Web site traffic isn’t one of those elusive goals that only the big companies can achieve.It’s entirely possible for a small business to generate impressive traffic, which can ultimately lead to bigger revenues. Following are some simple strategies to boost your visibility online.
1. Get social… now! Use social media to position yourself and develop strong relationships (read more).
2. Fire up your keywords. With each and every page on your Web site you have a chance to lure in visitors simply by using the right keywords. The goal here is to determine what keywords your prospects would use to find your site and then incorporate them into your pages.
3. Increase the number of Web pages within your site. Since each page on your Web site can include a keyword phrase, adding more pages can help capture more visitors. For example, if you’re a real estate agent who sells homes in five different cities, create a page for each city and include a phrase like “real estate agent in Dallas.” You could take this a step further and create additional pages for “sell a home in Dallas” and “buy a home in Dallas.”
4. Add a blog. Blogging isn’t just another task on your To-Do list; it’s a powerful way to attract more traffic to your Web site. When you update your blog on a regular basis (ideally two to three times per week, though once each week will help!), your site becomes more relevant with Google because the content changes often.
Also, each blog post gives Google another reason to find your site. Using the real estate example, if you were to write a blog post about how to find a real estate agent in Dallas, the next time someone searched for that phrase, there’s a much higher likelihood that post would come up in Google. Not convinced? Try blogging regularly for 30 days and then search Google for key phrases from your blog or Web site!
5. Share blog posts via social media. If you’re still wondering what the heck to share on Facebook and Twitter, your blog holds the answers. After writing a new post, share the title—along with a link back to your Web site—on your social media networks and watch the traffic rise! As your social media audience grows, so will the number of visitors to your site.
6. Feature other people on your blog. Consider adding client case studies or interviews with people from your industry. Not only will you easily increase your blog content, your subjects will also share the news with their social media networks.
7. Comment on other people’s blogs. Adding a comment to a blog (like this one!) has many advantages. First, most blogs allow you to include a link back to your Web site, which readers can click to view your site. Believe it or not, you gain exposure with other readers of the blog.
It also increases your site’s relevance in Google since Google gives “bonus credit” to sites that have more incoming links, especially from high traffic Web sites. I recently commented on a blog post and generated over 100 clicks to my Web site as a result.
8. Update your Web site with new information often. Have an event coming up? Announce it on your Web site. New product launched? Feature it on your home page. Your site should be updated often to give visitors a reason to return again and again.