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Be very wary of the hype about Web site or blog hits. Many a novice in the online world has been fooled into thinking that hit counts define success. In 99 percent of cases, that’s just not true.

Hits define individuals who wander through your site. Nothing more. The vast majority of Web sites are destinations. Your desired visitors are people who are looking for your business or something specific that you sell. Think of your Web site as a retail store. Do you really want a few hundred thousand browsers walking through? You want buyers, not browsers. Watch your counts – when the counts elevate, do sales do the same? If not, then hits are not your answer.

Unless you sell a pure commodity – say a top-selling book – hit counts are irrelevant for you. If you are competing against the Amazons of the world, then sure, you want volume. But for most of us, we want quality, not quantity. You want the right people, people who actually have a need for your products or services.

Rather than throwing dollars and time at chasing hits, put some thought into how you can attract the right potential customers to your site. Whether that’s an online or off-line solution, it is far more likely to result in actual sales.

What drives traffic to your site? Are the visitors doing generalized Google searches, or are they specifically seeking you out? Contests, direct mail, signature lines, e-zines, a special offer in a print ad or at a webinar – these are all good ways to drive buyers to your site. And they’ll bring in real sales much quicker than people landing on your site randomly. You can count on it!

Drew McLellan is Top Dog at McLellan Marketing Group and blogs at www.drewsmarketingminute.com. He can be reached at Drew@MclellanMarketing.com. © 2008 Drew McLellan