Guides
How to tell if your website is bringing in clients, without being technical
You don't need charts to answer the question that matters. You need to know, at the end of a month, how many people got in touch, how they found you, and how many turned into work.
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In short
- Start with what depends on no one: ask everyone who contacts you how they found you, and write it down.
- After a month, that sheet tells you more than any chart: how many enquiries, where they came from, how many became work.
- Your Google listing and a professional Instagram account already show you numbers for free: who called, who asked for directions, who tapped the link.
- Your site's statistics aren't always in your hands. If someone else built it, ask them where they are and request access.
- Look once a month and compare with the month before. A single day tells you nothing.
The question that never fails
When someone calls, writes or turns up, ask: "How did you find me?" It's a normal question, nobody finds it odd, and the answer is more reliable than any counter: it tells you not only that the person came, but why.
Write it down — on paper, on your phone, wherever suits you. It doesn't need more than this:
| Day | Who | How they found you | Did it become work? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Parent of a new student | Searched Google for "piano lessons" | Yes, a trial lesson |
| 9 | A school | Recommended by another teacher | Still talking |
| 14 | A couple | Saw you on Instagram, opened the site | No, outside the area |
| 22 | A company | Found the site, called the number on it | Yes |
The numbers you already have
There are two places where you almost certainly already have free statistics, even if you don't know it.
- Your Google listing (Business Profile). Signed in to the account that manages it, search for your name on Google and open "Performance": it shows how many people saw the listing, and how many called, asked for directions or clicked through to your site. If you see a request to verify instead of numbers, the listing isn't verified yet: until you do, Google shows you nothing.
- Instagram, if it's a professional account (creator or business). Its insights show link taps from your bio: how many people left Instagram for your site.
- If you built the site yourself on Wix, Squarespace or a similar platform, the dashboard has a visitor counter. It's there, even if you've never opened it.
Your site's statistics: do you have access?
If someone else built your site, it may well count visits without you ever having seen a number. The statistics often sit in the builder's account, or were never switched on.
- Ask whoever built the site: "Does the site count visits? Where can I see the numbers?"
- If it does, ask for access with your own email — not someone else's password.
- If they say there aren't any, or that they can't give you access, that's an answer too: your site's numbers are yours, just like the domain.
How to read it, once a month
- Are people coming? Compare with last month, not with yesterday. A new site grows slowly.
- Where from? If almost everything comes from Instagram, the site is a shop window for people who already follow you. If visits start coming from Google, it's bringing in people who didn't know you.
- Do they do anything? Visits without enquiries mean people arrive and don't find what they're looking for — the price, the area, a way to reach you. That can be fixed on the site.
Some months are slow for reasons that have nothing to do with the site: holidays, the end of the school year, the off-season. Compare August with last August, once you have one.
When you don't need this
- You already get more requests than you can take on. Then the site is doing its job, or you don't need it for that.
- The site is just a business card for people who already know you, and that's all you want from it.
Frequently asked
How many visits count as "good"?
There's no right number. For a teacher in a small town, 100 visits a month and three enquiries can be excellent. What matters is whether the number grows month on month and whether visits turn into enquiries.
I don't have access to my site's statistics. Is that bad?
It isn't serious, but it's worth sorting out. Until you have it, the sheet and the numbers from Google and Instagram are enough to understand the essentials.
What if nobody says they came from the site?
Many people look at the site before calling, but say "I found you on Google" or "a friend told me about you". Also ask: "Did you have a look at the site?" If they say yes, the site helped them decide.