Traffic question - having trouble finding out where traffic spike came from

missmystery · 22nd Jun 2016, 11:05 PM

Hi team,

I know there are a lot of knowlegable people with analytics here, and I am in a bit of a dilly of a pickle as I am trying to find out where a traffic spike came from so I can repeat it and optimize my marketing plan, but am having trouble.

Basically what happened is I got an influx of affiliate sales back in April. (Please see image below)

The affiliate network said they came from my website (As all my links are on there, no raw links elsewhere) So my next step is to try and find out how those people found my site.

But when I open google analytics, i get a bunch of riff raff that doesn't tell me anything:

If someone can help me in figuring out how i've done analytics wrong, or how I've done some form of tracking wrong, this would be a massive help.. I really need to know what caused the traffic that led to the sales, but don't have a clue how to fix it.

Thanks so much for any help!

missmystery · 23rd Jun 2016, 11:01 PM

Would someone be able to kindly move this to the main internet marketing forum, as it's more to do with marketing tools in general, not Conversion rate optimization.

savidge4 · 24th Jun 2016, 12:13 AM

I wouldn't say you have done anything wrong... its more that you haven't done anything. Right now you have data that says oh you had 100 clicks from here and here, and you have visitors that come from this and that.. but nothing is saying hey this person clicked on this to get there.

You will want to research "goals" with in Analytics. if a person does said action ( clicks a call to action ) there is a marker. if you have multiple pages with a call to action you can create a goal for each of these pages. you now have a base to start tracking. this sale came from this page, or ALL of your sales came from one page. you can then use analytics to find how you were getting traffic to that page.

I pretty strongly suggest a dedicated lander page for any and every traffic source you have (easier to track this way ) - makes it way easier to track source performance when you are simply looking at page load counts vs trying to figure out which went where and when and blah blah blah.

Hope that Helps!

missmystery · 24th Jun 2016, 03:11 AM

Thanks, it does.

I have a fair idea about what they're clicking on on on my site to get the sales, but I don't know where that traffic came from, as the traffic shown in analytics has no reflection on any marketing I have done.

I mostly use instagram and facebook, but analytics says I don't have any traffic from there.

Goals will help to a point, but if I can't get it to show proper traffic sources, I guess I will never know? It's like I've done something wrong in Analytics so it's not tracking my traffic properly. That spike seems to be driven by spam, and no other traffic spikes have been noticed by me to have caused the affiliate sale.

Hmm, will have to have a good think. I will set up goals anyway, as I think it's useful

Reimaru · 7th Sep 2016, 12:39 AM

That traffictocash, share-buttons, and all those other websites seem like bot rings/crawlers. Check out the time they spent on your website as most likely they'll have zero seconds there.

I've had a lot of them at my website myself when I first started too. They're pretty rare for me now though.

22nd Jun 2016, 11:05 PM	#1
missmystery Winning War Room Member Join Date: 2010 Posts: 902 Thanks: 317 Thanked 148 Times in 132 Posts	Traffic question - having trouble finding out where traffic spike came from Share on: Hi team, I know there are a lot of knowlegable people with analytics here, and I am in a bit of a dilly of a pickle as I am trying to find out where a traffic spike came from so I can repeat it and optimize my marketing plan, but am having trouble. Basically what happened is I got an influx of affiliate sales back in April. (Please see image below) The affiliate network said they came from my website (As all my links are on there, no raw links elsewhere) So my next step is to try and find out how those people found my site. But when I open google analytics, i get a bunch of riff raff that doesn't tell me anything: If someone can help me in figuring out how i've done analytics wrong, or how I've done some form of tracking wrong, this would be a massive help.. I really need to know what caused the traffic that led to the sales, but don't have a clue how to fix it. Thanks so much for any help!
	Geek Girl Fi

23rd Jun 2016, 11:01 PM	#2
missmystery Winning War Room Member Join Date: 2010 Posts: 902 Thanks: 317 Thanked 148 Times in 132 Posts	Re: Traffic question - having trouble finding out where traffic spike came from Share on: Would someone be able to kindly move this to the main internet marketing forum, as it's more to do with marketing tools in general, not Conversion rate optimization.
	Geek Girl Fi

24th Jun 2016, 12:13 AM	#3
savidge4 Midnight Oil Warrior Join Date: 2013 Location: Bridgeport, WV. Posts: 6,782 Thanks: 3,590 Thanked 6,596 Times in 3,490 Posts	Re: Traffic question - having trouble finding out where traffic spike came from Share on: I wouldn't say you have done anything wrong... its more that you haven't done anything. Right now you have data that says oh you had 100 clicks from here and here, and you have visitors that come from this and that.. but nothing is saying hey this person clicked on this to get there. You will want to research "goals" with in Analytics. if a person does said action ( clicks a call to action ) there is a marker. if you have multiple pages with a call to action you can create a goal for each of these pages. you now have a base to start tracking. this sale came from this page, or ALL of your sales came from one page. you can then use analytics to find how you were getting traffic to that page. I pretty strongly suggest a dedicated lander page for any and every traffic source you have (easier to track this way ) - makes it way easier to track source performance when you are simply looking at page load counts vs trying to figure out which went where and when and blah blah blah. Hope that Helps!
	Success is an ACT not an idea

24th Jun 2016, 03:11 AM	#4
missmystery Winning War Room Member Join Date: 2010 Posts: 902 Thanks: 317 Thanked 148 Times in 132 Posts	Re: Traffic question - having trouble finding out where traffic spike came from Share on: Thanks, it does. I have a fair idea about what they're clicking on on on my site to get the sales, but I don't know where that traffic came from, as the traffic shown in analytics has no reflection on any marketing I have done. I mostly use instagram and facebook, but analytics says I don't have any traffic from there. Goals will help to a point, but if I can't get it to show proper traffic sources, I guess I will never know? It's like I've done something wrong in Analytics so it's not tracking my traffic properly. That spike seems to be driven by spam, and no other traffic spikes have been noticed by me to have caused the affiliate sale. Hmm, will have to have a good think. I will set up goals anyway, as I think it's useful
	Geek Girl Fi

7th Sep 2016, 12:39 AM	#5
Reimaru YourWealthyMind.com Join Date: 2016 Posts: 97 Thanks: 2 Thanked 25 Times in 20 Posts	Re: Traffic question - having trouble finding out where traffic spike came from Share on: That traffictocash, share-buttons, and all those other websites seem like bot rings/crawlers. Check out the time they spent on your website as most likely they'll have zero seconds there. I've had a lot of them at my website myself when I first started too. They're pretty rare for me now though.
	Success, Finance, Leadership Blog: YourWealthyMind.com