Have you got any ideas to increase my traffic?

[healthstatus]

Judging from your traffic and your competitor's traffic, I'd say you should get on TV somehow. Whether it's a paid advertisement on the Lifetime network (something I'm considering doing when I have the money) or a spot on Dr. Oz, it's something you should consider doing, if you haven't done it before. If you've done it before, I'd say do it again. I first saw WebMD on a television commercial. I know what you do and what they do are a bit different, but still.

Get on Dr. Oz, sell whatever Dr. Oz was selling on the episode you were on, and watch traffic and orders spike.

I have a serious case of camera shy that I will have to get over, this is where the idea of a Doc spokesperson initiated. Having all the extra letters after their name and one of those snazzy lab coats makes them much more credible than me in my cargo shorts and probably unshaven for the last 4-5 days, I would put on a clean woot shirt though.

 

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[healthstatus]

Greg - I have to second the use of Infographics.

Hey SB....

got one in the making, ideas on about 6 more. I contacted the company that did yours, they said they are not doing one-offs and only taking groups that want to do multiples.

 

[The-J]

I have a serious case of camera shy that I will have to get over, this is where the idea of a Doc spokesperson initiated. Having all the extra letters after their name and one of those snazzy lab coats makes them much more credible than me in my cargo shorts and probably unshaven for the last 4-5 days, I would put on a clean woot shirt though.

I would go the 'doc spokesperson' route. When my business gets to the point where getting on TV becomes beneficial for me, I won't show my ugly mug. I'd get someone actually qualified to talk about it (or, someone who seems qualified to others). Entrepreneurs aren't qualified to talk about much except business, it seems.

Plus, I'm too short for television.

 

[healthstatus]

Quick Report: Facebook lag is a couple of days, started post on Wednesday and got 7 likes, add buttons Thursday morning, 27 likes on Thursday, 3 new twitter followers. Facebook referrals up 45% over previous Wed-Fri (still in the low hundreds of visitors so not making an impact overall, but it is very early in the process)

 

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[NewsletterScott]

Hey SB....

got one in the making, ideas on about 6 more. I contacted the company that did yours, they said they are not doing one-offs and only taking groups that want to do multiples.

Where else are you looking to get one created?

 

[healthstatus]

One week report: Have implemented several suggestions, reduced number of ads on each page (in most places through the site), social share buttons, cleaned up a few things, reduced main menu by 3 entries, promoted a few blog posts on Facebook with the promotion option.

One week results: Traffic is DOWN 5.6% from the previous week. This is a big travel week in the US, so that could account for some.

only positive category, visit duration went up about 9%


If it were only easy.....

 

[andviv]

There is also a chance that your site is being punished a little bit by the search engines.... For what I understand, this is normal when changes are applied, but a couple of weeks later things pick up again.

 

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[mayana]

I am thinking that there might be some way that you can leverage your member list to get more traffic. You have access to a pretty large group of people that you already might have a lot of demographic information about.

Why not present your organization as an expert in some aspect of health, but not just in front of consumers, but for the industry - on a big scale.

Here's what I'm thinking (don't laugh...)

1. Figure out the topics that are the most pressing in the industry
2. Conduct periodic surveys on these important issues to your members
3. Publish your findings as whitepapers, press releases, etc
4. Use outlets such as HARO (like you said you already use) and other such sites, and even contacting health reporters directly for large national sites and let them know that you have statistics on all sorts of health issues and that they should contact you when they need something.

I think that you might establish even more authority for your site by doing this regularly, and it will be an upwards cycle - you'll show up more on the top news sites and other top sites because of information that you are providing.

I guess to me it all comes back to the whole value issue - maybe analyzing it from that angle will give you some ideas?

 

[theBiz]

Any updates on this?

 

[healthstatus]

Facebook likes are up, shares, and posts are up, site speed is almost half what it was and still some work to do.

Traffic is down 15% from a month ago.

September is not typically a good health month, hoping it turns around.

 

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[theBiz]

What about more targeted ads and/or completely removing other ads and selling your products only, did you try to increase margins that way yet?

EDIT: just went to the site and there is an ad for clothing and another for college, why are you making the ads health related only i cant understand why you are doing this unless thats a banner directly paid by the company?


I know this is going to sound crazy too, but have you ever thought of downloading a premium template... i mean a really good one that converts and just a/b test it for a week or are you scared to potentially confuse existing people?

I mean you are in the best position out of anyone i could think of to constantly be switching things up.... you have alot of free traffic, i would just think everyday i went there things would be different. You have the experience not me so these are just suggestions, im sure youve done things and know your market and website better than i do btw.

I believe you have an automated business but i just see so much potential maybe you do not want to deal with an office and sales team but ive got to believe you could be selling medical equipment or something hahaa i duno, there has to be a way to make crazy money in this industry with this amount of traffic.

I think if you hired a seasoned CEO tomorrow he would go to town on this business model and try to increase revenue 10 fold by offering services and products.

 

[healthstatus]

I sell a ton of software from the leads I get from this site.

Mess with formats, content and site organization enough and the traffic goes to 0.

Some ads are targeted, some are just targeted at my demographic, which happens to be about 60% female in the 25-45 year old range so those ads are spot on. What medical equipment is going to sell on a Sunday afternoon? Is the person trying to figure out how many calories they burn brushing their teeth going to buy clothes or medical equipment?

I asked for help getting more visitors, not more revenue, if you have advice about that I would like to hear it. Otherwise, you know zip about my traffic except the quantity. You know zip about my revenue model(s) or MY long term goals. You are telling me it isn't what it should be, someone else can do it better, I need to do/sell/market something else. Shove it! I don't need those opinions.

 

[TK1]

health, have you ever tried building niche sites to specific chapters of your main site?

like topic weight loss low carb

build a blog on that + selling ebook whatever + linking to your main site...



another one:

you ever thought about buying other websites doing something related / well fitting to your site?

something it's difficult to grow even more in one market, so start buying other businesses can be interesting...

 

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[healthstatus]

tk, I do all of those.

 

[JaySoriano]

I know Compete isn't always accurate, but they do show a steady drop of traffic over the last few months:

healthstatus.com UVs for August 2012 | Compete

Any insights on why?

 

[theBiz]

I sell a ton of software from the leads I get from this site.

ok...?

Mess with formats, content and site organization enough and the traffic goes to 0.

ok, i was just suggesting maybe giving the site a facelift.

Some ads are targeted, some are just targeted at my demographic, which happens to be about 60% female in the 25-45 year old range so those ads are spot on.

Spot on? Spot on for who? There was a PRWeb banner on your site last time i went there, so you are telling me that will convert better with a 25-45 year old female than a niche health product for females that says

"This product will help you burn fat! CAUTION: Works best for women between 25-45" on the banner?

What medical equipment is going to sell on a Sunday afternoon? Is the person trying to figure out how many calories they burn brushing their teeth going to buy clothes or medical equipment?

You could start expanding the site, i didnt say those consumers directly were interested, but you have some brand recognition and could get some strategic partnerships going instantly by bartering your 25-45 female traffic with someone that maybe has a different type of traffic and wants to reach your 25-45 female traffic.


Ok just trying to help but it is your business, i didnt think my opinion would be something that was painfull to just brief over.

NOTE: if anyone ever wants to comment on anything i do, i would love to hear it, because its free and can only make me better! Send PMS!

 

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[healthstatus]

biz, you are killing me.

In your previous post you told me an experienced CEO would make 10x what I make with my site, that isn't making suggestions, that is saying I don't know what I am doing.

You probably went to the PRweb site in the last few days. My ad server will track those cookies and give YOU an ad for PRweb, it won't give that to the 45 year old house wife (unless she visited PRweb recently). My ad system can also geo-target. So the ads you see are the ads YOU are most likely to click, and that goes for my other 25k visitors every day. This is fairly standard stuff, and again, I don't need help on my ad revenue, it pays me VERY nicely. I have strategic partners, and constantly go after more, some are on the forum.

My goal is more traffic, that puts me in the position I want to be in. I need more unique visitors, changing the template might get me more page views, but it is not going to get me more traffic, and it could get me less traffic if I screw up the transition and end up with keyword balance changes or anchor text issues. Your suggestions are equal to saying McDonalds would be better if they served beer, they are not going to, it isn't in their business model or how they are trying to position themselves. Your recommendations and opinions are trying to solve problems I don't have.

 

[LightHouse]

I need more unique visitors, changing the template might get me more page views, but it is not going to get me more traffic

This is in accurate though. A better site design increases the over all UX. When you increase UX, especially dramatically, you will get more users to user your site. Your existing user might come back for more info, and they are more likely to share and link to your site.

Case in point manta.com, i had got info from there a few times from a few google searches, over the years they have changed and made the site easier to use, i now think to use manta.com first when i want to look up business data vs searching it in google (not to metnion the SERPS are giving terrible results these days)

You may not see an immediate traffic increase from a change, but it is a long term growth strategy. You see how all modern sites that have adapted to the times get terrible feedback, then their users increase (see facebook). If facebook never changed their layout from what it orginally was they would never know what a better design could do for traffic and users. The easier and more useful it because to people the more they talked about it, the more they talked, the more users they got.

When you get to a certain level of traffic, its not about picking up every user from search or paid ads, its about creating a user experience that people want to use over and over again and tell their friends. That's how you go from where you are to a webmd or mayoclinic.