How to Drive Traffic to Your Website

There are companies that mistakenly believe a good website is all they need for good online marketing. In order for the website to serve its purpose, people have to visit it.

Companies that choose only to promote their website on business cards, emails, and direct mail pieces will only receive traffic from prospects with whom they are already in contact. The goal of a good website is to broaden the lead funnel, not simply maintain it.

To drive more traffic to your website, there are some simple tactics you can implement.

Guest Blog Posts

Google now offers a blog search. Type in a word closely related to your industry or the services you provide as you usually would. When the results page appears, there is a column on the left side of the page that provides more specified search options. Click blogs. This will produce a list of blogs or posts associated with the word or phrase you searched.

How does that help you? Two ways: comments and guest blog posts. To start with, you may decide to join the discussion on an industry-related blog by offering your expertise in the comments section. When you do so, be sure to include a link back to your company website. If there is a specific page on your website that more closely relates to the specific discussion than others, link to that instead of just the homepage.

An even more effective way to use blogs you discovered on your search is to ask the owner of the blog if you could write a guest blog post. Many bloggers welcome guest blogs as it provides new content for their site without much effort on their part. You offer the content for free and include a link back to your company’s website. Doing so broadens the lead funnel to an entirely new group of people, those who read that particular blog.

Social Media

Just because your company has a Facebook page, Twitter name, or LinkedIn account does not mean it is effectively bringing traffic to your site. Prospects are more likely to find your website via social media if those accounts are used regularly and properly. Inactive accounts serve no purpose on the internet.

When thinking of social media, many online marketers neglect the value of video sites such as YouTube. A video does not have to “go viral” in order to benefit your company or your company’s website. Create a “How to” video using one of your products. Tell the story of your company on film. Demonstrate the services you provide. Each video can drive traffic to your website and be used as an information piece on your website.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

When a potential client does an internet search looking for the products or services you provide, you want your company to show up on the first page of results since most people don’t browse beyond that. In order to gain traffic from organic searches such as these, your website needs SEO. SEO involves using keywords properly and strategically on your site. It also means providing new content on your site daily so the search engines view your site as relevant and current.

There are entire books written about this topic and entire companies (like StartRankingNow.com) devoted to helping site owners get more traffic. These tips will just give you a head start and some conversational knowledge for a reference point.