna Sexy Photo Shoot For ‘W’ Magazine
My blog is very young so most of my traffic is from referrers, the search engine traffic is just starting to build up.
Follow on Twitter: @Optimistic_J
Search Engines (74.09%)
Referring Sites (14.32%)
Direct Traffic (8.41%)
Other (3.18%)
My site is a little over 4 months old and gradually progressing in stats.
Follow on Twitter: @londonevent2010
Hi Lisa,
This is a really good topic to discuss. One of my main sites has been online for exactly 6 weeks, (though it took over 6 months to complete the strategy and market research). In that time, the site has attracted 4,800 unique visits, and 23,600 page views).
My top 3 sources for the site are:
1) Google Search (87%)
2) Direct/Bookmarks (5%)
3) Twitter (3%)
Before I launched the site, I spent many hours looking at the most popular keywords and key phrases that bring traffic for my niche. I targetted one particular search phrase that if I get top of Google for, (and that means a lot of hard work to beat 6 key commercial competitor websites), it will bring around 200,000 visitors a month. But I saw an opportunity, because one one of the 6 had really spent time on developing an SEO strategy.
In terms of patterns, I’ve seen a steady increase in the number of keywords and keyphrases that are bringing visitors to my website – it goes up by around 40-50 a day, and now stands at nearly 600.
In my opinion, the Google Keywords Tool is the best place to start for anyone thinking of starting up a website. Like Lisa says, you always have to consider the business aspects too. For example, I know that getting top of Google for that key phrase will bring in 200,000 visitors a month, and at around £25 per 1,00 visitors (estimate going on current statistics), that’s £5,000 per month ($7,800).
If you’re prepared to work hard and smart, there’s no reason you can’t make a good income online!
Follow on Twitter: @londonevent2010
I’ve found a great page about increasing traffic to your website, from Alexa.com. The URL is: http://blog.alexa.com/2009/07/how-to-increase-traffic-to-your-website.html
Follow on Twitter: @Truckspector
A quick question for you, Lisa.
I’m an (relative) internet newbie, and I only learned what SEO stood for about 7 months ago. After TONS of reading, much of it on your website, I optimized my website as best I could. I created some inbound links, Tweeted my links like crazy, and some things are finally “clicking”. Traffic has picked up to about 500+ uniques and 8000 hits per month. This isn’t an e-commerce website, just a website advertising my local business service.
My question: how much traffic, in your opinion, would be needed for a successful affiliate website, if I were able to get a decent conversion rate on my visitors? I refuse to dive into affiliate marketing until I’m sure I have the knowledge to be successful. Any thoughts?
Follow on Twitter: @Earnathometips
For me traffic from articles are 1
2. Blog commenting number 2
3. Forums 3
4. Search engines 4
I learned a long time ago to stay away from traffic exchanges they simply do not work. I concentrate most of my time on traffic that makes me money. Do not waste your time on techniques that do not bring you a profit.
Jason´s last blog … ShoeMoney System Money Program Selling Points And Benefits Joining