I grew up by a river, and as a kid, I loved fly fishing.
This is a picture of me, fishing with my dad. My dad passed nearly twenty years ago, and that picture always brings me back to the time we spent together in nature.
Two valuable lessons can be learned from that picture:
1 . Spend time and build good memories with the people you love. They won’t be there forever.
2. When it comes to fishing, deciding where to fish is by far the most important decision that will impact your success.
Most of the Water Is Empty
One of the first things you learn when fly fishing is that you can have:
- The best equipment
- The perfect fly
- Great technique
But if there are no fish where you are fishing, nothing happens.
Business, and in our case, Internet traffic, work the same way.
Traffic Is the Water. Prospects Are the Fish.
In marketing:
- Traffic = the water
- Prospects = the fish
Many entrepreneurs focus on getting more traffic.
But more traffic doesn’t automatically mean more customers.
Sometimes you have:
- High traffic
- Low conversions
- No real leads
That’s empty water.
Other times:
- Less traffic
- Higher conversion rates
- Better-quality leads
That’s where growth really happens.
Step 1: Find Where the Fish Are
Instead of asking “Where do I get the most visitors?”, ask:
Which traffic sources convert best?
Look at:
- Conversion rate by traffic source
- Leads or sales per channel
The traffic sources with the highest conversion rates usually bring your best prospects.
Once you figure out what your best traffic sources are, it’s time to move to step 2.
Step 2: Understand What They’re Looking For
People don’t visit your website by accident. They’re searching for answers, solutions, or specific products or services.
While keyword data is harder to access with organic traffic, you still have powerful clues:
- Pages that convert
- Topics that attract serious leads
- Content that answers real questions
Examples:
- A dog website might discover that “best dog bed” content converts extremely well.
- A coach might notice that specific problem-focused topics attract ideal clients.
The Power of Knowing Both
Once you know:
- Where the fish are (best traffic sources)
- What bait works (best content and topics)
You can:
- Build better funnels
- Create more effective campaigns
- Stop wasting energy on empty water
And most importantly…
Make more money without needing to increase your traffic dramatically.
How to apply these steps in GA4
Your traffic sources by conversion rate (or where the fish are).
Assuming that you have set up your conversion events in GA4:
scroll to Acquisition;
Select Traffic acquisition;
Scroll to the right until you reach Session key event rate.
That number represents the session conversion rate by channel. If you want to see a particular event, you can select it using the dropdown menu. In this case, referrals tend to convert the most.
What type of content attracts your ideal prospect
Under Engagement, select Pages and screens. Two metrics to pay attention to are Average time per Active user and Key events. Pages that score high on those metrics are content that creates both engagement and conversions.
If you are too busy to create those reports, I can handle your analytics. Visit my service page for more information.
