The main purpose of digital marketing is to drive relevant traffic to a website that converts into leads and sales. Almost every business owner wants to make more sales. The way to sales online is by driving more traffic to the website.
There are endless ways to promote a website and increase traffic, but here I’ve gathered the top 10 ways to increase website traffic fast. These are the most vital and essential when creating a website, and executing a digital marketing strategy. Take a look!
1. Paid Search & Display Advertising
The fastest way for a brand new business or website to start getting traffic at first is with paid search, social media advertising, and display advertising. The sooner you start doing this, the sooner you can gather data and insights about your audience and industry so you can spend your marketing dollars specifically on the channels with strategies that generate the best results.
With paid search, you can instantly tap into multiple channels and reach your target audience immediately. Eventually, this will help your website rank higher, which will also bring you more organic traffic as well! Not only are you increasing your traffic at a fast rate, but you are also building brand awareness which is essential for a sustainable business.
2. Social Media
Social media is a free tool that you can use to expand your reach fast. If you have an audience, you can start promoting your services and products right away and reach more people with the power of hashtags and location-based posts. Social Media serves as a part of your SEO. Every single picture/article you post will be recognized by search engines under your company’s name. Update your accounts regularly, and post engaging content. It will be easier for people to find you on Google when they search your company’s name.
Your social media accounts give you a way to communicate why your company is so great and even set a value system for your company. Your posts are a powerful statement of your values, visions, and missions as a company. So be careful! Always choose to post positive content that will uplift people, or add valuable knowledge to their lives.
Another aspect of brand awareness on social media is your reviews. This is ESSENTIAL. 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, and positive reviews make 73% of consumers trust a local business more.
3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
If you want your website to rank in search engines, you have to make sure it is SEO-friendly. This one is quite a lengthy process. This includes your local citations, on-page SEO, XML sitemaps, schema markup (if applicable), site architecture, domains, site speed, SSL, mobile-friendly website, 404 pages, plugins, add-ons, or extensions, backlinks, URL, and robots.text file.
Think of it this way. Google rates your website on the quality of your site. Without making sure your website is following Google’s algorithm, it won’t rank high. You need to make sure you are fully optimizing your website to gain authority in your market and rank so that your audience can find you in the search engines when searching for your products/services.
Did you know that long-tail keywords convert 2.5x more frequently than general keywords? That’s crazy! They are essential to your SEO strategy. When you start doing your on-page SEO, implement long-tail keywords to assure that you are reaching the right people. General keywords do not work for your entire website.
70% of search queries are long-tail. If you aren’t implementing long-tail keywords on your site, then you are missing out on a massive chunk of your audience. Long-tail keywords are more specific which means that the quality of the traffic will be much more relevant to your business than traffic coming from general keywords.
4. Showcase Your Offers/Promotions
This is essential if you are in a competitive industry. What will drive people to choose your business if there are thousands of others with better offers and promotions? Study your competitors and see what they have to offer to their clients. Then, analyze each offer and decide what your unique selling proposition is. Whatever it is, it has to be something that your direct competitors aren’t giving out at the same price.
Whether it’s a special discount for loyal members or 10% off on their birthday month, choose an offer that will drive people to make their final purchasing decision. People nowadays research EVERYTHING. Customers are now more than ever searching online and making their decisions based on research. Give them something to remember so they can come back to your website and turn into a conversion!
5. Content Marketing
You’re an expert in your industry! Don’t underestimate this. This traffic may not be a short-term, sales now, type of strategy, but it builds a website’s authority and credibility. It increases the search volume for keywords in your content. Post original, quality content that gives your readers valuable knowledge. It is an excellent opportunity to get backlinks to your website!
This also serves as a unique value proposition. For example, let’s say you are looking for a mechanic to repair your car and you find two places that are the same price and close to your house. However, mechanic #1 has absolutely no information, insights or statistics on their website about what the process of fixing your car is. But mechanic #2 has a full “What’s New?” section all about the latest innovations in cars, and even charts explaining the exact service they will do for your vehicle. Which one will you trust more? Most people would say mechanic #2!
6. Video Marketing
Users have become impatient! Many users don’t want to take the time to read anymore, so make sure that aside from your content marketing strategy that you’re also implementing videos onto your website. Videos are interactive, and people will usually watch them, even if they’re not looking for your product/service right that moment.
Video can become much more memorable than text content, which becomes a fantastic tool for returning users and boosting traffic at the same time.
7. Copywriting
Do you ever see a headline that is SO convincing and powerful, you have to click on it? Sometimes it doesn’t even matter if you’re looking for that product or service. I know, we’ve all been there. This is what you call effective copywriting. Turn your offer into an irresistible headline, that motivates people to click and see what the buzz is all about.
Of course, you don’t want to lie in your copywriting because this will generate traffic but it will be irrelevant to your website, and your bounce rate will be very high. A couple of great headlines is all you need to attract traffic and get the right click. Once they click on it, it’s also your job to keep the user interested and interacted with your website.
8. Internal Linking
Many people miss this one. Having internal links is extremely important for your SEO juice. I know, I know backlinks are hard to get, and they take a long time, especially nowadays where there is a lot of spam going around. But you need to keep in mind that your internal linking structure ALSO can improve your SEO.
As you start to generate content and videos you can start linking to your pages (make sure they are relevant, and you’re not just linking for the sake of it). Not only does it help with your website’s search results, but it also creates a better user experience as they’re going through your content. Why? Because let’s say you post a lengthy post about driving traffic to your website, yet your second point is SEO, and your reader has no idea what SEO is! The user can quickly click on your internal link, and land on the blog from 2014 where you wrote all about what SEO is, so they can quickly learn and come back to the original post!
9. Mobile-Friendly
Did you know that over half of users surfing the web are doing so on their mobile device? So many online businesses ignore the huge amount of users who rely on mobiles only! If your website is not mobile-friendly, then you are missing out half of the people online! That’s a lot of potential customers. Inspect your site and make sure every page looks good on a mobile device.
You can check this by right clicking on your mouse, then “inspect” and clicking on the tablet at the top of the page. This shows you exactly how your website looks, and what needs to be fixed.
10. Attend Events & Get Social
Get involved in events relating to your industry. This is the best way to make connections and establish brand awareness within your competitors and industry. Chances are many people who are attending these events are either interested in your services/products. Making sure you regularly attend events. It will not only keep you updated with the latest news surrounding your business but also will make you stand out as a leader.
By connecting with other attendees you can gather emails from business cards, and start an email newsletter that contains your content marketing! You already know that these contacts are either in your industry or interested, which will drive more traffic to your website with your email marketing. Also, remember to promote the events you will be attending all over social media, emails, and even your website!
There you go!
Follow these 10 steps, and you’re on your way to increase your website traffic.
I would love to hear what your results are or if you have any other tips for increasing traffic! Please feel free to comment below or email us at search@noahdigital.ca
