Are you disappointed by the lack of traffic you’ve been getting to your website? If so, it might be time to think about implementing a few new strategies. When it comes to website management, there’s no worse feeling than when you know that what you’re doing isn’t working, but you have no idea what needs to be done in order to start seeing some changes. In the post below, we’re offering six little-known tips you can use to start boosting traffic to your website today.
Be a Resource.
If the traffic numbers on your website or blog are dwindling, it may be because you’re not offering enough value to your visitors. As social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest have continued to increase in popularity over the last few years, competition has greatly intensified among businesses and brands fighting to win over prospective customers online. In order to differentiate and create sustainable relationships with consumers online, it’s essential that you leverage yourself and your business as an industry leader. You might have the best products on the market and the easiest website to use, but if you’re not spending time positioning your company as a valuable resource, you’re not going to end up convincing prospective customers to do business with you. You have to implement strategies that will help people online understand that your company, products, and services are the solutions to their problems. You can leverage your company as a valuable resource by:
Creating blog posts with original content
Giving away helpful ebooks and other industry guides for free
Being available on social sites like Facebook and Twitter to answer any questions any prospective customers might have (even if they don’t relate directly to your products)
Uploading and sharing industry-related (NOT product-related) educational videos for your current and prospective customers
Develop Partnerships.
If you’re like a lot of business owners, you’ve probably developed strategic partnerships with a handful of other businesses that compliment the services or products you offer to your customers. But have you taken the time to nurture those same partnerships online? If you’re looking for additional ways to increase traffic to your website, you might consider working with your partners to develop a plan that creates awareness about your partnership in the digital space. This can be done through:
Blog posts that highlight the partnership and why it exists.
Social media engagement between you and your partners.
A shared giveaway or offer that will help both businesses connect with each other’s online communities and loyal customers.
Focus on a Specific Niche.
Your low or stagnant website traffic could be due to the fact that the content you’re sharing and the value you’re providing on your blog is too general. If you’re in a competitive industry and you notice that most of your competitors are sharing similar information on their blogs and website, consider zeroing in on a niche topic within your industry as a way to differentiate from competitors. This will help leverage you as an industry influencer in the minds of your prospective customers who are looking for specific information about niche topics that relate to your industry. For example, if you’re in the real estate industry, you might consider launching a blog that offers tips specifically for first-time homebuyers, instead of a general blog about real estate topics.
Implement Hybrid PR Strategies (Real-World + Digital).
Another way you can increase traffic to your website is by developing hybrid public relations strategies that that tie in what you’re doing online with what you’re doing in the real world. For example, have you ever live-tweeted at a company event? Or set up a live video stream during an exciting announcement? Thanks to businesses like Facebook and Apple, more and more companies are developing strategies that make it easier for online communities to interact with and participate in real-world events. Facebook, for example, often provides news outlets with embed codes to live video feeds of their biggest announcements. These live feeds usually direct and link people back to product pages or announcement blog posts on their website.
Support a Cause.
In order to connect with more passionate social media users online, more brands have started intentionally partnering up with and supporting causes and nonprofit organizations. This strategy can help humanize your brand and prove to prospective customers that you’re not just in it for the money—but that you also are a company that wants to help people. If possible, pick a cause or nonprofit that aligns in some way with your business. For example, if your business is technology-related, you might consider partnering up with a company like Worldreader (they put tablets and ereaders into the hands of children around the world in order to help eradicate illiteracy).
Engage With New Online Communities.
If you’ve developed a presence on sites like Facebook and Twitter but aren’t seeing any increases in website traffic as a result of your engagement efforts on the sites, you might want to consider developing a plan to interact with a new online community. Though Facebook and Twitter are the two social media sites primarily used by businesses to connect with prospective and current customers, there are a number of other sites that can be beneficial for businesses to develop a presence on. One example is Vine. According to reports, the video sharing community/app now has more than 40 million registered users as of August. If you’re not getting the return you thought you would get by interacting with communities on Facebook and Twitter, make a plan to build a presence for your business on a different popular social media site. After you’ve had time to engage regularly with users, start looking over your website analytics to determine if your efforts are resulting in increased website traffic. If your efforts are paying off, continue spending more time consistently and genuinely interacting with the new online community.
What other little-known tips have you used to help increase traffic to your website? Leave a comment for us below.
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