5 no-nonsense ways to drive traffic to your website

A website, no matter how beautiful or cutting-edge in its design, is pointless without visitors. However, driving traffic to your new website is easier said than done. It can be a slow and mindboggling process if you’re starting from scratch, and some days you’ll want to pull your hair out! What is even more frustrating is that even if you are getting a healthy flow of traffic to your website, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are genuine leads that will convert someday. After all, high traffic with low conversions is just a vanity statistic.

What you want is a genuinely engaged audience and you can only attract this when you truly understand your target market. Once you’ve nailed that down, you can start creating content you know that particular target market wants to see and share it in places they hang out online. Great, but you still haven’t actually told me a practical way to drive traffic to my website? That’s you talking by the way, and you’re right – enough theory! Read on for 5 no-nonsense ways to drive traffic to your website…

1. Get Google on your side for more organic traffic

Organic traffic refers to any unpaid for traffic that your website receives via a search engine. Google is the most popular search engine by far (at least on this side of the world) and, therefore, it makes sense to design your website so that it capitalises on Google’s algorithms. By researching how your target market uses Google and finding out why Google prefers some websites over others, you can begin to tweak your own website to attract more organic traffic.

The discipline of teeing up your website so that it appears high in your target market’s search queries and, ultimately, drives more organic traffic to your website, is called SEO or Search Engine Optimisation. This is the bread and butter of an effective inbound lead generation strategy. There are many different components to SEO, and we’ve pulled together a good introduction to get you started in our blogpost How to boost your website’s Google ranking in 2018.

2. Social media still matters

Yes, the dreaded “S” word. Trying to gain some traction on social media can be a bit like pushing a really big boulder up a very steep hill. So, should you just give up? Never! Firstly, social media is a form of social proof which means that your customers are comforted by the fact that you are active on social media feeds because it proves to them that you are a real company with real people providing real products/services.

But more to the point, social media is a great way to communicate with your target market. Discover the social channels your particular target market is using and find relevant niche communities within those social networks. Then start sharing your targeted content, always linking back to your website. This is a much more rewarding tactic than simply joining every social media channel you can find and posting generic content. Remember, when it comes to generating traffic, quality is more important than quantity.

3. Pay-Per-Click for that extra push

Want to appear at the top of a Google search query right now, without the need for SEO? You can pay for that! This is the opposite of organic traffic because it is paid-for advertising. People tend not to scroll too far down the search engine result page (SERP) so being in the top three results, which is where the Pay-Per-Clicks ads go, is going to boost your traffic. But chances are you won’t want to be pouring your whole budget into this. That’s why it is only worthwhile when used wisely.

Keeping a low-cost brand awareness ad running is good practice to let your target market know you exist. Even if they don’t click through to the website, your name becomes familiar to them. However, the more specific your ad, the better the results. You don’t want just anyone clicking on your ad, because that costs you money (Pay-Per-Click, remember!). By designing a highly targeted ad, that only a specific niche of your target market would be interested in, you end up paying less for higher value clicks. Finally, advertising that doesn’t break the bank!

4. Build valuable customer relationships with a newsletter

When you have a website, it’s easy to fall into the trap of being a bit of a magpie – always on the lookout for the next shiny new customer. But often it is the loyal customers that offer long-term value. In fact, customers that keep coming back tend to be willing to pay more for your products because they trust you and it is convenient for them. So, how do you cultivate more returning customers?

Newsletters are a fantastic way to stay in contact with customers. The great thing about this customer retention strategy is that it is cheaper than trying to get new customers. By having a sign-up form on your website, you can grow your newsletter’s email list and keep your customers updated with news, promotions, new products/services, events and anything else you know your customers would like to hear about!

5. Be a guest, be a guest, be a guest!

Do you share a target market with anyone who is not your competitor? And does their website attract visitors? Finding the right website to write a guest blog for requires some outside-the-box thinking, but it can be a fantastic win/win situation for everyone involved when it is done right.

Take some time to research what your target market gets up to when they are not buying your products and then match up your findings with something your experience and skillset could contribute to. For example, perhaps you know your customers tend to be football supporters. You could write a guest blog for a sports website about the business of football management. Just make sure you include a link to your website!

No matter what traffic-growing strategy you decide on, there is always an element of trial and error involved. Don’t be afraid to test and test again. It is the only way you will find out what makes your particular target market tick and once you have figured that out…well, then you can really start having fun!

Do you need help optimising your website? At MadBit, we design lead generating websites that our customers love. Get in contact today and we’ll show you how much more your website can do for you.