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So you have an amazing website . You’ve come up with a great domain name , made great layouts, and written a lot of content. But despite all of these efforts, your analytics still show a flat line. It’s disheartening, isn’t it? Well, it’s time to change that. In this article, we’ll show you 15 easy steps to drive traffic to your website.
The different types of traffic
First of all, you need to know about the different types in order to visualize the steps you need to take.
There are two main types you should be aware of: organic traffic and paid traffic.
The term “organic traffic” describes visitors to a site that come from search engines like Google or Bing .
In contrast, visitors considered paid traffic are those who access your site through ads (such as Google Adwords and Facebook Ads ), sponsored links, and other paid methods.
Statistics have proven that 51% of all website traffic is organic . This number means that many site owners strive to maximize the SEO of their website. After all, who doesn’t love a free and profitable method?
But, organic traffic is a long term investment. Getting your site to rank on the first page of search engine results is tough competition. You might not see meaningful results for months, especially if your site’s niche is a very popular industry.
If you want immediate results, go for paid traffic. You can set it up in minutes and receive traffic the same day.
Tons of advertising services also offer various targeting options. You can choose who sees your ads based on location, age, gender, and other criteria.
As nice as it may sound to have instant results, be prepared to spend a lot of money on paid ads. Advertising costs can put a dent in your pocket, especially in certain competitive markets.
The best way to generate traffic on your website
Your website doesn’t have to suffer from a lack of traffic. Make yourself comfortable, explore the guidelines below, and learn how to drive traffic to your website.
SEO optimization
Optimizing your website for SEO means making your site better suited to search engines and visitors.
SEO well used will help your website to rank higher in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and drive traffic to your website.
To start optimizing your website, just do a keyword research for your content. You will know if a lot of people are searching for a specific keyword and you will know the level of competition.
From there, you can determine which keywords you want to use that can rank well on search engines.
There are many tools available for this purpose, the most popular being Google Keyword Planner or Semrush keyword explorer. You can come up with keyword ideas or see historical metrics (monthly average searches, competition, etc.).
Once you know what keywords you want to use, it’s time to optimize your website. The optimization process can be divided into two categories:
- Off-site SEO refers to anything you can do to promote your websites, such as link building, social media marketing, sharing bookmarks, and more.
- On-site SEO is the process of optimizing different parts of your website, including the content.
When creating content for your website, make sure you focus on page SEO first. After all, you have to have a great website before you want to market it to others, right? Here are some tips to improve your site’s SEO:
- Title Tags – create an engaging title with your keywords. It should be approximately 70 characters or less.
- Meta descriptions – this is a brief description of the web pages appearing on the SERPs. Like title tags, it should contain the main keywords so that search engines and humans can understand the topic of your page.
- Header Tags – divide your content into easy-to-read sections using header tags (H1 to H6).
- Alternative text for images – is used to describe images on the web. It helps search engine robots understand images. Screen reading tools also use this text to describe the image to the blind.
Email marketing campaigns
While SEO is a great way to show your site’s potential to customers, you need to make sure they don’t just settle for just one visit. Engage with visitors by sending them regular newsletters and email promotions.
Keeping in touch with existing visitors keeps you ahead and keeps them coming back. Like a regular customer of a cafe, they will end up feeling a sense of loyalty to your site. It is a fantastic way to drive traffic to your website.
To start an email marketing campaign, you should use email marketing services like Getgerponse Contact.
But remember not to bombard your subscribers with too many emails. Keep them to a minimum by sending weekly or bi-weekly emails that contain a summary of your site’s updates.
Read our article on Email Marketing Services to learn more.
Social media
Social media sites are a powerful tool in driving traffic to your website. If you use them wisely and effectively, it won’t be long before visitors come to your site in droves.
First and foremost, always make sure your content is easy to share. People love to share interesting articles they find on the Internet with their friends and family. Don’t miss this opportunity and incorporate social sharing tools into your blog posts.
However, don’t just sit around and wait for people to share your content. You are the one who needs to be active and reach out to the new audience. Whenever you post new content, share it on social media. It costs you nothing and can dramatically increase your website traffic.
Here are some tips for promoting your content on social media sites:
- Add visuals – people are more likely to click on visually appealing posts.
- Use hashtags – hashtags make your posts more accessible to people who search for that keyword.
Pick the right site – different social networks have different target audiences . Adults primarily use Facebook , while teens and people in their twenties tend to use Instagram and Twitter . Try out a few sites and see which one works best for your site.
Write quality content
Content is the core of every site. Engaging content will keep your visitors coming back again and again. What’s more, they will share your content for you. Isn’t that the dream?
Below are some tips on how to write great content that can drive traffic to your website:
- Research keywords – your content should be based on the main keywords. Think of it as the subject. So choose keywords that are currently relevant and have fairly high traffic. You can use Google Keyword Planner – as mentioned earlier – or use Semrush for more in-depth keyword analysis.
- Creating strong headlines – this is what people read on the SERPs, so the more compelling, the better.
- Don’t use long sentences and big words – most people skim your content for information. Simplicity and clarity are essential.
- Write informative content – your content should provide answers. Avoid filler sentences for the sake of word counting.
- Add images and videos – a wall of text will scare readers away, so give your readers a few breaks with visuals here and there.
When it comes to writing great content, practice is key. Over time, you will learn to write effectively and drive traffic to your website.
Make your site compatible with mobile devices
The fact that cell phones account for 52% of all web traffic should be enough to explain why your website should be cell phone friendly. If visitors have a bad mobile experience on your site, they may never come back. You will lose a lot of your potential traffic.
You may be wondering what type of website is considered suitable for mobile devices? Well, it should be responsive, that is, it should automatically adjust the display according to the screen size of the device.
This way, visitors can comfortably navigate your website without having to pinch their screen. Try the Google test to find out if your website is already compatible with mobile phones or not.
To create a responsive website, you will either need to hire a professional or use responsive website themes and templates. This last option is obviously less expensive. We always recommend WordPress as all of its themes are compatible with mobile devices.
A mobile-friendly website also tends to score higher on mobile searches. So even if you produce high quality content, your website traffic will still be affected if it is not mobile friendly.
Implementation of an affiliate program
An affiliate program is a partnership in which site owners pay affiliates (publishers) to send them traffic or sales. Affiliates usually write an article about your product, convince readers to buy, and put the referral link.
Many businesses today choose this strategy because it is a cost effective way to drive traffic to their website and increase conversion rates.
Before choosing an affiliate, you need to know your target audience. Publishers need to be attractive to your consumers. Let’s say if your audience is teenagers, editors who are informal and fun in tone may be the best fit for you. Make a wise choice and you will get maximum results.
Internal links
For some reason, many webmasters tend to focus on backlinks and forget to link internally. It’s a shame, because these two elements are just as important as the other to generate traffic on your website.
Google uses links (internal and external) to determine the value of a page. If there are a lot of links to a page, Google considers that page to be important and it will rank well.
So it’s clear now how important internal links are, isn’t it? That’s why, whenever you create content, always put internal links to the relevant articles. For example, if your article is about starting a business, you can include links to articles on business ideas and plans.
Another benefit of internal linking is that it allows visitors to stay on your site. By providing internal links to relevant pages, visitors will not be looking for the necessary information from your competition.
Use CDNs to improve site speed
Google wants to give its users the best possible browsing experience, which is why site speed matters in search rankings. This is why improving site speed is essential if you want to increase traffic to your website.
A great way to increase the speed of the site is to use a Content Delivery Network (CDN). This is a group of servers spread around the world.
When someone asks to visit your site, the nearest server will respond by sending the static content. The loading time is therefore faster due to the short distance between visitors and servers.
Most CDN providers are chargeable, but you can get one for free with NameCheap. All you need to do is add your domain name to NameCheap and update the nameservers. You can check out the simple step-by-step guide to help you get everything set up.
Facebook Ads
Facebook advertising is proven to be an effective way to drive traffic to your site. 30% of marketers believe Facebook is the social media platform with the highest return on investment (ROI) for online ads.
Based on average costs, Facebook ads are a cheaper alternative to search engine ads. The average cost per click (CPC) across all industries is $1.72 , and it’s up to you how much you’re willing to spend per day and how long the ads run.
The key to using Facebook ads is to make sure every dollar counts. That’s why you need to define your goals when creating a campaign – whether it’s Awareness , Consideration, or Conversion .
- Sensibilization – to attract new people and generate interest.
- Consideration – to make people addicted to your website and search for more information.
- Conversion – to encourage visitors to buy your products.
Then your job is to create a campaign that grabs the attention of your audience. There are some things you need to do:
- Write a great description – it should be short, interesting, or relatable.
- Provide engaging visuals – which would prevent Facebook users from scrolling and force them to watch your ads. These can be photos, infographics, or videos.
- Update your ads once the campaign is over – change the image and tweak the descriptions a bit. If you use the same ads for months, they will lose their effectiveness.
- Create an informative homepage – you only have seconds to stop visitors from bouncing to your site, so make sure the homepage is informative and useful.
Creation of a Youtube channel
You must have stumbled upon a video or two while searching on Google. Chances are, you’ve seen videos from Youtube , as research shows that 88% of videos that rank on the first page of Google’s SERP are from Youtube . This video platform can therefore be a gold mine to attract traffic to its website.
One way to drive traffic is to tell your audiences to visit your website and explain the benefits to them . You can do this by saying short sentences like “Check out digforcent.com for the full course on how to write faster” – or by putting a call-to-action text on the video.
Another easy method that people often overlook is to use the description box . Write a call to action phrase with your link in the description box.
Advertising on Instagram
Instagram is another very popular social media for advertising. It is ideal for those targeting a young audience since 71% of its users are under 35 years old .
As this social platform is owned by Facebook, its operation is roughly identical to that of Facebook ads. You will be able to choose goals from three categories and use many targeting options (like age, gender, language, country, and many more).
Combine these options by choosing the ones that best match your brand’s goals. Otherwise, your money will be wasted on people who just aren’t interested.
We suggest that you experiment with the content of your ad a lot. As Instagram is a visual platform, having visually appealing campaigns is very important.
You can use quotes, short informative videos, funny pictures, infographics, etc. Explore the options and create an ad that truly represents your website.
Instagram is a great way to drive traffic to your website!
Influencer Marketing
Social media platforms have changed the way people search for what they need. Today, they are looking for influential people or experts in their field. So, if used correctly, influencer marketing can drive traffic to your website.
Influencer marketing is a relatively easy process to implement. Pick the influencers you want to work with, then reach out to them and ask them to promote your products or services in exchange for a commission.
The advantage of this method is that you don’t have to spend a lot of money. Many influencers are happy to receive freebies in exchange for their services.
Sponsor Youtube channels
Sponsoring Youtube channels is a specific form of influencer marketing. You pay creators to make a video in one of the following styles:
- A dedicated sponsored video: The entire video is about your products (like unboxing videos or vlogs in which your products are the center of attention).
- A sponsored mention is a mention where the channel owner cites your brand or product at some point in the video. The product won’t be the main topic of the video, but Youtubers will explain why it is so useful to have it.
The price for sponsoring a video varies. The bigger the chain, the higher the price. Some channels also set a fixed price (payment by video), while others charge per show.
Channel size and audience rating are two things to consider when choosing a channel.
Engage with LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a unique social networking site because it targets a specific user group: skilled workers and professionals all over the world. This platform is therefore the ideal place to generate traffic to your website dedicated to businesses.
First of all, your LinkedIn profile must be complete. Make sure you’ve covered the basics (such as summary, profile picture, website link, etc.). Personalize your profile, but keep it professional.
Posting business-related content on your Linkedin will drive visitors to your website. The great thing is that you can target specific audiences who are interested in your industry.
Conclusion
Webmasters certainly want to attract traffic to their site. A lot of people think they have to spend a lot of money, but there are some free things that work great.
We have shared some of the best free and paid methods to drive traffic to your website. To make it easier for you, we will present some of them:
Free methods:
- Optimize your website’s SEO – this will help search engines crawl your site easily.
- Share every piece of content on social media platforms – your content can reach a wider audience and attract more traffic.
- Update your old content – it’s very easy to do and it will improve your traffic.
Paid methods:
- Hire Affiliate Marketers – this is very profitable since you only pay if you get results.
- Collaborate with influencers – they are able to engage audiences and get their followers to visit your website and make a purchase.
- Use Facebook Ads – it’s the biggest social media platform and you are more likely to reach all kinds of people.