Intellimon, the company who produce the web design software XSitePro, recently conducted a survey of 50,000  people building online businesses, and the results show that 67 percent, more than 6 out of 10, people feel that driving traffic is their number one barrier to increasing their income.

After driving traffic, finding/writing solid content was the next biggest hurdle, with design issues coming in at number 3.  The founder of Intellimon, Paul Smithson commented:

“Two-thirds of people setting up online businesses are saying they can’t get the traffic they need to make their sites successful. Another 40 percent find writing content for their sites to be a major hurdle, and nearly 30 percent say they can’t find good content. Our results are proving content really is king.”

The results of the survey clearly show that most marketers feel traffic, content and design to be their largest stumbling blocks:

1. Getting traffic (67 percent)
2. Writing content (40 percent)
3. Design issues (32 percent)
4. Finding good content (30 percent)
5. Building a website (21 percent)

(note that the survey allowed more than one answer, hence the totals do not add up to 100)

When asked about the results, Smithson stated that traffic and content were closely related, in essence saying that high quality content would attract traffic, but also that good design was also a major factor:

“Good design and solid functionality are imperative.  A poorly designed site is not likely to inspire visitors to stay and buy.”

So what do you think? Do you struggle to get enough traffic, do you find creating content to be a challenge, or are there other issues not mentioned which you feel are holding you back? Let us know in the comments!