Strategies to Boost Your Website Traffic
There are many ways to boost website traffic, and in this post, I’ll reveal some efficient strategies, the majority of which are free. If you ask a marketer or business owner what they desire, they’ll likely say more customers. Following that, they often want more traffic to their site. 61% of marketers say their biggest challenge is generating traffic and leads.
Table of contents
- How to use content to increase website traffic
- How to use SEO to boost website traffic
- How to use social media to increase website traffic
- How to use listings to increase website traffic
- Additional strategies to boost website visitors
- Resources to increase website traffic
How to use content to increase website traffic
Warning: without content, you cannot increase website visitors. Go ahead and skip this section if you intend to! I’ll see you in ten seconds when you decide to pass on backup because you know you can’t employ any other tactics without high-quality material.
Maintain a blog for your business
First and foremost, your company requires a blog so that you may consistently post informative, lengthy content on your website. This cannot be negotiated.
- Businesses with blogs have 97% more links pointing to their websites.
- Companies with blogs receive 55% more website visitors than those without.
- The likelihood of a successful return on investment is 13 times higher for marketers that have blogs.
People will be more inclined to visit your website if it offers more value. Additionally, most of the other methods in this post (or any post on this topic, for that matter) will be difficult to implement without a blog.
Uncertain about where to begin? Maybe these 118 blog article suggestions will be useful to you.
Pay attention to evergreen subjects
Although news and popular subjects may temporarily increase your website’s traffic, they are not worth the time and effort. Make material about subjects that your audience will find interesting at all times. Over time, these evergreen pieces will gain links and traffic, particularly if you update them frequently (more on that later).
Create captivating headlines
One of the most crucial components of your material is your headline. According to studies, Effective blog titles can increase traffic by 500%. Even the most thorough blog post won’t be read if it doesn’t have an attention-grabbing headline. Learn how to write effective headlines to get readers to select your content from the SERP.
Ask people to write guest blogs on your website
In addition to broadening your subject matter and viewpoints, guest writers will want to share the piece with their audience and provide a link to it on their website, which may attract new readers to yours. Just make sure you only publish unique, high-quality material and avoid using spammy links to avoid losing visitors and receiving a Google penalty. This can be accomplished and your content can be kept consistent with a uniform set of guest posting rules.
Make amazing images
Use design tools such as Canva to reproduce charts in your branding, visualize data, and illustrate concepts. When other websites use your photos, your website will be linked back to. Additionally, Google is including more photos in its standard search results, which increases your chances of ranking and improves the result’s appeal and, consequently, click-through rate.
Add footage
While text-based information is fine, video may draw in more visitors and keep them interested. The following are some strategies for using video to increase website traffic:
- Incorporate videos into your blog entries so that they show up in video search results.
- Add connections to your website in the video description after using YouTube SEO to improve your YouTube ranking.
- Include call-to-action buttons in your video that link viewers to your website.
Establish a resource center
You should produce more than just blog entries and videos if you want to inform your audience and earn their trust. Remember to include webinars, templates, downloadable manuals, infographics, and more. Gather these lead magnets on a resources page as you make them and utilize them elsewhere on the internet. A collection of multimedia material will draw users who will come back to your website time and time again.
How to use SEO to boost website traffic
Therefore, there is a single issue with each of the aforementioned tactics. If no one can locate them, they won’t bring visitors to your website. Additionally, you need an SEO strategy because 71% of search traffic hits go to the top page of Google.
SEO stands for search engine optimization, which is the process of making a website more visible in search results for pertinent queries. These are the fundamentals of SEO, however, an SEO strategy is a very different animal.
The target keywords
As you might expect, some keywords receive more searches than others. Keywords are the terms and phrases that people enter into search engines. By using keyword research tools, you can observe, for instance, that while “how to increase website traffic” receives 300 searches each month, “how to increase website engagement” only receives roughly 10 searches.
If you want to increase visitors, the latter is a preferable topic for your blog post.
Long-tail keywords
Therefore, the possibility for traffic increases with the volume of searches, correct? Not so quick. Many extremely broad and difficult-to-rank keywords are also quite high volume (for instance, “website” has a volume of 143,000).
Conversely, long-tail keywords will drive the most relevant traffic to your website and are simpler to rank for.
Put your keywords in strategic places
Optimizing your content to help search engines comprehend its purpose and rank it in relevant queries is the cornerstone of on-page SEO. Make sure your target keyword appears in the following places:
- Meta title (title tag)
- Heading for H1
- Two or more H2 headings
- Of course, the first 100 words in the body
- Names of image files and alt text
- Description of the meta
Make your SERP appearance as good as possible
It is insufficient to simply include the term in your meta title and meta description. To increase their attractiveness on the SERP and promote more natural clicks, you must optimize these crucial bits of information.
- The meta description should be between 155 and 165 characters long, highlight the post’s value, and be actionable.
- The meta title should be no more than 60 characters, contain the keyword near the start, and convey some kind of advantage or value.
Internal link
Make sure to include at least one to three links to other pages on your website on each page you create and publish. In addition to helping to increase traffic to those pages, this also (a) keeps users on your site longer, (b) encourages them to view more pages on your site, and (c) gives them more value from your site, all of which raise your website’s rating and increase traffic.
Boost the speed of your page
Have you ever had to wait 30 seconds for a webpage to load? I don’t. Your bounce rate will be quite high if your website takes a very long time to load. Although speed has always been important for rankings, the page experience upgrade has made it even more so. Ensure that every aspect of your site, including picture file sizes, page layout, and third-party plugin functionality, is as technically optimal as feasible. You want your site to load as quickly as possible.
Among other things, Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool will rate your website’s speed and offer recommendations for enhancing your Core Web Vitals. Make use of it!
Make your website responsive
Since mobile devices now account for a larger portion of website traffic than desktop computers, forcing users to touch and scroll through your site is essentially telling them to leave. You still need to make sure that your website is usable and accessible on a variety of devices, including tiny smartphones, even if it is a simple one.
Put schema markup into practice
Although using Schema markup (or another microdata format) can make it easier for search engine bots to identify and index your pages, it won’t necessarily improve website traffic on its own. Better rich site snippets can increase click-through rates, which is another advantage of employing schema for SEO.
Update your articles frequently
Freshness of material is a ranking criterion, and even the most timeless information eventually loses its shine. You’d be shocked at what a content refresh may accomplish, even if your piece is still appearing on Google’s first page. You can boost your CTR and move up a few spots in the SERP with a new publish date, which can result in a spike in visitors.
However, you cannot simply alter a few words and then update the post’s publish date. Google is more aware of that. The following tactics are derived from my post on increasing traffic to evergreen content:
- Add new data and statistics or update existing ones.
- To demonstrate ideas, update old images or make new ones.
- Include fresh links to resources that have been updated.
- Resolve broken images and links.
- In the Search Console, add new keywords from the query report (more on that later).
- Make changes to your meta description and title.
Get backlinks
One of the most influential Google ranking factors is the quantity and quality of links to your website. The more links you have from credible sites with high Domain Authority, the more you increase your own Domain Authority. The higher your DA, the higher your rank and the higher your traffic—not to mention any traffic you get to your site from the link itself.
Although there are many effective link-building techniques, these are only a handful:
- Contact reputable websites and offer to create a guest post with a link to your website either in the author’s bio or the body of the post.
- Find broken links on other websites with an SEO tool, then offer yours as a substitute.
- Make unique, excellent content that is begging to be linked to.
How to use social media to increase website traffic
Referral traffic to your website is one of the many advantages of social media marketing. Here are some strategies for converting these enormous platforms into sources of website traffic.
Use social media to advertise your material
Creating excellent material and hoping that people find it is insufficient. Use the social media platforms that your audience uses most frequently to promote your content. While Google Business posts can help your site appear in local search results, Twitter is best for short, quick (and enticing) connections. Social media platforms like Pinterest and Instagram that feature a lot of images might be quite popular with B2C goods companies.
In addition to increasing website traffic, the more people view your material, the more probable it is that you will receive the backlinks we just discussed.
Include hashtags
Add pertinent hashtags to your posts when posting them on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other hashtag-friendly websites to increase their visibility. To be found by those who are most likely to read, share, and/or link to your content, keep the hashtags extremely relevant to the post’s subject. Everything you need for this is in our guide to Instagram hashtags.
Amplifiers for targets
Rand Fishkin’s outstanding work, Who Will Amplify This? He makes a great point of producing content for potential amplifiers as well as potential customers in his And Why? piece. These amplifiers consist of:
- Trade journals, news websites, large-brand blogs, and social media influencers are examples of industry periodicals.
- External sources of influence include social media influencers outside of your area and journalists in the mainstream media.
- Customers who use and suggest you are known as customer evangelists.
- Customers with large networks and fan bases, or well-read periodicals, could be potential evangelists.
Post original content on LinkedIn
You should regularly add material to LinkedIn since it’s the biggest professional social network in the world and a useful publishing platform in and of itself. By doing this, you can improve your website’s traffic, attract more people to your LinkedIn Company Page, and establish a better reputation in your sector. Additionally, you don’t need to start from scratch; you can recycle previously published content or produce a reflection piece on a current issue.
Speak with influential people in the field
Think big leaguers are the only ones that do interviews? If you simply ask, you’ll be surprised at how many individuals are willing to speak with you. Distribute emails asking influential people in your field to be interviewed, then post the interviews on your site. In addition to increasing website traffic and enhancing your trustworthiness, the interviewee will likely share the article, which will broaden its audience.
Include buttons for social sharing
This is a simple way to increase website visitors. With only a few clicks, readers may share the page they are currently reading with their social networks thanks to social share buttons.
Another choice is the click-to-tweet function, which allows users to publish a prewritten Tweet with only one click. Verify whether one of these plugins is compatible with your website and try it out.
Examine the competition
You’re at a disadvantage if you haven’t used tools like BuzzSumo to see what your rivals are doing. These services compile the social performance of particular websites and content to give you a quick overview of the subjects that readers are interested in and, more significantly, that are trending on social media. To increase website traffic, find out what people are reading (and discussing) and create content that reflects those interests.
Post when it’s appropriate
If you want to get specific, you can also look at your social media analytics to see when times of day and week your audience is most engaged, and then share links to your blog posts during those times. Examine the data to make further refinements after starting with the average best times overall.
What Time of Day Is Best for TikTok Posting?
What Time of Day Is Ideal for Instagram Posting?
How to use listings to increase website traffic
Although listing your website in a business directory is a promising way to increase website traffic, it is insufficient. It is crucial to improve your listings in order for local searchers to discover them and for them to rank on their respective platforms.
The greatest free business listing sites are included below, but your Google Business Profile is the most crucial one because it can help you rank higher on Google Maps and Google Search. As the second-largest directory, Facebook is also significant. Not to mention well-known websites like Yelp, Angie’s List, and others. To make your listings more effective:
- Complete all the available sections.
- Add the category of your business.
- Make sure that all of your listings contain the same information.
- Read and reply to reviews.
- Include pictures.
- Update your information frequently.
Your website can be at the top of search results if you have an optimized Google Business Profile.
Additional strategies to boost website visitors
Conduct webinars
People enjoy learning, and webinars are a great method to share your knowledge with your interested audience. Webinars are a fantastic method to boost website traffic when paired with a successful social media marketing campaign. A week or so in advance, send out an email, and the day before the webinar, send out a reminder that this is the final chance to register. Don’t forget to save the presentation for subsequent use, and use social media to advertise your webinars extensively. For some advice on how to do a webinar, follow the link.
Create a community online
Creating a community on your website is a terrific method to spark discussion and boost traffic since people want to voice their opinions and offer their opinions on topics they are passionate about. Use third-party tools like Facebook Comments or Disqus to put in place a strong commenting system, or set up a special forum where users may post queries. However, remember to oversee your community to make sure that the bare minimum of civility is maintained.
Engage in forums
Conversely, participate in social media groups and forums on Facebook, Reddit, and LinkedIn to offer your expertise. Include links only when it’s OK and permitted, and if you do, avoid posting links in every message. Additionally, confirm that the link leads to a particular blog post on a pertinent subject. Increasing website traffic is not the main objective here. The goal is to increase brand recognition and add value. Those who are interested will either visit your profile to find your website or do their search for it.
Attend meetings
At least one or two significant conventions and conferences are likely pertinent to your company, regardless of the field you work in. It’s a good idea to attend these events, but it’s much better to speak at them. Gaining substantial exposure for your website and establishing yourself as a thought leader in your field can be accomplished with even a passably good speaking engagement.
Send in your material to aggregator websites
Your blog probably includes an RSS feed, which enables aggregator websites to show the most recent posts on a specific subject. Individuals frequently receive emails containing these links and use these sites to follow their favorite news websites, blogs, and other websites. Although most aggregators will discover your feed on their own, you might choose to use some of the premium ones. To get you started, Hubspot has compiled a list of content aggregators here.
Start an email newsletter
A newsletter doesn’t need to be complex. At WordStream, we highlight a blog post from the week in our weekly newsletter, the Performance Tip. It’s ideal for readers who use their inbox as a reading list and works well for content about subjects that your audience may not be aware to look up. This piece about emotive copywriting, for instance, receives roughly 1,000 hits each month from organic searches. However, it was a huge success with our email list, producing over 4,000 sessions in a matter of days.
Just be cautious not to send too many emails or even too many links in one email to your subscribers. To determine the ideal content and frequency, test your emails and refer to these email marketing ideas.
Engage with email newsletters
Every subject under the sun has a newsletter, and many of them welcome submissions and proposals. Find out who in your niche is looking for excellent content by doing some research, then provide it. In addition to increasing your website’s traffic, getting recognized may attract more consistent readers who visit your site frequently or subscribe to your newsletter.
Engage with email newsletters
Every subject under the sun has a newsletter, and many of them welcome submissions and proposals. Find out who in your niche is looking for excellent content by doing some research, then provide it. In addition to increasing your website’s traffic, getting recognized may attract more consistent readers who visit your site frequently or subscribe to your newsletter.
Promote
Well, this one isn’t free, but your investment can quickly pay for itself if you play your cards well.
While SEO is all well and good, it takes several months of regular blogging to create links, get traffic, and gain Google’s favor. You might wish to think about running a paid advertising campaign in the meantime. Ads on search, display, and social media are all great ways to draw large numbers of highly targeted visitors to your website. Before you grab for your credit card, thoroughly consider your goals because every paid media outlet has advantages and disadvantages.
Google Ads is a great place to start; see our guide on how to use it. You must include high commercial intent keywords in your paid search strategy if you aspire to increase sales as a result of increased site visitors. Although there may be intense competition for some search terms, the rewards may outweigh the costs. In actuality, PPC is supposed to provide $2 for every $1 invested; Google even asserts that the figure is closer to $8.
Resources to increase website traffic
These are all—you guessed it—free, except the all-in-one SEO tools on our list!
Use Google Analytics to monitor SEO stats.
Google Analytics provides useful information on almost every aspect of your website, including visitor demographics and your most popular pages. Pay careful attention to your SEO metrics and utilize the data to guide your content and promotion strategies. Discover what subjects your site visitors are most interested in, their demographics, the channels they are using, and more. Then, capitalize on and expand on what is successful.
View your Google Search Console inquiries
Finding the search terms that are causing people to find and click on your website in search results is made much easier with Google Search Console. This can assist you in determining whether your pages are ranking for the keywords you want to target, as well as in identifying new keywords to target entirely or to add to an existing page. Additionally, you can troubleshoot indexing issues and view the organic click-through rate in GSC.
Use SEO tools to examine the SERP
You may perform keyword research, obtain backlink analyses, examine the SERP, find content gaps and ranking chances, audit your website, and more with all-in-one SEO tools like Semrush and Ahrefs. They can even be used to examine pages on websites run by your rivals.
Use website graders to examine your website
These tools are a bit easier to use than all-in-one SEO tools, but they will also audit your website to identify areas where you may increase traffic and ranking. The reports are simple to read and provide useful advice on how to raise your score. Some also consider other elements of your website, such as content readability and accessibility. View our ranking of the top website graders, which naturally includes ours.
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