You’ve just set up an amazing website with all the bells and whistles.

However, you’re still not getting the business or interest in your brand that you had hoped for.

That could be because you aren’t getting the traffic to your website.

Just like a high street shop, your website is a prime opportunity to showcase and sell your product or service.

But among so much competition in an increasingly crowded digital marketplace, how can you stand out and get yourself noticed?

To do that you must harness the power of a range of factors including search engine optimisation (SEO), blog posts, paid advertising, and email and social media marketing campaigns.

You also need to think about how you will present your content in the most effective format whether that’s as a main body of text, through images, videos or an infographic, or interactively, mixing it up where possible and repurposing it for different audiences.

All of this, of course, needs to be supported by strong headlines and sub-headings.

And use credible sources such as subject experts and industry thought leaders relevant to your core demographic, linking to their website, or consider partnering with them.

Finally, make sure that your content and website are mobile-friendly by using the likes of Google’s Page Insights Tool.

Given the increasing number of people using smartphones and android devices, it’s imperative that you cater to that market as well.

With this in mind, it may be worth creating an app that they can use to access your website through.

Above all, put yourself in the user’s shoes and think what is going to make their customer journey as easy as possible.

Then once you have attracted the traffic, it’s about converting those leads into sales, which we will cover in my next blog.

Here are five steps to help you drive traffic to your website:

1) Understand the sources of your website traffic

First off, you need to have a handle of who is visiting your website.

The best way to do this is to invest in a quality analytics programme or provider such as Google Analytics.

By looking at where your traffic is coming from and the pages they are visiting, you can develop a targeted strategy to provide them with exactly the right type of content they are looking for.

Alongside this you should carry out extensive market research to find out what the key needs and lifestyle choices of your core demographic are.

If you choose to go down the advertising route, by tracking your leads that translate into sales you can also determine exactly how much each sale cost you in terms of ad spend.

As a rule of thumb, if you apply the Pareto Principle or 80/20-Rule, 80% of your results should come from 20% of your efforts.

2) Use organic methods

If you can invest the time and effort, the most cost effective way to drive traffic is to grow it organically.

A good starting point is to maximise your SEO by researching the main key words your customers are looking for using tools such as Google Ads.

Then use those key words in the relevant parts of your website.

But make sure that your content is still engaging and makes sense, and isn’t unnecessarily overloaded with key words.

Also ensure that your content remains fresh and relevant for your target audience.

For a quick win, link through to relevant pages on your website.

Another issue is speed of page delivery, which can be resolved with content-delivery networks such as Amazon’s AWS and MaxCDN.

Consider listing your website on online marketplaces and directories like Google Business or Google Places.

You can also use websites such as Quora to provide detailed answers for your customers and link the right key words to anchor content on your website.

YouTube is another invaluable resource that you can use to create value added guides and tutorials for your customers that link to your website.

Similarly, Udemy and Teachable enable you to provide free online courses for your followers.

Webinars are another great way to increase traffic by automating your sales presentation on platforms like Demio and GoToWebinar.

You can also use social media platforms including LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter and Instagram, depending on your audience, to give a taster or market your content, again linking it to your website.

3) Market your product or service

In order to give your content maximum exposure, you need to market it properly.

As well as social media, another great way to do this is through targeted email marketing.

Platforms such as Mailchimp are a good resource for this, particularly if you are going to be sending out regular campaigns to large subscriber bases.

This should focus on visitors to your website who you can capture by inviting them to sign up or subscribe to your mailing list for regular blogs, newsletters or free offers such as tip sheets or e-books.

Depending on your need you can send them useful and relevant content that they will act upon or you can use it simply as a way to keep in touch.

But don’t do the hard sell – nothing is more of a turn-off.

Another good marketing channel is Medium, which enables you to produce intuitive content marketing posts that link through to your website.

You can also use social media influencers to promote or endorse your product or service, or collaborate with guest bloggers, partners and affiliates.

4) Invest in adverts

If you have the financial wherewithal you may want to consider paid for advertising.

The most common advertising platform is Google Ads, where you can use re-targeted ads to market to visitors who have left your website without completing a sale.

You can also now advertise on social media sites such as Instagram.

5) Research the competition

It’s an old adage, but to be the best you have to beat the best.

Look at what your competitors are doing well and leverage those techniques to your advantage.

Find out the main topics they are covering that resonate most with your customers and the type of medium and content they are reading, and try to emulate that on your website.

At the end of the day, get feedback and review everything you are doing to make sure that it’s producing the best possible outcome for you.

Finally, consider using a quality, professional and experienced writer to produce your content, who can help you to achieve the best results.

  • Struggling to get the hits or generate online sales leads through your website? Give me a call on +44 (0)7949 590213 or email alex@alexwrightcopywriter.com