How do I get traffic to my site?

This is an important question, and one every person who is thinking of starting a website should ask themselves. Because truly, what’s the point in having a website if nobody sees it? It’s important to figure out what methods you will use to drive traffic to your site, because assuming that people will magically find it is a big mistake. There are billions of websites out there, and you need to make yours positioned so that every person can find you.

First, you need to decide what kind of traffic you want. Who is your customer, and how do you get them on your website? I feel like I talk to someone every week who wants to push a ton of traffic to their site, but they don’t seem to concerned about whether it’s good traffic.

It’s not about HOW MUCH traffic you can get to your site, it’s about getting the RIGHT traffic.

Let me share a story. I had a client who had a little e-commerce site where she was selling personalized items. It was a cute shop, and great concept. But she wasn’t getting much traffic, so she decided to set up some Google Ads. This was a great idea, but since she didn’t know anything about how to set up the ads, she chose words that would get her a lot of traffic, but that weren’t going to get her the right traffic. For example, “baby” is a high traffic word, but someone who types “baby” into Google could be looking for any number of things. She chose “baby” because it would get a lot of traffic, but what she needed to do was be very specific, and instead choose something like, “personalized baby bibs” which would drive people to her site looking for an actual product she offered. Instead, she used up her budget within a few hours on clicks from people who were not looking for what she offered.

So it’s very important to figure out what kind of traffic you want. Are you looking for traffic nationwide? Worldwide? Or are you geographically limited? If you offer services to a small, local area, you don’t need to try to get traction in other states. Know who your customer is and where they are.

Ten Steps for Getting More Traffic on to your Website

1. Start with great content. Content is king. If you have great photos, that’s awesome, but it’s the content that will get you ranked in the search engines. Have great content, and update it often.
2. Write a blog. I cannot stress how much of a difference having a blog can make in the traffic you get to your site. You will notice that we update our blog almost daily. This is not by accident. Having a blog, with quality, relevant content, will do wonders for your site stats. Keep in mind you have to update it, and do it regularly. Having a neglected blog will not help you at all.
3. Set up your Google Plus/Local page. Google is designed to help people find what they are looking for. Set up your Google plus page, and include all your local information if you are a local business. Link it to your website and link your website to your Google page.
4. Tell people about your website! Put it on your business cards, on the back of your vehicle, on your outgoing voicemail message, on the door of your business. Don’t underestimate the power of word of mouth.
5. Write an e-newsletter. Do you have information to share with the world? Write a newsletter and link it to your site.
6. Submit your site to Google, with an XML sitemap, and make sure it’s getting indexed.
7. Run Google Ads. (Please ask a Google Adwords professional for help, see story above for why.)
8. Share your site on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media outlets. Encourage others to share it too.
9. Offer something for free. People like free stuff! Write a PDF “e-book” or “one-sheet” that people can download for free or get if they subscribe to your site.
10. Read and comment on blogs. Don’t be a lurker. See what other people are writing about, and comment on it. And don’t be the, “Great post!” commenter. Really respond to what the person has written about and make your comment relevant. Quality comments lead to more visitors on your site. True story.

Need help with your site? We can do it! Contact us today for a quote.