The number one goal for anybody with a website must be increasing website traffic. It doesn’t matter if your website is for ecommerce, entertainment, information, education, or even non-profit. The aim of the game is to get as many visitors to your site to increase your reach.
Since there are hundreds of different ways to do this, and time is of the essence, we’ve compiled the top 20 most effective ways to increase website traffic.
When you understand your target audience, you can generate content that appeals to them, driving traffic to your site. A few ways to dive deeper into your target audience include:
Performing market research
Surveying existing customers
Leveraging Google Analytics
Gaining insights from the customer support team
You need to create a clear pathway for your potential customers via a journey map to drive traffic to your website. Your marketing funnel should cater to your customers’ interests and needs from the awareness phase right through to the purchase phase.
Journey map steps are:
Set objectives
Define personas
Create stages and goals
Establish touchpoints
Get feedback
Identify pain points
Identify areas of improvement
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one the most effective ways to drive traffic directly to your website from Google. Pay Per Click advertising might provide instant results, but SEO performs better in the long run and will increase website traffic organically over time.
Get started with SEO using this guide.
The more relevant content you produce, the more you’ll increase website traffic. The keyword here is “relevant.” Content should be tailor-made for personas and always be a part of the funnel that sends customers to your website to sign up, subscribe, buy or find out more information.
The key to successful content is consistency — you need to create regular and engaging content to ensure your brand has the exposure it needs.
Without a solid social media strategy and presence, you cannot increase your website traffic, market your brand, or reach your audience effectively.
Social media is everything when it comes to increasing website traffic. The funnel process relies heavily on it, your marketing personas are targeted here, and it is most often the first place that your company, brand, product, or service is seen.
Advertising is essential to increase website traffic.
You can choose from a wide range of advertising formats, such as digital display ads, which are banners and images on websites and social media pages, or native advertising, which matches the format of the medium it's placed in.
Lookalike advertising is efficient, too — this is where ads are targeted to people who behave in similar ways to your target audience. Contextual advertising also helps drive targeted website traffic by placing your ads in places that match your content.
When it comes to targeting your personas to visit your website, few avenues are as effective as paid posts. Social media platforms allow you to target your audience based on their characteristics and demographics to display your ads to.
Ensure that these posts prioritize your website or landing pages so that the traffic can flow directly to where you want it.
Retargeting is another highly effective way to increase website traffic. It is where you retarget people who have already shown an interest in your pages, website, or posts. It is a great way to capitalize on an already engaged audience by sending them directly where you want them — your website!
Email marketing might have been around for a while, but don’t doubt its power to drive traffic to your site. Your email subscribers are an active and engaged audience base, and with the right targeted email strategy, you can dramatically increase website traffic.
Like it or loathe it, influencer marketing, when done right, can drive an enormous amount of traffic to your website. Influencers are mostly connected to social media platforms, and you can also choose between macro and micro-influencers who differ in size and reach.
Ensure that the influencer is relatable and attractive to your various marketing personas.
Video content is by far the most clicked on of any other medium. As such, it’s a must-have to create interactive posts that ultimately drive traffic to your website.
Luckily, video content is easier than ever to create yourself, and it can be uploaded to all social media platforms for maximum impact and website traffic.
Similar to a vlog, podcasts are also very popular, don’t require a tremendous amount of effort, and can dramatically increase interest in your brand. Particularly for brands targeting a more sophisticated audience, podcasting increases brand awareness and organically drives traffic to their website by addressing the concerns and interests of their target customers.
If you want to directly connect with your audience, skyrocket your engagement, and drive massive amounts of traffic to your website, then live streaming is for you. The length, format, and content are up to you, but it should offer value to your target audience and be authentic. When done right, they’re a surefire way to increase website traffic.
Quora and Reddit are two massive platforms for asking and answering questions about virtually everything. A considerable portion of Google searches are in the form of a question, and Quora and Reddit content often comes up tops most times in searches.
Look for questions that relate to your brand, product, or service and answer them personally on Quora and Reddit, remembering to include a handy link to your website to increase that traffic!
Our last tip is about getting a little help from your friends — guest posts are when you write content for another website. This content should be informative and attractive to your marketing personas to drive more traffic to your website.
Searching for free online tools is a popular online activity, and creating a tool that pops up when people do their searches is a great way to drive traffic.
Ideally, the tools should be aligned with your brand, easy to create, and most importantly, very useful. For example, AdRoll provides a ROAS (Return On Ad Spend) calculator to help marketers to find out their optimal budget allocation for their business.
Virtual and real-life events are great ways to exhibit your brand, cause, or project. However, the events should always be strategic, and your website needs to be sufficiently promoted during the activities you plan.
If you don’t want to host your event, then the next best thing is a sponsored event. The event you choose should:
Be connected to your industry
Offer a massive platform to advertise your website
Include a target audience that matches your marketing personas
Getting on board with a suitable event is a great way to gain brand exposure and drastically increase website traffic.
You can’t do it all on your own, and strategic brand partnerships are a way to get much-needed interest in your website. Much like sponsorships, these partnerships must align with your brand and give you access to a mutual target audience.
To get as much leverage from your partnerships as possible, always ensure that the message aligns with your core values.
Online communities such as Facebook groups and other interest-based platforms can drive real, organic traffic to your website. The interest and engagement of the group are already established, and all you have to do is show them what you have to offer.
These groups require honest conversations and engagement, so don’t try a generic marketing campaign here. Instead, just keep it real and drive that traffic!
Last updated on March 22nd, 2022.