Increase in website traffic

Are you a small business or start-up that is stumped on how to get people to come to your site? Increase your web traffic by following these steps.

Google Analytics

First, make sure Google Analytics is installed on your website. With this free program you’ll be able to watch your web traffic increase. If you don’t know how to do add Google Analytics code, contact the person who created the site and have them install it. This free program is great for not only tracking the amount of visitors, but also finding out the details of your visitors, such as: Where did they come from? What keywords did people type in to find you? What page did they exit on? How many people came to your site when you sent out an email newsletter?

Have an online marketing strategy

Before you tackle the below, figure out what is your goal. Is it to increase traffic? Brand awareness? Have people sign-up for your email newsletter? Buy a product? Make sure you keep this goal in mind while you do the following. To find out how to create your own, read “How to create an online marketing strategy.”

Keywords

Make sure your keywords are listed in the copy on your site. If you are a photographer in St. Louis and do not have the text that says “St. Louis photographer” your site will not show up in search engines when people search for “St. Louis Photographer”. If your entire site is in Flash, again, it will not show up in search engines. Why? Because Flash is all images, not readable text that search engines can scan. So, how do you find your top keywords? Look at Google Analytics. They list your top keywords that people entered in their search to find your site.

Have a blog

If you are new to blogging, make it a goal to post on your blog weekly. Then, once you become more familiar with blogging, post 3 times a week. The more keywords you mention in your blog that relate to what you are promoting, the higher your search engine ranking will be. Talk about what inspired you to make your product or tips for using your product.

Have a Facebook fan page

Think about this: your clients are not going to log onto your website everyday, but more than half of all users log on to Facebook in any given day. That is over 175 million people you could potentially reach with a daily status message talking about your product. For more reasons why you should have one, see my recent article: Why your business needs a Facebook Fan Page.

Use Twitter

Twitter is a great tool to find more customers. However, don’t just tweet about your blogs. Also, tweet about what interests you. Social media is all about building trust. People buy from people and businesses they like. To find people interested in what you sell, go to search.twitter.com and type in your keywords. Follow the people that are looking for what you provide or are in your target market.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

This plugs in your keywords, so search engines can find you. A client or customer doesn’t see these words, they are in the background source code. For example, a St. Louis photographer would have words such as “St. Louis photographer, photography for newborns, St. Louis, wedding photography, etc.” Pretty much any words you can think of that describe what you do. If you use WordPress, a great tool to do this yourself is the All-in-One SEO plugin.

Advertise online

There are many options online. The most popular being Google Ads and Facebook Ads. The good news is that ads starts as low as $1 per day, so it is easy to try an ad for a month on both and see which works best.

Comment on Blogs

When you comment on blogs, this provides a link back to your site. The more links to your site, the higher your rating with Google will be. Make sure you leave genuine feedback.

Have an email newsletter

In your email newsletter, promote your website with links to a particular story, product or blog post on your site. Also include links to your Facebook fan page and twitter account, so people can pick which way they prefer to follow you.

Give away something for free

Hold a contest for subscribing to your email or Facebook fan page. Or give away a “white paper” – free tips from your industry. Promote with print advertising and online on your blog, Facebook page, and Twitter.

Did you enjoy these suggestions? Do you have any more? Feel free to leave them in the comment section.

Do you need help in setting up any of the above? Contact me at [email protected].