Imagine that you have a technically clean website. What’s next? How to boost your traffic and improve conversions? Every novice business owner cares about this issue as it seems challenging to start. Even though there is no “traffic secret” that can certainly lead to a good analysis of what content your target group needs, we’ll try to consider the best practices that work. The following ten points will show you how to increase traffic on your website.
How to Increase Traffic on Website by Providing Good Content
Quality and relevant content can get many visitors from your site from Google. It may be evident, but most SEO-oriented content concerns answering a question that puts many people online.
Thus, Google and alternative search engines exist to answer people’s questions. If you present users with solutions, Google sends traffic to your site. Follow these simple steps for writing helpful content:
- Do some keyword research to find a popular question(f.e. you can use Ubersuggest free tool to check what words/phrases are in demand).
- Write an article that answers a particular question.
- Follow SEO copywriting best practices for your article.
- Make sure the number of words is enough to answer the question entirely. An ideal blog post length is 2100-2400 words, and a web page should include at least 300 words for SEO purposes. Nevertheless, you should cover the topic entirely and make your word count instead of following the necessary word count.
- Edit your article (we all make mistakes, but we can’t afford to make our clients leave the site).
Why Do You Need to Write Long-form Content?
There are three main reasons why you should do this:
- It reduces the bounce rate on a website.
- Longer content generally ranks better than a shorter one. Moreover, it gets more shares.
- It includes more successful CTA buttons and links to your services/other pages, increasing users’ engagement and helping to convert readers into customers.
Try to Improve Old Blog Posts
Are you looking for a simple solution to increasing the traffic on your website? You already have it! If you’ve blogged for a while, then you probably have a ton of records in your archives. You just should bring old blog posts back to life and generate traffic.
Thus, it’s an excellent opportunity to transfer the page from the bottom of search results to the top.
But how can you improve it? Here are some quick ways to make adjustments to old blog posts:
- Update any outdated information.
- Add more high-quality pictures, screenshots, videos, etc.
- Improve your introduction (so people will want to read on)
- Increase the word count (if it makes sense).
- Add external and internal links.
- Improve readability with shorter paragraphs and bullet points.
- Post and promote them as new again.
Sometimes, however, it is better to merge old posts instead of updating them.
Refocus the Content
There is another good idea on how to increase traffic on a website. With the help of refocusing traffic, you get consequently new content. Have a look at some examples:
Webinars > Videos
Old blog posts > Guides with the opportunity to download
Interviews > Blog posts or e-books
Images > Pinterest boards
Quora question and answer > Blog post
Slide show > Infographics or blog post
Blog post > Podcasts.
How to Increase Traffic on Website with the Help of Guest Articles
If you don’t have an audience of your own initially, you have to go where it already exists. Thus, it can be worthwhile to offer your expertise in the form of guest articles. As a rule, editors are very grateful for specialist articles. You can link your website there so that such a publication will generate traffic(especially when it is a large blog or online magazine). Note that the more specific knowledge a specialist has, the higher chance of publication is. Besides, you can always pay for posting your article.
Search Engine Optimization for Boosting Traffic
SEO optimization is part of every good traffic strategy. The following features are good to get started:
- A technically clean website (valid HTML, correct hierarchy of headings such as H1-H5, mobile-friendly display, clear and short URLs, robots.txt and sitemap.xml available, canonical URLs, low loading time, SSL certificate).
- Well-structured content (headings, paragraphs, images with alt texts). The Yoast SEO tool can help if you work with WordPress.
- Every page/post should have the main keyword and additional ones if possible. It should appear in the title, in the H1 heading, in the text, in the URL, as an alt attribute in the image, and in the meta description(note that it plays a role of a calling card for your site, so it should be perfect: include up to 160 characters, CTA and a keyword).
- Keyword research to determine which terms the target group is looking for (free keywords research tools help here).
- Off-page optimization (comments in forums and blogs, links in social networks).
The Role of Emails
Half the world’s population uses email. Therefore, it is one of the best ways to get traffic to a website:
- Your email list is already interested in your website.
- The traffic is almost guaranteed because you speak directly to your target group.
- The emails direct the traffic specifically to the pages you have selected.
Thus, email marketing is an effective way to reach your target audience. Here are some critical steps on how to increase traffic on a website with email marketing:
- Create a subscriber list ASAP.
- Use an email verification service to clean your email list.
- Choose the right email marketing software.
- Make personalized emails according to customers’ needs, be friendly, and respond to client’s replies.
- Write eye-catching subject lines.
- Get your emails to the point and tell users what to expect, as usually they look through the message.
- Add a CTA (Call to Action).
- Add social share buttons to your emails.
- Don’t send too many emails.
Ensure your email template works well on your phone and will not be marked as spam.
Sending Short Emails
Anyone who links the lead magnet with an email address has a relevant subscription base that leads to traffic on the site. Instead of promotional newsletters, sometimes it’s better to use short emails with valuable tips, current addresses, and a personal touch to succeed. It can bring measurable results for sure.
For example, Band of Brothers Tours is dedicated to WWII historical tours. They could create a downloadable “Essential Packing Guide for Your Normandy Tour” checklist with valuable tips and insights. This would pique their interest in the travel subject and potentially lead them to explore the Band of Brothers Tours website, all through a concise and valuable email.
Besides, if you are looking for a professional solution, take a look at the Active Campaign tool. It makes possible more complex campaigns:
- provides marketing automation, auto-responders, attractive email templates, drag and drop email designer, good CRM;
- uses “tags” for segmenting your mailing list.
To use the power of email for traffic, you also need a way to collect email addresses from your website. The critical thing here is to give people a compelling reason to register.
All in all, if you do something online, you need an email marketing strategy. Regardless of the size of the business or website, the ability to send email to your audience is vital.
Create Google My Business Account
With the help of a free Google business listing (known as your Business Profile), you can attract users immediately. It works so because there is a high-quality image and the best features are presented. Thus, it makes it easy for consumers to discover your business, learn more about your services, and contact you or go to a website to make a final decision.
Also, it provides a significant advantage over your competitors and guarantees a good reputation.
It’s necessary to create three accounts to start:
- Google account;
- Business profile;
- Google My Business account.
Please, in the end, make sure you’ve claimed and verified your business on Google so that it’ll work and potential clients will see all the details.
Here’s a more detailed guide on how to create Google account.
How to Increase Traffic on Website via Social Media
Social networks are all about building brand awareness. Nowadays, most people use social networks daily, and the right strategy can ensure fast traffic on the new page. There are three ways of doing this:
- First, make your content attractive, meaningful, and regular. Please consider the successful samples, templates, and general tips on creating a social media marketing plan in our blog to manage it. Also, make sure that you add a link to your site in Instagram/Facebook bio description.
- Second, you can use existing Facebook groups where you offer your content. In such a case, it’s better to apply the following rule – “don’t advertise, but help”. F.e. people who run a shop for gluten-free food can give helpful information to users on this subject: “Hello, I have a complete list on my blog with all foods that are always gluten-free.” In the B2B area, this strategy also works in Xing or LinkedIn.
- In addition, listen to a discussion and then add comments and links to your content (not to products!).
- Use hashtags to guarantee that your target audience will find your account and then go to the site.
If you ask yourself how to increase traffic on website with video content, here’s the way! Even though creating media content for YouTube is more time-consuming than offering text content, it’s worth it. The video portal is now the second largest search engine in the world after Google.
Here, you can easily score points with advisory and explanatory topics. For example, an online user could provide short explanatory videos to show how to do something. People believe experts in their field and consider them credible and competent. Thus, you can boost your traffic by adding a link to the site in the description under the video.
Tip: read our step-by-step guide to video optimization to increase your ranking on YouTube.
Try to Create Content Attractive to Influencers
Nowadays, almost every business niche has professionals who become competent bloggers with many followers, likes, shares, and links to their content. How about using their influence for building your brand awareness?
If you want influential people to share your content, you need to attract them first. Here’re simple steps for creating content that they want to see:
- Find influencers in your industry.
- Analyze what they’re talking about, how they behave, promote other services, their target audience, and what works for it better.
- Create the content on the topic they’re interested in.
- Bring your content to the influencers. Then you’ll see how it goes. Maybe a blogger will promote your service/article/post/product:
- for free because of its quality and benefits to subscribers;
- through barter system;
- for a particular sum of money(anyway it’ll be worth it).
Start from Eye-Catching Headlines
Appealing headlines are also one of the essential pieces of content. They are probably one of the first things to appear in Google search results. Without a compelling headline, even the largest blog post can go unread. Even though writing good headlines is an art form, don’t worry, it can be learned and improved with practice. When you’re starting from scratch, try to follow these tips:
- Research your customers.
- Check out your competitors’ headlines.
- Choose words that your target audience will use and look for (but avoid jargon). Also, pay attention to strong words like “secret”, “unspoken”, “hidden” or the ones that evoke emotions/personal experience.
- Use numbers at the beginning if you can(like top 10, 5 best, etc.).
Using Google AdWords Campaign
It takes a lot of time until a new website is present in the search engines. If you want to get traffic quickly and have the necessary budget, you can start with Google ads. Here you define various search terms for which you appear on Google’s first lines when a user searches for it.
Note that the subject of Google Ads is not entirely trivial. You can always get success with the small keywords’ settings on your own or transfer the process to agencies that specialize in AdWords.
How to Increase Traffic on Website with a Lead Magnet
A lead magnet (sometimes also called a freebie) is valuable content people like to link to. So, you create something (a video, a guide, a checklist) that solves a specific problem of the target group. It presents you as an expert and gives users a solid incentive to visit the website. An excellent example of a successful lead magnet is a free guide to creating Facebook ads.
Besides, when you think about how you can help potential clients, please keep in mind that it is vital to find what fits the target group of your own website, but it’s also essential how to present the solution. Thus, it is usually better to solve a specific problem quickly than provide a long guide with general information. For example, marketing consultants can offer guides for creating event ads on Facebook(this is a specific topic, not just “marketing tips”).
And the last point to consider is where to place the lead magnet so that it will most likely work. The best decisions are:
- in the header/footer;
- sidebar;
- within the text;
- as an image in a blog post;
- within the top bar;
- in the form of a pop-up.
Of course, it depends on the design of your site and the services you provide. Just choose the solution that meets your needs. Regarding the pages, it’s better to place lead magnets in the About us or Contact pages.
Traffic Through Press Reports
Online media articles can generate a lot of traffic if they have a link in top mass media like The New York Times, Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, ABC, CBS, CNBC, and DM News. As they are known worldwide and have lots of visitors daily, potential clients, increased traffic, and conversions are guaranteed. Moreover, you build trust, reputation, and brand in such a way.
Conclusion on How to Increase Traffic on Website
So, if you need more visitors, you should offer them something special. As there is a lot of information, users indeed pay attention to particular things. While defining the necessary strategy, you should depend on the audience and your financial resources.
Let’s summarize all the strategies in one list: content optimization, updating blog posts, SEO, keyword research, creating Google My Business Account, email marketing, and social media promotion, using Google AdWords, lead magnets, and press reports.
Even though we didn’t discuss it, we recommend you finally find out how to manage Google Analytics to track your strategies’ progress and learn which don’t work. Also, sometimes it’s necessary to boost your website page speed as users don’t like to wait for more than 2-3 seconds. And suppose you are working in a particular location like Lucknow, where you are facing an issue related to your website growth. In that case, you can take the help of a reputed digital marketing company in Lucknow.
All in all, try one (or more) of the tactics and see how they affect your traffic. If it doesn’t work for you – try another one. If it does – double the number of visitors and do more!
Which tactic have you already tried? How to increase traffic on the website successfully? Let us know in the comments below.