A MARKETERS GUIDE ON
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While this initial desire comes from hoping to create leads that turn into sales, there are other reasons to increase traffic, too.
Website traffic grants you a variety of opportunities, which includes:
Of course, web traffic is like many things in life: quality should be prioritized over quantity. An increase in traffic without engagement will have zero impact on your bottom line. So in this guide we’ll discuss strategies for driving not just traffic, but quality traffic that’s more likely to convert into leads and customers. The good news? Many of these strategies are free.
More technical than some of the other strategies we’ll be discussing, SEO is obviously an important aspect for driving traffic to your site. There are four aspects to consider:
First, some great news: creating this listing is absolutely free. Now, some even better news: an optimized Google My Business listing gets seven times more traffic than an incomplete one. And, since you’re listing your website links, it’s a built-in way to generate traffic to your site.
Optimizing your website content for search engines is still critical for today’s businesses. From writing smart meta descriptions to creating internal links to fresh content, a mindful approach to on-page SEO is always the first step in boosting your organic traffic.
Once you’ve updated content to ensure your SEO bases are covered, turn your attention to long-tail keywords. These make up the bulk of web searches, so if this is not part of your overall SEO strategy, you’re leaving potential traffic on the table.
You want to ensure search engine bots can easily find and index your pages, right? Implementing schema markup or other microdata—will definitely help. An added bonus is that schema can end up providing rich site snippets, which in turn can lead to better click-through rates.
If the goal here is to drive more traffic to the website, then it’s important to create content that appeals to your audience, and then provide a superior user experience when they arrive. First let’s discuss how you should approach content.
What you’re putting out onto the worldwide web can easily get lost in the shuffle; there are more voices than ever competing for your customers, so your content is another magnet that ensures they’ll land on your site, and not a competitor’s. This starts with varying your content to meet a variety of visitors’ needs.
To be an influencer, you must have an insightful blog. While posts obviously help with SEO, this is shareable content that can drive traffic in other ways, too. However, you can get creative here by coming up with killer headlines, interviewing other thought leaders, and having guest bloggers from your industry. And, if you have a successful blog already, be sure to refresh your most popular posts from time to time.
This creativity in your written content should extend to other forms of content as well, including:
Videos: Some people are visual learners, so video offers a prime opportunity to first grab attention, and then drive traffic.
Webinars: Hosting webinars is another great way to show your audience that you’re a thought leader in your industry.
While we’re focused on generating traffic to your site, it’s always important to consider what happens when visitors arrive. Your site should be responsive, since more and more people are using mobile devices. A slow site, or one where you have to “pinch and scroll” too much, will never lead to higher conversions.
Once you have your content, you have to share it, right? Your social media channels allow you to get in front of—and grow—your desired audience, and then drive them to your website.
Earlier we talked about varying your content, but that means more than just going beyond the written word to videos and webinars. Varying the length and format of your content will make it more appealing to different reader types, which is crucial for social media success.
What works for Twitter won’t necessarily be as effective as what works for Facebook, so it’s important to leverage your content accordingly. For example, blog posts and long-form content tend to be more news-related, while video and infographics can offer informative data. Experimentation will help you determine what works best on each respective channel.
LinkedIn has become more than just a place for professionals to network. Today, it’s a powerful publishing platform, one that can also drive substantial traffic to your site if you promote the ideal content to your audience.
By using relevant hashtags on your social media posts, you provide another way for potential customers to find your specific products and/or services. Think of it as an effective way to extend your reach beyond your existing social media networks.
We’ve highlighted a few ways you can increase web traffic for free, but there are some paid options you can utilize as well:
Through Google Ads, you can pay to ensure a particular webpage shows up at the top of search results for specific keywords, which is a surefire way to increase traffic to your website. Keep in mind you only end up paying when a visitor actually clicks on your ad.
The Google Ads platform allows you to choose preferences so that your business ranks at the top of Google Maps search results, too. Similar to the normal paid search ads, your listing will show up as a paid result, but coming in at the top can be a boon for traffic.
There are options beyond Google, too; instead of showing up in relevant searches on Google, with social media advertising you’ll show up in relevant feeds. While both options allow you to determine the audience you want to target, social media offers superior targeting thanks to the psychographic data it provides.
Display ads are another effective traffic-driving option. In this scenario, branded banner ads are placed on relevant partner websites to funnel visitors with similar interests to—you guessed it—your website
If you’re online at all, then you’ve certainly seen a retargeting ad. These show up on websites or social media feeds after someone’s visited your site once—which makes them far more likely to return again.
While we’ve touched on a few ways to drive traffic to your website in this guide, it would be impossible to touch on all of them here. However, here are some additional points to consider when creating your comprehensive traffic-generating strategy:
Ultimately, the products and/or services your business provides will help dictate your overarching strategy for driving traffic to your website. Just remember the quality of that traffic matters, too. The more qualified it is, the better chance you have of achieving your ultimate goal: converting visitors into leads, and then leads into customers.
Knowmad is an award-winning internet marketing agency, located in Charlotte, NC. Knowmad helps clients get found, get leads, and grow their business online.
We’ve been partnering with clients to attract qualified sales leads using their online presence since 2009 and have clients in a variety of industries, including manufacturing, B2B business services, and technology.
If you are curious how we can help you increase the opportunities you have from online marketing, let’s talk.
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