If you are to ask a business operator or marketer what tops their wish list, they will most probably express their desire for “more customers.” The second foremost priority would be increased traffic to their site – a significant challenge for any business is to attract more customers than their competitors.
Many businesses are misled by the boatload of information present online on increasing traffic to websites. Thus, they end up utilizing the same tired strategies over and over and not witness any growth. So, if you are looking for ways to increase traffic to your site without falling victim to the common pitfalls encountered by marketers, you have landed on just the right spot.
Here are five ways you can use to boost traffic to your website:
1. Optimize Your Website For Search Engines
First and foremost, increase the visibility of your website through search engine optimization. You can do this by using relevant keywords throughout your content. You must ensure that these keywords are used strategically and not stuffed into the content (a common mistake businesses make).
However, even more important than SEO is knowing your audience and tailoring your website to resonate with your targeted audience. This is where buyer personas come into play.
Knowing your audience and being familiar with keywords they use when searching for your website will help you create quality content that complements your SEO.
To put it differently, optimizing for your buyers will automatically optimize for search engines.
2. Write Blog Posts Regularly
Blogging is perhaps the most efficient way to boost organic traffic to your site. It allows you to go into more depth than your website, creating an extensive index of valuable, persona-optimized content based on your market niche.
Blogging also improves SEO quality by identifying your website as a relevant answer to your customers’ queries.
Blog posts employing several on-page SEO strategies increase your chances to rank in search engines and make your website more attractive for the audience. However, unsubstantial, spammy posts can do more harm than good. Therefore, you must avoid posting such content.
3. Advertise
Ads popping up when browsing the internet has become a common sight in today’s digital world. Known as digital or banner ads, they boost the incoming traffic to a website or perhaps a campaign-specific landing page.
Apart from display ads, paid search and social media can also be used for advertising, thus increasing organic site traffic.
However, as is the case with virtually everything, this method also has its downsides— for instance, users have the leverage of blocking ads they do not wish to see. As such, the money you have invested in such advertising may go to waste; therefore, you must set a budget and spend cautiously.
4. Use Social Media to Engage Your Audience
You have likely been using your social media to publish the same content that you have posted on your websites, such as articles, images, and ads. However, what you have missed out on and perhaps not taken advantage of just yet is the ability of social media to boost your site traffic alongside promoting your message.
For instance, if you are running an e-commerce website, you can advertise a sale on social media platforms and thus drive traffic your way.
A trick to get the most out of this method is to pick the social platform that suits your message the most- and one that you can operate quickly and efficiently. Social channels can vary according to the kind of business you run and your desired audience.
For example, LinkedIn can prove to be a good option if you are looking for a professional audience to cater to, say, a webinar or document you wish to promote. However, if you want to promote something more visual-oriented, i.e., product imagery, then Instagram would cut for you.
It is, however, up to you to decide which social channel works best for you. You can find out by experimenting with different platforms and analyzing which one brings you the greatest awareness. As such, you will know where to invest your time and resources.
You may also ask a consultant or a marketing agency to help you decide which social channel to use for your advertisements, the period you should run them for, and ways to boost their performance.
5. Don’t Underestimate the Power of Email Marketing
Businesses tend to ignore the more traditional methods in their run to use new and innovative techniques like content marketing to drive traffic to websites. One such method is Email Marketing.
Email Marketing is a very effective tool that holds the power of driving loads and tons of traffic even with a somewhat successful email blast.
However, one must be careful not to spam people with endless emails on every one of the updates in your business. Also, do not ignore the influence of referral marketing, especially from satisfied customers.
It is also imperative for you to ensure that you email people who actually want to be at the receiving end, i.e., hear from you. You also do not have to impose the same information on all the emails you send. This information can be specific to each of your audiences. You have access to data that allows you to formulate emails that are relevant to your audience. For instance, if a customer purchased a pair of shoes from you recently, you may create a section based on their invoice and forward them email campaigns promoting your newest shoe styles
Your business may have the best website to exist, but if it does not attract any traffic, no one will get to see its greatness or even your company’s. Therefore, you must invest your time and resources in increasing traffic to your website to see it grow.
