Organically gaining traffic to your website is far from easy, but it is certainly achievable providing you are willing to put the time in.
Like with any venture, your results are largely dependent on your effort and cutting corners will lead to outcomes that are far from satisfactory. Of course, you can gain some traffic by merely paying for sponsored links and adwords, but that generally only leads to a temporary upsurge in visitors, with few sticking around after you've stopped throwing money at gaining coverage.
Building traffic organically over time works best because it builds long-lasting relationships at little or no cost and here are 15 ways you can go about it.
1) Content is King
The popularity of your website is dependent on the quality of your content. We're not talking so much about your products here, but rather the way you present information and the added extras you give visitors to keep them engaged.
Even if your website is all about selling a particular item, it pays to produce blogs and articles about a range of events and issues to keep people reading. For getting started, you can approach Karma Content for unique and good quality content. Regular content encourages sharing, establishes your site as a leading voice, and markets your services in a more subtle way than traditional sales blurb.
2) Digital Marketing and SEO
People can't enjoy your website if they can't find it. Search engine optimisation is of the utmost importance because it helps to ensure that people using platforms such as Google come across what you have to offer.
SEO has changed greatly in recent years with Google updating its algorithm to push out the keyword spammers. Now there is an emphasis on quality rather quantity, with longer and more specific keywords becoming the order of the day. Digital marketing agencies, like Tekfirst can be a great help as they make sure that your website is fully optimised while adhering to the strict guidelines.
3) Have a Schedule
One way to keep people coming back for more is by having a schedule and sticking to it. If people know what kind of content they can expect and when, they'll continue to log on and enjoy it. Posting random items at random times can confuse people and turn them off.
4) Update Regularly
While scheduling is important, you still need to keep your site up to date. Scheduling items once a month or even once a week isn't going to cut it, you need something new on there every day or so.
If you have a regular feature scheduled, you can place other items around it to keep awareness going and give visitors a mix of things to digest.
5) Guest Blogging Still Works
Not so long ago, guest blogging was largely done to improve SEO, but today back linking has taken a back seat. However, the method can still drive traffic to your website.
If you post insightful content on third-party blogs, you can raise awareness of your brand and get more and more people to check out what you have on offer.
6) Build Social Media Presence
Sites such as Facebook and Twitter have quickly become major platforms for any company that wants to appeal to a larger audience and increase its web traffic.
Posting items to such sites encourages readers to share content with their friends and leads to link clicks. Those who like your page or follow you will see your posts in their timelines when they log on, so they will often check out your content even when they were in the middle of doing something else, such as catching up with their relatives.
7) Engage with Readers
When people land on your website, you need to do all you can to ensure they keep coming back. One way is by building a relationship with them through direct engagement.
Here, you could place a comments box below your content and then actively respond to each comment. Even if you're just saying 'thank you' for their visit, you can brighten their day.
8) Speed is Everything
How fast is your website? If the answer is 'not very', then you’re certainly going to lose traffic. The days of waiting for sites to load like we used to in the pre-broadband era is over. People demand speed and a sluggish site will just make them go elsewhere.
9) Design is also Important
Looks and lay out should not be neglected. While it may be cheaper to have a basic site, customers are often driven by visual appeal. Spending a little more to get a site which is responsive, easy to use, and looks good is well worth it in the long run.
10) Be Mobile
According to Business Insider, Google found that 60% of the online traffic comes from mobile devices. Can you afford to miss out on this?
With so many people now getting online using smartphones and tablets, mobile optimisation is imperative. A poor site will cause people to look at your competitors instead.
11) Take Analytics Seriously
Google analytics should not be ignored. By paying attention to them, you can establish visitor habits, time on the site, and where they came from. This information can then be used to increase traffic further.
12) Join Aggregators
Getting articles listed on aggregator sites such as NewsNow and Google News is a sure fire way of driving traffic. These sites cost nothing to join and will display your posts to the wider world in specific sections.
13) Utilise Video
You do not need snazzy and expensive cameras to start using video content. Competent microphones and decent HD cameras can be purchased cheaply now and basic editing is not difficult to learn.
By posting videos to sites like YouTube, you can raise awareness of your brand and drive traffic through placing links in the description box and/or placing your URL in the video itself.
14) Produce Eye-Catching Headlines
We would never advocate click-baiting, but it is an undeniable fact that eye-catching and sometimes sensationalised headlines work.
If you can grab someone's attention from one mere headline on social media, you can be sure of people clicking on the link to read more.
15) Give Excellent Customer Service
This may seem like something that is outside of the online world, but customer service really covers all aspect of business and your website is a key part of it.
If you can treat potential customers well when they visit your site, you'll keep them coming back. It's that simple.