Website Getting Traffic But No Leads? Here’s Why.

#1 Website Traffic Mismatch

Website visitors from UK can’t buy products shipped to US only. Your foodie followers from Pinterest don’t care about content marketing. No matter how good your website is, you won’t convince a vegetarian to order a steak.

To have a chance to convert your views into sales, you need to make sure those views come from potential customers who are actually interested in your offer.

How to identify and fix website traffic mismatch

Website traffic mismatch comes in 3 main forms:

• No/very few visitors
• Visitors from the wrong sources
• Visitors to the wrong web pages

Here’s how to find out which of these problems you have and how to fix them.

Problem #1: No/very few visitors

Well, I guess the mystery of no conversions is solved then.

This is an expected situation if your website is new, and/or you don’t rank in search, post on social or run paid marketing campaigns.

The solution? Get more targeted traffic, which is a topic of its own worth dozens of books and a gazillion blog posts.

Problem #2: Website visitors from wrong sources

Seeing a spike in traffic and already anticipating sales? Hold your horses. Maybe somebody has shared your article on Zest – a place where marketers are looking for content to share, not for things to buy.

To check where those website visitors are coming from, open a report Acquisition -> All traffic -> Source/Medium in Google Analytics.

If you want to see the traffic sources for a specific page, open a Google Analytics report Behavior -> Site Content -> Landing Pages, click on a page you’re interested in in the table, and set Secondary Dimension to be “Source/medium.”

Problem #3: Website visitors to the wrong pages

That’s a typical case of a web page that ranks well in search but has nothing to sell or is top of the funnel content.

Check your Behavior -> Site Content -> All pages. Is it possible that the pages that get many views are purely informative and present neither your offer nor a lead magnet to at least to help you grow your email list?

#2 Wrong Audience Targeting

Who’s your target audience? (Gosh, I hope not “everyone” 🙄)

Another fun fact: creating a buyer persona is not the most effective way of identifying your target audience. In fact, it can introduce bias into your marketing and steer your messaging in a wrong direction. This video gives you an idea of a much more thorough and accurate approach to zero in on your ideal clients 👇

Defining your target audience doesn’t end with age, gender or occupation.

What are their problems and needs? What decision criteria do they use to decide whom to hire or buy from? What can prevent them from reaching out?

And most importantly, are you sure you got all of that right? (If you aren’t, you may want to do some business soul searching).

The other thing is, only a proverbial salesman can sell snow to the Eskimos.

In real life? You can’t create a desire if there’s none.

An ultimate proof of this is an “Unsubscribe” page. Whatever words you use or whatever color your “Resubscribe” button is, 99.9999% of the unsubscribers aren’t going to click.

Why? Because they have no desire for your offer (which is, to subscribe).

This happens on your sales pages, too.

Not only when you define your audience wrong but when you misinterpret their stage of awareness.

Stages of awareness of your prospects and what your copy should communicate on every stage.

For example, if you target established businesses with your marketing training, they’ll have no desire to read 10 paragraphs long description of their problems they’re already aware of.

So, you may be better off shortening it down to one paragraph and concentrating on describing the solution you offer – how it helps and why.

#3 Slow website speed

After 4 seconds of waiting, 25% of visitors jump ship. Maybe your visitors don’t make it to your website because it’s so bloody slow.

Website speed optimization myth #1: You need a tech guy to make your website load faster.

The truth is, you can do 75% of the things yourself and speed up your website considerably within an hour of effort.

This table gives you an overview of what you can do yourself:

#4 Visual Clutter

Do your website visitors have to close two popups and a cookie notification before they can see your content full of ads and shiny visuals? If you put your needs before theirs, they’ll run faster than you can blink.

Visual clutter increases cognitive load (the amount of mental power your visitors need to process the information), which adds friction and makes the user experience worse.

Don’t forget to check how your pages look on mobile devices to make sure they are mobile friendly. Often, web pages that look fine on desktop devices appear cluttered on mobile, because… same amount of content, much less space.

How to avoid visual clutter on your website

• Remove everything that doesn’t contribute to the goal of that particular web page: irrelevant links, meaningless images, meaningless text highlights, etc.
• Avoid too many visual highlights at once
• Avoid conflicting colors and patterns
• Keep your fonts consistent. My recommendation for playing it safe is to use:
  • 2 fonts (headings/body text)
  • 4 font sizes (heading/subheading/body text/CTA)
  • 3 colors (headings/body text/CTA)

… while keeping everything readable (i.e. readable fonts, font sizes and colors). You can use a third font – a readable script font for (very!) short phrases.

A side note: Your web designer may think otherwise and will try to tell you that using 6 fonts and 10 colors on your website is what “modern web design is about”. In this case, ask them a simple question: “How will using additional font/color/element make my message stronger?” If the only answer they can give you is “It doesn’t, but it looks pretty.” you can disregard their advice.

A real-life example: How removing visual clutter brought a 340% increase in conversions

I got a comment on one of my LinkedIn posts from Michael sharing his “Thank you” page. He embedded a one-question survey on it hoping for responses.

Although it wasn’t the topic of the post, I couldn’t (yet again) keep myself from giving unsolicited advice.

I told Michael that:

• his page has too many visual highlights, calls to action (Download guide, fill out survey, share on social media, etc.)
• …and that whatever he wants his new subscribers to do, they’ll be more likely to do it if it’s the only call to action on the page.

Michael got straight to work.

And what do you know?

Already within 11 days, the updated page got him as many survey responses as his old page did within 4.5 MONTHS! Later, he wrote to me again saying his conversion rate jumped from 6.3% to 27.9% (887 conversions).

Bottom line: Want to increase your conversion rate? Remove the visual noise around important elements on the page (especially your call-to-action buttons).

#5 Unclear Message

How do you think your potential customers will buy from you if they can’t even understand what you offer is and how it helps?

Here’s a oh-so-typical example:

After traffic mismatch, such word salad instead of a clear message is the main cause of high bounce rates.

Talk to your prospects like you would talk to them in person. Use plain words and sentences that sound natural to make sure your visitors understand you.

Have you been staring at your website for far too long to judge if your copy is clear? Use these 6 tests to spot and eliminate BS from your copy, in particular:

• The BS Test and the Google Translate Test that find vague, unnatural or too clever copy
• The Forehead Slap Test that finds fake benefits no one gives a damn about
• The “So what?” Test that converts fake benefits into real ones your prospects actually care about
• The 5 Seconds Test that shows you if your prospects can grasp your message quickly
• The Ctrl + F Ego Test that finds spots in your copy where you’re talking too much about yourself

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to use specificity to make your prospects imagine things you’re talking about better. Because if they can’t imagine it, they won’t buy it.

“But how would I know what my potential customers think of my message?”

Don’t have the budget to pay people from your target audience to give you in-depth feedback? Heat maps and session replays are the second best option to learn what your visitors think about your website.

My go-to tool for this is HotJar. I’ve been using it for years to analyze my own website and websites of my clients.

You can use any another tool that lets you record how your visitors interact with your web pages. Just don’t brush it off as “too much work” (because it’s not). Without analyzing real user session recordings, it will be pretty hard to create a high converting website.

#6 No Social Proof

Do you also get an uneasy feeling entering an empty restaurant during lunch time? There must be something wrong with them if their place is so empty, right?

A website without social proof looks as suspicious as an empty restaurant during rush hour.

Use these types of social proof on your website:

• client logos
• trust seals – certifications, awards, “featured in” logos, etc. (but only those your prospects recognize and care about)
• client testimonials
• customer reviews
• case studies

What make a testimonial or review effective?

Not all testimonials/reviews are created equal.

For a testimonial to work their magic and raise your credibility in the eyes of your prospects, it has to be trustworthy. In particular, it should be:

• Short and direct
• Believable:
  • Use full names and, if possible, headshots of the clients
  • Specific enough to sound authentic
• Back up your claims:
  • Reinforce your unique value proposition, and/or
  • Use data behind the value service/product delivers, and/or
  • Address initial fears of your customers and explain how they were eliminated

Little known fact #1: If you have a testimonial carousel, you don’t have testimonials

Do you make your testimonials rotate? Congratulations! You just threw your social proof out of the window.

If you don’t believe me, go try reading them yourself as if you see them for the first time. What, that paragraph disappeared before you could read till the end? Exactly my point.

Not to mention that sliders are generally irritating and ineffective.

Your testimonials are your keys to new clients. So, treat them like royalty and put them prominently on display giving your prospects as much time as they need to read them.

Little known fact #2: Testimonial page weakens your social proof

You don’t have any testimonials on your service pages but have a bunch of them on your Testimonials page?

I see. So, you expect your visitors to take the initiative and check out your Testimonials page to comb through a dozen testimonials to find one that’s relevant to a service they’re interested it.

This explains why you’re still reading this article trying to figure out why your website isn’t converting.

Testimonials are most powerful in context, right next to the claims you make – on your homepage, About, services or landing pages – and this is where they belong.

#7 You Lose to Competition

People shop by comparison. Here’s how to make sure this comparison is in your favor.

A word of caution: Before you draw any conclusions from the info below, make sure you aren’t comparing cows and tractors. You should only compare your website to the websites of your competitors that:

• are in the same niche
• have similar target audience and business model
• offer products/services that solve similar problems than whatever you sell.

Make sure your website is prototypical

Your website won’t be the first ever website your prospects see in their lives. Moreover, it won’t be the first website they see in your niche.

So, when they think “copywriter”, for example, they already have a mental image of what a copywriter’s website should look like.

This is called “prototypicality” – a mental image your brain creates to categorize stuff. If something is prototypical (i.e. matches the mental image people have for this category), it’s easier to understand and use.

Which means, if your website has the similar look and structure as other websites in your niche, your visitors will have less trouble using it. Plus, prototypical feels familiar, and familiarity evokes trust.

For example, this is a prototypical banner and navigation of a copywriter’s website:

It checks all the boxes: The name of the copywriter, her photo, her specialization, relevant navigation labels, etc. If someone has been looking through many copywriter websites, they’ll easily find their way around this one and, instead of thinking about where to find what, will use all their brain power to attentively read the copy.

And this is a non-prototypical copywriter’s website (in fact, it’s a non-prototypical website in general):

In this case, the website was so unusual that it generated a lot of publicity. Whether it also generated leads remains unknown.

One thing for sure: Having a non-prototypical website is risky, and unless you know the rules you’re breaking, you’re better off with a website that’s prototypical for your niche.

To make sure your website is prototypical for your niche, check out your competitors’ websites and note:

• How many colors / what color palettes they use
• How many / what pages are in the navigation
• How’s the homepage structured
• Do they use real photos, etc.

Maybe, your website isn’t converting because your visitors expect things from your website it’s not providing. Or, if it looks too different, they don’t feel like they can trust you.

Communicate your unique selling point clearly

What is your unique value proposition? Why should someone hire you and not your competitor?

It’s not always easy to find your USP, especially if what you’re selling is not unique. Luckily for you, people will compare you to your competitors, and your unique selling point could be a comparative one – something your competitors don’t have or don’t do, or something you do better.

ConversionXL suggest looking for your USP among the answers to the following questions:

• Is your website easier to use?
• Can your product be better tailored to the market?
• Do you have a kick ass customer service team?
• Is your return policy or customer guarantee superior?
• Are your prices lower?
• Do you have faster shipping options?

Anticipate and address objections and reservations

Your prospects need enough information to make an informed decision. If your competitors provide more relevant details on their offers, you lose.

Oh, you have a detailed FAQs page? Burn it with fire!

Why? Because if your prospects have a question while reading your sales page or a product page, they:

• may not get the idea to check on the FAQs
• may not bother looking for their question among a long list of FAQs
• may not find their answer

Like client testimonials, the answers to your prospects’ questions are most powerful in context – on the page and on the spot where your prospects need them.

So, instead of stuffing all possible questions into one FAQs page, add this information to the pages where this info is relevant.

And some of FAQs may even deserve a separate page, for example the ones that describe your process (page “How it works”) or questions about your fees (page “Fees”).

By the way, price is not an objection, and you shouldn’t address it in your copy directly. Here’s why:

#8 Your copy is focused on your company, not your prospects

It’s an easy trap to fall into: you’re proud of what you do, you want to explain your process, you want people to know who you are. All understandable. But your prospects don’t visit your website to read about you. They visit because they have a problem and want to know if you can solve it.

Your prospects are thinking about themselves — their problems, their goals, their hesitations. Your copy should reflect that back at them. The moment they read your homepage and think “that’s exactly my situation,” you’ve got their attention.

“We provide exceptional service tailored to your every need.” Said no prospect ever when describing what they were looking for.

Here’s another quick test. Open your homepage right now and count the number of times you use the words “we,” “I,” and “our.” Then count “you” and “your.”

Which number is higher?

If it’s the first one, you’ve just found a conversion problem.

The fix isn’t to remove all mention of yourself but rather focusing on the problems and needs of your prospects using the words and phrases they use to descripe what they want you help them achieve.

Check whether your homepage answers the questions your prospects are actually asking:

• What’s in it for me?
• Why should I care?
• Can you help someone like me specifically?

If you want to see what this looks like in practice, this copy critique example shows exactly how to rewrite self-focused copy to put the prospect front and center.

#9 No next step for prospects who aren’t ready to buy

Not everyone who lands on your website is ready to hire you. In fact, most aren’t.

They might like what they see. They might even bookmark your page. But they’re not ready to fill in your contact form and commit.

This is a service business problem that eCommerce doesn’t really have, because online shops have wishlists, cart abandonment emails, and retargeting ads to pull people back into the funnel. If you’re a consultant, a coach, or a freelancer, your “funnel” is often just: “visit website, contact me.” That’s it.

Which means if a prospect isn’t ready to contact you today, you’ve lost them.

The solution isn’t to pressure them into contacting you sooner. It’s to give them something valuable they can take away that keeps you on their radar: a checklist, a guide, a free resource that’s actually useful. Something that says “not ready to hire me yet? That’s fine. Here’s something that helps you with no strings attached.”

That way, when they are ready, you’re the person they already trust.

Not sure what that could look like for your website? This website checklist is an example of exactly this kind of middle-ground offer: useful enough to be worth downloading, relevant enough to attract the right people.