If you’re in the process of building your brand or boosting your website, there are thousands of tips out there to increase your website traffic. Getting your name out there can be tough and, in this age of digital marketing and high technology, it can be hard to decide which avenue to pursue. The good news is, most brand building strategies are successful in one way or another.
So if you have the time and - for some of these tactics, the capital - branch out and try a little bit of everything. See what works for you and take notes on what your audience responds to! Here are a few site-boosting tips to get you started.
Remember the Basics
Also, make sure to mix it up! Engage your customers with fun topics, charming headlines, and a variety of content. Ensure that the site is easy to use, and you have a mobile interface that is just as easy and accessible for your audience. In addition, don’t forget about video and visual content on your website – these tend to stick in people’s minds a bit better; some studies showing a 65% retention rate for visuals as opposed to 10% retention rate for text.
Get Off the Screen
While quality content will always be king, utilize any way you can to continually bring new traffic to your site. Before we begin with social media and other digital means of promotion, always consider the tried and true methods of meeting people in the real world. Once you have a website that’s dressed to impress, attend conferences and invite people personally to check it out.
Never forget the power of word of mouth advertising: over 90% of consumers will consider word of mouth over any other advertising. When you are ready to get digital, discovering new leads through social media, blogging, and search engine optimization are the three best ways to generate leads and up your sales statistics. These strategies, known altogether as inbound marketing, can help you reach your target consumers in the digital space.
Social Media
Social media can be any of the standards; from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, to Pinterest, or even those less company-oriented like Snapchat and Instagram. These all take minimal time to set up and can help your company build a culture, leading more viewers to your site.
Any form of social media can develop a following, particularly if the behind-the-scenes aspect of your company has interesting art or project developments that could gain followers. Social media can be a great way to build a community of individuals that care about your company and utilize your website for purchasing or gaining valuable information.
Furthermore, searches and advertising through social media is constantly growing, because companies know it works. In fact, worldwide budgets for this type of advertising have more than doubled since 2014.
Blogging is an excellent way to interface with your community and social media groups, and also helps develop more content on your site. If you’re thinking about guest bloggers, remember that they can also bring new traffic from their personal sites. Linking is a positive way that sites help build each other up through referrals. Furthermore, having the point of view of others can ensure that your website is continually developing and bringing in new traffic, as long as it stays on target within your creative field.
Aggregator sites can be a useful way to bring in new traffic in a similar way. With aggregator sites such as Reddit, the trick is to post your link where it may be helpful to the thread in a subtle way, always being cautious not to spam. Having a voice in these sites comes down to being an engaging person, and creating incentive to look at your website in that way. Of course, this all brings us back to content and increasing your visibility.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with search engine optimization, content and keywords are what allow your site to rank higher and be more easily found when someone searches for a random topic. Utilizing keywords that your company brands itself with will make your site more easily found by your target audience, along with linking yourself to other sites; for example, guest blogging for another company’s site.
It’s also a good idea to keep track of who is visiting your site, how they got there and what actions they ultimately take. If you have the time, check out the Google Analytics Academy site – there are actually tons of free tools there to help you see exact measurements of what’s happening on your site.
Knowing what’s working and what isn’t will help you keep the traffic you have and continue to build more, ultimately keeping you on the right path. Alongside this digital tool, always remember to engage with the people who are visiting your site! Answer their questions and maybe ask some of your own – a real connection can be just the key.
