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Building a website is no big deal these days. Every now and then, you will find one springing up right around the internet corner. However, making a success of the website is.
A website survives, much less thrives, if it’s able to draw quality traffic to your site. Now, the question is, how do you attract quality traffic to your website?
Here I walk you through 11 tips and tricks that could help you drive quality traffic to your small business website:
#1. Get other Websites to Link to your Site
I know it’s not as simple as it sounds. Getting other websites to link to your site is not that easy. But then, working on these two strategies is sure to give your website a considerable leg up over your competitors: one, come up with valuable content that inspires other sites to link to your site without much ado; two, distribute products and services to other platforms. This is will make them talk about you, link to you and even send you traffic.
Nope, don’t ask for links directly.
#2. Leverage Social Media Posts
If you already have large social media following, go, get a good night sleep. Because you could easily attract enough and more eyeballs to your site. Not to mention, it’s inordinately cheap as well.
On the other hand, if you are still planning to expand your social media reach, better buckle up before things go out of hand. Target Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat right away. Why? It’s because you could have the benefit of the instant audience if you want to launch something on an immediate basis. Consult top social media marketing companies for more details on how to take advantage of social media to drive traffic to your website.
#3. Publish Research Articles
Sure, as a small business owner you’d be really investing a lot of time, money and efforts in building an array of content to draw customers to your site. Webinars, whitepapers, blogs and all would be on your must-do list. However, the fact is, of all the content you are planning to create, nothing could beat the effectiveness of original research articles. Why? It’s because it drives quality traffic to your website. Backed by original data, you may have collected on your own; the content could easily be used as reference material by other websites.
#4. Setup Multiple Domains
Yes, you could even try registering for multiple domain names and then redirect the traffic to your main website. Let’s say you are running a wedding site called desinationweddings.com. And this is your main website. Now you could register secondary websites such as dreamweddings.com and bridgeandgroom.com too and redirect the traffic of these sites using 301 redirects to your main website, destinationweddings.com. Domain name redirections boost website traffic and increase brand awareness.
#5. Guest Post on Tier 2 sites
Scandalized? No, don’t’ be. Of course, guest posting on tier 1 site drives traffic. However, the fact is, getting posts published on top-tier sites such as Mashable, Techcrunch, Moz and more is not a piece of cake. So, what you can do is, start reaching out to smaller websites for guest post opportunities. They are the stepping stones to bigger sites.
However, here’s the thing: You need to write authoritative guest posts to draw quality traffic to your website. No run-of-the mill, regurgitated stuff that’s available on 10 other sites.
Check out 4 Guest Posting Steps to Grow Your Business Quickly to gain a better perspective on how to build your small business using guest blogging.
#6. Leverage Influencers
As guest posting on top-tier sites could lead you to a wider audience, likewise influencers’ could prove to be the catalyst that could drive quality traffic to your site in huge numbers. The question now is: From where do you find industry-relevant influencers?
First, scan social media accounts. Second, use Google search.
Now, that’s just half the job done. Your next job is to engage in meaningful conversations with them, show interest in their work and so on. This is how you could gain their attention and in return, they might like to share your content.
However, don’t ask for free publicity, anyway. If possible, arrange an interview with the influencer. If the interview thing works out for you, you will instantly have access to influencer’s wide audience network.
#7. Build a Mobile Responsive Website
No matter the size of your business, your website needs to be mobile friendly. In fact, 62% of the businesses have witnessed increased sales after turning mobile-friendly. So, if your website is mobile-friendly, be assured, they will stay, engage and browse your site.
In April 2015 update Google categorically stated that mobile friendliness is a ranking signal. So, if your website is not mobile-friendly, it will not show up in searches on mobile devices. Simply put, a large portion of your audience will be gone if you don’t comply with Google guidelines.
#8. Use Permission-Based Email Marketing
Email marketing is yet another tried and tested strategy that gets guaranteed returns in the longer run. In fact, email subscribers are 3 times more likely to share your content with others. It does not help retain customers but even inspires them to buy more. The ROI on email is 44:1 which, I believe, no other marketing channel would be able to beat.
However, in permission-based email marketing, you need to build an email list of real people who are really interested in your brand. This would help you send content to your customers on regular basis. 77% of consumers prefer permission-based emails to communicate with them.
#9. Look for Affordable Advertising
All said and done, referral link building and word of mouth publicity could help build your businesses to a certain level. To grow beyond that level you need to opt for paid ads. For instance, you could use Facebook and Twitter ads. These ads are affordable and could help your small business tap into new markets and reach new customers. Consult top advertising companies for more details on how to use social media advertising to drive traffic to your website.
# 10. Refresh Your Website
Yes, you need to refurbish your website, time and again. First off, you need to ensure that all links are appropriate and in working condition. Second, your homepage should have answers to all your customer queries. Plus, make sure your emails and phone numbers are correct.
More to the point, the user search pattern keeps changing every six to eight weeks. So, you need to keep your eyes open for new keywords that user is using to search your products and services. And, then you will have to incorporate those keywords into your website content. However, don’t try to incorporate every keyword that comes your way. Only choose the top seven keywords you want to use in your website and see that you set them up in strategic places of your website. Don’t overdo it.
#11. Keep Reviewing Google Analytics Report
Your website’s Google Analytics Report will help you find sites that are linking to your site and also measure social media efforts and bounce rate. If the website bounce rate is high and if the social media efforts are not yielding any returns, you could easily look into the reasons and take corrective actions for the same.
Wrapping Up
There you have it, 11 ways to drive traffic to your small business website. Sure, there will be many more ways to do it. If something or anything crosses your mind, share it in the comment box.
Author Bio: This is Jennifer Warren, staff writer at GoodFirms – a review and research platform for top ecommerce development companies, app development companies among many others. A bookworm at heart, I have successfully guest blogged for top sites such as Crazyegg, Semrush, Searchenginepeople, Sitepronews, Volusion.com, Socialnomics, jeffbullas, mediapost among others.
