10 Tried-and-True Tactics for Increasing Website Traffic, Both Organically and Through Paid Advertising
1. Conduct keyword research and focus on long-tail keywords
Keyword research is a fundamental part of any SEO campaign. It's the first process that you need to do in order to find out which keywords are best for your website and which ones will help you achieve your business objectives. When it comes to keyword research, most people focus on head terms – those with high search volume but low competition.
However, this approach may not be the best fit for every website or business objective. When doing keyword research, it's a good idea to separate your long-tail keywords from your short-tail ones. Long-tail keywords are those that have three or more words in them. For example, "dog training" is a short-tail keyword because it only has two words. But if you add another word like "tips" or "reviews," then the keyword becomes longer and is now considered long-tail. These types of keywords have a much lower search volume than short tail ones, but they also have a much higher conversion rate.
2. Create Memorable Content and Irresistible Headlines
Would you believe that there are people who have published over 100,000 articles online? Most of them are specialists in their own field. Their writing has been read by millions of people around the world. They've created a content marketing machine that is so effective, they can even quit their day jobs and write full-time.
When you read a headline, what do you notice first? Do you see the words or do you look at the image? Headlines and images work together to convey a message, and sometimes they're more effective when they work separately. When we look at an image we don't always think of it as a piece of content that needs to be consumed, but rather something that can make us feel more informed about the subject. The feeling is important because it makes us want to read on. We're not looking for information; we're looking for emotion!
3. Guest Post and Host Webinars
A guest post is an awesome way to get your name, brand and business out to the world. It's basically writing for someone else's blog or website, which gives you their audience as well. But how do you make it awesome? Here are some tips:
- Always offer to contribute at least one piece of content (a blog post or a podcast episode) before asking for a place on their site. This shows them you're serious about building relationships with other bloggers. Put it in an email that also outlines why they should let you write on their platform.
A webinar is a short seminar or lecture delivered over the internet. Webinars are very popular with marketers because they are an affordable way to get your message out online, and they provide excellent lead generation opportunities. They also provide great opportunities for social media campaigns surrounding the event, which can translate into increased engagement on your social pages.
4. Participate in discussions on social media pages
Social media pages are a great place to participate in discussions on your industry, business or topic of interest. This is an excellent way to create a reputation as an expert and get your name out there. It's also a great way to learn from others and share new ideas for blog posts.
I definitely recommend you try it out. You can even choose two or three social media pages, so that you're not wasting time participating on every page possible. Most companies have a presence on multiple pages, so don't neglect those opportunities either.
5. Make use of advertising to boost traffic to your website
Today's businesses understand the importance of advertising and how it can help grow traffic. With all the choices out there, you need to know what is best for your business. There are four types of paid ads that you should be aware of: Bing Paid Search Ads, Facebook Ads, Google Adwords and Instagram Ads. Each one has its own benefits and limitations; it's important to know which ones will work best for your business.
There are many ways for you to promote your website. Some of the most successful methods include social media advertising, search engine optimization, email marketing and even content creation. Social media is a great way to get traffic to your website because it's so popular among consumers today. In fact, about two-thirds of people in North America use social media on a regular basis. The opportunities available through social networks like Facebook and Twitter are endless when it comes to getting attention for your product or service.
6. Don't Forget About Email Marketing & Newsletters
Email is one of the most effective ways to reach your audience, and at the same time works as a great way to build up an email list. You can use email marketing for sending newsletters, discount vouchers, special offers, industry news and so on. As this type of marketing is closely connected with your business activities it is very important that you don't forget about it.
Most people don't think about email marketing as a traffic generation strategy, but it should be. Email marketing is extremely powerful because the barrier to entry for becoming an email subscriber is so low. If you know how to write well and send high-quality content via email, your subscribers will often share that content with their friends, followers, and colleagues. The result? More traffic for you!
7. Make Contact With Influencers
In this day and age, it's nearly impossible to get your message out there without using social media. It has become a go-to marketing strategy for the biggest companies in the world, as well as a valuable tool to help smaller businesses grow. If you're going to use social media, you need to make sure that your brand is reaching out to influencers who can help grow your audience and increase engagement with potential customers. An influencer is someone who has a strong online presence and can influence others. The best way for brands to find these people is through social media.
8. Develop a useful industry tool or content, and include video in your content strategy
People love free tools and content. It's an easy way to gain exposure and build your brand (both of which directly impact SEO). This is an excellent topic because it allows you to talk about just how useful your own content creation tool or industry guide is. If the tool or guide is genuinely useful and solves a huge problem for your audience, then they'll be more than happy to share it with their friends and colleagues.
Video is one of the strongest ways to increase blog traffic because it has both social and search potential. A video uploaded to YouTube can be set to autoplay when someone visits your site. That's like getting an ad placed on TV for free! Videos also do well in organic search results, which means you will get more people who are actively looking for your content. To make sure that happens, create videos optimized with keywords and tags so they show up in Google searches.
9. Distribute Press Releases to Powerful Publications
Press releases are one of the most effective ways to grow your blog traffic. Press release sites like PRWeb and PR Newswire offer targeted distribution, which means you can send your press release directly to media contacts who cover a specific topic or industry. This is an excellent way to get more blog traffic from niche publications – without needing to spend money on advertising. You'll also be able to see how many people have viewed each press release – a metric that is tracked by these sites. You can then use this information as leverage when pitching future stories about your business.
10. Exchange backlinks
Exchanging backlinks in social media is a great way to build up your site traffic. If you have an authority website, you can exchange links with other similar sites to increase your backlink profile. The more authoritative sites that link back to your page means the higher it will rank in search results when someone searches for information on your subject matter. The best way to do this is download the BuzzSumo Chrome extension and then visit the most popular pages on Google pertaining to your niche. See who has linked back to those pages and reach out via email or Twitter DM.
Continue to push forward by experimenting with different ways and assessing the results. One of the most important things is staying consistent, not just with post frequency but also with your voice and tone. It's extremely key that you remember who you are talking to and what your brand stands for. Are you a brand new business? Do you have an established business? Are you trying to create a new image or improve upon an existing one? These are all questions which are important to assess before starting any sort of marketing campaign.
