How do I get more website traffic?
We all want more website traffic, without it, the phone wouldn’t ring, we’d have no emails, and crucially no business!
We’ve compiled this quick and easy list of ways to drive more traffic to your website and hopefully increase your conversions in the process.
1. Social Media
Posting on social media is a great way to share your content. When you write a new blog post or introduce new services you should be posting this to your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages which should generate some traffic.
If you post good quality content that informs, educates, and entertains you will likely gain shares which will push your content out further afield and gain more traffic.
Each social network has a different purpose, so make sure your posting relevant content to each. You may want to post your case studies on LinkedIn and Twitter, then focus on general updates on Facebook and photos on Instagram.
2. On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is key to getting your content to rank on Google which of course leads to website traffic. The more optimized your article or page is, the better chance you will have at ranking on the search engine.
There’s a lot of factors that go into on-page SEO, but in a nutshell, you should be including your focus keyword in your title, 1st paragraph, and in your image’s alt tags.
If you’re running a WordPress website, there’s a brilliant free plugin called Yoast SEO which will guide you as you write your content. Its handy traffic light system tells you if your post is red (needs improvement), orange (ok), or green (good).
3. Blogging
Creating a blog for your website is a brilliant way to gain more traffic. Make sure to post articles that are relevant to your business and include some good keywords. If you’re unsure about which keywords to target, you can use tools like Moz SEO, or Ubersuggest to research and find some good quality keywords to target.
As a general rule, you don’t have to write mountains of text when crafting your blog posts, but a rough minimum of 300 words should set you off in the right direction on search.
Remember to inform your audience when you post via your social pages and email newsletter.
4. Long-tail keywords
Long tail keywords are keywords that are longer and more specific. A good example of this would be “vegetarian restaurants in Keswick”. Because of how specific these keywords are there will be much less competition on the search results and you will likely be able to rank for these quicker.
A quick and easy way to find long-tail keywords is to use Google auto-complete. Open google and start typing a query, for example, “website designers”. Google will then auto-complete your query, in this case with “website designers near me”, along with another 10 or so options.
Target long-tail keywords in your site content and blog posts and you’ll be picking up niche search engine rankings left right and center!
5. Email newsletters
An email newsletter is a perfect opportunity to drive some quality traffic to your website. Because your email list has to contain only addresses that have opted-in to receiving your newsletter you will have an engaged audience who are expecting to hear from you.
Like we said in the blog section, sending out a quick email when you write a new blog post can be a great way to drive some traffic to your website. Just be careful when it comes to sending regular emails – too many in a short space of time can be frustrating and your subscribers may start to unsubscribe from your list.
6. Internal linking
Links are a big part of SEO, and internal links are just as important. When you post new content on your website, make sure to include links to other relevant sections. For example: when we write about SEO we include links within the body text to other relevant articles and service pages.
Google views pages that have more links as more authoritative, and the same goes for your internal links. The more important or key content on your website should have more internal links, so make sure you’re adding them.
7. PPC Ads
Running pay-per-click ads is a quick and easy way to drive traffic to your site. All of the major social networks offer PPC, not forgetting the daddy of all platforms – Google Ads.
With PPC ads you can bid for certain keywords and phrases, e.g. “best holiday cottages in the lake district” and set your maximum cost per click. This is the most you’ll pay Google for a click on your website.
PPC isn’t for everyone and can become expensive. We’d always recommend focusing on your organic traffic and growing things that way, but PPC ads can bring immediate results.
8. Google Business Listing
Your Google Business Listing is key for local SEO. You’ll probably have noticed when searching for local businesses that google now presents a map with a few suggested businesses. This data comes from Google My Business, which is a free listing not too dissimilar from the old phone books and yellow pages.
By claiming your listing you’re showing Google that you’re a real business, and can then make any updates as required, for example adding a logo, updating photos, or adding news posts and updates.
Customer reviews on your listing can also help with SEO, so it’s a good idea to prompt your customers to leave a review if they’ve had a good experience. This can be the difference between appearing in the results or being left behind.
9. Update your content
Google loves up-to-date content. You should be reviewing your website content and making updates to keep your site relevant and informative.
If you’ve got a good article on your website it’s beneficial to go back and make any updates to keep the content relevant. This will give your content an SEO boost and will make sure your readers stay engaged and informed with the latest information.
About pages are a key place we see out of date statistics and info, a regular occurrence being “for x years XZY company have…” – keeping content like this up to date will keep Google interested in your site.
10. Backlinks Drive Website Traffic
Finally, we have backlinks. We’ve touched on these slightly in the internal linking section – these are simply links from other websites that point to your own.
A great way to build these links is via good directories, e.g. Yell.com, Yelp, and local business sites. Each one will have an effect on your SEO so it’s a good idea to make sure they’re coming from a quality source – bad links will do damage to your SEO, so don’t be tempted to buy 100s of backlinks for £5 and expect your website to rank #1 within the week.
Each time you post your content on social media you’ll gain a backlink, and the same for each time someone shares content, so staying active on social networks really will help your SEO improve and your website will start moving up the rankings.
