Foster a Community Spirit
One of the best ways to organically increase the traffic to your website is to create a community for your overall message. A great place to start is Google’s Ad Planner, which will point you in the direction of sites where your customers are likely to be. Once you’ve found where they are, you can interact with them and contribute to meaningful online discussions. Just remember to include a link to your own website in the user profiles you create.
Remember, you need to offer your visitors value, and a good way of doing that is by responding to comments and opinions on your own blog. Make sure your comments section is open, and try to take criticism with a pinch of salt. It is also a good idea to keep up to date with the latest trending discussions that are relevant to your business. Contribute to relevant websites with guest posts and forum comments, and people will gradually see that you are an expert in your field – attracting them to your own website.
Fully Embrace Social Media
It is easy to simply concentrate on Facebook and Twitter as your social media sites, but there are so many more out there, and some of them may be more relevant to your business. Sites like Pinterest, Stumbleupon and Delicious are fast becoming major players in the world of social media, and they simply can’t be ignored. And if you’re thinking that you can attract big numbers to your website without the use of social media, you may find your job becomes a lot harder. Social media is perhaps the single biggest online innovation since the Internet itself. Promoting your content through social media channels will boost your content visibility and your brand exposure as quality content often attract shares, tweets, likes and comments.
However, do not use social media to preach or simply to advertise your services – that could be counter-productive. Use it as a forum for discussion, and engage with your potential customers by giving them the gift of your expertise.
Google’s Authorship Mark-up
Assigning authorship to your content enables your avatar to show up next to your articles on search results. This is actually Google’s way of knowing that you have published that particular article. Authorship mark-up stands out in search engines result pages (SERP’s) and it will definitely help your attract more visitors.
To assign authorship mark-up to your content, you need a Google+ account, a clear photo and a by-line on every piece of content you write. You will also need to verify you have an email address on the same domain as your content. Once this verification is completed, your photo and links to your profile will start to appear next to your content on SERPs. Users can then click on your profile to see other content you have published.
Design Your Site with the User in Mind
So, you’ve got some fantastic content, and your site looks great. However, is it easy to use? Can users find what they need quickly and without too much hassle? If they can’t, they are likely to move to one of your competitors very quickly. Users experience is vital to a website’s success, and you may need to enlist the help of a professional web agency for expert help. There are also some excellent usability test services around that will – for a small fee – provide you with a detailed report on how easy it is to negotiate around your website’s content and interactive features.
Research has shown that users like to scan pages for information. The worst thing you can do is give them huge blocks of information to read through – without any guarantee they will find what they are looking for. Instead, break up text into small paragraphs. Use sub-headings, bullet points and infographics to make life for the user easier.
Measure Your Website’s Success and React
Any business that wants to succeed online should definitely be using web analytics to monitor and analyse their website traffic. Google Analytics, for example, provides you with a wealth of information, including where visitors are coming from, how long they are spending on your site, how they are finding your site and what kind of device they are using. This information can then be used to improve your website effectiveness.
