With new websites being created daily it becomes increasingly important to identify ways to attract more traffic. You could have the most user friendly website packed full of high quality content, but without traffic all of your efforts are for nothing.
Your website is a huge asset for your company. It allows you to promote your service or products to potential customers, while providing them with useful content -- this helps to build trust while establishing your brand as an authority.
Here are five ways to drive more traffic to your website.
1. Establish a Strong Social Media Presence
Every social media platform that your business participates on is another extension of your website. It is important to interact with the social channels that your target audience is going to be active on. For instance, while Pinterest would be an excellent choice for a local bakery or flower shop, a tax accountant isn't going to find the right audience to interact with on that platform. The majority of businesses can benefit by including Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ as their social media base. From there you can identify additional social media platforms to use, including YouTube, LinkedIn, and Pinterest just to name a few.
Share your content across social media and make sure to interact with your audience by responding you questions and acknowledging those that share your content via their social profiles. Engaging with your social audience is a great way to get them interested in your brand, and this will often lead to repeat traffic to your website. You also want to make sure that you make it very easy for your website visitors to share your content by including social share buttons. This is a great way to expose your brand to a larger audience and drive them back to your website.
2. Optimize Your Website Content
Website traffic that originates from an organic search is typically very targeted and of the highest quality. In order to attract organic traffic you need to make sure that your content is properly optimized for the search engines. Factors such as website speed, titles, headings, formatting, publishing frequency, and content quality all come into play. For a detailed breakdown check out this on-page optimization guide.
3. Write Attention Grabbing Titles
When someone comes in contact with your content through an organic search or through social media what is the first thing they see? The title of your content is the first thing they come into contact with. A boring title that doesn't grab their attention will be passed over and you will miss out on traffic to your website. Want some inspiration to help you craft some titles that will result in a high click through rate? Take a look at some of the titles found here on Huffington Post as well as websites like Buzzfeed and Mashable. Think of your titles as the make it or break it deciding factor. A boring title will be skipped over, driving traffic to potential competitors, while a clever title will pull in the organic and social traffic that you are targeting.
4. Pay Per Click Advertising
There are several paid traffic options to drive visitors to your website, including Facebook, AOL sponsored listings, the Yahoo! Bing Network, and of course Google AdWords. The major benefit of PPC is having the ability to scale your traffic. Yes, you are paying for each click, but when done right you are attracting very targeted traffic that is actively seeking for what you are selling. When you discover a winning combination you can increase your advertising spend and really grow your business and revenue. While organic search traffic is nice, pay per click advertising allows you to drive instant traffic.
5. Paid Content Distribution
Paid content distribution is a great way to attract website traffic that might not have come into contact with your brand otherwise. There are several paid content distribution platforms such as Outbrain and Taboola that will place you content on some of the most popular websites. You are charged only when someone clicks over to your website.
Every time someone clicks over to your content it introduces a new potential customer to your brand with an opportunity for a sale as well as social shares. When you put together a plan to drive traffic it is important that you don't put all of your eggs in one basket and diversify your traffic sources. Paid content distribution is just one of many that you should consider.
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