Have you been trying various methods to get website traffic, and are not seeing the results you hope for or expected?
You are in luck! We are detailing 21 highly efficient methods of increasing website traffic, and the tangible steps you will need to implement them (along with any specific hints and tips). This article is the first part of a series, so if you feel we have missed any big ones out, email and let us know. In this introductory part, we are looking at eleven highly effective ways to drive traffic to your website. We will have the other ten (and maybe a few more) on the second part soon.
Establishing your audience and knowing how to speak to their problems, needs, wants, and desires is a crucial element to starting a robust content marketing strategy and getting website traffic. However, by itself, you are not going to get any visitors to your website.
Gaining clarity is just the first part of our formula to a successful business:
Clarity + Focus = ExecutionWhen you gain clarity as to who you are talking to and what problems, needs, and desires are relevant to them, it is easier to find them and build a strategy to reach them (focus). However, the execution phase is where you do the actual work to reach and connect with them. In this article, we will analyze eleven ways to increase web traffic to your website. Most of these are free, but there are a few (like PPC advertising) that do cost money.
Let's begin at the top our list!
1- Cultivate A Loyal Audience By Developing A Weekly NewsletterIf you are hoping that the website traffic your website already gets will continue to come back for every article you publish on their own, you might be disappointed with the results. Unless visitors have a particular reason to do so, many who leave a webpage rarely come back. So what's the solution to getting them into your community? Creating a weekly newsletter that gets sent out once a week, with an exclusive article that can't be read anywhere else except for the exclusive list is a way to get new audience members back to your site for months/years to come.
For example: At UnveilTheWeb, we do this with "The Sunday Morning Examiner." It is a weekly newsletter dedicated to cultivating a relationship with our audience members. To see an example of the content we write, and how it works, look at this sample. Our goal is to provide the most relevant content for our audience and to help them be the best possible marketers. It is a way for them to experience us as a brand, know our style, and decide if what we have to say benefits them without them needing to spend a single cent.
Here are some tips to make the most out of your newsletter:OptimizePress is also used extensively in other places of our website such as the newsletter signup page. It is a full-fledged membership and landing page suite. It is our preferred alternative to other landing page solutions. For popups, we love It in combination with Boxzilla– which allows for advanced pop-ups and banners. The popup you will see on our website is powered by Boxzilla, while the form content itself is OptimizePress.
How this method helps increase website traffic:By developing a stronger relationship with your audience through exclusive and consistent content, you are encouraging them to stay engaged with you and your blog. Because the readers know you and your content, they are more likely to read each new article on your blog and share it with their friends than non-subscribers and fans. Retaining website traffic can almost be as powerful as gaining it.
Blog commenting has been around for years. It is one of the oldest ways of connecting with influencers and those who serve the same audience you do but in a different way. Leaving small, somewhat relevant comments that add little value does not do much for you or the influencer you are targeting.
So what can we do about this?
Target new articles and be the first commenter. Leave highly relevant, valuable comments that enhance the original article.
Here are the steps we use at UnveilTheWeb for this method:First– before anything, make sure your comments would add VALUE (that is solving one problem, for one person, with one problem at a time). If the influencer writes about dentistry and you are a plumber, there's little overlap and room for adding value to a blog post. Comment on articles and websites that are relevant to you and your specialty. If you are a content marketer, it is a good idea to target websites like ProBlogger, Backlinko, and DigitalMarketer.
Second– Scan for fresh content daily. If you prefer doing it manually, bookmark your influencers and visit their blogs every morning. Services like BuzzSumo will allow you to find new content automatically and can help you stay on top of commenting opportunity.
Third– Read through the content and find points of relevance where you can add insight. Write them down or keep them in the back of your mind. If you are an SEO agency, reading a blog article about creating compelling blog posts might have segments where you can add insight on how to deliver organic website traffic to a company.
Fourth– Leave a comment expanding on the points of relevance you have identified. Leave as many actionable tips as possible in the comment. Think of it less as a comment and more of a mini-article that enhances the knowledge and insight already presented article. Include a relevant link back to your website so that those who want to know more about your specialty can find you.
Fifth- Comment back on any responses, going deeper if needed. This process is about developing relationships that leads to traffic and conversions for your business. It has little to nothing to do with off-site SEO. The goal is to build a relationship with both your audience and influencers. Doing so will naturally increase the traffic to your website.
This scenario seems like it would be obvious, yet sometimes it just doesn't come to mind. The "Hot Off The Press" method is a tactic we use extensively at UnveilTheWeb. See an example here: http://www.problogger.net/8-reasons-youre-losing-money-blog/. Nothing we did was pushy, sales, or non-relevant. Don wrote a comment that added value. That comment has brought us traffic interested in learning more about our message. Some of them even became subscribers and customers.
Valuable, relevant comments are welcome additions to any blog. You are creating utility and positive emotions, two dominant share triggers that encourage those unfamiliar with your brand to investigate your content further. It is a non-obtrusive way to tap into your influencer's audience.
3- Develop A Steady Stream Of Website Traffic Using Paid-Per-Click Advertising With Google AdwordsAdwords is an older PPC platform that is tried and true. Though being one of the only paid methods on this list, PPC advertising is still effective and delivers consistent website traffic. A word of caution: PPC works best for those with larger budgets. It is dependent on keyword research, a highly relevant message, and solving a pain for a problem, need, want, or desire that a potential customer has.
To begin, create an account at Google Adwords.
Here are tips and methods to make your campaigns more successful:Creating highly relevant ads gets you in front of your target audience fast. It is one of the quickest ways to get traffic to your website, but it does come at a cost. For higher end service providers and product creators, it carries the benefit of delivering qualified leads.
4- Reach Your Audience And Build A Raving Online Community With Facebook AdsIn the world of PPC, Google is not the only player. There are times when a particular audience does not search on Google or isn't on that platform looking for solutions. Situations like these are where Social Media fills the void. Facebook offers access to engaged communities who are passionate about specific topics. While creating a page could reach them, making an ad is a definite way to connect with them. After creating an ad manager account, you will have access to an extensive suite of data, tools, and ad creation resources. At first, it feels like becoming a data-powered superhero, capable of reaching entire audiences with a single click.
A few ways to make the most of Facebook Ads:Analyze how the community is responding to your ad. If you notice similar ads in your feed, analyze them as well. How are they performing? Are the comments both recent and relevant? Do they have a better image and tighter text? Sometimes the best way to improve our ads is by studying the audience and how they respond to various types of ads. A/B testing is powerful here. If a format is not working, add a short video or moving image (gif). Make tweaks if the performance is poor.
How this method helps increase website traffic:Developing an audience and getting them on your mailing list is a way to have a consistent, relevant source of traffic to your website. Facebook's community is thriving. Tapping into their database is a reliable alternative to Google Adwords for those audiences that don't search for specific solutions on Google.
5- Connect With Passionate Audiences On Forums To Build Relationships That Will Enhance Your BrandForums are notoriously strict places. They are passionate about their topics and consist of a lively, target audience filled population. Developing relationships with forum members through value-based posts can lead to relationships that will push your business in the right direction. NOTE: It is important to come at this strategy from a mindset of adding value. Look to give more than you receive.
Tangible steps to success on forums:Building authentic relationships is a powerful key to any business. By connecting with passionate members of your audience you are investing in the relational health of your brand. Beyond just getting immediate traffic, providing value where your audience is at allows you to build into their lives and impact them, opening relational doors for years to come.
6- Strategically Being Promoted By Influencers Using Guest PostingChances are you know of guest posting and the benefits it can bring to your business. It brings two benefits to the table if done right: high authority (in SEO terms) from an influencer, and access to their audience. It is one of the fastest ways to be seen and positioned as an expert in your industry. Because you are (quite literally) placed on a pedestal in front on an influencer's audience, it is likely that you will see a massive surge of free website traffic after your guest post goes live.
So how do you make the most out of guest posting? Here are a few actionable tips:Guest posting is nothing new, but it is highly effective. That is why it lasted for decades. Creating relevant content for influencers can, in turn, lead to a significant increase of visitors to your website.
7- Bring New Perspectives To Your Existing (And New) Audience Members By Sitting Down With An InfluencerAdmit it- you do not know everything. As a business owner and marketer, that can be hard to recognize. Dedicated marketers like myself want to be the best at every aspect of digital marketing. We want to be the go-to source for SEO, content marketing, email marketing, and conversion funnels… all at once. However, often that is not the case. When we acknowledge we cannot be the absolute expert on everything, sitting down with an influencer who has an outside perspective on a sub-category of your industry (digital marketing or not) can be a powerful tool to both reinvigorate your existing audience and give you access to theirs. The hardcore fans of the influencer you are going to interview will follow them where ever they go. Look at this example of Brain Dean (from Backlinko) doing an interview at SmartPassiveIncome.com.
If you want to interview influencers on your site, here are tips to make it more effective:It is hard to overstate the importance of influencers. These are the people who can move you in the right direction. Connecting with influencers in an authentic way and doing interviews with them signals to their audience that you are someone they can trust. By doing an interview, audiences will recognize you as an authority in your space.
8- Be Recognized As An Influencer By Contributing To Roundups.One of the greatest link building (and audience building) strategies is hanging above our heads but most of us do not even realize it. Hundreds of blogs in every niche and industry do roundups every month on nearly every topic. If you have written an exceptionally written article or infographic, some influencers are specifically looking to share their authority and website traffic with you.
Here are a few steps you can take to reach the fruit dangling above you:NOTE: This does not work flawlessly everytime. Some users do not bother to respond back, others get busy and respond late. If that happens, don't worry about it and keep pushing forward. This strategy is a numbers game at the end of the day.
How this method helps increase website traffic:First, this method is a reputable source of backlinks. It is possible to submit to several roundups, get accepted, and reap the SEO value from it. The audience sharing that comes from it can boost your traffic significantly.
9- Get Positioned As An Expert On Aggregator WebsitesContent aggregation is a powerful method of sharing your content with others. Even more so, unlike spammy websites which exist only to "farm" backlinks and game Google's systems, aggregators are fully white-hat and safe to use. Websites like Alltop.com exist to help their users find the best, more relevant information on a topic or theme. Because they categorize websites based on specific industries and niches, you are guaranteed to get targeted traffic from them. Even better, most aggregators include the title and description of your latest five articles. These descriptions give the audience a perspective on who you are, what you talk about, and how you meet a need, want, problem, or desire. It is not just a simple source of website traffic- it is highly relevant and niched.
Here are a list of specific aggregators to consider submitting your website to:Most aggregators want to know you are a legitimate blog. Often, you will have to fill out an application to be accepted. Don't worry too much about this- it is to protect their audience and make sure you are a good fit for them, and vice versa. Being open and detailed about who you are and what you do can land some nice referral traffic (and a few backlinks- bonus!).
How this method helps increase website traffic:Aggregators thrive off connecting with bloggers and industry websites. By providing high quality, relevant content, you can align yourself with aggregators who know how to get you in front of your target audience. Plus those powerful backlinks are extra SEO juice that makes a handy bonus.
10- Position Yourself As A Thought Leader Using WebinarsSince 2010, webinars have become one of the most attractive avenues of audience development. Figures like Kimra Luna, Derek Halpern, and others have become famous in the marketing space due to their aggressive use of Webinars. For some, it is the exclusive way they market, and for a good reason. It merges the power and authority of seminars with the flexibility and connectivity of the internet. Thanks to technology, the power of standing in front of five hundred people can happen from your in-house office instead of a $2,000 hotel ballroom that might get $2,100 in sales. At UnveilTheWeb, webinars are a staple of how we connect with our audience.
Here are some tangible steps you can take to benefit from the power of webinars:The power behind webinars is that they do not have to be a single, one-time event. Most webinar platforms allow you to create "evergreen" webinars that are always live and on demand. To see an example, check out "The 5 Step Formula to Attract Your Audience, Increase Sales and Position Your Business for Success!" Visitors can sign up and watch that webinar whenever they want. There's no need to wait. Moreover, if they have questions about the content they are welcome to email us.
How this method helps increase website traffic:Webinars allow brands to increase reach, marketing messages to permeate minds, and audiences to develop into loyal fans. They are one of the most powerful ways to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry. Combined with the other methods listed in this article, they can be an unstoppable force of growth.
11- Attract Visitors To Your Website Using A Free EbookDo you have a topic that's highly popular on Amazon? The ebook economy is stronger than ever, and with the indie author movement picking up steam, there's a large opportunity for us marketers and business owners. You may have seen niche books advertised on blogs, podcasts, and niche sites across the internet. The beauty of it is that when free or low-cost ebooks are positioned correctly, they can drive traffic and audience members to your website consistently with little upkeep. As a result, more website traffic could lead to more potential customers. We used this method with a book on branding called "The Shift: The Fast Paced Transition from Mass Marketing to Context Marketing."
When launched, it was a free book. That launch drove hundreds of visitors to our website and provided an influx of new audience members who were just learning about us. That book (and the traffic we gained) was what we needed. You might notice now that the price is $2.99. Unfortunately, Kindle does not allow books to be perma-free unless you jump through some serious hurdles.
However, every few months you can use a promotion to make the book free, catching the attention of the massive audience on Amazon looking for great Kindle books relevant to them.
How can you do the same? Here are some steps that will guide you:Recommended for You
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There is a two-day waiting period before a book goes free. Plan for that ahead of time. You can set the book to go live and "Launch" it later "Officially." This launch plan is a common business practice, especially in restaurants and retail.
Your book launch will succeed based on the demand that is there for the topic, the outreach you have done, and the passion the audience has for the topic at hand. Therefore, if a book is properly positioned, there's no reason a quality ebook cannot bring in hundreds (maybe even thousands) of new visitors to a website a month. Think of all the newsletter sign ups, and ultimately new customers you will get. Keep at it!
NOTE: As mentioned above there is a way to make a book perma-free, but it is challenging and questionably worth it. Amazon does not always play along. To do it, go to other book platforms such as Kobo, Nook, and Apple Books and load your book for free on their platforms. Have your customers notify Amazon that the book is available for free on other websites, and after enough haggling, they should make the book perma-free on Kindle. This strategy does not always work- Amazon is in the business of making money off of book sales and does not want to make their products free.
How this method helps increase website traffic:Tapping into Amazon's massive fanbase is an approach for the serious business owner. I am not going to sugar coat it- this is going to take work. However, the benefits if done right can be massive. It has the potential to be the single most powerful way to get website traffic.
Conclusion: Getting More Website Traffic Takes WorkThere are so many more methods that we wanted to include in this list, but at 11 strategies we are already at 6,000 words. That is why we are splitting the list into two separate articles. There's a decent chance Part II might be even longer. We want to provide the most comprehensive, in-depth resource we possibly can. If you see any strategies we left out that you want to see included, let us know in the comments below.
Here's a sample of what you can look forward to:…and so much more.
Are you ready to learn what your customers 'really' want and what business you're 'really' in?Don Purdum is an Entrepreneur, Branding Expert, Digital Strategy Consultant and Coach, Author, Speaker and Award Winning Blogger.… View full profile ›
Source: 21 Insanely Effective Ways To Increase Website Traffic! [Part I]
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