If you have a website, you likely want some people to see it. Gaining traffic can be challenging in a fun way or utterly heartbreaking, it all depends on how you approach the work. There are several things you can do to increase the number of visitors to your website. Some of these things are quick and easy, whereas others will require a little more thought and curation.
Before we begin, it is important to remind yourself that Rome wasn’t built in a day. If you look into the history of the webpages you love that have intense traffic, you will more than likely find that it took them several years to get to where they are today. Even if you manage to gain a ton of traffic in a short time, that doesn’t mean you’re gaining the “right traffic,” that is, the correct audience for your content. It is worth spending time to get the people who your website is for, on your page.
Provide Value
This one sounds simple, but it is the hardest on this list. (That’s why we’ve put it first). There needs to be something that people gain by visiting your site. All the other tips won’t mean a thing if people don’t want to stay or come back to your page. This might not be a product or service, it could be a little humor that brightens up their day or news on a topic they find interesting. If your site does not have this, you might need to do some thinking.
Have A Blog Section
This one takes a little time but can produce magic results. No matter what your business is, think about the common questions people who need your service might be asking themselves. Write (or pay someone else to write) articles answering these questions.
A few reminders for your blog section:
- Make sure your headlines make the content clear
- Keep search engine optimization in mind
- Long-tail keywords are searched far more often than single words are
- Link to your other blog posts within each blog post
Guest Blog
This one is almost a secret, and it shouldn’t be, because it is incredibly effective. Guest posting is when you write a post for someone else’s website. Ideally, a website that has a similar audience to yours. At the end of the article (or within it), you can link back to your page. Not only will this support the right kind of traffic to your site with the links provided, but it also increases the “authority” of your webpage, meaning search engines are more likely to rank it highly. In addition to this, open yourself up for guests to blog on your site.
Search Engine Optimization
Mentioned briefly above, search engine optimization is crucial for increasing traffic to your website. Search engine optimization is the curation of links and the word choices on your site that help search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing rank how useful your content is for people searching certain terms.
The more useful these platforms think your content is, the higher it will rank when people search online. Organic traffic comes most often from online searches. Because of this, many website builders have search engine optimization elements built into their platforms. Depending on what service you’re using to host your site, there will be tutorials online and methods available to improve the
Always Be Readjusting
Nothing is permanent. Things that worked to draw in traffic last year, are not necessarily going to work this year. You need to be keeping yourself up to date on the changes that are occurring in the digital world. You also need to be evaluating your analytics and success on the regular, taking note of which pages and content had the most positive effect and which ones didn’t have the same level of impact. Continuously be tailoring your content to the information you are given.
There you have it. A few tips and tricks that will help you increase genuine, high-quality traffic to your website. If used regularly, these tips will have a major impact on the number of visits to your pages. More than that, using these techniques will help ensure that the eyes viewing your site are the right audience for your content, resulting in return viewers.
Building an audience online doesn’t have to be disheartening, it can be fun and exciting and produce genuinely positive social interactions. High-quality traffic does not manifest overnight, it takes time and consistent effort, but it is also incredibly rewarding.