Your online business success really comes down to your website traffic. So, it’s important to always look at ways to drive more traffic to your website. If you want to sell more products, more services, make more money, get more subscribers, get more social fans – you NEED more traffic.
It may sound more overwhelming than it actually is – but remember – traffic is everywhere. That’s why today we are sharing with you a few simple strategies that will help you increase traffic and see results.
1. Pinterest – So many people mistake Pinterest for a “social media” site but Pinterest is actually a search engine! (yes, like Google). If you want to be found by the millions of users, you need to be sharing your content there. Every time you post a new blog post, new product, or new service – you should pin that to Pinterest (using eye-catching pins & images). So many companies ignore this platform thinking it is just a place for things like “wedding planning” but that couldn’t be further from the truth. When people go to Google and search something like “How to unclog the kitchen sink” or “How to prepare for my taxes” – Googles results will usually pull up all Pinterest results first. If your pins are there, your article/blog post/company information will show up and the visitor will click on it! Even better, if they “save” your pin – their followers will ALSO find it in their feed and read/save your pin! So yes- Pinterest can drive HUGE amounts of traffic to your site if used correctly!
2. Make a “Pinnable Image” on every single blog post. A pinnable image is an image that you add to your blog posts that has the title of your blog post on it. This is what you will use to share your blog posts on Pinterest. This is ALSO what other people will use to save your blog posts to Pinterest. Pinterest loves images that are 735 x 1102 pixels. You can easily create stunning Pinterest images (for free) on websites like Canva.com. Make sure to save your image description (when uploaded to your site) with KEYWORDS – as this is how it will be found on Pinterest. Your Alt description + description should be detailed! Also, add a call to action to this description telling the pinner to save the pin, visit your website, click for details etc!
3. Use SEO always! Make sure to use SEO in every blog post, every social media post, every image (yes, the descriptions matter). Use the keywords you want your website or article to be found from and put them in your titles, in your content, name your images with the keywords and make sure you share those same titles on SEO. This can be a huge boost in search engine traffic. If you have a WordPress website, you can use plugins like the Yoast SEO to help you optimize each post.
4. Social Media Bio’s – Do you have your website URL in every single social media bio you have. You’ll be amazed at how much traffic this drives to your website. You DO need to be active on social, however. But, as you know by now (if you follow our blog) a social media presence is crucial! Stay engaged, post value, make connections and build trust! The website clicks will follow!
5. Revive Old Posts with a plugin! Most of the time, you post a new awesome blog entry and within a week or two – you have already moved on to other topics or new content… the older posts get forgotten about and are no longer “promoted” by your business. Therefore, it is possible that no one ever sees it again. Having a plugin like Revive Old Post can help! It’s a BRILLIANT WordPress plug-in that automatically cycles through your blog posts and shares them on your social networks! You can choose to exclude posts that are no longer relevant (maybe an old sale announcement) and continue promoting older content that is still of value to your audience!
6. Email Marketing – Emailing your subscribers can drive loads of high-quality traffic to your website. You can write your blog posts in the email with a link back to the entire article or you can send a roundup of articles you’ve written to encourage and entice readers to visit your website. An email subscriber list is another crucial element of any business, so if you do not know how to build your email subscriber list – check this out.
7. Facebook Groups – Facebook groups are a GREAT way to share your business and products! But you need to use it right! Please don’t spam all your Facebook groups with links to your website!!
If you’re engaging and networking with Facebook groups and you see an opportunity to share an article you’ve written that can help or provide value to someone – share! Make sure you’re allowed to share in that group, many groups have rules in place to keep the groups clean and relevant so double check before you drop your link.
If you want to learn more tips about networking and finding clients/customers in Facebook groups – check out our previous post here!
8. Facebook Advertising – Facebook ads are a very popular and effective technique for driving traffic to your website. If you don’t have a huge budget, don’t worry! Even a few dollars a day can make a huge difference. And if you’re getting people to subscribe to your email list, you can use your email marketing to drive these same visitors back to your site. Don’t forget to link up your Instagram account and share the ad on both networks!
9. Link to Related Content on Your Website – When you write your posts, be sure to link to other articles you’ve written that are relevant. This gives more value to your readers, helps with SEO, and increases the time people are on your site longer, conversion rates, and referral traffic.
10. Social Share Buttons – Your website should really include ways for your visitors to share your pages and content with others! Social share buttons prompt your readers to share your articles with their social networks, email and more. Readers can easily share with a click of a button which puts your product and brand in front of potentially hundreds of thousands of other people! This will also make it easier for visitors to PIN your images! If you need help with social share buttons, you can search for WordPress plugins like “Shareaholic” or you can give us a call.
Traffic means more readers, more people seeing your business, more people looking at your products, more people subscribing to your email list, and more sales!
Do you have a favorite way to drive traffic to your website that we didn’t mention? Let us know in the comments!