In the last few weeks I have had many website customers inquire about dips in traffic to their firmSites. One significant contributing factor to traffic dips during this time of year relates to the holiday season and the impact on internet traffic.

As an example of this effect, FirmSite traffic during Thanksgiving week dropped 27% over the week prior, a figure that is consistent with both 2007 and 2006 Thanksgiving week traffic drops. While Thanksgiving week usually only affects one week of traffic, the end of the year and new year holidays are typically more pronounced and sustained, with drops the three weeks leading up to the holidays, capped off by a significant drop the week of the New Year holiday. Full traffic patterns historically resume during the 2nd week of January.

The traffic drop is even more acute for family law websites. This is likely due to the fact that families try to hold it together during the holidays, starting the divorce process only after the holiday season is over.