So, is your website getting traffic but no enquiries?
It happens to most of us, but getting people onto your site is only half the job.
The most common reasons a website gets traffic but no enquiries are poor search intent, unclear messaging, generic website copy, weak calls to action, a lack of trust signals and failing to answer the questions potential customers have before they buy.
What’s happening here?
Traffic gets people through the door, but your copy needs to make them stay, trust you and do something. So, if you’re getting website traffic but no leads, getting more visitors isn’t necessarily the answer.
Google Analytics can tell you you people are visiting all day long, but your inbox contains nothing but tumbleweed, spam and somebody offering to get you to number one on Google for £37, something is wrong.
And it’s why the old adage of, “Oh, anyone can be a copywriter as long as they can write” is a load of bollocks.
Is website traffic important?
Of course.
If nobody visits your website, nobody sees your products or services, gets to understand why they need what you’re offering, fill in your lovely contact form and get in touch. Good copy and SEO helps your website appear when potential customers search for the things you sell and the problems you solve.
But ranking on Google isn’t the end goal.
Getting the right people onto your website and persuading them to become customers is.
What’s the point of getting 10,000 visitors every month but no sales?
Meanwhile, another website might get 500 highly relevant visitors and generate ten new customers.
Which website would you rather own?
Why is your website getting traffic but no enquiries?
Let’s look at why you’ve got website traffic but no leads, and why those visitors aren’t turning into lovely, lovely customers.
One. You’re attracting the wrong website traffic
Not all traffic is good traffic.
Imagine you sell luxury garden offices in Liverpool and you’ve somehow ranked number one for “free garden shed plans”.
Lovely bit of traffic.
Absolutely sod all use to you.
Hundreds of people might visit your website, but they’re looking for instructions to build something themselves, not spend thousands with you.
This is why you need to get your search intent right.
The words and questions you target need to match what your potential customers actually want. You don’t want huge, juicy keywords with enormous search volumes if it’s the wrong search term for your business.
A more specific phrase searched by fewer people can be much more valuable if those people are looking for what you sell.
That’s one of the things an SEO copywriter should consider when planning and writing your content because 100 visitors who might buy from you beat 10,000 who definitely won’t.
Two. People can’t immediately tell what you do
People are impatient little buggers online.
They land on your website and want answers.
Fast.
- What do you do?
- Is it for me?
- What difference will it make?
If your opening copy doesn’t answer those questions, you’re making your visitor do all the work.
And they probably won’t.
They’ll leave.
This is why vague headlines like:
“Creating solutions for tomorrow.”
Or:
“Helping you achieve your potential.”
Make me want to put my head through my desk.
What solutions?
Whose potential?
WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY DO?
Your website doesn’t need to tell people everything in the first five seconds, but it should give them enough information to think: “Yeah, this is what I’m looking for!”
Three. Your website copy is all about you
Welcome to our website.
We’ve been trading since 1987.
We’re passionate about customer service.
We pride ourselves on our commitment to excellence.
We.
We.
WE.
Do your customers care?
A little.
When somebody first lands on your website, they’re interested in themselves. They’re there because they have a problem, question, want or need.
Your job is to show them you understand it.
Then explain how you solve it.
That doesn’t mean deleting every mention of yourself from your website. People absolutely want to know who they’re working with. But your copy needs to connect what you do with what they get.
Compare:
“I’ve been a copywriter for nearly a decade.”
With:
“I’ve spent nearly a decade writing website copy, so you get words that sound like you, rank on Google and give people a reason to buy.”
Same message but the second one tells you why you should give a toss.
Four. Your website copy could belong to anyone
Take your website copy and replace your company name with your biggest competitor’s.
Does it still work?
If so, that’s the problem.
Loads of businesses say they’re:
- Professional
- Reliable
- Friendly
- Experienced
- Customer-focused
- Passionate
- Innovative
- Bespoke
There’s nothing wrong with that other than everyone else saying them too.
Your website needs to give people a reason to remember you.
Your personality.
Your approach.
Your expertise.
Your opinions.
Your proof.
The things you do differently.
Your website might get visitors, but if those visitors look at three competitors and everybody sounds identical, what reason have you given them to choose you?
If you want to turn website visitors into customers, giving them a reason to remember you is a pretty good place to start.
For help with this, check out, How to make my copy sound like me.
Five. You’re telling people what you do but not why it matters
Features tell me what I’m getting. Benefits tell me why I should care.
You don’t need one or the other, you need both.
Let’s say you’re an accountant offering monthly management accounts.
Great.
But your potential customer might not fully understand why they need them.
So, tell them.
Monthly management accounts mean they can see how the business is performing, spot potential problems earlier and make better decisions instead of discovering six months later that everything’s gone tits up.
Whatever you sell, keep asking yourself:
“So what?”
We provide X.
“So what?”
Which means Y.
“So what?”
So you get Z.
Z is usually where the good stuff is.
Six. There’s not enough proof
You think you’re brilliant. It’s your website, but potential buyers want proof from somebody other than you.
So, check to see if your site includes:
- Testimonials
- Reviews
- Results
- Client logos
- Awards
- Accreditation’s
- Case studies
Specific numbers are powerful because they’re harder to ignore.
For example, I rewrote the website copy for Udari at Attain Accountancy because her old site wasn’t bringing in traffic or customers. The new SEO-focused, customer-led copy helped turn that around.
Before I wrote it, Udari had only ever got one client through the website, after my rewrite within a few months that shot up to eight.
That’s a 700% increase in customer uptake.
All eight found the business through search engines (and since I wrote the case study, it’s considerable more).
That’s way more convincing than me saying:
“I’m dead good at website copy.”
Although I am.
Seven. Your calls to action are a bit plop
You’ve got somebody interested. They’ve read your homepage. They like what you do. They like how you sound. They’re considering working with you.
And then… nowt.
Don’t make people work out what they’re supposed to do next.
Tell them.
A good call to action could be:
- Book a call
- Get a quote
- Start your project
- See our packages
- Book your free consultation
- Buy now
Which one you use depends on your business and what stage your customer is at. And don’t assume one lonely “Contact” button hidden in your menu is enough.
If somebody reaches the end of an important section thinking:
“Ooh, I like this.”
Give them several buttons to click with a contact form at the end to fill out. Even small changes to your calls to action can improve your website conversion rate because you’re making it bloody obvious what they should do next.
Eight. You’re asking for too much, too soon
There’s another side to calls to action. Sometimes you’re asking somebody to marry you before you’ve even bought them a drink.
Imagine landing on the website of a company you’ve never heard of and immediately seeing:
BOOK YOUR £5,000 PACKAGE NOW!
Steady on, mate.
The bigger the commitment, the more reassurance somebody is likely to need first.
That might mean:
- Reading a case study
- Looking at your protfolio
- Checking your reviews
- Reading about your process
- Finding out roughly what things cost
- Getting answers to common questions
Then they might be ready to contact you.
Think about what your visitor needs to know before they’re comfortable taking the next step. And make that information ridiculously easy to find.
Nine. Your website isn’t answering your customers’ questions
Your customers have loads of questions, like:
- How much does it cost?
- How long does it take?
- Is this right for me?
- How does it work?
- What happens after I enquire?
- What if I’ve already got a website?
- Can you work with my existing designer?
- What information do you need from me?
The questions depend on what you sell, but if customers regularly ask you something before buying, there’s a decent chance your website isn’t answering it right now.
This is useful for your customers.
It’s also useful for SEO and AEO because search engines and AI tools are increasingly trying to find clear answers to specific questions. Which is why you’ll notice I’ve answered the main question of this article right at the beginning instead of making you read 900 words before I finally cough up the answer.
You’re welcome.
Ten. Your website isn’t convincing enough
You can have decent traffic, rank for relevant searches, have a gorgeous website and even have a great product.
But if the words aren’t convincing people to take the next step, your website isn’t converting those visitors into customers. So, your website isn’t doing its job.
Your copy needs to:
- Make it clear what you do
- Show who you help
- Demonstrate that you understand their problem
- Explain the outcome they’ll get
- Give them reasons to choose you
- Build trust
- Answer objections
- Sound like an actual human
- Tell them what to do next
And it’s why I circle back to what I said near the start, not just anyone can be a copywriter. I’ve had company’s on an exhibition stand say to my face, “We don’t need a copywriter, I’ve got a degree in English Literature.”
Nice one, but that the eff has a degree in Shakespeare got to do with writing sales copy?
Bugger all.
Copywriting isn’t just filling white space underneath a pretty picture, it’s writing words that make people learn and feel something enough to get in touch.
Your website gets traffic but you make no sales, what do you do first?
It’s overwhelming to just chuck everything at it. Personally, I’d suggest you start by looking at your website from your customer’s point of view, not yours.
Get out of your head, look at it like you’ve never been to your site before and ask yourself:
- Can someone tell what I do within a few seconds?
- Is it obvious who I help?
- Am I talking about their problems or mostly talking about myself?
- Do I explain the results they’ll get?
- Have I given them a reason to choose me instead of a competitor?
- Is there enough proof?
- Have I answered their biggest questions?
- Is the next step obvious?
- Does the copy actually sound like us?
- Are the people landing on this page actually the people I want to sell to?
If several answers make you go…
“Erm.”
Then you’ve hit on some problems you can start fixing.
You don’t necessarily need to chuck your entire website in the bin and start again, either. Sometimes a few changes make a big difference. A website copy audit can help identify what’s working, what’s confusing people and where your copy could work harder.
Website traffic is only useful if it’s useful for your audience.
Getting traffic but not enough enquiries?
If people are finding your website but disappearing without buying, booking or getting in touch, don’t automatically assume you need more traffic.
You might just need better copy and help from a copywriter.
I’ll look at what you’re saying, how you’re saying it, what you’re asking visitors to do and whether your website gives people enough reasons to choose you. Then I’ll write personality-packed, SEO-strong copy designed to get the right people onto your site and give them a reason to do something when they arrive.
Get in touch and let’s have a chat to see if I’m the right fit for you.
Until next time,
Matt
