The purpose of having a website is to get people to visit it. The more ways people have of finding your site, the more people will visit your site. And the more people who visit your site, the more business it will lead to. It’s a simple marketing equation.
There are all sorts of services out there where you can supposedly buy your way up the SEO ladder, and obviously there are plenty of pay-per-click advertising options like Google AdWords. There are other online marketing solutions such as ads/sponsored posts on social media, as well. Yes, these can be effective, and the more you do the better your search results will probably be. However, they can also be expensive. Before paying too much on online advertising, you have to set your budget and stick with it.
Then, monitor the results regularly. Is your site getting more traffic? Are those click-throughs turning into actual leads? Is your business improving? In other words, if spending $100 a month on online advertising is resulting in $200 more in business, then it’s well worth the investment. If it’s not measurably getting you back more than you paid, then it’s time to rethink your online marketing strategy.
Whether you are using paid online marketing techniques or not, there are still many other ways to boost your site traffic through organic means. In a basic sense, “organic” means through free resources. Free is a relative term because you are likely already paying someone to host your website. You may have an employee or outside company managing content on your site, writing blogs or posting on social media. Or, you can choose to do these tasks yourself.
No matter who is handling these tasks, the strategies below are affordable and effective ways to maximize your organic site traffic.
- Utilize Tags
You don’t want tags on your shirt, but you do want them on any web page or blog post that you create. Meta tags, page titles, meta descriptions, keywords—these are all vital back-end elements that can greatly impact search results. Be specific, unique and detailed for each page/post, think about what your consumers might be searching for, and take the time to think through what tags you are including.
- Think About Your Customers
To piggy-back on the last point, it’s important to think about your customers (or rather, try and think like your customers) when writing any content for your website/blog and preparing any tags/keywords. If you try too hard to load up your site with keywords you think search engines will value, you’ll end up with repetitive and non-reader-friendly content. Provide information your customers will want to have. Talk to them and not at them.
- Write Blogs
Writing regular blog posts is a very effective way to improve site traffic. It takes time to write quality content, but it’s worth it in the end. Blogging gives you an opportunity to write about an endless amount of different subjects relating to your business and your customers. The more specific you get, the better your search results will be.
For instance, say you are a transmission shop. Write a different blog for each specific service you provide—let’s say repairing and replacing differentials. Describe to the average consumer (write in layman’s terms, but don’t dumb it down too much) what a differential does. This is an example of an informative style blog post. Provide information about differentials, how they work and then subtly work in your own services and expertise in repairing differentials. If you had a customer recently get a differential repaired, tell their story and use quotes from them if they provided a review afterward. Do this for every type of service you offer and you’ll be amazed at how these specific blog posts will draw in people searching for specific things relating to your business.
- Create Inbound and Internal Links
Links are a fantastic way to increase click-throughs and ultimately boost site traffic. Your blog posts and web pages should include links to other posts and pages within your site. Don’t overdo it (typically, the recommendation is one link every 100 words) or it will turn off the reader. Likewise, work to get more inbound links to your site. Create a partner page on your site that includes links to other businesses and vendors in your area. Ask them to do the same, so that a link to your site shows up on theirs. This is beneficial for everyone involved!
- Ask for Customer Reviews
Another way to generate fresh content for your site with minimal effort is to ask each customer to provide feedback. Have them fill out a survey or send an email. Always leave space for them to write something open-ended. Take these positive quotes and put them on a testimonials page. This puts the power of review sites like Yelp! right on your own site.
- Increase Social Media Activity
Last but certainly not least, social media are amazing resources to organically increase your site traffic. Share a link to every blog post you write on every social media page you have (most blog portals will have a setting to do this automatically). This again will create more inbound links to your site and the click-through rate will be higher because these people are already fans of your business. Be active and look for ways to get more likes and followers on your pages. In other words, use social media as much as you can and you will definitely see better site traffic and search engine results.
We hope you find this article helpful. At NextGear Marketing, we’re all about using dynamic web content and blogging to boost site traffic for our customers. To learn more about our services or to schedule a no-obligation marketing consultation, contact us today.
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