Hopefully you have been checking the traffic – visitors to your website and reviewing how many people visit the site, are they first time or return visitors, what page do they look at and are they selecting an action on the website such as filling out a form, signing up for your newsletter, buying something or requesting information.
Do you want to build more traffic and get more visitors to your website? Here are 5 methods you can use to drive traffic.
Website Keywords and Search Engines. Look at your website and check if the “title” “description” and “keywords” meta tags are added to your website pages. These are important in making sure your website is indexed by search engines like Google and Yahoo. In the text of your page – especially your home page – use the words that best describe you and the needs of your target audience as part of the body text. After all this is done – register the site with Google, Yahoo and other major search engines. All these have free submission forms but there is no guarantee how long it will take. Keep reviewing your statistics and you will see when you start getting traffic from search engines. Look at the keywords people are using to find your site and refine these keywords on your pages.
Email Newsletters and Announcements. Tell the people on your list(s) about your website and what they can find there and why they should visit. Add a signup form on the site and some incentive for people to sign up for your newsletter. Your newsletter and announcements will really build your RETURN visits to the website. Remember that people may visit thousands of websites and even if they like you on their first visit – they need to be reminded to return.
Links. Links from other websites to you build credibility and also improve your position in the search engines. These are called in-bound links. If you have a resource or links page on your site – you can link out to useful sites – and then contact the other website owner and ask them to link to you. If you have affiliates, partners, sponsors, or other relationships – send them the link to your website, your logo and a key phrase and ask if they will add your link to their website.
Signature File. Add your website address to your email signature file. Make this also an organization policy and have everyone create a standard signature file that includes the website link. Include the website address also in any paper correspondence, flyers, brochures, advertisements, articles and PR and of course your business card.
Online Social Networks. Create your own presence on the large social networking sites such as Facebook page and group and LinkedIN. Participate in the groups and discussion forums and include your website as part of your profile.
Using these methods you can increase the traffic to your website – but do remember that your website must be engaging and interesting to the person and have some appropriate calls to action – or your efforts will bring traffic but not help you in achieving your objectives.
