jeudi 25 août 2016

Increase Website Traffic With These 10 Strategies

low traffic landing pageIf you opened up a brick-and-mortar store in the middle of nowhere and never told anyone about it, would you be surprised when you don’t make a single sale?

The same goes for your website; if you build it, they won’t come, unless you help them find it. But how to increase web traffic without shelling out big bucks?

Using these ten creative strategies will help you build an online map that ensures you increase web traffic from every available source.

Section 1: How To Increase Web Traffic With Blogging

You’re reading this right now, aren’t you? That means this blog post has effectively brought you to our site. Now it’s your turn to do the same – over and over again.

But how to create the right blog that brings in the traffic that matters? Be interesting, have something to say, and optimize everything you can.

1. Be The Most Interesting Blogger In The Room

Finding an interesting and attention-grabbing way to hook your readers will get them excited to read what you have to say – and will keep their eyes glued to the screen. Find a story, an anecdote, or even a metaphor to use as a structural tool for your post, which will help your readers stay engaged for longer. We recently used the concept of slimming down for summer to create this post about cleaning up PPC strategies:

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This engagement also matters for your search rankings – Google factors in a little-known metric called “dwell time,” encompassing SERP click-throughs, bounce rate, and session length. This metric matters for Google because it shows that your site has worthwhile content that people are actually engaging with – the ultimate goal, after all.

2. Devise Topics Around Traffic

If the goal of your blog is to help drive traffic, skip the boring, technical posts for more universally-appropriate topics. Of course, you want your topics to be related to your industry, but don’t be afraid to reach out for related areas for topic ideas – the more eyes you can draw in, the more chances you have for conversions. One of the best chances you have for your posts to go viral and really bring in the most traffic is to relate them to topical news or buzzworthy stories. Google Trends is a great place to start, as it offers currently trending topics broken down by category and even country.

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BuzzSumo serves a similar purpose with a bit more options for data filtering. See what topics have been most shared, most read, what type of content was the most popular, and even compare with topics from the same time last year to help formulate interesting post ideas.

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3. Make It Visual

Once you have the written content for your posts, it’s time to add in the right imagery. People’s attention spans are getting shorter every year – while you had 12 seconds of attention in 2000 to work with, the average attention span in 2015 was a mere 8.25 seconds. It took you longer than that to read the previous sentence.

Images and video content can also help break up text for longer posts. Try and use images for every 350 words of written text to give your readers a breather.

4. It’s All About The Title

One of the most effective ways to use your blog to increase web traffic is to have strong titles. Sounds like the easiest part of the process, but really, the right titles take some work. You want them to be short enough that they don’t get cut off on SERP displays, so it’s recommended to make them around 8 to 12 words total. This optimizes the length for social media displays as well, letting your title do the hard work of getting readers to click through.

Tried-and-true title strategies include generating controversy, asking a question, using relevant or topical references, and being creative with word play, when all else fails.

Section 2: How To Increase Website Traffic With A Diverse Online Presence

The ultimate goal of your online presence is to drive users to your site. Therefore, you have to be where all of your potential customers are. In 2016, that means social media is your best friend.

5. Be A Social Butterfly

Social media is a great way to increase website traffic because it is all about the conversation. When you plant the seed in short-format social media that you have something important to say, people are going to want to visit your site to find out more. Share your blog posts but also come up with specific content for social media that ensures you have an active presence. That last part is key: social success will only come from an active presence. With experts recommending five to ten Facebook posts a week, three to five posts a day on Twitter, and at least one Instagram post a day, you’ll have your hands full staying on top of all of your networks. Use a social media calendar to ensure you have the right mix of content and plenty of posts scheduled to keep activity levels up. Fill out all profiles completely, as these are a great chance to use keywords and share company information.

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6. Present Content In New Formats

Using social media correctly gives you the opportunity to take one topic or piece of content and share it in diverse formats. Publish your blog posts to LinkedIn, and take advantage of SlideShare. This platform allows you to transform your content into slides, keeping the information presented direct and to the point. You can add in images, graphics, and visuals to keep users engaged, and the bonus? You’ll always have a presentation ready to go if you need it.

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Section 3: How To Increase Website Traffic With Paid Advertising

While there are plenty of free ways to drive traffic to your site, paid advertising will be one of the fastest and most targeted ways of getting your content out to your audience. The caveat when it comes to using paid advertising to boost your traffic? You’ll have to be careful that you’re not spending too much money on what turn out to be nominal returns.

7. Make Your Ads Stand Out

No matter what you’re selling, if your ad isn’t interesting, you won’t get the conversion rate you want. An effective ad makes someone have to click through to find out more. Two major elements will go into your ad: your copy, and an image or graphic. To be most effective at making your ad stand out, understand what your competitors are doing. Not only can you learn something about effective language, but you can figure out what their ads are lacking – and take over their dominant spot.

8. Hone Your Targeting

To increase website traffic that matters, you want your ads to be seen by your ideal customers, and using targeting is the best way to get your content in front of the right eyes. Start with formulating buyer personas, which flesh out who your ideal customer is, what they do for fun, where they work, and any other information that will help you identify your consumer demographics. Then, set up your ads to reach people who meet your criteria. Reach out to your local audience with ads that are tailored to location.

Section 4: How To Increase Website Traffic By Building A Community

In 2016, influencers are in. Throughout social media platforms, there are “experts” in each industry who have massive followers who regularly engage with them.

How can you become part of this community? Start engaging.

Influencers are a huge opportunity to increase website traffic. They have large audiences, and so by sharing your content with their community, you have access to even more eyes. Everything from links on their sites to social media mentions will get more visitors to your site.

9. Have Guest Bloggers (Or Be A Guest Blogger)

Guest blogging is an easy way to share your knowledge while gaining access to a new audience. If you are interested in guest blogging, find a site that welcomes posts from others, and reach out with a pitch. Do your research, so you understand the blog’s audience, voice, and the topics they’ve covered, so you can bring a fresh perspective that will attract their readers.

The same is true for having others guest post on your blog. Reach out to influencers and start building relationships, so that when you ask them to contribute to your site they will understand your platform and brand in a more comprehensive way.

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10. Become an Influencer

Your goal should be to become an influential voice in your field if you’re not already. This will come through having an active blog, being communicative on social media, and finding opportunities to share your knowledge. To do so, you’ll need to have your finger on the pulse of the industry, and make sure that all of your content is designed to be helpful.

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Increase Website Traffic With These 10 Strategies

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