25 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website
Ask a marketer or
business owner what they’d like most in the world, and they’ll probably tell
you “more customers.” What often comes after customers on a business’ wish
list? More traffic to their site. There are many ways you can increase traffic on your website, and in today’s post, we’re going to look at 25 of them,
including several ways to boost site traffic for FREE.
1. Advertise
This one is so obvious, we’re
going to look at it first. Paid
search, social media advertising and display advertising (try our Smart
Ads Creator!) are all excellent ways of attracting visitors,
building your brand and getting your site in front of people. Adjust your paid
strategies to suit your goals – do you just want more traffic, globx or are you
looking to increase conversions, too? Each paid channel has its pros
and cons, so think carefully about your objectives before you reach for your
credit card.
If you’re hoping that more
traffic to your site will also result in more sales, you’ll need to target high commercial
intent keywords as part of your paid search strategies. Yes, competition
for these search terms can be fierce (and expensive), but the payoffs can be
worth it.
2. Get Social
It’s not enough to produce great
content and hope that people find it – you have to be proactive. One of the
best ways to increase traffic to your website is to use social media channels to promote your content. Twitter is ideal for short,
snappy (and tempting) links, whereas Google+ promotion can help your site show
up in personalized search results and seems especially effective in B2B niches.
If you’re a B2C product company, you might find great traction with image-heavy
social sites like Pinterest and Instagram. Here's more advice on making the
most of social media marketing.
There is no magic formula for
content marketing success, despite what some would have you believe. For this
reason, vary the length and format of your content to
make it as appealing as possible to different kinds of readers. Intersperse
shorter, news-based blog posts with long-form content as well as
video, infographics and data-driven pieces for maximum impact.
4. Write Irresistible Headlines
Headlines are one of the most
important parts of your content. Without
a compelling headline, even the most comprehensive blog post will go unread.
Master the art of headline writing. For example, the writers at BuzzFeed
and Upworthy often write upward of twenty different headlines before finally
settling on the one that will drive the most traffic, so think carefully about
your headline before you hit “publish.”
5. Pay Attention to On-Page SEO
Think SEO is dead? Think again. Optimizing your content for search engines is
still a valuable and worthwhile practice. Are you making the most of image alt
text? Are you creating internal links to new content? What about meta
descriptions? Optimizing for on-page SEO doesn’t have to take ages,
and it could help boost your organic traffic.
6. Target Long-Tail Keywords
Got your high-intent keyword and popular keyword bases covered? Then it’s time to target long-tail keywords, too. Long-tail keywords account for a majority of web searches, meaning that if you’re not targeting them as part of your paid search or SEO efforts, you’re missing out.
7. Start Guest Blogging
Before you say it – no, true guest
blogging isn’t dead, despite what you may have heard. Securing a guest post on
a reputable site can increase blog traffic to your website and help build your brand into
the bargain. Be warned, though – standards for guest blogging have changed
radically during the past eighteen months, and spammy tactics could result in
stiff penalties. Proceed with caution.
8. Invite Others to Guest Blog on Your Site
Guest blogging is a two-way
street. In addition to posting content to other blogs, invite people in your niche to blog on your own
site. They’re likely to share and link to their guest article,
which could bring new readers to your site. Just be sure that you only post
high-quality, original content without spammy links, because Google is cracking
way down on low-quality guest blogging.
No time to read this post? Download the PDF here!
9. Go After Referral Traffic
Rather than trying to persuade
other sites to link back to you (a tedious and time-intensive process), create
content that just begs to be linked to.
When Larry wrote about the
kick in the proverbial teeth that eBay took from Google’s Panda update, we
managed to secure a link from TheGlobx in the Editor’s Pick section
alongside links to The New York Times and National Geographic. Not too shabby –
and neither was the resulting spike in referral traffic. Learn what types of
links send lots of referral traffic, and how to get them, in this post.
LinkedIn has become much more
than a means of finding another job. The world’s largest professional social
network is now a valuable publishing platform in its own right, which means you should be posting content to LinkedIn on
a regular basis. Doing so can boost traffic to your site, as well as
increase your profile within your industry – especially if you have a moderate
to large following.
Implementing schema (or another
micro-data format) won’t necessarily increase traffic to your website on
its own, but it will make it easier for search engine bots
to find and index your pages. Another benefit of using schema
for SEO is that it can result in better rich site snippets, which can
improve click-through rates.
12. Link Internally
The strength of your link profile
isn’t solely determined by how many sites link back to you – it can also be affected by your internal
linking structure. When creating and publishing content, be
sure to keep an eye out for opportunities for internal links. This not only
helps with SEO, but also results in a better, more useful experience for the
user – the cornerstone of increasing traffic to your website.
13. Interview Industry Thought Leaders
Think interviews are only for the
big leaguers? You’d be amazed how many people will be willing to talk to you if
you just ask them. Send out emails requesting an interview to thought leaders
in your industry, and publish
the interviews on your blog. Not only will the name recognition
boost your credibility and increase traffic to your website, the interviewee
will probably share the content too, further expanding its reach.
So many businesses are focused on
attracting new customers through content marketing that they forget about more
traditional methods. Email marketing can be a powerful tool, and even a
moderately successful email blast can result in a significant uptick in
traffic. Just be careful not to bombard people with relentless emails about
every single update in your business. Also, don’t overlook the power of word-of-mouth
marketing, especially from people who are already enjoying your products or
services. A friendly email reminder about a new service or product can help you
boost your traffic, too.
15. Make Sure Your Site is Responsive
The days when internet browsing
was done exclusively on desktop PCs are long gone. Today, more people than ever
before are using mobile devices to access the web, and if you force your
visitors to pinch and scroll their way around your site, you’re basically
telling them to go elsewhere. Even if you have a basic website, you still
need to ensure that it is accessible and comfortably
viewable across a range of devices, including smaller
smartphones.
16. Make Sure Your Site is Fast
Ever found yourself waiting
thirty seconds for a webpage to load? Me neither. If your site takes forever to
load, your bounce rate will be sky high. Make
sure that your pages are as technically optimized as possible,
including image file sizes, page structure and the functionality of third-party
plugins. The faster your site loads, the better.
People want to speak their minds
and weigh in on subjects they feel passionately about, so building a community into your site is a great
way to start a conversation and increase traffic to your
website. Implement a robust commenting system through third-party solutions
such as Facebook comments or Disqus, or create a dedicated forum where visitors
can ask questions. Don’t forget to manage your community to ensure
that minimum standards of decorum are met, however.
18. Make Yourself Heard in Comment Sections
You probably visit at least a few
sites that are relevant to your business on a regular basis, so why not join
the conversation? Commenting doesn’t necessarily provide an immediate boost to
referral traffic right away, but making a
name for yourself by providing insightful, thought-provoking comments on
industry blogs and sites is a great way to get your name out there –
which can subsequently result in driving more traffic to your own site. Just
remember that, as with guest posting, quality and relevance are key – you
should be engaging with other people in your niche, not dropping spam links on
unrelated websites.
19. Examine Your Analytics Data
Google Analytics is an
invaluable source of data on just about every conceivable aspect of your site,
from your most popular pages to visitor demographics. Keep a close eye on your Analytics data,
and use this information to inform your promotional and content strategies. Pay
attention to what posts and pages are proving the most popular. Inspect visitor
data to see how, where and when your site traffic is coming from.
20. Get Active on Social Media
It’s not enough to just share
content through social channels – you need to actively participate in the
community, too. Got a Twitter account? Then join in group discussions with
relevant #hashtags. Is your audience leaving comments on your Facebook Posts?
Answer questions and engage with your readers. Nothing turns people off quicker
than using social media as a broadcast channel – use social media as it was
intended and actually interact with your fans.
21. Submit Your Content to Aggregator Sites
Firstly, a disclaimer – don’t
spam Reddit and other similar sites hoping to “hit the jackpot” of referral
traffic, because it’s not going to happen. Members of communities like Reddit
are extraordinarily savvy to spam disguised as legitimate links, but every now
and again, it doesn’t hurt to submit links that these audiences will find
genuinely useful. Choose a relevant subreddit, submit your content, then watch
the traffic pour in.
Text-based content is all well
and good, but video can be a valuable asset in both attracting new visitors and
making your site more engaging. Data shows that information retention is
significantly higher for visual material than it is for text, meaning that video
marketing is an excellent way to grab – and hold – your audience’s
attention, and boost traffic to your
website at the same time.
23. Research the Competition
If you haven’t used software likeBuzzSumo to check out what your competitors are up to, you’re at a huge
disadvantage. These services aggregate the social performance of specific sites
and content to provide you with an at-a-glance view of what topics are
resonating with readers and, most importantly, making the rounds on social
media. Find out what people are reading (and talking about), and emulate that
kind of content to bring traffic to your website.
People love to learn, and
webinars are an excellent way to impart your wisdom to your eagerly waiting
audience. Combined with an effective social promotion campaign, webinars are a
great way to increase traffic to your website. Send out an email a week or so
ahead of time, as well as a “last chance to register” reminder the day before
the webinar. Make sure to archive the presentation for later viewing, and
promote your webinars widely through social media. If you're wondering how
to do a webinar, click the link for some tips.
25. Attend Conferences
Whatever industry you’re in,
chances are there are at least one or two major conventions and conferences
that are relevant to your business. Attending these events is a good idea –
speaking at them is even better. Even a halfway decent speaking engagement is
an excellent way to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry and
gain significant exposure for your site.
Well, that just about does it for
today’s post. If you’ve got your own tips for increasing traffic to your
website, I’d love to hear them.
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