Getting more traffic to your website can help you convert more customers, increase sales, and get more attention to your business. Knowing how to go about this can be complicated, however. There are a number of effective ways to increase website traffic.
Why Does Web Traffic Matter?
First of all, why does web traffic matter?
Web traffic is important for the success of your website and your business overall. Consider how you and your customers use your website. If visitors aren’t coming to your website or aren’t able to find it, your website isn’t providing value.
An online presence is critical to all types of business, including B2B and B2C, local businesses and international businesses, across every industry. Increasingly, B2B professionals are doing research online. Over 50% of smartphone users regularly look up information about local businesses. More shoppers than ever before are researching and buying products online. If your website isn’t serving your customers in some way, it’s likely that your competitors’ websites are. At this point, the importance of a functional, valuable website that is also easy to find cannot be overstated.
Web Traffic and SEO
Web traffic is important for the value of your site, but it’s also important for search engine optimization (SEO). Sites that get more traffic tend to appear higher in search results, even when adjusting for other factors. This means, the more traffic you get now, the more you’re likely to get in the future. Getting more traffic to your website now will set you up for success later.
This makes sense from the users’ perspective and the search engines’ perspective. Users who are aware of a website or have visited before are more likely to trust the site or visit again. Search engines want to prioritize websites that provide useful content to their users, and high web traffic is a good indicator that users like and trust a site. Though this certainly isn’t a foolproof strategy for choosing trustworthy or useful websites (and it’s far from the only strategy search engines use), it can be a helpful indicator.
Ways to Get More Traffic to Your Website
There are many ways to get more traffic to your website. We’ve listed a variety of different methods you might use, and some of these will be more effective than others, depending on your current website and digital marketing strategies. You might experiment with different strategies, or double down on those that are already familiar to you.
1. Focus on SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential to get more traffic to your website. SEO helps to make sure your website is visible in search engine results for relevant keywords. This means that potential customers can easily find your website when searching for related terms.
There are many elements that play a part in SEO. These include content-related and the technical aspects of your website. You can control many of these factors, but not all of them. Later in this blog post we’ll discuss a few of these factors in more detail. But here are some general SEO tips to keep in mind.
- – Content strategy: Text, images, and videos on your site is essential to generate organic traffic. Organic traffic refers to visitors that find your site by entering a relevant search term. With strategic content focused on valuable search terms, you can make your website easier to find.
- – Web design: Your website’s design, including how a user navigates a page, how your content is organized, and even your color scheme, can all play a role in how web visitors interact with your site. If your site confuses, frustrates, or fatigues your web visitors, they’ll click away quickly, which will lower your SEO value overall. It’s a good idea to follow web conventions, so users can quickly understand how to use your site.
- – Site functionality: Your website’s loading speed and functionality also plays an important role in SEO. If your pages don’t load quickly or your links or functions are broken, your visitors won’t find value in your site and your SEO value will decline.
2. Publish Evergreen Content
Some content is focused on timely events, like a conference, a trend, or a news incident. This type of content can generate substantial traffic for a short time, but the traffic will drop off when interest in the event has dropped off. Evergreen content, on the other hand, consistently drives traffic.
Evergreen content topics generate consistent interest year over year. Though this traffic may wax and wane somewhat, it generally doesn’t drop off completely. Focusing on evergreen content can help get more traffic to your site, since it answers questions or provides information that your audience is consistently looking for.
To keep your evergreen content competitive, it’s a good idea to update the content at regular intervals. This will make sure your information is up-to-date and your content remains competitive.
3. Create an Organic Search Strategy
Organic traffic refers to visitors that find your site through a search. This differs from direct traffic, which refers to users returning to your website using a bookmark or typing in your URL, for example. This also differs from referral traffic, which comes from a link posted on another website, and paid traffic, which comes from ads. Organic traffic is critical to your site, and devising an organic search strategy can help you increase traffic to your website.
An organic search strategy outlines ways to capture relevant organic traffic. This might include focusing content around particular keywords or key phrases that users are searching for. It might also include strategic partnerships with other websites to expand the reach of your content. Or, it might mean optimizing your existing content by adding information, videos, links, and more.
4. Optimize Your Website
Previously, we mentioned the importance of a website that loads quickly and works smoothly. There are several ways you can test your website to see how well it works. There are also many tools you can use to detect problems and fix them.
Make sure your website is fast-loading, mobile-friendly, and easy to navigate. Also, make sure all your images are properly compressed and optimized. Finally, make sure your links and other functions on the site are working, and your plugins are up-to-date. For example, Adobe Flash is no longer updated or supported, and most websites have phased it out. Using outdated applications like this can affect the usability and security of your site.
5. Publish Guest Posts
Guest posts are a great way to build relationships with other websites and get more eyes on your content. Working with others in your industry, you can expand your professional network and extend your reach to others’ audiences.
Reach out to industry-specific websites, introduce yourself and your business, and offer to write a guest post. Or, you might host a guest post on your own site. Whether you are writing or hosting a guest post, make sure the post provides value to readers. Offer helpful advice, share unique insights, and provide proof of your expertise.
Guest posts can also help you build backlinks. Backlinks are an important component of SEO. When other sites link to yours, search engines like Google consider it a vote of confidence. It indicates that your content is trustworthy, reliable, and valuable. This, in turn, encourages Google and other search engines to show your content to users making relevant searches.
6. Leverage Social Media
Social media is one of the most powerful ways to get more traffic to your website. It allows you to build relationships with potential customers, engage with existing ones, and share your content with a wider audience. A presence on one or all of the most popular social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, can help you extend the reach of your content.
It’s important to consider how you’re using social media, what platforms are best suited for your business, and the role social media plays in your overall digital marketing strategy. Social media can be a valuable top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) content type. Though these interactions may seem superficial, this can be an effective setting for introducing your audience to your brand and engaging them for more meaningful interactions later.
7. Work With Influencers
Influencer marketing is a relatively new digital marketing strategy. This strategy is still taking shape in many ways, and there are still many opportunities for companies to get ahead of the competition. This strategy leverages connections with individuals or businesses with a wide reach in your industry. Generally, these influencers have a large social media following on at least one platform. This might include professionals in your industry, academics, artists, celebrities, and many others.
Influencer marketing can be a great way to put your content in front of a larger audience. Reach out to influencers in your industry and ask them to share your content with their followers. Make sure you choose influencers who are relevant to your industry, have a large following, and are active in the social media space.
8. Use Your Email List
If you’ve acquired a list of subscribers or fans, this can be a great way to get more traffic to your website. As you create relevant content for your audience, your email list is a great way to generate initial traffic for your new content. You might create a regular newsletter or share other offers.
Keep in mind that your content must be useful and relevant. While a company news item about a new employee or a holiday party might be relevant to your staff, it probably isn’t relevant to your customers, and probably shouldn’t go in a customer-facing newsletter.
9. Host an Online Event
An online event, such as a giveaway, contest, or webinar, can help increase traffic to your website. This is especially helpful if you have a strong presence elsewhere, such as in-person customers or social media followers, but you’ve had trouble turning this into web traffic.
To host an online event, you’ll first need a landing page that explains the event and how to get involved. Then, you’ll need to clearly promote your event where your audience is most likely to see it. Finally, you’ll need to complete your event and deliver what you promised. It’s helpful to follow up with additional, relevant content as well, so your audience will continue to visit your site once the event is over.
10. Provide a Solution
A powerful and useful solution can be a great way to build traffic to your website. Consider a downloadable item you could create that helps potential customers solve problems or answer questions. These items can help bring visitors to your site, but they can also help you generate leads.
For example, maybe you have a helpful chart or diagram that you often share with potential customers. Or, perhaps you have a step-by-step process you could demonstrate to help your audience solve a problem. Maybe you have a spreadsheet template or a slideshow template your customers could benefit from. Any of these things can be valuable content that can increase traffic to your website. You simply need to create a landing page where a visitor can access it, either by entering their email address and name, or simply by visiting the page.
11. Additional Functionality
One of the most powerful aspects of your website is the ability to answer customers’ most common questions, or solve their common problems. If you’re frequently fielding the same phone calls and questions, use your website to answer them instead. This won’t always work, but it can be a great way to turn time-consuming calls into valuable web traffic.
You might post your open hours, calendar of events, FAQs, or product updates. Or, you might add functionality like online shopping, online appointment scheduling, a research database, or an e-learning course. Make sure these pages are clearly marked and easy to find. Additional content on each page can also help them appear in an organic search.
12. Run Paid Ads
Getting more traffic using purely organic methods can be a challenge, especially in a competitive space. If you’re having trouble gaining traction, paid advertising can help you generate more traffic and set your website up for future traffic gains.
Paid ads can include social media ads, Google Ads, and other types of online advertising to boost your website traffic. Before running ads, make sure you have a clear understanding of your target audience and the goals you want to achieve. This will help you create more effective campaigns and get the most out of your budget. Also, consider your budget carefully, with clear goals and KPIs.
13. Analyze Your Results
Finally, analyzing your results is essential if you want to make sure your efforts are paying off. Analyzing your website’s traffic, engagement, and conversions will help you identify what works and what doesn’t, so you can adjust your strategy accordingly.
Google Analytics is a powerful toolset for analyzing your traffic and assessing improvements at regular intervals. Recent changes to the Google Analytics platform have provided even more insights, but have also required additional upkeep. Join our Google Analytics webinar to learn more about these changes and what to expect.
By using these tips, you can get more people to your site, drive more leads and conversions, and increase your overall profitability. Remember, some of these solutions will be more effective than others, depending on your industry and current strategy. Consider each one carefully, and put yourself in your audiences’ shoes to see which strategy might work best for you.