A question I’m sure every person or company with a web site has asked. I know I do..
When I go through lulls of low traffic on my site, I wonder what I’ve done wrong. Is it lack of SEO & key wording? Does my front page not look appealing? Are my landing pages not doing their job? Or is my entire site an unorganized mess that no one dares to click through?
Could be some (or all) of these things – but the likely scenario is something that we don’t often think about when designing a website – effort.
The easy thing to think when your brand new site is up and running is that people will just come flocking in. You’ve spent countless hours deciding color and font combinations, landing page configurations and chosen the perfect pictures to augment your text. But for 99.9% of us, that’s just not the case.
Content Is King
The more relevant content you have on your site, the more Google will look to your site as an authority on that content. Seems easy enough, right? When was the last time you updated your static pages with information? Do you have a blog? (why not?) Have you studied some keyword combinations that your competition ranks high for that you’d like to compete with? These are all simple things that you can do to boost the relevant content on your site that will naturally attract viewers.
A good rule of thumb for updating your site is a minimum of once a month. If you aren’t doing at least that, Google (and other search engines) will think you aren’t updating your site and begin to classify you as old and out of date.
Offline Advertising
I wrote an article awhile back about using your business card as an advertising tool. Is your website on your business card? That’s only the beginning. Think about the last person you gave your card to. Did you say something about your website to them? “Go to my great website to learn more about my business. I think you’ll find some useful information there.”
Don’t just assume that since the card is in the person’s hand that they’ll remember to go to your web site. Give them a reason to go. Whether it’s signing up for your e-mail newsletter or getting a coupon for your services.
Free Press
What have you done lately to get your website’s name out there? When I did the web site for a popular satellite radio show that I listen to, I knew it would get my name out there. My web traffic has increased at least 3x-5x since then. Did I have to suffer a bit doing a massive project? Sure – but within a month, I’ve already got one new client from my increased visibility and another few are in progress.
Take the time to find opportunities that will increase clicks to your site. Whether it is sponsoring a local event that allows you to put your logo on their web site or commenting a popular blog. When it comes to web traffic – any clicks are good clicks. More clicks equals more conversions which equals more money in your pocket.
What marketing efforts do you use to publicize your site? Is social media enough to keep traffic flowing for you?
