Sokada Web Design Heathfield

31 Ways to Get More Website Traffic

All it takes is a little bit of time to start attracting new visitors...

You Have A Website – But Now What?

So you have a website, but you have not really done a lot with it so far. You have a presence, but the next steps always seem so hard – so here we are going to give you at least 31 ways to get more website traffic. Some of these ideas take quite a bit of work and obviously this will not guarantee you more new customers or more work; but if your product or service is great then many of these should convert.

shutterstock 153403937Check How Your Website Is Built

So we start with the way your website is built and some extras you will need:

  1. Have you used a platform such as WordPress? This is a really easy publishing platform, where you can add new pages, new links, images and blog posts in a really easy non-techy way. Ideal for the amateur website user right up to the professional blogger. You can also sell through a WordPress website so it is an ideal system for practically any business to use
  2. Install Yoast SEO – this is a really easy to use online marketing plugin tool that will tell you if you are using your focus keyword correctly, if your page is easy to understand, if you have too much or too little text as well as lots of other juicy information.
  3. Ensure you have Google Analytics – so you can actually track how many visitors come onto your website.
  4. Set yourself up in Google Webmaster Tools. Here you can upload your sitemap (from the Yoast section of your website) which helps Google see your pages and crawl through them easily
  5. Get yourself set up in Google My Business – imperative if you have a business that offers services or products to a local market. Add lots of images, and lovely information about your business including standard business categories
  6. Get set up on Bing Webmaster Tools – a smaller search engine than Google but still plenty of visitors come from here. There is also a Bing Places for Business, similar to Google My Business so this is a definite as well. Loads of business categories here so make sure you go through them carefully. You can pick more than one
  7. Add yourself to directories. Have a look and see which are the best for your business. There are loads out there that will link to your website so take the time to do this. Just remember NAP – Name, Address, Phone number – always ensure you use the same details. The internet will get confused otherwise!

internet marketingThe Nuts And Bolts

The above points all really help – and here are some more specifics:

  1. So back to Yoast. Spend some time ensuring each of your pages focusses on one keyword phrase. Don’t just use a single word – this will be totally ineffective! Use a phrase that people search for when they are looking for companies such as yours
  2. Don’t just use the top main phrase. You are probably not Amazon or Not on the High Street and there will always be loads of other companies out there competing for these major keywords
  3. There are lots of tools out there to help you find keyword ideas. You may think you know what your customers search for and some may be obvious, but the obvious ones are what everyone else uses so pick something different that will give you the upper hand
  4. Don’t put your company name first in your SEO title – if people know your name they will find you. It’s all the other potential customers who are looking for what you do that you are trying to attract
  5. Use the keyword phrase in your SEO title – this is what appears in the top line of a Google search so don’t make spelling mistakes and use capital letters for each word, not the whole thing though – that would be shouting!
  6. For your meta description, this is slightly different and should include the keyword phrase, your company name and, if relevant your phone number.Telephone numbers always stand out well (but only if you are happy for your customers to call you). This must be a well written two line sentence. Try and use your keywords twice here, in different sentences so they add strength to the meta description. But DO NOT use spammy text
  7. With your page of text, try and get your keyword phrase into the first sentence, if not paragraph. You don’t want to keep talking about the same phrase, but you want it to appear at least a couple of times. Use terms that are similar as well, it gives the page an authenticity and search engines love this.
  8. Write interesting and informative text – always important to keep your customers reading
  9. Use at least one image on your page. If there is lots of text then more than that. And if applicable then a gallery is great to showcase what you do
  10. Always add your focus keyword into the Alt text of the image. This is the marketing section of your image and will increase the chances of your page being found, either within Web as well as in Images
  11. Using the focus keyword in Yoast will then give you an idea of how well you have done with creating your page as well as marketing it

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Some More Bits…

  1. Make sure you have a blog
  2. Having a blog is a great way of writing new articles that can cover other topics as well as promoting pages within your website
  3. A blog can further enhance your website and it is beneficial to link to other pages within the website when you are discussing relevant points. Internal links are great for search engines
  4. With a blog, you can use longtail keywords to find those niche customers who are searching for new and random things. (Longtail keywords can be questions or longer phrases that a user may search for)
  5. In a blog you can write top tips, new ideas, your thoughts, new product information – anything that will be interesting to your readers.
  6. You can start a blog with a question – hundreds of thousands of people ask questions of the internet – try answering just a few of them

The Fancy Stuff!

  1. If you have them, use videos. A great way to attract new visitors. They can also be shared on social media to bring in referral traffic
  2. As well as this, PDFs show very well in searches – if you have some that are relevant then definitely use them
  3. Social Media – Ensure the information is all up to date. Use all relevant forms of social media for your business. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest…lots to choose from and certainly time consuming, so don’t just use them because you think you should. They should also be updated regularly and if you don’t then it will not look particularly professional
  4. Try and always add links within your social media posts – the aim for most companies is to get people onto your website so don’t forget to add the link!
  5. Infographics are also a great way to showcase what you do. These can be time consuming to write and design though so make sure you have the time and are working on something that is beneficial to your business
  6. Ask people to link to you. Good quality links to your website are a vital part of giving your website a trust that will lift it in the rankings. But they must be relevant and from good quality websites and this is probably the most difficult part of marketing a site. It will probably come eventually on it’s own, if you are diligent and write interesting articles and information that people find useful, but it will probably be a real slow burner, unless you actively go out and find it
  7. Mailchimp – if you have a database of customers then use Mailchimp as a way of keeping in touch with them. Send out a newsletter. Always include links to your website to showcase what you do, or make them an offer. Everyone loves an offer! Just entice them onto your website

So in total, here are 31 ways to get more website traffic; and most are fairly simple ways to assist in marketing your website. Some are easier to deal with than others; some are quick to deal with and some may take longer. Most of these you can actually do yourself, if you have an understanding of your own website, but others you may get a little stuck on.

Actually way more – we haven’t even mentioned making sure it’s responsive, setting up Google+ as well as blogging regularly – phew another post perhaps?

What you need to remember is a website must always be a work in progress. You must consistently be looking to grow it and add new content, new images and other information that is relevant about your company.

If you have any questions on any of these points then please feel free to get in touch and we will see if we can help you. We are also happy to give you a Free Website Review – making some small changes will possibly give your website a real boost. You may not need a brand new website – some updates and design tweaks may be all it needs. This may also kickstart and inspire you to get moving with your website.

Good luck and please let us know how you get on. Sorry it’s quite long but use it as a checklist!

Let us know if we have given you some ideas of how to market your business more effectively online.

Thanks for reading…