You took the advice that every business publications harps on and set up a website. It’s an important step along the way.
It gives your business a much wider reach once search engines pick up that you exist. It’s even better if your business can deliver regardless of customer location.
You took the next step and populated the website with information about you, your location, and your offerings. Yet, your site traffic remains inconsistent or, worse still, utterly stagnant.
Given that your results don’t inspire confidence so far, you’re probably not looking for ways to spend more money on this online presence. Fortunately, you can avoid a massive financial outlay.
Use these simple strategies to get free targeted website traffic.
1. On-Page SEO
Search engines use a wide range of factors to determine your site’s rank. Better-ranked pages get more traffic. That means you must work on your site’s on-page SEO.
Start with improving your site’s load speed. Compress any images so they use less bandwidth to load. You can also choose a better tier of hosting service, as that often improves loading speed as well.
Add internal links between content and product pages. Make sure visitors can find your Location and contact information. You can do this with a dedicated contact page or by listing that information at the bottom of every page.
Pick one keyword to focus on and make sure it turns up at least one or twice on every page of your site.
2. Blogging
Content drives a lot of marketing efforts these days. Blogging is the venerated elder statesman of marketing content. It’s also one of the cheapest approaches.
Most hosting services provide one-click install of blogging software that can go right on your site.
Blogging provides an ideal opportunity for driving traffic. You can talk about things you know really, really well for people who want to hear about those exact things.
Work on catchy headlines. People click on and share catchy headlines.
Aim for longer content that explores a topic a little more deeply. Keep your paragraphs short because it’s easier to read them on a screen.
3. Video
The vast majority of consumer internet traffic is streaming video content. It’s just easier to watch videos. Better still if they only run a few minutes.
You can make your own videos with nothing but a smartphone camera and a tripod. You can skip the tripod in a pinch. Use the videos to highlight your brand message or offer tips and advice. Avoid flogging your products constantly because everyone hates that.
You can check out some excellent examples of high-quality video content on this website. Of course, your video won’t necessarily reach that level of polish, but it’s something you can aim for.
4. Podcasts
Podcasts function as the middle ground between written and video content, with one big bonus. People can listen while on the go.
In essence, a podcast is nothing more than you and maybe a guest discussing a relevant topic. What makes podcasts so powerful is that Apple and Google make it easy for you to distribute those recordings. It opens a huge potential audience.
All it takes to record a podcast is a microphone, computer, and audio editing software. Most laptops come with a microphone and you can get the editing software for free.
You can use the podcast to drive traffic by mentioning other content on your website and listing a link for that content. The secret of successful podcasts is the same as successful blogs.
Post on a consistent schedule.
5. Social Media
Social media provides you with a very simple way to access a much larger audience. You promote your social media profiles to your existing customer base.
They follow your account, profile, or page on the social media site. Then, you promote your content on the site. With luck, your customers share the links to their friends or followers. That prompts some of those people to go read or watch your content and exposes them to your brand.
In the best case scenario, you pick up new followers and customers.
6. Responsive Design
Remember that statistic about video content traffic. Well, it also turns out that more than half of that viewing happens on mobile devices. Think smartphones, tablets, and phablets.
Old school website design focuses on the desktop experience. In other words, make it look good and function right on a desktop computer.
Contemporary websites embrace responsive design. Responsive websites adjust the content on display to fit the size of the visitor’s screen size.
The better your site works on mobile devices, the more traffic you’ll enjoy. If your site doesn’t work well on mobile, you’ll just end up with a high bounce rate.
7. Update Old Content
Remember how you wrote that blog post about the 5 pieces of software that every small business in your industry needs? If you wrote that two years ago, it’s probably out of date in several ways.
Revamping that content lets you fix several issues, including:
- changes in SEO best practices
- outdated information
- new or long-tail keywords
- keeping content relevant to your current focus
Regular changes to content make search engines happy, which can help your site rank. It also encourages your audience to trust you as an authority.
Updating content says you keep abreast of industry changes. That makes people more likely to treat you as their go-to source for industry advice and news.
Parting Thoughts on Free Targeted Website Traffic
Getting free targeted website traffic doesn’t take any kind of special sauce. It’s a matter of systematically deploying best practices.
Make sure your site works well on mobile devices. Get your on-page SEO in order.
Develop good content in multiple formats. Promote that content on social media and through other communication channels.
Update old content because it helps establish you as a topic authority. It also encourages repeat visits and content sharing.
Has your weekly blog shown less-than-stellar results? Looking for some actionable advice on how to fix that? Check out our entry on writing SEO-friendly posts.
