Every owner of a small business website would like to have more traffic visiting that site, and of course, more customer conversions that result in sales. In order to get that higher sales volume, it will be necessary to increase website traffic significantly, so the conversion rates have a chance to increase correspondingly.
There are a number of ways to go about this, and sometimes it’s a matter of trial and error, so what works for one businessman may fall flat for another. In any case, some of the most successful and proven methods for driving more traffic to your small business website are discussed below. Be aware that even the most successful tactics are not generally successful overnight, so give each one a while to work before moving on to the next one.
Paid advertising
This first method is so obvious it’s sometimes overlooked, but you can certainly increase website traffic through advertising on the social media, through paid searches, and through display advertising. Consult with some of these advertisers about your ultimate objectives, so that the tactics used are in sync with what you hope to achieve.
Search engine optimization
You may have thought that you had this one handled, but the SEO of five years ago is not the same as it is today. Google and other search engines are constantly updating their ranking algorithms so as to assign greater value to those elements which contribute to providing greater value for web searchers. What was great for high rankings even a few years ago may not fly at all today. For instance, one of the most highly prized website attributes is inbound links from other sites, because they demonstrate that others have found your site useful, informative, and worthwhile.
Encourage referral traffic
One of the best ways to get individuals and other sites to link to yours is to provide content which is extremely useful to a broad range of web users. Infographics for instance, are good examples of content which is frequently linked to by others, because they offer a concise, visual depiction of data which can be easily assimilated by readers.
Consider LinkedIn posts
While some of the social media have become hangouts for various demographics and special interests, LinkedIn remains the medium of interest for businessmen. It has evolved into far more than just a network of business associates and colleagues though, and it now carries a great deal of fresh content which gets published daily. By posting regularly to LinkedIn, you will be keeping your company name before other people in business and other individuals – who may want to visit your small business website.
Make use of Analytics
Analytics data can be extremely helpful in telling you which pages and which content are most appealing to visitors. When you have a good understanding of what appeals to your visitors, you can emphasize content which is deemed more interesting, and de-emphasize content which provokes little or no interest from users.
Don’t forget video
One of the points you are likely to learn by using Analytics is that users love video content. Most web surfers have a short attention span, which completely rules out long-running text content, and which becomes marginal even for brief and visually digestible content. Video on the other hand, is everyone’s favorite way of consuming information, especially if the presentation has been produced with energy and excitement. Really good examples are often shared with friends and relatives, to expand your reach even further.
Conduct webinars
Extending the video concept, it’s a great idea to produce live webinars on your site so as to satisfy the natural curiosity users have about topics of interest. You can use the social media and your blogs to promote upcoming webinars to maximize viewership, and when the webinar date comes around, you’ll be able to engage with your audience to a degree you might never have achieved before. If you do this even somewhat regularly, you can develop a loyal audience, and they can pass the word among their acquaintances to get the dominoes falling.
Don’t be afraid to tinker with these and other ideas for trying to increase website traffic to your small business website. When you hit on just the right tactics, it will all be worth it.