Will More Content Increase My Website Traffic and Leads?

You’re just about ready to take the plunge and hire an inbound marketing agency. But now you stop and wonder:

• Will more content really increase website traffic and leads?
• How long does it take to see results from inbound marketing?
• What kind of results will I see?
• What exactly leads to those increases?
• What kind of ROI can I realistically expect? By when?

HubSpot just released a new ROI Report in collaboration with MIT. This report is an analysis of how inbound marketing is working for businesses large and small, based on data from over 5,000 HubSpot customers.

When will I see increased traffic to my website?

85% of companies using inbound marketing increase website traffic within 7 months. Tweet this!

65% of companies see increased website traffic within 2-4 months with inbound marketing. Tweet this!

It’s exciting to see increases in website traffic, and that’s a good first milestone for a successful inbound marketing program.

We’re seeing our customers fitting solidly in the 2-4 month range for significant traffic increases. What factor drive this increase? You might be surprised to find that the #1 method for increasing website traffic is blogging, with SEO in second place. Tweet this!

 

How does this work? Why is blogging so effective?

Blogging is really a home run. We see 4 reasons that blogging is an effective way to increase website traffic:

1. Blogging adds more pages to search engine results. Frequent fresh content is rewarded now with better search rankings.
2. Combined with SEO, blogging targets exactly the keyword phrases that your target audience is searching for/
3. Blogging provides the information your prospects are looking for exactly when they are looking for it.
4. The impact of blogging is compounded over time.

Let’s see exactly how increasing the number of pages impacts traffic:

Companies with 51-100 pages on their website/blog have almost half again the traffic of companies with 1-50 pages. Tweet this!

But the compounding effect of blogging is truly amazing: companies with over 1,000 web pages generate 9.5 times more traffic than companies with 50 pages or less. Tweet this!

Once you really understand the power of blogging, you see why we focus on this as the single most important part of your inbound marketing campaign. It’s really the foundation for internet marketing. All the other lead generation tactics depend on a solid base of website traffic.

If I have more website traffic, when will I see an increase in leads?

Companies are demanding quick results from their investments, and inbound marketing responds fast.

83.9% of companies using inbound marketing increase leads within 7 months. Tweet this!

Over 65% of companies see increase leads in 1-4 months with inbound marketing. Tweet this!

It’s interesting that these statistics are almost exactly the same as the increased traffic statisics at the beginning of this article. It certainly appears that there is a direct connection between increased traffic and increased leads. Which makes sense when you think about it, doesn’t it?

What is the mechanism of increasing leads from my website?

Blogging brings the traffic, and there is a correlation between the increasing traffic and increasing number of leads.

But what is the exact mechanism for capturing leads?

As we move from traffic to leads, we see inbound marketing techniques like calls-to-action and landing pages are the tools of lead generation. Blogging continues to drive the traffic, and calls-to-action paired with landing pages captures the leads.

The last finding from the ROI Report that I’ll highlight for today is this:

Companies with 100 or more total blog articles are more likely to experience continued lead growth. Tweet this!

Not just continuing leads. . . but continuing lead growth!

100 blog articles looks like a big number when you’re just getting started. But at the rate of 5 blog posts a week, it will take only 6 months to reach this milestone!

Will more content increase my website traffic and leads?

Now you should have a better understanding of exactly what kind of traffic and lead increases to expect and how soon to expect them. The statistics fromthe ROI Report match our own experience as an agency, and maps closely with our clients’ experiences: you can expect to see significant traffic and lead increases within the first 1-4 months of inbound marketing. This is probably faster than you thought, and these fast results impact your ROI.

So what kind of ROI can I expect? And when?

You can come up with an expected ROI in three easy steps. My quick answer to this question is, “It depends on the profit margin (in dollars) of a new customer for your product or service.”

What is the lifetime value of a customer? How much profit do you make over this lifetime?

For example, if the lifetime profit from a customer is $10,000 and you’ve hired an agency for $5,000 per month, then one new sale per month gives you a 200% ROI. When we increase this to just three new sales a month, well. . . we’ve just become your best friend!

Want some help getting started?

If you need some help determining what actions you need to take next to drive traffic to your website and convert that traffic into leads and sales, let’s talk! If you have questions about how outsourcing your inbound marketing can be done for less than the cost of adding a single employee, let’s talk! Click on the box below to request a free, no-nonsense strategy session.