Every business is vying to land better search result rankings and to be the site that potential customers choose when they’re looking for a specific product or service; bloggers want their blog to have the first say in topics regarding their niche.
In this article I will offer you 8 ways to increase website traffic. So whether you’re running a retail business and are looking to attract more customers and make more money, or you’re running a blog and want to attract more readers (and eventually make money in the future), tap into this arsenal of tips and strategies, and you’re guaranteed to be on your way to achieving your goal.
1- Setup a blog
Even if you’re running a business website, setting up a blog is a must. It gives people reason to revisit your site even when they don’t want to purchase your goods or services. Post frequently, as much as six times a week (or even more). Search engines favor blogs that always have fresh content and are more likely to give you better rankings if you’re an active producer.
Participate actively in the comments section of your posts and respond to comments made by visitors.
2- Join blogging communities
ProBlogger and CopyBlogger are perfect examples of good blogging communities, treasure troves where you can meet and network with other bloggers that are like-minded.
Find other blogs in your niche and submit guest posts to them in order to spread the word about yourself and your blog. Invite others to write guest posts on your blog and encourage them to promote their pieces on their social networking community. This will help increase traffic to your site.
3- Use social media
A great way to increase traffic is to use social media services. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are the best spots to join and contribute to the community that concerns your niche or industry. Reddit also works. Be sure to include links to your website in all your profile descriptions and “about” pages. Setup your blog to automatically send your posts to your social media accounts upon publication.
If you’re using Facebook, setup a page that features your blog posts. Boost your posts if you can spare a few bucks, and you’ll get instant traffic on your site. Join groups that are relevant to your area of expertise and constantly leave comments and tips.
If you’re using Twitter, frequently mention influencers in your tweets when you promote your posts.
4- Do some keyword researching
One of the principal keys to getting better search engine rankings (and thus getting better traffic on your website) is using the right keywords in your website’s contents.
Make sure that your website has all the keywords relevant to your industry. But also have in mind that single keywords no longer work as well as they used to. We are currently in the long-tail keyword era. Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific keyword phrases that visitors are more likely to use when they’re closer to a point-of-purchase.
For instance, when determining target keywords for your post, instead of targeting the keyword “chair” opt for “19th century-style Italian chair,” if that is what you’re selling. And don’t forget to include the intended keyword in your headline, first paragraph and meta-description tag.
Google Autocomplete Keyword Tool is an excellent place to start looking for long-tail keywords.
5- Write better posts
Working on the content of your posts can be even more rewarding than the application of keywords. Write in a concise and convincing manner. Avoid grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes at all costs.
Pay special attention to the headline of your post, and the first few lines, for that is the part that every user will see, especially when the post is being shared on social media. That is how much time and words you have to convince users to click on your posts.
6- Optimize your posts
Try to write headlines that do not exceed 70 characters. Long titles will be abridged when they appear in search results. Use meta-description tags to write an abstract about your post. The meta-information appears beneath the title in search results.
Make sure that your post’s URL contains relevant keywords, to further improve your search standing. Most content management and blogging engines such as WordPress contain features that allow you to tweak your friendly URLs.
When writing a post include back-links to other relevant posts in your blog, encouraging visitors to make more clicks on your website, spend more time, and obtain more information.
7- Target mobile and tablet devices
The use of mobile devices is becoming more prominent as we proceed, and users are becoming more inclined to surf the web with their mobile and tablet devices. Therefore, you have to design your site and content with the mobile user in mind.
Target for even less-than 70-character headlines if you can, because mobile screens have less real estate to show text. Also make sure that your website is responsive, which means that its layout and text size changes and adapts when it’s opened on smartphones and tablet. Mobile users will not stay on a page when the content is too tiny and unreadable.
8- Use analytic tools to improve website performance
Avoid long load times at all costs. Users become discouraged when they surf to a page that takes too long to appear, and they discontinue visiting your site, giving you negative bounce-back impressions. This is an issue that is even more critical on mobile devices, where users usually pay for traffic. Make sure that your website is optimized for fast loading times.
There are several analytic tools that can help you improve your site’s performance. Google Analytics is one of them.
So how do you increase traffic on your website? Leave me a note below.