So, you’ve finished setting up your website. The design looks great, and it has all the necessary information your audience needs, but why isn’t anyone visiting your site?
All your efforts in launching a website would be futile if no one gets to view it. So, here are the top 10 ways to boost traffic to your site.
1. Promote on Social Media
Digital marketing has never been easier with the rise of social media. With over 3.8 billion active social media users worldwide, social media is an influential platform to reach your target audience. What’s great is you can hop around various channels such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, Pinterest, or TikTok.
With all of these available options, you can easily layout a social media strategy and explore which platform your target audience is most active. For instance, if you’re targeting professional leads or networking opportunities, LinkedIn would be most fitting.
Social media is an excellent start to building your brand community. You have the opportunity to connect and engage with users on a whole new level. Be it posting, liking, commenting, sharing, or sending a direct message; you can easily invite people to visit your website. Most social media platforms also give you the option to plug in your website link on your profile and posts. This way, users can easily visit your site.
2. Offer Engaging Content
To attract people to your website, you need to show that you have something valuable to offer. The best way to do that is to post engaging content on your social channels. Think of these posts as a teaser or preview of what visitors can gain from your website.
Some types of content you can create are photos, videos, infographics, blogs, e-books, audios, and podcasts. Depending on your industry and motive, your content may vary. For example, if you’re managing an advocacy organization, you’d want your content to be resourceful with a more serious undertone. If you’re managing a photography business, your content should showcase your skills and expertise in the field.
Content marketing is a great way to increase engagement and establish your brand identity. Anyone can create content. However, it is crucial to maintain quality content only. You do not want to be producing content just for the sake of posting. You want people to convince people and draw them to your page.
3. Write Guest Posts
Guest blogging is a strategy to expand your brand awareness by posting content on another website. This allows you to tap into a new realm of potential clients and gain referrals to your own site. In turn, both websites will benefit. They receive fresh new content, and you can secure high-quality backlinks to your site.
To start guest blogging, you will have to find a relevant website that offers such a service. Most preferably, you’d want the website to have a strong readership. Send them a pitch of what you wish to write and draft out your blog.
Writing guest posts will not only generate traffic to your site but will also prove your knowledge and credibility in the industry. So make sure your ideas are authentic.
4. Create Quality Videos
Did you know that 74% of marketers say video has a better Return On Investment (ROI) than static imagery? In addition, e-commerce sellers find that using product videos increases product purchases by 144%.
Indeed, creating videos is an effective digital marketing technique to raise awareness and drive traffic to your site. You can create promotional videos, how-tos, and demos to increase your chances of persuading viewers to convert. Video content will stimulate the viewer’s emotions through visual and audio cues. Therefore, giving you an extra edge to keep viewers engaged and entertained.
5. Work on SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a fundamental practice to drive traffic to your site. It controls how you rank on Google’s search engine results pages. By maximizing your SEO, you ensure that your website is displayed whenever someone searches for something related to your products and services. Considering the fact that 53.3% of all website traffic comes from organic search, a robust SEO strategy allows new users to check out your site more often.
Some simple tactics to improve your SEO include:
- Use high-volume, low competition keywords
- Upload credible content
- Address website issues such as poor page speed, broken links, and duplicate content.
To analyze the success of your SEO efforts, you can refer to SEO tools such as Google Analytics, Ahrefs, and SEMrush.
6. Develop a Mobile-Optimized Site
Mobile devices are the primary access point to the internet. With over 3.5 billion smartphone users, it is essential to have a website that’s mobile-friendly. The last thing you’d want to do is invest all your effort into attracting visitors, only for them to leave because the webpage cannot load or is difficult to navigate on their phone screen.
To improve traffic, your website should be easily accessible and functional across various devices. Developing a mobile-optimized site is not as complicated as it sounds. You just need to input a mobile-responsive template when designing your site. Some points to note are:
- Avoid Flash Player
- Avoid pop-up ads
- Use readable fonts
- Make buttons large enough to be clicked
- Avoid bulky images or videos that would affect the loading speed.
7. Collaborate With Other Brands
Do you know of a non-competing brand with a similar target audience as you? Let’s say your business sells sportswear for young athletes. Consider partnering up with a sports drink or gym company. Even though you’re tapping into the same type of audience, you’re offering completely different products and services. As such, you do not have to worry about increased competition.
To collaborate with other brands, you need to establish rapport first. The best way to do this is by showing how your brand goals and mission statement aligns with theirs. You’d also want the partnership to be mutually beneficial. So, remember to emphasize how both brands can profit. Most companies offer cross-promotional deals such as a coupon code that can be accessed from their partners. A strong partnership can go a long way in your marketing ventures. It will be an excellent opportunity to generate new leads and drive traffic to your site.
8. Invest in Paid Advertisements
Another way to boost traffic to your site is to run pay-per-click or retargeting ads. You can choose to run your ads on search engines or social media channels. Many brands rely on paid advertisements to drive traffic to their website because it is one of the easiest ways to yield results.
- Brand awareness can be increased by up to 80% through Google paid ads.
- Pay-per-click (PPC) traffic converts approximately 50% better than organic data.
- For every $1 spent on Google Adwords, businesses earn average revenue of $2 — that’s a 200% Return On Investment (ROI)!
Undeniably, paid advertising is the optimal option to boost traffic. It is time-efficient and result-driven, but it is not exactly cost-friendly.
If you have the financial resource to invest in paid advertising, make sure you’ve done your research to find out which platform is the best to feature your ads. Most ads also include a CTA.
9. Take Advantage of Social Share Buttons
Social share buttons give visitors the ability to share your webpage on their social media. In a sense, these buttons help users promote your site for you.
Social share buttons are useful because it adds convenience for your visitors. For instance, say a visitor landed on your product page and wishes to share it with their friends. Instead of copying and pasting, and creating a post about it, they can simply click on the share button.
Of course, before your visitors can make use of these buttons, you’d have to offer compelling content to incite them to share it. Here are some post ideas to get you going:
- Photos and videos
- Giveaway events requiring users to share your content
- Motivational or inspiring words that are quotable
- Invite them to share
10. Conduct A/B Testing
To truly maximize all your marketing efforts, you should regularly test out your campaigns. A/B testing is a method of experimentation to help you determine which strategy performs best. Many variables can affect the success of your plan. For example, you might find that a particular type of content is not resonating with your audience. Or your target audience isn’t active on the social platform you’re posting. With further investigation, you might even learn that posting during a particular time generates more engagement over another.
It is advantageous to test out new formats and formulas. Not only does it force you to keep track of your performances, but you get to identify room for improvement.
Summary
Driving traffic to your website is not an easy task. It takes a lot of time and commitment to establish your online presence. While you don’t necessarily have to use all of these tactics, it would be helpful to test them out. This way, you can determine which strategy suits your industry and target audience better.
