Do you have a fabulous website, but few visitors? Does your business deserve better? Of course it does. There is little point in putting all that effort into website design if you don’t put the same effort into driving traffic towards the site.
Here are six ways to help get the word out about your website, and bring in more traffic.
Mobile first
With 70% of web traffic coming from mobile phones, your website needs to be designed with a mobile first approach. If mobile users find it difficult to view the site they will just click away.
If you design your own sites then you’ll be pleased to know that all of the major web design platforms already provide fully responsive design templates. Responsive design flips seamlessly between mobile and desktop versions. If you use a web developer then make sure that a mobile first, responsive design is fundamental to their brief. And if it’s not something they offer as standard, then it’s probably time to hire more up-to-date web designers.
Speed up your site
If your website doesn’t load within 3 seconds, 40% of people will give up and click away. Speed is also a key factor in the Google search algorithm; if your site is too slow it will slip down the rankings. Google have created a tool, Google PageSpeed Insights, to enable you to check the speed that your website loads, in both mobile and desktop versions. They then offer tips and advice on how to bring the speed down.
One of the main factors that slow down a website is image size. Large images take longer to load. Try to compress images before use in future and use a plug-in like smush to optimise the images that are already on the site. If you know your customers live in an area with slow internet, this is a vital step to take. Running a restaurant in a rural location, for example, will likely attract local people. You’ll need to look up internet availability by address to check whether the local area is well covered by internet providers, and if it’s not, you need to compress your images down as much as possible, and remove any videos that take up data. Another factor to look out for is javascript from plug-ins that collect information from your site, like advert inserts or pop-ups. Google PageSpeed Insights will identify the plug-ins that are having the greatest detrimental impact and you can experiment with alternatives until you get the speed to an optimum level.
Quality, fresh content
There is no better way to attract more traffic to your site than having highly-relevant, fresh and high-quality content. If you sell products, make sure that you offer thorough and very helpful descriptions. Everything should be totally up-to-date.
Integrate a blog within the site, do not use an add-on blog as your site will not then benefit from the signals to the Google algorithm. Aim to update the blog on a regular schedule as part of your marketing strategy. Put together a content plan so that you never run out of ideas. Good content strategies could include the following types of article:
- Answers to frequent questions
- Case studies
- Interviews
- Top ten lists
- How to’s
- Mythbusting
- Checklists
Get social
Have a presence on the social media sites that are most popular with your target customer group. You can repackage blog posts and include social media marketing as part of your content plan. Every time you post a blog, make sure that it also goes out on the relevant social platforms. Also make sure that you respond quickly and positively to any customer questions or requests that come in through social media.
Email Marketing
One of the most common ways to increase website traffic is through email marketing. You can use email marketing to send visitors your website’s latest news and updates, as well as special offers and discounts.
You can also use email marketing to encourage visitors to sign up for your newsletter or follow you on social media. This way, you can keep them up-to-date on your latest news and developments.
Email marketing is an effective way to increase website traffic. By using it, you can keep your visitors informed about your latest developments and special offers.
Online advertising
While organic marketing is a better long-term bet for sustainable web traffic, if you want to attract traffic quickly then you should consider pay-per-click (PPC) search advertising on Google and paid for ads on social media sites.
Paid online advertising can accellerate your business very quickly. You can also test and get real time results from different approaches. Even if you only use paid online adverts for a short burst, they will provide valuable market research that will really help your other marketing strategies as well.
Be sure to do your research in advance to optimise success and save money. Google’s keyword planner is invaluable. PPC can quickly get expensive and it is worth considering hiring a specialist to get started.
Wrap up
The beauty of online marketing is that you can see the results of your efforts almost instantly. Any one of those six steps will help you drive more traffic to your site. There is no better time than the present to get started, then sit back and watch the numbers grow.