We have already noted it is probable that many printed advertisements are responded to via Google – so while Google is a conduit it is not fair to conclude that they are also the source of the webtraffic so derived. Sadly this is an unknowable metric.
Specialist publishers do not have the problem of wastage in the same way as Google – people are most unlikely to go to a technical site just to find someone they already know – it takes too long – so technical sites are only serving the much smaller number of people who are specifically interested in the technical material and subsequently click on the web link. These publishers are not competing with the whole of Google – only that part represented by people who don’t already know who or what they are looking for.
Plus these people are presumably reading technical journals to keep up to date with products and technologies so they are self defined as credible enquirers. In the parlance of the motor trade 1 person with money in their pocket is worth 100 tyre kickers.
Difficult to prove I know – but I am aware of at least one specialist technical publisher who makes it his job to follow up with advertisers and identify orders flowing from readers of his publication, with some interesting results.
Since the coming of the internet we have all become used to large numbers associated with our web traffic – but do we really believe that thousands and thousands of new potential customers visit our sites each month – let us be realistic – just how big is your market in engineers and buyers – of the 50,000 or so engineers in the country how many are actually likely to be interested in your product? Numbers are great – I wouldn’t be without measurable data – but they only go so far and perhaps it is time we once again looked at quality over quantity in our advertising – and looked beyond the numbers.
