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In the wake of COVID-19, establishing an online presence has become crucial for many businesses who previously relied more heavily or even exclusively on brick-and-mortar sales. Building a website and creating content may be simple enough, but getting people to actually find and visit your site is another matter. In a sea of thousands of competitors, how can you drive more traffic to your website versus another?
While there is no quick-fix or “magic pill” to make you stand out, there are some tried-and-true techniques that you should implement if you want to a) drive more traffic to your site; and b) ensure that this traffic is an audience that will actually buy something from you.
Very broadly speaking, there are two ways to drive more traffic to your site. The first one is free and relies on content you create. This is known as an “organic” strategy, because it is designed to bring visitors in naturally. The idea is to create useful content that is so compelling that people find it and read it because they want to, not because they have to.
The second way to drive traffic is through paid strategies, which include various techniques like paid social ads and targeting.
Blogging:
Even if you are new to the world of SEO, you may have heard the phrase “content is king.” When it comes to your site, this is absolutely true. By creating engaging, useful content that is better than your competitors, you will develop a loyal following that will eventually share your posts for you. Your blog posts are also a good opportunity to increase your rankings by including top keywords and phrases within the text.
Social Media Posts:
Building a brand on social media can be difficult, especially if your company is fairly technical. But this does not mean you cannot benefit from regular posts on, say, Instagram. The key, like in all other content, is to create something of value. This could be something entertaining, like jokes or memes, or something useful, like a daily tip for driving website traffic.
Either way, platforms like Instagram offer valuable analytics that can help you home in on your target audience and what they respond to. In this way, you can tailor your posts to win more followers, who will then be compelled to visit your site for more content.
Answering Questions on Forums:
This is a fantastic way to establish both trust and authority in your niche, two key elements of SEO. Join groups relevant to your expertise on platforms like Quora and Reddit, and look for unanswered questions. You can also elaborate on topics you think need better information. Stick to highly relevant topics while promoting other users that share in your field.
YouTube Tutorials:
85% of US web users view at least one YouTube video per week. With approximately 1.86 billion users worldwide, this platform provides an opportunity for exposure that should not be missed. Create video content that is engaging and answers a top question; if it is good enough, you will win organic traffic to your site. You can backlink to your site in the comments, and outlink to the video from relevant blog posts.
LinkedIn Publishing:
Google looks for authority in a site’s content. This means useful content with solid backlinks. You can help to establish your site’s authority by making high-quality, valuable posts on LinkedIn and then linking those back to your primary post or site page (the “anchor” content).
Email Marketing:
If you have a solid list of email subscribers, email marketing is a great way to drive traffic to your site, especially if you are offering a promotion. You can drive new business and reward loyal subscribers by giving them early access or an exclusive promo code.
Reusing Old Content:
There are many ways to reuse content that may be outdated but still relevant. You might revise certain posts for length, for example, making them longer or shorter as needed. You might also combine several shorter posts that cover the same topic. You can also add new bullets or headings as necessary to make sure you are including all valid information under a topic.
Surveys:
Create and share surveys relevant to your niche. These help gain valuable insights into your target audience and are also a great way to generate backlinks from companies looking to reference your survey results.
Mobile Optimization:
In 2020, 62% of all online traffic came from mobile phones. Furthermore, Google crawls and indexes sites using a smartphone bot. This means that websites that are optimized for mobile-viewing are automatically ranked higher. If your site is not easy to navigate on a mobile phone, make it a priority to change that.
High Quality Infographics:
A picture is worth a thousand words. A good-quality infographic can say the same thing as an 800 word blog. Create an infographic that is so good, people will share it over and over. Use it as a supporting graphic for your blog and share it on your social media platforms. It is often worth hiring a professional designer for a project like this.
Facebook Ads:
Believe it or not, Facebook is one of the least expensive social platforms on which to advertise; and when you buy ads through Facebook, you gain access to its extremely sophisticated analytics and targeting abilities. Facebook allows you to select nearly exactly whom you would like to market to by mining very specific profile data. For example, you can market to individuals based on status updates and life events. If you are a daycare business, you can tailor a campaign toward people who add the life event, “had a baby.”
Influencer Marketing:
When trying to grow your own following, it can be a good strategy to partner with a relevant influencer. They can help expose your product or brand to a much wider audience and funnel them to your page. To do this, many companies offer discounts or freebies to influencers within their niche.
While Instagram remains the influencer’s platform of choice, you can also partner with big names on Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, or Facebook. Just make sure it is appropriate for what you are selling. Sponsorship that feels forced or irrelevant does not work well (like weird or overt product placement in movies).
Google Retargeting Ads:
Google retargeting focuses on increasing your conversion rates. In other words, it focuses on individuals who have already been to your site but, for whatever reason, did not buy anything. You might combine this with the unpaid strategy of email marketing to help sway potential customers who are on the fence about buying from you.
Native Display Ads
Sites like Taboola and Outbrain market your site on various pages for a fee. You have probably seen Taboola’s handiwork on news sites, for example. Those tiles that pop up under headings like “Recommended for You” or “You May Also Like” are actually ads for sites generated by Taboola and Outbrain.
These ads are referred to as “native” because they appear to belong on the page you are viewing. They are a relevant topic and do not look like an ad. As such, they can be a highly effective way to drive traffic to your site.
Serenity Digital, LLC is a digital marketing agency based in Denver, Colorado. We offer paid and organic strategies to help boost your website traffic and drive more business.