You can have a professionally built, visually appealing, fully responsive website. You can own a brand that features the very best products or services in your niche. However, if your site has little-to-no traffic, none of that will matter. Your target audience won’t know you exist, you will not have any sales, and your brand won’t grow. Every brand owner needs to attract a high volume of targeted traffic to their site if they expect to thrive – or even just survive. Here are several proven strategies that will increase traffic to your website.
1. Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) should be your first strategy to drive more targeted traffic to your website. SEO refers to techniques that are used to optimize your website to generate free (organic) traffic on search engines like Google and Bing. There is no way to cover everything you need to know about optimizing your site for higher search rankings in this article. Therefore, you should consult Google’s SEO best practices to find in-depth explanations on everything you should do. Here are a few quick highlights:
• Your website must be user-friendly and mobile-friendly.
• Your site should load quickly.
• Optimize your title tags, headings, and image tags for good SEO.
• Your site’s content must include relevant keywords that your target audience uses in Google search queries.
• Attract high-quality backlinks to your site.
You can learn more about these and other SEO techniques in greater detail online. Above all, your website must create value for your visitors if you want it to generate a lot of search engine traffic.
2. Search Engine Marketing
While search engine optimization refers to website techniques that can generate free traffic – search engine marketing (SEM) refers to paid advertising that will drive traffic to your site. The most popular form of SEM is Google Ads. Google Ads are pay-per-click (PPC) ads that you only pay for when a visitor clicks on them. Furthermore, the amount you pay is based on how much you are willing to pay for the keywords in your ads, and the competition for those keywords. Bing and Yahoo offer similar PPC ads too. SEM is one of the fastest ways to drive targeted traffic to your site.
3. Content Marketing
Content marketing is about creating and distributing content just for your target audience, on various digital platforms. For example, you can publish your content on a blog, email newsletters, social media posts, and in videos. However, your content must be high-quality, valuable to your audience, engaging, and enjoyable to read if you want it to successfully drive traffic to your site. Here are a few benefits of content marketing:
• You provide free value to your audience.
• You get to present yourself as an expert in your niche.
• You can engage and grow your audience – while increasing brand awareness.
• Your audience will see you as an authority in your niche and want to visit your website.
4. Social Media Marketing
Many brand owners use social media marketing as an effective traffic generation strategy. You can use one or both of the following ways to do that as well. The first technique is free. You simply create a profile page for your business on the social media networks that your target audience uses. Then, you can publish engaging content that promotes your brand to your followers. Your content should include links that your followers can click on to visit your website. The second technique involves buying social media ads to promote your brand directly to your target audience. For example, you can buy Facebook and Twitter ads that will be displayed to users based on their demographics. Therefore, social media ads are a good way to get your message to exactly who you want to see it. You can research social networking sites to learn more about their paid advertising options.
5. Good Branding
Creating a memorable brand will make you stand out to your audience and generate a lot of traffic for your site. Memorable brands have more than just a cool logo. For example, good branding requires creating a mission statement that clearly explains your purpose:
• The products or services that you sell.
• What makes you unique.
• Why you created your brand.
Think about brands that you find memorable. What makes them stand out to you? How can you apply those same techniques to create a strong brand that stands out to your audience? If you need help with branding, consider hiring a digital marketing firm.
6. YouTube Videos
Many online users really enjoy watching video content. Therefore, you could create a YouTube channel to promote your brand and website. Your videos do not need to be funny or silly to be popular. Instead, you just need to focus on providing your audience with information that they find valuable about your niche, as well as your products or services. For example, if you sell a product that is relatively unknown, you might create a video tutorial that demonstrates how to use it.
7. Forum Marketing
Internet marketing forums are a great way to drive traffic to your website as long as they are related to your niche. However, before you start posting links to your site all over a forum, you need to make sure that you are respecting their rules and users. For example, some forums require that you be a member for a certain length of time before you are allowed to post links. Furthermore, the forum’s users will not take you seriously if they think you are just trying to “spam” them. Therefore, you need to contribute valuable content to discussions. Only include a link to your website if it is relevant to the discussion.
8. Podcasts
If you have a lot of valuable knowledge about your niche that you enjoy discussing with others, you might consider creating your own podcast. Then, you could use your podcast to raise your brand’s awareness, as well as drive traffic to your site. Think of it like your own little internet radio infomercial. You can learn more about how to create a podcast online.
9. Infographics
Most consumers respond well to visual images – especially when they contain data and attractive graphics. Don’t worry if you do not have advanced graphic design skills. You can buy high-quality, affordable infographics from a number of creative design marketplaces online. Just do a Google search. Then, you can edit your infographics to include a link to your website – and post them on social sharing sites like SlideShare.
10. Online Courses
Finally, many brand owners are creating their own online courses to educate their audience about their niche. Not only are eCourses a good traffic generation strategy, they can also earn you some extra money if you can convince people to pay to take your online class. However, should only create an eCourse after you become an expert in your niche.
In short, when it comes to driving traffic to your website, the most important thing to remember is to have a site that your visitors will find valuable. If you cannot give your audience a reason for visiting your site, then they will not. Therefore, none of these traffic generation strategies will work unless you focus on creating the best user experience for your visitors.
If you have any questions, our team would be more than happy to help. Call us today at 215-393-9787.
