If you’re new to managing a website and driving traffic, then this post is for you. Check out this guide to learn crucial tips for marketing your website.
Around a half million new small businesses enter the market each year. Many of those businesses will have websites. If you’re a business owner, it’s likely you want or have a website but you don’t know how to get noticed.
So how do you drive traffic to your site? Online traffic is truly a superhighway, with busy users never stopping long to invest their time in something uninteresting. And while users might not have the awful attention spans they’re rumored to have, you need to learn about marketing your website in a new, fresh way.
The more traffic you can bring to your website, the better. We’ve got some answers for you. Keep reading for a beginner’s guide to bringing more traffic to your website.
Marketing Your Website: You Gotta Advertise
Duh, right? But what if you’re not any good at advertising? Marketing is its own art form. However, these days there’s simple social media and display advertising that doesn’t require a business degree.
Your website should be using targeted keywords, though. Which might cause you, a beginner, to have cold sweats. No worries, SEO isn’t a dragon you need to slay. Just get the basics. Or hire someone to do your online advertising for you.
Wallflower? Get Social
Sorry to break it to you, but you must get onto social media and make your presence known. That means actually interacting with other businesses, with your customers, and with any potential demographic audiences you want to target.
If you’re hesitant to get too involved, consider a platform like Twitter that requires its users to keep their posts short. You can tweet out links to tempt your customers, or Instagram is great if you’ve got intriguing images.
Don’t be afraid to start commenting on other threads, too. Make your opinions and expertise known! Also, don’t avoid hashtags. They may look annoying, or too trendy, but people use them when looking for products or services.
Write Attention Grabbers
Headlines are worth 80% of your content’s success. That means you’ll have to be original, controversial, and promise to solve a customer’s problem, all with a headline. A good way to check the popularity of a headline is to use a resource like Buzzsumo. You simply type in a headline you think could work and see how other, similar headlines have performed.
There’s nothing wrong with researching your competition, too. If a similar service is doing well with their traffic, check out what headlines they’re using. There’s no point in always reinventing the wheel- customers know what they like.
Blogging: Get Your Community Active
Keeping your customers engaged with interesting content is vital, and a great way to do this is to write for your site’s blog. Also, offer to guest blog for another, complimentary business site. And always get your readers engaged. Find out how to do that here.
Once you’ve got some content on your site, be sure to link internally. That means linking to your own published content while creating new content. This helps your SEO and also appeals to your potential customers.
In your content, be sure to interview some of your industry’s thought leaders. Anyone with a recognizable name or substantial social media following is great.
Email Marketing
You might have your hands full with figuring out your website and the social media to link to it, but don’t forget traditional email marketing. It can still drive a lot of your traffic.
Fast, Secure, and Responsive Site
Make sure your website is hosted by a trustworthy company, and has been properly secured and won’t take long to load or respond. How many times have you clicked away from a site that was slow, looked spammy, or didn’t seem to be active and updated?
Add Video Content
Typing out everything you want to say to a customer? Not good enough. People are social animals and love to see faces, hear voices, and feel like they’re interacting with the people they buy from. Start doing video, even if you’re shy. Have kids? Pets? More entertaining coworkers or family members? Put them on camera.
You can also do quick demos that feature your product or service. Any way you can help solve a problem “for free” is a surefire way to attract new customers. Adding value to a client’s experience is something not every small business website does, so it will give yours an edge.
Host Webinars
There’s no better way to really establish your industry authority than hosting a webinar. By hosting a webinar about your services, or products, you’re really making your site stand out. If you don’t think you could supply enough content for a full hour, offer to do a guest spot on someone else’s livestream or webinar.
Examine Your Analytics Data
Stick with Google Analytics to see what content is performing well, and what isn’t. You’ll have access to visitor demographics as well as what posts bring the most traffic. This will give you clues about what to tweak and what to promote.
Get Listed
If your business is solid, with good feedback and dependable service, getting listed is a great way to seek exposure. This includes online directories and review sites. Take any opportunity to link back to your site!
Sometimes We Need Help
Driving traffic to your site isn’t rocket science! If you’re just getting started and need a little boost of support from experts, hit the ‘Chat with Us’ button. We’re always here to help and will have you feeling like a pro in no time.
