Inarguably, your business’ website is the most important presence you have online. It helps capture new sales leads and acts as a go-to reference for your existing customers.
Your website is equally important for business discovery. A survey conducted in 2016 found that 36.7% of internet users discover small businesses online, closely followed by word of mouth at 35%.
Because so many internet users discover your business online, it’s important for website marketers to maximize the traffic your website receives. Website marketers will also need to craft compelling content on your landing pages to help convert your visitors.
In this article, we’re going to lay out some tactics to get more web traffic and how to convert those visitors.
Tips for Increasing Website Traffic
Keep in mind, these activities tend to be interwoven. While using one of these tricks might increase your web traffic slightly, you’ll get the best results if you use them together.
Update Your Website
There are many ways to tell if your website is out-of-date.
One of the biggest giveaways is if your website isn’t mobile responsive. This is a problem you should fix because Google will soon launch their mobile-first SEO ranking algorithm.
Other ways to tell you need a website update are:
- Your information is out-of-date
- Your social links aren’t listed on your website
- The website is slow
- The design is cluttered and confusing
If you feel unsure of your ability to judge whether your company’s website needs an update, consult with digitally-savvy colleagues or a web design agency.
SEO Like a Boss
SEO is a beast of a subject to tackle and master. However, you only need the internet and a bit of gumption to take it on for your website.
First, you’ll want to develop or update any keyword strategy you have for your business. Focus on long-tail keywords which your target customers might use when they enter a query on Google.
Once you have your keyword strategy, you’ll want to ensure your landing page content has those keywords in the headers (h2, h3) and scattered throughout the page. You can also blog regularly to boost your SEO strategy.
Some companies find they have the resources internally to manage SEO while others prefer to hire a firm to do it for them.
Write Awesome Blog Content
Blogging as part of a keyword strategy is a proven method to drive traffic to your website.
Blogging can help you establish your company as a thought leader. If you consistently provide valuable content for your readers, they will keep coming back to your blog for advice and pass your blog along to others.
When you blog, you want to use catchy headlines to intrigue readers. You should also mix up your content length to keep readers engaged.
Try Podcasting
Podcasting is another great traffic booster than website marketers can employ.
You can publish podcasts in addition to blog posts. Podcasts add a new dimension to your content strategy and can sometimes be more interesting to listen to than reading a blog post.
Try interviewing professionals and thought leaders in your industry. If you don’t want to use an interview structure, try hosting a roundtable discussing with your executive team to discuss current events in your industry.
Do Social Right
When done right, social media is a fantastic way to drive traffic to your website.
Use your social media platforms to promote your content and send traffic to the link on your site.
Social media is perhaps one of the easiest and cheapest ways to engage with your target audience. It’s an outlet to answer their questions and learn about what they want from your product or service.
Create Content for Industry Publications
Also known as guest posting, the purpose of posting content elsewhere online is to build your business’ reputation and to increase your number of backlinks.
Contributing valuable content to online publications in your industry gets your business in front of more potential customers. It also helps establish you as a thought-leader in your industry.
Guest posting also helps you build high-authority backlinks which improve your SEO score. Each guest post you publish should have a link back to your website.
Paid Ads
Paid advertising can be a bit more expensive for website marketers. However, the benefit you get is being able to get your ad in front of a much-targeted group of potential customers.
There are several paid ad forms you can choose from including PPC, social media ads, and banner ads. Each has their own benefits and drawbacks. When selecting your ads, consider where your target audience is likely to see them.
Monitor Your Analytics
Monitoring your analytics is crucial to determining how your website visitors are interacting with your website. They can also help you determine which type of content gets the most engagement.
Google Analytics is a go-to option for many website marketers, but there are plenty of other web analytics tools available.
Scope Out the Competition
As you develop and adjust your keyword strategy, see which keywords your competitors rank for.
You can also see which topics they’ve written about and how those posts performed. A great tool for analyzing your competitors’ topics is Buzzsumo, which is also a helpful tool for generating ideas for your business’ blog.
Build an Email List
Email marketing is alive and kicking, and its customers’ preferred way for companies to communicate with them. In a survey, 72% of adults stated they’d prefer companies to send them emails rather than market to them in other ways.
Place email signup forms throughout your website and content. You can then send automated marketing emails to those customers to tell them about new products and services, changes to your business, or industry news.
Conversion Tips for Website Marketers
Now that you’ve taken all the steps to increase traffic to your website, you need to convert those visitors. Here are some of our top tips to convert web visitors into sales or sales leads.
- Offer gated content that requires providing an email address
- Place compelling CTAs throughout your website and your content (e.x. “Download our free guide,” or “Start a project”)
- Ensure clear messaging on your website and drive your visitors through specific steps to the CTA
- Cater to each of your segments by developing landing pages for each product/service
- Don’t ask a visitor to do more than one thing
Get More Traffic for More Sales
As you can see, there is no magic formula to increase traffic to your website immediately. There are many interworking tasks you need to execute.
Some companies are willing to hire internally for these skills while others find it easier to outsource all website and marketing operations. The benefit of outsourcing your website services is website marketers are always on top of the latest tactics to drive traffic and boost conversions.
If you’re curious about how your website performs and where it can improve, run our free website audit.
