How much is one site visitor worth?
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Knowing how much each visitor to your website is a key metric. Every webmaster, blogger, and Internet entrepreneur should know it. But how many actually do?
Not So Easy Any More
Not too long ago, figuring the value of a site visitor was simple: revenue divided by unique visitors. A site making $5000 with 100,000 uniques meant each unique was worth $0.05. A webmaster would then know how much he could spend to acquire visitors while still making a profit.
The current state of the web has changed that somewhat. How do we define a “unique visitor?” Think of all the ways someone can access web content:
- Traditional browsing
- RSS feeds
- RSS-to-e-mail
- Mobile devices
- and probably more than I can think of
Is an RSS subscriber a visitor? He’s reading your content, but he’s not on your site, nor is he seeing ad impressions unless it’s a monetized feed.
What about the person reading your site on his cell phone? How do you monetize for that? Are you even sure what your site looks like on a cell phone browser?
Questions that Need to Be Answered
- How much is a single RSS subscriber worth? Is it worth it to convert visitors into subscribers?
- Are new visitors more profitable than repeat visitors?
- What’s the conversion rate for repeat visitors vs. new visitors?
- How do we even define a visitor?
Anyway, those were just some random thoughts I had in the shower. Does anyone care to weigh in on the subject?