30 Easy Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website – Part 1
More often than not entrepreneurs and their marketing teams invest hours and hours into creating a content strategy, but see no significant changes in the traffic to their website. Others don’t use a strategy because they don’t know how, so they stick to something simple like daily social media posts.
What’s the common denominator here? There’s a problem in their approach that they’re struggling to identify.
Businesses that do see a jump in traffic will eventually find themselves grappling with the same issue if they aren’t monitoring their growth. Time, energy, and finite resources are wasted on a strategy that plateaus and eventually fizzles out. How can you keep the momentum going if you’re not sure what sparked it in the first place?
There are two key components to just about any strategy used in marketing and advertising- it’s proven to work, and it’s trackable.
Yes, innovation is great and experimenting opens up potential for opportunities otherwise inaccessible, but that doesn’t lead to a stable foundation. Counterintuitive as it may sound, sustainable strategies start with doing what’s already been done, not with something groundbreaking and never been done before. Businesses need to start with what’s proven to work if they want to hit the ground running. Experimentation needs to be put on hold until you know you’re on the right track.
How do you know if you’re on the right track? By tracking, of course. There are metrics for success that can quantify your performance, giving you the tools to establish a growth strategy for a predictable trajectory. If you fail to track these metrics there are two possible outcomes. Either you can’t optimize whatever it is that you’re doing right, or you can’t stop whatever it is that you’re doing wrong. Both are equally harmful to your company’s success.
We’ve curated this list of 30 different tried-and-true techniques that you can use to drive traffic to your website no matter your industry, ad campaign method, or your budget.
1. Create Engaging Content
Engaging content serves two purposes for you. It can help bring in more traffic, and it can give visitors to your site a reason to stay. If they like what they see they are more inclined to continue exploring and see what else you have to offer. They want to learn more about you. Use their curiosity to create opportunities to introduce yourself, your brand, and your values. Something informational like an ‘About Us’ page can only be so interesting.
Here’s the thing- people don’t want to connect with businesses, they want to connect with other people. That kind of relationship feels more sincere and meaningful, and makes both parties feel valued and heard. This leads to more conversions, sales, and ultimately more revenue. There are many ways to create that kind of relationship with your customer base but that isn’t possible if they are interested in getting to know you in the first place.
‘Engaging’ is the key word here. Content needs to grab attention and offer something of value to your visitors. The easiest way to start offering something meaningful and memorable is through blog posts. Tailor your content to your ideal client profile so you can offer your warm leads an experience that feels more personalized while establishing yourself as an authority figure on the subject.
Blogs aren’t just the easiest way to get started, they’re the best way to get started. Blogs are proven to generate traffic, conversions, and a predictable ROI. In fact, last year in 2020 80% of B2C marketers relied on blog posts to connect with consumers. That number went up to 83% in 2021. As for B2B marketers, 71% identified blogging as a key component of their sales funnel. Blogging influences eCommerce by 6%, but that number doubles if you post content regularly. If you’re still not convinced (somehow), then consider this- having a blog on your website increases your odds of ranking higher in a search by 434%.
2. Feature Guest Blog Posts
Offering your own content is an absolute must for any content strategy. What better way to build on that than by featuring guest content? Providing content from reputable and respected sources does wonders for your own reputation. If an industry heavy hitter is willing to put their name on your site this tells readers that you’re clearly worth checking out. Just be careful to only use high quality content that isn’t saturated with spammy links. You are the company keep, so to speak, and Google can be very judgmental if you’re in a questionable clique.
While you’re at it, have your own content featured as a guest blog! The only caveat here is that the blog post needs to offer value to both readers and the hosting site. If it doesn’t serve them well then they’ll have no use for your submission. Quality content and a successful pitch, on the other hand, will give you a noticeable boost thanks to links and referral traffic.
3. Collaborate With Influencers
Working with online influencers is a newer strategy so it’s still technically in the experimental stage. Why do we recommend it then? It works very, very well. As of December 2020, 62% of people are more likely to make a purchase if the product or service is endorsed by YouTube influencers than a social media ad. YouTube is one of many websites and platforms where influencers share their content.
4. Connect With Industry Thought Leaders
You have some high quality written content from important guest bloggers and endorsements from important influencers. Now it’s time to kick it up a notch by going all the way to the top and interviewing thought leaders in your industry. Like guest blogging, this does wonders for your reputation and credibility. It also gives you content that can be consumed by your customer base in multiple different formats including podcasts, blog posts containing transcriptions, and video. You get to add another invaluable connection to your growing network and there’s a chance that they’ll share the content on their site as well. Speaking of…
5. Generate Quality Backlinks
If your content is featured elsewhere then there’s going to be a little blurb explaining who you are, what you do, and what your credentials are. That blurb should ideally include a link back to the original post on your own website and your various social media profiles. Not only does this make you look better to your visitors, Google will think more highly of you as well. The company has stated that backlinking is one of the top three ranking factors that it uses. And if you find backlinks that you don’t approve of on sketchy websites the search engine giant will happily help you out.
6. Repurpose Content
We already alluded to this in number 4 by mentioning all of the ways that you can use the same piece of media to create different content. Better yet, you don’t have to use it all at once. Look at it this way- no matter how interesting your content is, it might get stale after a while. Our brains gravitate towards new and exciting things. If you have content that performed well, such as a transcribed blog post, then you have quantifiable proof that it resonates with your audience. After the bump in traffic that blog post gave you starts to die down you can use bits of the interview in your video marketing campaigns. Since it’s being presented in a new way it’s going to feel brand new to your viewers.
7. Incorporate Video Marketing
While you’re at it, work on your video marketing strategy as a whole. Part of the reason video advertising is so effective is because it gives the viewer power over the experience. They can stop and start as they please. If they’re in a noisy place they can turn on closed captioning and still enjoy the content. It’s also very easy to consume on digital mobile devices, and since people spend more time on their smartphones in front of an actual computer it’s the perfect place to connect with them. More marketers are starting to incorporate video into their strategies and audiences have shown that they enjoy having the option available to them.
Video is also seeing a general popularity boost. 77% of users between 15-35 are using YouTube for video media content. YouTube also happens to be the second most popular search engine in the world. And let’s not forget how many companies are releasing their own streaming services now, which happen to release movies simultaneously with theaters. It began as an experiment during the 2020 pandemic but studios are continuing to release movies this way. They learned that viewers enjoy the convenience of being able to catch the latest flick at home. Not to mention there’s zero risk of getting in trouble for sneaking in candy.
8. Build An Active Community
Creating content with your consumers in mind and giving them options for the way they consume your content is a great way to start. Fortify that personalized experience by interacting with them directly. Remember when we said that people want to connect with other people, not businesses? Companies that offer a positive customer service experience see more revenue, brand loyalty, and customer retention than those that don’t. People care about being cared about.
There are a few ways that you can kickstart this. The first is by enabling the comment section on your blogs or using third-parties like Facebook, and responding to comments that people leave. The second is by directly responding to comments on social media, and offering customers the option to message you there if they have any concerns. We’ve all received that automated email thanking us for our message, telling us someone will respond in 24 hours, etc, and these emails are a big turn off. Opening up a private conversation on social media contributes to that feeling of being valued and your customer base is going to have more confidence in you. The third is to ditch those automated emails altogether and respond to each message directly whenever possible. If you receive a copious amount of emails you can always hire a virtual assistant to send out emails instead. Customers will get warm fuzzies if the reply reads like it came from a warm body.
9. Optimize Your Website
Now you’re interacting with them. Have you made it easy for them to interact with you? If your customers can’t navigate or even access your site you’re going to have a low number of unique page visits per session. If your site loads at a snail’s pace your bounce rate is going to increase monumentally. Having a bounce rate is normal, people need to leave your website eventually, but you want those numbers to peak on pages like Contact Us or a confirmation of purchase, not your landing page.
How can you improve the user experience? Don’t bog your site down with graphics, have a site that can be navigated intuitively, optimize it for mobile usage, and be careful about fonts and colors that can be difficult for people with color blindness, dyslexia, and other sensory processing issues. Make sure to go above and beyond to make it accessible for people with hearing or visual impairments too – ADA compliance is just good business practice.
10. Research Your Competitors
Whatever your competitors are doing, they’re doing it for a reason. Pay close attention to the strategies that they use and learn from their example. How frequently do they post on social media? Which platforms do they use? How long are their blog posts, on average? This gives you deeper insight into the minds of your customers because you have a better understanding of their preferences.
You can also research their keyword usage and performance. This will make it easier for you to create the ultimate SEO strategy with a little help from a results based growth marketing company.
11. Post Content on LinkedIn
Guest blogging and interviewing thought leaders are great for building your network but LinkedIn is the place to expand it. There are multiple benefits to using this platform which, contrary to popular belief, doesn’t exist solely for job searches. You can create more backlinks and repurpose content when posting to LinkedIn. You can catch the eye of more people who are interested in guest blogging and interviewing. You make it possible for others in your industry to reach out to you for guest blogging and other collaborative work. Content on LinkedIn is easy to share on other platforms. LinkedIn is also the best place to recruit new talent, and your profile makes it easier for prospective applicants to learn more about you.
12. Local SEO
First let’s just make it clear that local SEO is not for everyone, but the people who do stand to benefit from it need to start investing in it. Local SEO is meant for brick-and-mortar businesses that rely on their physical locations for the bulk of their sales. Think restaurants, pharmacies, auto body shops, tattoo parlors, and corner stores.
Local SEO is what you use to show up in search results for queries like ‘Italian restaurant near me’, ‘best salon in my area’, and ‘cheapest hotels in Seattle’. People performing searches like this are usually doing so with a sense of urgency – they need a tire change and they need it now. Other times they’re doing it to make informed decisions for the sake of travel expenses, running errands, or if they are new to the area. Local SEO searches have the added benefit of intention. Rarely if ever is someone going to look up the closest sushi bar for the fun of it.
It can also open up opportunities for some of the previously mentioned methods. If you add your company information to online directories and review sites like Yelp and Foursquare you’re creating quality backlinks. People who leave comments, for better or for worse, contribute to your community building efforts.
13. Voice Search Optimization
While we’re on the subject of searches, let’s look at the ways people perform their searches. Voice search is faster than typing and it’s convenient if your hands are full. It’s also a very helpful alternative for people who struggle with typing, written communication, or aren’t fluent in English.
Voice search isn’t exclusive to mobile devices either as more people are purchasing smart speakers such as Google Home or Amazon Echo. Operating systems like Microsoft are making it possible to do so on your own computer. The one thing that you’ll need to keep in mind is voice searches often have longer words and phrases than a typed search, so your SEO strategy needs to account for that.
Voice search also goes hand-in-hand with local SEO, as 58% of consumers use voice search to find local businesses.
14. Social Share Buttons
They found you. They liked what they saw. Now what? Ideally, if your visitors really enjoyed your content they will share your content elsewhere. Social media buttons give users the ability to tweet a URL, post it to Facebook, pin it Pinterest…there are about as many opportunities as there are social media platforms. When a member of your audience shares your content it’s likely to land in front of someone with similar interests, giving you quicker access to warm leads. Best of all, it’s free advertising.
15. Social Media Strategy
We have already mentioned social media a few times, but unless you already have a social media account those tips aren’t going to be of any use. And unless you have a social media strategy, your social media accounts aren’t going to be of much use.
Take a look at Facebook’s algorithms and how it presents content to its user. The things that you share on Facebook are only going to show up in the newsfeed of people who are following your page already. It’s not going to bring in new people because no one who hasn’t heard of you is going to see it. Further, it’s only going to show up in the newsfeed of people who interact with your page, as Facebook ‘prioritizes’ the content it presents to users based on their previous online activity.
Social media optimization and social media SEO optimization require a lot more from you than just sharing a new post. Social media platforms are a place to share repurposed content, build a thriving community, fortify your brand through storytelling, promote your products and services, collect user-generated content, and keep an eye on your competition.
Each platform also has a special something that sets it apart from the others. Instagram is the best place for sharing visual media because it’s a thriving hub of artists and creative minded people. Pinterest is an excellent source for information on the latest trends and product designs. TikTok will give you a huge boost in audience and help you locate content creators and influencers anywhere in the world. Twitter’s charm is in its brevity, so it’s a great platform for sharing links and directly interacting with your audience. Twitter is also the best way to show off your brand’s humor and wit, increasing your odds of going viral.