<div><p>An interesting conversation boiled up in our offices this week.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s the age-old question of how many calls a cosmetic practice should get in proportion to how many visits their web site gets over a given period of time.&nbsp; It is one of the hardest statistics to nail down for many reasons.&nbsp; Chief among them is that there is no...</p></div><div><p>An interesting conversation boiled up in our offices this week.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s the age-old question of how many calls a cosmetic practice should get in proportion to how many visits their web site gets over a given period of time.&nbsp; It is one of the hardest statistics to nail down for many reasons.&nbsp; Chief among them is that there is no real standard and, among informed opinions, the answers vary.</p><p>So, here are some facts that everyone will agree on:</p><p>&bull; Generally, you should expect about anywhere from 12-17 calls for every email inquiry you receive from your web site.&nbsp; This standard has held up for years.</p><p>&bull; You can&lsquo;t measure incoming calls accurately if you are not using call tracking technology.&nbsp; Asking people where they saw you is a highly faulty way of gathering information and it is never accurate.</p><p>&bull; Web design does impact calls generated.</p><p>&bull; Most paid search companies will tell you a 5% call-to-visit rate is average.</p><p>So, here is our take on this subject.</p><p>We did an analysis of our SEO clients where we had both Google Analytics and call tracking.&nbsp; Among our clients with the highest web traffic, we saw roughly a 5% call-to-visit ratio, which is what paid search deems is an average rate.&nbsp; 5%.&nbsp; That means for every 100 visits there are 5 calls and for every 1000 visits there are 50 calls.</p><p>For me, this validated several items.&nbsp; A) Everyone needs to be tracking their incoming calls from their web site.&nbsp; Tracking numbers are the least expensive service we offer and it keeps coming up that they are the most valuable tool in nearly all evaluations.&nbsp; B) Paid search call stats are likely very close to organic stats. And C) This ratio is probably the key to determining exactly how competitive you are in the market on a day-to-day basis.</p><p>So, what does this mean to you?&nbsp; It means that if you add a tracking phone number (which in August runs you only $40/month) and you watch your analytics, then compute your ratio, you get the answer of how effective your web site is.&nbsp;&nbsp; Using these measurement tools, you can reduce the number of web variables you need to chase down to sheer volume of traffic.&nbsp; This simplifies the entire process of marketing on the web.&nbsp; However, most people fail to even get this started right because they do not have a tracking number.&nbsp;&nbsp; Google Analytics is free.&nbsp; Tracking numbers are only $40/month with us.&nbsp; These two minimal additions can bring you within one step of completely understanding how to become more successful on the web.&nbsp; It&lsquo; like the old saying, &ldquo;What is measured is managed.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp; If you want to start measuring you incoming calls, email me at donald@dogstarmedia.com.&nbsp; We can get you set up with a tracking telephone number or our SEO program right away.</p></div><p><strong>Read more</strong>&nbsp;<a class="rssreadon" rel="external" title="How many calls should you be getting?" href="http://dogstarmedia.com/blog/entry/how-many-calls-should-you-be-getting.html">http://dogstarmedia.com/blog/entry/how-many-calls-should-you-be-getting.html</a></p>
