The Secrets of Getting Web Traffic to Your Site
How do I get traffic to my website? - Don
Dear Don,
There are two fundamental elements of successful business online: traffic and conversion. It's hard to talk about one without the other. You can have gobs of traffic, but unless that traffic is coming for the reason you want them to come, ie because they are interested in what you have to offer on your site, they will just bounce off. On the other hand you can have the best converting website around, but if you don't have visitors, you are dead in the water.
Web traffic comes to your site comes from several basic sources. If you have Google Analytics installed on your website (this free service from Google is extremely valuable) you will notice that 3 sources of web traffic are automatically recognized and monitored.
- Traffic from search engines (via keyword phrases)
- Traffic from "referring sites" (ie when traffic comes from other sites with your link on it)
- Direct traffic (ie when someone types in your URL into the browser address bar directly)
(Traffic from links in email gets read as a referring site when the email is webbased and as direct traffic when the link is click from a desktop email program.)
These 3 sources of traffic are generated in different ways but have similar underlying principles attached. The biggest question to ask yourself is, "What kind of traffic do you want?" Targeted traffic is easier to generate and more useful in the long run. What do you want your visitors to to do when they get there? How will you let them know what they will find on your website?
The underlying principle that effects both targeted traffic and conversion is clarity about who your market is, what they are looking for and the words (keywords) they are using to search it out online.
To generate more traffic to your website here are a few basic rules of thumb:
To Increase Search Traffic:
- Build your site using a blog or put one on your domain (e.g. www.yourdomain.com/blog - search engines love blogs!)
- Find niche keyword phrases with high traffic and low competition and use them in your website/blog content
- Update your blog content frequently
- Advertise with Google Adwords (Pay-Per-Click)
To Increase Referral Traffic:
- Post articles, videos and photos on high-authority websites with your URL on them
- Update Your social media accounts and include links to your blog articles
- Social bookmark your articles and ask others to bookmark them.
To Increase Direct Traffic:
- Put your URL on your email signature
- ALWAYS give your URL out when you speak at networking events
- Put your URL on your business card
Bottom line? There is no instant, free traffic. It takes strategy and work to set up a system. It's like priming the pump, you may not see results immediately, but your work will pay off down the road. To learn more about web marketing strategy and permission-based lead generation systems, visit my website. http://www.marketingmonsoon.com and take a look at the Services tab.
To Your Success!
Jayne Burch
